IOCSF ANNOUNCES WINNERS OF GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE 75th ANNIVERSARY COMPOSER COMPETITION
The International Orange Chorale of San Francisco is pleased to announce the winners of our Golden Gate Bridge 75th Anniversary Composer Competition, a competition for new a cappella choral works that set texts related to the Golden Gate Bridge and its surroundings. First prize is awarded to Dominick DiOrio for Chrysopylae, and second prize is awarded to Julian Mörth for Hymn of Victory. DiOrio's Chrysopylae will be premiered by IOCSF on May 27, 2012 as part of the large public Waterfront Celebration at Crissy Field in San Francisco to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge, hosted by The Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. Additionally, IOCSF will feature Chrysopylae as part of its regularly programmed concerts on June 22nd and 23rd, 2012. Both DiOrio and Mörth will receive a cash prize.
Mr. DiOrio, Director of Choral Activities and Associate Professor of Music at Lone Star College-Montgomery, said, "I am so delighted to be the winner of IOCSF's competition. I first heard the International Orange Chorale of San Francisco during the Chorus America National Conference last June and was blown away by their fine ensemble singing and dedication to contemporary repertoire. I wrote Chrysopylae with their distinct sound in mind, and I can't wait to hear them bring my music to life as part of the Golden Gate Bridge celebrations in San Francisco."
The title of DiOrio's Chrysopylae comes from the journal of John C. Frémont. In 1846, Frémont wrote in reference to the strait now called the Golden Gate: "To this Gate I gave the name of 'Chrysopylae', or 'Golden Gate'; for the same reasons that the harbor of Byzantium was called Chrysoceras, or Golden Horn." DiOrio does not set these words in his work, but instead weaves together four different texts about the Golden Gate Bridge: an excerpt from the poem "Gold!" by British poet Thomas Hood; two excerpts from poems by Joseph Baermann Strauss, the chief engineer of the Golden Gate Bridge; and the Latin phrase, "Lux ecce surgit aurea" ["Behold the light of gold rises"] by Prudentius.
Mörth's Hymn of Victory also utilizes the poetry of Joseph Baermann Strauss, setting his poem "The Golden Gate Bridge".
IOCSF Commissions New Work by David Conte to Celebrate Golden Gate Bridge
The International Orange Chorale of San Francisco is thrilled to announce that we have commissioned eminent Bay Area composer and San Francisco Conservatory of Music Professor David Conte to write a new choral work to honor the Golden Gate Bridge on its 75th Anniversary. We will premiere this new work, a setting of Walt Whitman's elegant poem Facing West on May 27, 2012 as part of a large public Waterfront Celebration at Crissy Field in San Francisco to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge, hosted by the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. We will also showcase the piece as part of our Spring concerts, Freshly Squeezed: Juicy New Music from Today's Premium Composers in June, 2012.
Upcoming Events
Freshly Squeezed: Juicy New Music from Today's Premium Composers
Friday, June 22nd, 2012 @5:00 pm
Solarium atrium (ground floor)
55 2nd St, San Francisco, CA
Saturday, June 23rd, 2012 @8:00pm
First Unitarian Church
1187 Franklin St, San Francisco, CA
Featuring exciting new works from established and emerging composers. (Read more...)
About the IOCSF
Recipient of the 2011 Chorus America / ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, the International Orange Chorale of San Francisco (IOCSF), led by Artistic Director Zane Fiala, was founded in 2003. Named after the color of the Golden Gate Bridge, the International Orange Chorale is an auditioned volunteer-based chamber choir devoted to performing established repertoire of all periods, with particular attention to contemporary music including newly commissioned works by promising composers. (Read more...)
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What People are Saying
"International Orange Chorale is a great example of a chorus redefining the concert-going experience by programming music of living composers in unusual and engaging ways." --Ann Meier Baker, President & CEO of Chorus America
"I am astonished at the quality of sound and richly nuanced musical execution." --Ian Robertson, Chorus Director, San Francisco Opera
"Amazing and lovely!" --Jennifer Cooper, Music Education Director, San Francisco Boys Chorus
"This auditioned, volunteer-based chamber choir is full of dedicated and extraordinary talent... The group's intonation was spot-on spectacular... the beautifully blended sound of the chorus reached a bell-like purity." --Jaime Robles, San Francisco Classical Voice
"With their fine musicianship, excellent singing and bold programming IOCSF has become one of the Bay Area's leading choral groups. It is always a pleasure to hear what they have cooked up." --Dr. Joshua Habermann, Frost School of Music; Director, Santa Fe Desert Chorale
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For general information about joining IOCSF, please email us at auditions@iocsf.org. (Read more...)
Contacting IOCSF
We actively seek new works by young and emerging composers.
For more information about the choir, please email us at info@iocsf.org.