A poster image for IOCSF's concert. Mostly text about the concert, with the IOCSF logo. The background image is a cold, blue-ish gray cloud.

Concert Program

  • Welcome to IOCSF’s spring concert, Estranged Together.

    This evening’s program explores the emotional landscape of estrangement—the complex feelings and surprising growth that can arise when we leave behind lives that no longer align with our values or identity. Although many of our singers have personal connections to this theme, we were struck by how rarely estrangement is directly addressed in choral music. This season, we've engaged with powerful works by some of today’s most exciting choral composers, all through the lens of estrangement, and our connection to the music has deepened as a result.

    Our first set reflects on what it means to define a sense of home. We begin with Sydney Guillaume’s “Finding a Home,” which moves from longing to joy. Saunder Choi’s “I Came to Your Home As a Wayfaring Stranger” captures the elusive nature of home through shimmering dissonances and flowing rhythms. Carlos Cordero’s “Incertidumbre” (“Uncertainty”) shares the voice of an immigrant wrestling with nostalgia and the necessity of leaving.

    The second set explores loss. These pieces weren’t originally written with estrangement in mind, but resonate profoundly in that context. Jennifer Lucy Cook’s “Over and Over” presents the collapse of a relationship with disarming directness. Joe Twist’s “Weep O Mine Eyes” blends Renaissance and jazz textures to express grief and warm nostalgia. Dale Trumbore’s “Without You,” which begins with “we weren’t done talking yet,” takes on new meaning through the lens of estrangement.

    Our final set focuses on identity and belonging. Ayrian Norman’s “I Am Out With Lanterns” centers the search for self. Saunder Choi’s “A Journey of Your Own,” in English and Tagalog, marks a bold step toward self-actualization. And Jeffrey Derus’ luminous “The House of Belonging” offers a profound celebration of claiming one’s identity on one’s own terms.

    We’re thrilled to continue our exploration of estrangement next season with the premiere of Dominion of Light: A Requiem for the Estranged, a major new commission by San Francisco-based composer Tarik O’Regan.

    Thank you for being with us. May you feel, through this music, a sense of connection and belonging with our IOCSF community.

    Chris Filice

    Artistic Director

I. HOME

Photo of composer Sydney Guillaume sitting in a dry natural background, wearing a green camouflage button-up shirt.

Finding a Home (2020)
SYDNEY GUILLAUME (b. 1982)

  • Our drum has lost its beat, Tanbou nou pèdi kadans,

    There’s displacement under our feat. Nou santi nou depeyize.

    As we walk along these foreign lands,

    We will find a home again.

    A home isn’t confined to a place,

    It’s a community, a warm embrace.

    Our memories will never die, Pa gen souvni k ap janm pèdi,

    If we seek the rhythms of our past. Si nou chèche tanbou zansèt nou yo.

    It’s in our journey we find a home, Se nan chimen lavi nou jwenn lakay,

    Enbracing change and sharing lives.

    Let the tears of anguish run dry,

    Our life is here, our home is here.

    List to the rhythms of our feet,

    Our drum has found its beat. Tanbou nou reprann kadans.

    Da-da-dumm, Ta-ka-doum,

    We found a home again. We found a home.

  • “Finding a Home” is a hopeful testament to the immigrant experience as well as anyone who has felt displacement. It was written during a global pandemic and immense social tension in the United States. This composition blends English and Haitian Creole to connect different cultures.

    In collaboration with the Boston Children’s Chorus, Sydney Guillaume and Kevin Ramsden have come together to create a work that helps us re-imagine a home. The piece takes you on a journey that validates the anguish from feeling out of place, and also celebrates the homes we have found and the ones we have yet to discover. 

Shota Otaguro, djembe

IMage of composer Saunder Choi wearing a black tunic with a beaded turquoise collar.

I Came to your Shore as a Wayfaring Stranger (2021)
SAUNDER CHOI (b. 1988)

  • Poor Wayfaring Stranger

    I am a poor wayfaring stranger

    A travelin’ through this world of woe.

