SAN FRANCISCO CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC PRESENTS 25TH ANNUAL “SING-IT-YOURSELF MESSIAH”
Bay Area Holiday Music Tradition Returns to Davies Symphony Hall on December 8th
SAN FRANCISCO, November 3, 2003 — The San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) will present its 25th annual “Sing-It-Yourself
Messiah” at Davies Symphony Hall on Monday, December 8, 2003.
For the 25th consecutive year, Handel's timeless 1741 masterpiece will be celebrated in San Francisco by a 3,000-strong chorus spanning all ages and levels of musical experience. Guest Conductor Bruce Lamott, together with the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Orchestra and soloists, will help create, for one night only, one of the largest and most diverse holiday choruses in the world. In attire ranging from t-shirts to black-tie, an eclectic group of participants will join in singing Handel's
Messiah -- including the popular “Hallelujah!“ chorus -- to herald the start of the Bay Area's holiday season and support the Conservatory's educational programs.
“For 25 years, the Conservatory has been bringing together students and members of the general public to experience Handel's spectacular choral masterpiece,“ commented Colin Murdoch, President of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. “Thousands join us faithfully every year for this event. What makes our event unique is that for one special evening, music lovers of all ages and musical ability, representing communities throughout the Bay Area and beyond, come together to sing one of the world's greatest oratorios in one of the world's greatest concert halls.“
German-born Handel (1685-1759) wrote the
Messiah in just 24 days in London in 1741. Considered avant-garde in Handel's day,
Messiah has become one of the most renowned and popular pieces of English sacred music in history, and the “Hallelujah!“ chorus one of the most immediately identifiable pieces of Western classical music. Requiring some three hours to perform, the Conservatory's “Sing-It-Yourself
Messiah” is recognized as one of the foremost holiday concerts of its kind in the U.S.
The 25th Anniversary celebration of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music's “Sing-It-Yourself
Messiah” will be held on Monday, December 8, 2003 at 8:00 p.m. at Davies Symphony Hall, 201 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco. Tickets range in price from $20-$49 and are available at the San Francisco Symphony Hall Box Office or by calling 415.864.6000. For more information, please visit the Conservatory's website at www.sfcm.edu.
About the San Francisco Conservatory of Music
The San Francisco Conservatory is one of the leading music schools in the world. Each year, the Conservatory serves more than 1,300 students through its Collegiate, Preparatory, and Adult Extension Divisions and its summer programs. Its students and faculty also present more than 1,620 public performances-most of them free-to more than 24,000 Bay Area residents and visitors annually. In September 2003, the Conservatory began construction on its new $80 million teaching, performance, rehearsal and practice facility in San Francisco's Civic Center that will essentially double the Conservatory's size from its current 37,000-square-foot facility in the Sunset District. Scheduled to open in 2006, the new San Francisco Conservatory of Music at Civic Center provides dramatic improvements in classroom, studio and practice spaces as well as several new venues for public performances, including a 450-seat state-of-the-art Concert Hall. For more information, please call 415.759.3415 or visit www.sfcm.edu.
# # #
Press Contact:
Kathryn Pellegrini or Cindy MacKenzie
MacKenzie Communications, Inc
415.433.8200
kpellegrini@mackenziesf.com
Carla Pasqualini
Director of Marketing and Communications
415.759.3415
cjp@sfcm.edu
