North Star Vocal Artists will Present a Program of Sacred Motets Next Month

Last month Sanford Dole’s Bay Choral Guild presented the first program of its 2016–2017 season. Next month Dole will conduct his North Star Vocal Artists (NSVA), an a cappella mixed choir, in its first program of the new year. The title of the program will be Ascendit: Sacred Motets in the New Millennium. That title also refers to the principal work on the program. John Muehleisen compiled a collection of sacred texts for his choral song cycle Ascendit, in which each text setting is a study in musically rising lines (hence the title). The program will also feature Arvo Pärt’s setting of the Magnificat canticle. Other composers on the program will also be Abbie Betinis, Ivo Antognini, Ola Gjeilo, Frank Ferko, and Karl Jenkins, as well as Dole himself. Finally, NSVA will be introducing the music of Mark Templeton to Bay Area audiences.

This concert will take place in San Francisco on Sunday evening at 7 p.m. on February 19. The venue will be St. Gregory of Nyssa, located at 500 De Haro Street at the foot of Potrero Hill. General admission tickets may be reserved in advance and will be available at the door. Ticket prices are $25 for adults and $10 for students. Discounts for families or groups of eight or more may be arranged by request. Tickets are not available for purchase online, however reservations for both single tickets and group discounts can be arranged through electronic mail.