    There is no sickness, toil, nor danger

    In that bright land to which I go.

    I’m goin’ there to see my mother.

    I’m goin’ there no more to roam.

    I’m just a goin’ over Jordan;

    I’m just a goin’ over home.

    Stray Birds

    272

    I came to your shore as a stranger, I lived in your house as a guest, I leave your door as a friend, my earth.

    273

    Let my thoughts come to you, when I am gone, like the afterglow of sunset at the margin of starry silence.

    274

    Light in my heart the evening star of rest and then let the night whisper to me of love.

    275

    I am a child in the dark.

    I stretch my hands through the coverlet of night for thee, Mother.

    276

    The day of work is done. Hide my face in your arms, Mother. Let me dream.

  • As a composer, I’ve always been interested in new perspectives, especially when it comes to material that is familiar. Perhaps that is the reason why I also enjoy “arranging” music. For this commission, I’ve decided to compose a quodlibet — a partner song — combining the well-known American folk hymn “Poor Wayfaring Stranger” with newly composed music — a setting of Tagore’s Stray Birds verses 272–276. Partner songs are often created to aid young singers in part-singing. I wanted to adapt that composition style in a mixed choir setting.

    “I Came to Your Shore as a Wayfaring Stranger” was commissioned by the Purdue Musical Organizations for their University Choir; Jacob Stensberg, conductor. The world premiere was given on April 2022.

Photo of composer Carlos Cordero. He is wearing a white t-shirt with the word Ukraine on it. He is smiling with curly brown hair with streaks of blond-gray

Incertidumbre (2016)
CARLOS CORDERO (b. 1992)

  • Estoy presa con tanta libertad;

    aunque es el sueño de muchos,

    yo no quiero estar aquí.

    Sí, ya sé cómo todo está allá

    — quizá Dios le dio pan al que no tiene dientes —

    pero quiero estar con mi esposito,

    con mi hijo, con mis gatos,

    con mi música, con mis amigos,

    con mi canto, con mis fotos.

    Y trato de no llorar…

    No me da miedo trabajar

    Lo hago de lunas a domingo

    Lloro por tanta incertidumbre.

    (Translation)
    I’m stuck with so much freedom;

    although it is the dream of many,

    I do not want to be here.

    Yes, I know how everything is there

    — maybe God gave bread to the one who has no teeth —

    but I want to be with my husband,

    with my son, with my cats,

    with my music, with my friends,

    with my singing, with my photos.

    And I try not to cry…

    I’m not afraid of work,

    I do it from Monday to Sunday.

    I cry because of such uncertainty.

  • When I described this piece years ago, I wrote: “An immigrant voice who dwells with missing her family, friends, music, pictures, cats. A letter set to music.” I used to think that the notes should be short/disconnected. Nowadays, I like to make them personal. When we are far from home, we miss so many things, no matter how small. For me, besides family and friends, I really miss a plastic measuring cup where I used to eat “conflei” (this is how I pronounce corn flakes!). Mirem gives us so much in her text, so I’ll let her tell you about the piece.

II. LOSS

Photo of composer Jennifer Lucy Cook. She has long chestnut brown hair framing her face, and is wearing a burnt orange turtle-neck sweater.

Over and Over (2022)
JENNIFER LUCY COOK

Chris Willmore, synthesizer

  • Over and over we fight, then

    Over and over we fix it.

    More like a foe than a lover,

    Now you know.


    What about forever?

    After every high and low

    Never thought I’d have to learn

    A way to let you go.

  • Repetition can be such comforting melancholy. That strange limbo where going through the motions remains preferable to taking a leap is the space where “Over and Over” lives. It’s a canon in a major key, because we often shield ourselves with positivity as we hide sorrow amid our routines, but the bass line in the piece betrays our discomfort. I’m enamored with the way looping melodies become slightly askew when overlapping in a canon, and the melody becomes blurry, like blinking back tears. The simple text is written from the perspective of one individual to another, but when sung en masse in a choir, it’s as though every person who’s ever experience a relationship become rote joins together to commiserate. The bass, when played on a synth, adds high frequencies as the song progresses, emulating a spirit setting itself free. Like a cathartic power ballad that you’d belt along with from a rainy driveway, consider “Over and Over” a musical inoculation to future heartbreak.

