SOTD – June

For Consort’s Tenth Anniversary we featured three pieces from Los Angeles-based composer Kenneth Neufeld’s “Songs from the Twelfth Night” with texts by William Shakespeare.  You learn more about him in …

Consort has also been blessed with several wonderful accompanists.  Today’s video, Howard Hanson’s “The One Hundred Fiftieth Psalm,” features Alla Artemova on one of the organs at the First Presbyterian …

Throughout our tour of the Dalmatian Coast we were impressed by the focus on Mary, mother of Jesus.  At times it seemed that she was more revered than her son.  …

This is our second Season of the Day piece from that very hot night at Zagreb’s Saint Joseph’s Church.  (The first was “Motherless Child” on June 14.) Here are the tour …

The Allan Petker Chorale’s second tour was to the Dalmatian Coast, Croatia and Slovenia.  Most of the tour was during a heat wave and became known as the “Gelato Tour.”  Today’s …

Program Notes: Joseph Gregorio is an award-winning composer and conductor. He was a professor of music theory and musicianship at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music from 2008-2009. We are …

Sanford’s introduction to “Bless Us, Lord, with Your Peace” It’s funny where inspiration comes from. One day, in 2006, while changing music out of the choir folders at St. Gregory’s, …

Sanford’s introduction to “Songs of Isaiah.” This three movement concert work, from 2016, was commissioned by Bay Choral Guild, the Palo Alto-based choir that I have been directing for 20 …

We begin another edition of the “Composers” series, sharing songs from living composers who have become favorites of Consort.  Sanford Dole joined Consort in 2012 and has been a valued …

Allan set the following two pieces, from living composers, together. Let Music Fill the Air (Gwyneth Walker 1947- )Text: Adapted from a text by Plato, and from a passage in …

Our final concert was in Hungary, where our karnagy Allan directed us in the very ornate Matthias Church, Holy Trinity Square in Budapest.  We got to warm up in the crypt below the …

We take a break from Eastern Europe to return to the U.S. and celebrate Juneteenth, also known as “Freedom Day.”  After Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Virginia, it took another 10 …

Our tour continued back across what was the Iron Curtain into Slovakia’s capital Bratislava.  We did a concert in a community hall nearby in Trnava.  So, get ready to brush …

According to our tour brochure, “Over the years, the greatest classical composers graced Vienna with their presence and compositions.”  And now that includes the Allan Petker Chorale! But we learned …

As we headed west out of Prague, Czechia into the countryside, our tour bus completely took up the narrow roads on our way to an evening concert.  We were wondering …

Moving just 300 miles north and four years back in time, we go from Zagreb, Croatia to Prague, Czechia (or as it was called when we were there, the Czech …

We conclude Consort’s series of black composers to honor and support the Black Lives Matter movement.  We are gratified by the progress that is taking place across the U.S. and the …

Moses Hogan is the most prolific black composer in our series. He has published over 70 arrangements of spirituals, so it is fitting that we include two of his pieces …

Dr. Rosephanye Dunn Powell has been hailed as one of America’s premiere women composers of choral music. Her compositions include sacred and secular works for mixed chorus, women’s chorus, men’s …

Brazeal Dennard was an African-American singer, educator, choral director, and musical arranger. He has been a significant contributor to the preservation and revitalization of the spiritual musical form. His efforts …