San Francisco Conservatory of Music Presents the Finale Performance of "Sing-It-Yourself Messiah"
Last Performance of Beloved Bay Area Holiday Music Tradition
Davies Symphony Hall, Friday, December 2nd
SAN FRANCISCO, October 25, 2005:
The San Francisco Conservatory of Music will present its final "Sing-It-Yourself
Messiah" as the Conservatory looks forward to creating new traditions in its new home in the Civic Center next fall. The performance of Handel's popular oratorio takes place on Friday, December 2, at 8:00 p.m. in Davies Symphony Hall, with a pre-concert talk at 7:00 p.m.
For the 27th consecutive year, a 3,000-strong chorus spanning all ages and levels of musical experience, together with the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Orchestra, soloists and conductor Bruce Lamott will create one of the largest and most diverse holiday choruses in the world. The tradition was created in 1979 by then Conservatory President Milton Salkind and Trustee June Kingsley, among others. Conducted by Lou Magor, it was held at the War Memorial Opera House and broadcast nationally on KQED television. The next year the event moved into the new Davies Symphony Hall, becoming the largest Bay Area sing along
Messiah. Over the years, conductors Michael Barrett, Barbara Day Turner, Delta David Gier and Bruce Lamott have led the concert which heralds the start of the holiday season and supports the Conservatory's educational programs.
"It is with mixed emotions that we will sing the Messiah this year, our collective 27th and final performance," says Conservatory President Colin Murdoch. "Messiah has been a seasonal highlight for many of our community and the city of San Francisco. However, we are looking forward to having audiences join us in our own magnificent concert hall at 50 Oak Street, to create fresh experiences and new memories."
"Sing-It-Yourself
Messiah"
German-born G. F. 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 two and a half 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 27th and finale celebration of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music's "Sing-It-Yourself
Messiah" will be held on Friday, December 2, 2005 at 8:00 p.m. at Davies Symphony Hall, 201 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco. Pre-concert talk with conductor Bruce Lamott at 7:00 p.m. 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 Conservatory
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 1,500 public performances—most of them free—to more than 100,000 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 415.759.3406 or visit
www.sfcm.edu.
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Press Contact:
Karla Avila
Communications Coordinator
San Francisco Conservatory of Music
415.759.3411
kra@sfcm.edu