Photo of Joe Twist. He is wearing a navy suit with a white shirt and navy tie, and is sitting at a picnic table in a yard with his hands folded.

Weep, O Mine Eyes (2021)
JOE TWIST (b. 1982)

Grace Kendall, soprano
Celestine Ratsch-Rivera, soprano

  • Weep, O mine eyes, and cease not

    Your springtimes out, alas!

    Me thinks increase not

    Oh when begin you, to swell so high that I may drown me in you?

  • Love is a universal feeling, and music is the universal lanugage through which to express it. The loss of a loved one is something we all experience, whether it be a lover, a relative, a parent or a true friend. So many madrigals are expressions of love or grief, as are most pop songs, folk tunes, jazz, standards, and other genres. It's interesting to note that John Bennet was inspired by John Downland’s “Flow My Tears” when he wrote his madrigal for four voices, “Weep O Mine Eyes,” and the same text inspired John Wilbye to write one for three voices as well. Centuries later, composers and musicians continue to inspire one another when expressing these universal feelings of love and sadness, across many different kinds of musical styles and genres.

    John Wilbye’s beautiful madrigal vividly expresses the intense sadness we all feel when our hearts are broken. I love his clever use of word painting, tightly knit into delightfully intimate three part voicing. During certain musical phrases, I feel like Wilbye is expressing love’s frustrations with rhythmic, declamatory writing for “Alas, your springtide’s out, me thinks increase not." Later, the music rises and falls, almost offering a glimmer of hope before descending back into the doldrums to the words “to swell so high that I may drown me in you." For me, such rich imagery is as powerful as it is ironic, describing both love and death simultaneously in one beautiful sentence.

    Of course, the well of emotions in Wilbye’s madrigal is truly inspiring, and I’ve endeavoured to capture this melancholy and irony in my own version for 8 voices. Additionally, I’ve tried to add a sense of mystery and gravitas as a personal expression of my own unrequited love. The work opens with a sparse texture featuring two solo sopranos, gradually becoming richer and darker in colour as the music unfolds. The music swells similar to the Wilbye, but as it falls (or “drowns”), jazz harmonies offer intimacy and warmth, a kind of musical escapism from the pains of love and loss, before transitioning back to the mystery of the opening.

Photo of composer Dale Trumbore. She has long, light brown hair that frames her face, and she is wearing a black blouse with a gold dangle earring.

  • We weren’t done talking yet.

    So I am trying to call you using the morning glories,

    whose blue mouths are open to the sky,

    whose throats are white stars,

    thinking those tendrils could trellis upward,

    hand over little green hand, so tenacious,

    they hang on in any storm,

    forgetting that the quick slap of frost

    will put out those blue lights,

    that the seasons will snap shut like a purse,

    that this old blue world will keep on spinning,

    without you.

  • The words and music of “Without You” reflect how grief and disbelief well up in us when we lose someone we love. Here, repetitive, lulling swells reflect the sometimes manageable and often overwhelming emotions we move through as we process this loss.

    This piece was commissioned by and is dedicated to the Macalester Concert Choir (Michael McGaghie, conductor) and was composed in part at Dorland Mountain Arts Colony.

Without You (2019)
DALE TRUMBORE (b. 1987)

III. BELONGING

Photo of composer Ayrian Norman. She is sitting on some steps in front of a door, with long brown curly hear, black circular glasses, and a white button-up blouse with black criss-cross patterns.

I Am Out With Lanterns (2024)
AYRIAN NORMAN (b. 1991)

Shota Otaguro, djembe

  • I am out with lanterns, looking for myself.

    I cannot tell you how, I’d rather not remember.

