Golden Gate International Choral Festival Returns

The Golden Gate International Choral Festival last took place in July of 2018. Founded in 1991, it was originally sponsored every three years by the Piedmont Easy Bay Children’s Choir. Due to the COVID pandemic, the 2021 event had to be postponed. It has been rescheduled to take place next week after a two-year delay.

The Festival was originally planned to host young singers from all over the world, providing a variety of performance opportunities across the San Francisco Bay Area. Two of those opportunities will take place here in San Francisco. Like all of the other Festival performances, these will be free concerts; and tickets will not be necessary. Specifics for the two San Francisco performances are as follows:

Monday, July 10, 5:30 p.m., Golden Gate Park Bandshell: The Festival will begin with its most diverse program. There will be fourteen different ensembles, each singing a single selection. Here is the summary from the program book:

1. Estonian Television Girls’ Choir (Estonia); “Sampo Tagumine,” Veljo Tormis, text from the Kalevala
2. Concert Choir, Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir (USA); “No Time,” traditional American, arranged by Susan Brumfield
3. The Junior Amabile Singers (Canada); “Like a Singing Bird,” Bob Chilcott
4. Cantabella Children’s Chorus (USA); “Kaval Sviri,” Petar Liondev
5. Bel Canto - Columbia Choirs of Metropolitan Seattle (USA); “Grow,” Sarah Quartel
6. Cantabile - Columbia Choirs of Metropolitan Seattle (USA); “Non Nobis Domine,” Rosephanye Powell
7. Ecco, Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir (USA); “Panda Chant II,” Meredith Monk
8. Emmanuel College Vivace (Australia); “The Sound of our Home,” Paul Jarman and Bonnie Nilsson
9. Young Musicians Chorus: Collegium Musicum (USA); “Dana-dana,” Lajos Bárdos
10. Children’s Choir Ugnele (Lithuania); “Sodauto,” Lithuanian folk song arranged by Artūras Novikas, soloist Urtė Šinskaitė
11. Ancora, Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir (USA); “Faith is the Bird that Feels the Light,” Elizabeth Alexander
12. The Choir of E. Mikeladze Central Music School (Georgia); “Namgluri” (Kartl-Kakhuri), a song about the wheat harvest
13. Ensemble, Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir (USA); “Canticum Novum,” Ivo Antognini
14. Young Voices of the Philippines (Philippines); “Soging Tundan,” arranged by Jude B. Roldan

The Golden Gate Park Bandshell is located at 75 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive.

Tuesday, July 11, 7 p.m., Old First Presbyterian Church: This program will spotlight three of the above ensembles. Each will perform a series of selections representative of their respective repertoire. At the conclusion of the program, all three of the groups will join forces to sing Kirke Mechem’s “Sing All Ye Joyful,” which had been commissioned for performance at the first Festival in 1991.

The first ensemble will be the Estonian Television Girls’ Choir singing the following selections:

1. “Mu Süda Ärka Üles,” Estonian folk hymn, arranged by Cyrillus Kreek and Aarne Saluveer
2. “Peace Upon You, Jerusalem,” Arvo Pärt (commissioned by ETV Girls’ Choir)
3. “Gloria,” Michael Bojesen
4. “For Music,” Tõnu Kõrvits
5. “Sampo Tagumine,” Veljo Tormis, text from the Kalevala
6. “I Feel Pretty” (from West Side Story), Leonard Bernstein

The second group will be the Ensemble of the Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir offering six works:

1. “Canticum Novum,” Ivo Antognini
2. “Factum est silentium,” Caterina Assandra
3. “The Moon Bridge,” Florence B. Price
4. “Nag-Iibang Hangin,” Robin Estrada
5. “Aires de Quisqueya,” Dominican folk songs, arr. Denis/Vasquéz
6. “Nagasaki,” Eric Tuan

The third group will be the Young Voices of the Philippines, performing seven offerings:

1. O Lord, Hear My Prayer, Jude B. Roldan
2. Pater Noster, Alejandro Consolacion II
3. Koudjay, Sydney Guillaume
4. Shenandoah, arr. Jay Althouse
5. Da Kami Ay Anan-Ak, arr. Maria Theresa
6. Vizdone-Roldan Lemlunay, arr. Jude B. Roldan
7. Two Tagalog Folksongs, arr. Jude B. Roldan

Old First Presbyterian Church is located at 1751 Sacramento Street on the southeast corner of Van Ness Avenue.