    And the deathless me on foot,

    not many moments after
    I took note of my senses, my hat, my coat, my shoes.

    But it was lost in the melee.

    I am out with lanterns, looking for myself.

  • When I first stumbled onto the quote I found it incredibly powerful. In the full context of Emily’s letter, she’s being lighthearted about losing her many items on a journey, but I felt the pull of a more poignant interpretation. She had such a way with words and I think you can look at many things she says and feel it multiple ways. Emily often writes in pursuit of personal truth and her inner life and thoughts, and that’s where I was feeling it as I was writing. I think people often feel a longing for self-realization. I wanted to create that feeling with a lot of tension and vulnerability, but also determination. The result is, again, a more metaphorical take on her words, but I think it’s a take most people can identify with.

IMage of composer Saunder Choi wearing a black tunic with a beaded turquoise collar.

A Journey of Your Own (2021)
SAUNDER CHOI (b. 1988)

  • Look up, call everywhere heaven,

    a journey’s a name you can claim as your own.

    Journey on, & keep crossing oceans

    — an ocean’s a mirror: no happy hereafter,

    just the here that you’ve sown.

    A journey of your own.

    Journey on, & keep crossing oceans

    — an ocean’s a mirror. Search for somewhere

    to name as your own. Look ahead,

    call everywhere heaven: no happy hereafter,

    just the here that you’ve grown.

    A journey of your own.

    ang lahat ay paroroon at paririto

    tungo sa kung saan

    patungo, sa dulo;

    ang paglalakbay ay paghahanap,

    paghahanap ng hangganan —

    paghahanap ng hangganan

    ng paglalakbay, ng paghahanap;

    pagdating sa dulo: muli,

    ang lahat ay paroroon at paririto.

    Translation:
    every one comes and goes

    going to wherever

    ones goes, to the end;

    the journey is a search,

    a search for a destination —

    a search for a destination

    of the journey, of the search;

    reaching the end: again,

    everyone comes and goes.

  • As I reflected on the idea of home for City Called Heaven, I realized January 2022 will mark 10 years since I left Manila for the US, in pursuit of music, education, and even liberation from the environment I grew up in. The idea of home as a physical location has dissolved and transformed into something else — a community, a family you’re born into or one that you’ve chosen. I now feel at home in Los Angeles, amongst friends and loved ones, as I once did in Manila, amongst family. For this reason, I invited two poets to collaborate with on this project, one from an old home and one from my new. Joey Vargas and I met as choristers in the Philippine Madrigal Singers. He is one of the most gifted writers and theater artists back in the Philippines. Brian and I met when I was a grad student at USC, and collaborated on some art songs. He is now a published author and the poet laureate of West Hollywood, and an Academy of American Poets fellow. Each of us shared a place, a story, overlapping in intertwining convergence in our individual journeys. Whatever your story is, wherever your journey leads, may it be of your own choosing — always leading with love and courage.

    “A Journey of Your Own” was commissioned by the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Grant Gershon, Kiki and David Gindler Artistic Director. The world premiere was given at the Walt Disney Concert Hall on January 30, 2022.

Image of composer Jeffrey Derus wearing a blue polo shirt and brown circular glasses.

The House of Belonging (2012)
JEFFREY DERUS (b. 1990)

  • This is the bright home

    in which I live,

    this is where

    I ask

    my friends

    to come,

    this is where I want

    to love all the things

    it has taken me so long

    to learn to love.
    This is the temple

    of my adult aloneness

    and I belong

    to that aloneness

    as I belong to my life.

    There is no house

    like the house of belonging.

  • Commissioned by Brandon Elliott and Choral Arts Initiative, David Whyte’s words call for a sense of self-awareness. “The House of Belonging” grounds itself in a communal voice as the choir moves as one, as though all the varied parts of our life come together to speak about where we all truly belong… to ourselves. From our outer darkness to our inner light, we are all we will ever need all at once. This moment of enlightenment is celebratory while marking the day of finally becoming everything we have ever wanted and needed by just being ourselves.

GUESTS

  • Angel Cassin is the director of Together Estranged, an international nonprofit that supports adult children navigating family estrangement. Through community-building and organizational wizardry, Angel works alongside an incredible team of volunteers to create spaces for healing and connection. 

  • Shota Otaguro is a multi-talented percussionist based in San Jose, California whose artistic versatility extends to numerous professional ensembles. He serves as the tuned percussionist for The Stinkfoot Orchestra, a band dedicated to performing the works and arts of Frank Zappa. He also serves as the principal percussionist for the Monterey Pops Band, where he holds educational clinics for students of Title 1 public schools and performs for the local community.

    Throughout his career, he has won numerous first place awards in various competitions. In 2023 and 2024 as part of the San Francisco Brass Band, he achieved back-to-back first place in the solo percussion category at the North American Brass Band Association, while the San Francisco Brass band — the first west coast band to attend the competition — also secured the top spot in their class. In 2019, he won the Fremont Symphony’s Young Artist Competition and the SJSU concerto competition, while also securing first place in California’s PAS competitive festival’s collegiate solo marimba category in 2018.

THE SINGERS

  • Laura Curlin

    Allison Dedrick

    Ruvani Fonseka

    Abbey Hendrix

    Kimberly Kaz

    * Grace Kendall

    Mandy Lai

    Marcialyn Lopez

    Regina Merrill

    Jane Spencer Mills

    Simona Nass

  • Allegra Bandy

    * Rebecca Edwards

    Laura Henry

    Hilary Jenson

    Valerie Moy

    Eryka Raines

    Celestine Ratsch-Rivera

    Lena Smith

    Rebecca van Stolk-Cooke

    Patricia Wallinga

  • Fausto Daos

    Teddy De Puy

    Giacomo DiGrigoli

    Isaac Goldberg

    Karoun Kasraie

    Joshua Saulle

    Sibley Nystrom

    * Nicholas Weininger

  • Joseph Blodgett

    Zach Burns

    Jeremy Davidson

    Jon Diaz

    Brian Fujimoto

    Myles K. Glancy

    Jack Miller

    Brian Vanderpol

    * Chris Willmore

* Denotes section leader

ARTISTIC STAFF

  • Chris Filice is a teacher, conductor, and singer from the San Francisco Bay Area. Chris received his Bachelor of Music in Music Education and Master of Arts in Teaching at Westminster Choir College. As a member of the Westminster Williamson Voices, Chris sang on the GRAMMY-nominated recording of James Whitbourn's Annelies. After graduating from Westminster, Chris returned to the Bay Area to work as the Director of Choirs at Livermore High School, where he taught for eight years. Chris recently moved back to the South Bay where he grew up, and currently serves as the Director of Choirs at Fremont High School in Sunnyvale. Chris previously served as the Assistant Conductor of the International Orange Chorale of San Francisco, and is excited to be taking on the role of Interim Artistic Director for the 2024–2025 season. In addition to IOCSF, Chris currently sings in The Same Stream, a professional choral ensemble under the direction of James Jordan.Description text goes here

  • Dr. Christopher Koelzer, a San Francisco Bay Area native, is an accomplished solo and collaborative pianist who performs, records, directs, and coaches in New York City, Washington, D.C., and the Bay Area. He began his musical career at age 13, working with opera and musical theater companies. Christopher holds a Bachelor’s degree in Piano Performance from Brigham Young University and both Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees in Collaborative Piano from the University of Maryland, College Park. Currently, he teaches and performs as Music Faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Stanford University, and San José State University.

SPECIAL THANKS TO

Angel Cassin of Together Estranged * Bill Bremer of St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church * Chris Willmore for this season’s program * Joey Kotfica for IOCSF photography * all volunteers and IOCSF members past and present for helping us share this gorgeous music with you. 

International Orange Chorale is proud to be supported by The National Endowment for the Arts, California Arts Council, the City and County of San Francisco, the Zellerbach Foundation, CAF America, the Schwab Charitable Fund, the PayPal Giving Fund, and the Give Lively Foundation.

THANK YOU TO OUR DONORS

  • Anonymous

    Sarah Jelley

    John Miller

    Jaime Raba

  • Joseph Blodgett

    John Giese

    Nancy Miller

  • Dave & Margaret Burns

    Michael & Betty Fujimoto

    Kenneth Moy

    Thomas Riley

  • Tom David

    Peter & Karen Filice

    Ruvani Fonseka

    Linda LeBlanc

    Dan & Anna Paustenbach

  • Robyn Amos

    Patricia Avery

    Joel Jay Baluyot

    Lynn Baron

    Richard E. Blodgett

    David Burns

    Jacqueline Carson

    Mary Lois Comeskey

    Lindsey Couchman

    Tom & Jane David

    Anne Dazey

    Robert Dunkle

    Leland Faust

    Keri Ferencz

    Robin E. Ferencz-Kotfica

    Zane Fiala

    Del Fillmore

    Jeffrey Hookom

    Anna Kanter

    Michelle Mederos

    Patricia Kristof Moy

    Eileen Murphy

    Michelle Myers

    Lawrence Novida

    Deborah L. Nystrom

    Megan Price

    Susan Rabinovitz

    Richard Rosser

    Laura Sammis

    Albert Sammons Jr.

    David Smith

    Austin Spivey

    Sharon Staley

  • Jessica Aboukasm

    Polly Adema

    Mustafa Alparslan

    Allegra Bandy

    Kenneth Baron

    Whitney Baron

    Margaret Barr

    Katelyn Birchfield

    Christopher Borges

    Karl Brown

    Zachary Burns

    Callie Chappell

    Adam Cook

    Fred Cummins

    Jeremy Davidson

    Ana Denmark

    Andrew Dugowson

    Travis Emick

    John Fenster

    Karen Filice

    Teresa Filice

    Zachary Fisher

    Christina Florkowski

    Corey Forst

    Jescie France

    Neha Gupta

    Daniel Hecker

    Rex Isenberg

    Lia Jacobson

    Michael Johnston

    Noah Kanter

    Anna Kneitel

    Sheila Lawrence

    Carol Ludwig
    Christine McLaughlin

    Christopher McMillan

    Dan Meltzer

    Richard Mills

    Angela Murray

    Mari Okamura

    Maia Paddock

    Leigh Patalay

    Louise Paustenbach

    Claire Peracchio

    Alessio Lombardo Pontillo

    Francesca Porto

    Celestine Ratsch-Rivera

    Yolanda Rosebraugh

    Cecile Scandone

    Kristin Schrader

    Randall Smith

    Magen Solomon

    Laurie Stoerkel

    Marie Stoner

    Pierre Teplitxky

    Alena Tochilkina

    Elizabeth Trutner

    Chantelle Urbina

    Damaris Villalobos-Galindo

    Giulia Viola

    Daniel Weinberg

    Jay Williams

    Carol Winetsky

    Melike Yersiz

    Scott Yundt

IOCSF gratefully welcomes contributions in all amounts. To make your tax-deductible donation, please visit the information table with your gift at intermission or after the concert. Donations can also be made through our website at www.iocsf.org/donate or by mailing a check to us at 77 Van Ness Ave #2222, San Francisco, CA 94102. We are a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation. Donations are fully tax-deductible to the extent permitted under applicable laws.

NEED SUPPORT? YOU’RE NOT ALONE.

Tonight’s concert explores themes of estrangement, grief, and reconnection. These experiences can be deeply personal—and sometimes painful.
We’re grateful to the community organizations listed below for the work they do to support people experiencing isolation, loss, and the complex grief of estrangement.
If you find yourself in need of support, we encourage you to reach out:

Together Estranged
Shanti SF
Openhouse SF
SAGE
NAMI San Francisco
SF LGBT Center
LYRIC Youth
Maitri