20th Anniversary of Golden Gate International Children and Youth Choral Festival

20 CHOIRS FROM 12 COUNTRIES TO PERFORM AND COMPETE 
IN MULTIPLE BAY AREA CONCERTS

PRESENTED BY PIEDMONT EAST BAY CHILDREN’S CHOIR 

JULY 9-14

Oakland, CA, April 5, 2012—More than 600 young vocal artists will convene in the East Bay for the ninth triennial Golden Gate International Children and Youth Choral Festival July 8-14 presented by Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir, Artistic Director Robert Geary has announced. The young singers--who comprise 20 choirs from 12 countries on four continents—will come together to perform individually, compete and sing in a 640-voice combined mega-chorus in the course of a week of public concerts and workshops in venues throughout the Bay Area. The week opens July 9 with a concert featuring all 20 choruses performing individually to give audiences a taste of their virtuosity and versatility. The balance of that week features daily free public concerts and competitions culminating in a Grand Finale Concert featuring the winners of the competitions and all 20 choruses combined to perform collaborative repertoire learned during the Festival week. (EDITOR NOTE: A complete schedule of 2012 Festival concerts may be found at the end of this news release). For more information, visit www.goldengatefestival.org.

 

One of America’s most celebrated gatherings of young singers, the Golden Gate International Children’s and Youth Choral Festival attracts choirs from all over the world to perform, compete, and build international friendship. Founded in 1991, the Golden Gate Festival is sponsored every three years by the Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir in the San Francisco Bay Area. It remains the only opportunity for children’s and youth choirs to meet and compete on an international field in the United States. Since its founding the event has brought nearly 4,000 young musicians in 70 choirs from 22 countries together performing for more than 50,000 audience members from throughout Northern California. 

 

Artistic Director Robert Geary will oversee the 2012 Festival activities, aided by renowned guest conductors Maria Guinand of Venezuela and Stephen Leek of Australia. The two Festival Massed Choirs, Children’s and Youth, will meet and sing together throughout the week. Competitions will take place for choirs and soloists, and all will perform in community concerts. The jury for the Historical, Folk, and Contemporary Choral Competitions will be comprised of Guinand, Leek, along with Wang Jin of China and Judit Hartyanyi of Hungary.

 

Says Festival founder Robert Geary, “The Festival week is an amazing experience and an opportunity to hear extraordinary vocal talent from around the world. Beyond the concert experience and going deeper, when we bring children and youth together from distinctly different cultures, they inherently connect as real people to real people. We sidestep social conditioning and create bridges of understanding that make it difficult to harbor ill will.”

 

Choruses featured this year include:

 

Amoy Flower Phoenix Youth Group - China

Bach Children's Chorus - Ontario, Canada

Barrington Children's Choir - Illinois, USA

Beijing Rainbow Art Performance Troupe - China

Budi Mulia Dua Choir - Indonesia

Choir of E. Mikelladze Central Music School - Georgia

Columbia Children's Choir - Washington, USA

Columbia Vocal Ensemble - Washington, USA

Discovery Choir - Honduras

Fairfield County Children's Choir - Connecticut, USA

Hamburg Kinderchoir Cantemus - Germany

Junior Amabile Singers - Ontario, Canada

Kinder-&-Jugendsingakademie-Graz - Austria

Kalrup Pigekor - Denmark

Mandaluyong Children’s Choir, Philippines

Marin Girls Chorus - California, USA

Partners in Praise Girls Choir - Minnesota, USA

Young Adelaide Voices - Australia

Youth Choir "Kivi" - Lithuania

Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir

 

Competitions

 

Each choir will be adjudicated in folk and historical categories during public performances. Additionally, three optional competitions will be held in contemporary choral, children's vocal solo, and youth vocal Solo categories. An important objective of the Festival is the encouragement of new compositions for children's and youth choirs. Special prizes may be awarded for the best performance of a new composition, within the last two years, as well as for noteworthy conducting. Winners from these competitions will perform in the July 14 Grand Finale Concert.

 

2012 Golden Gate International Children and Youth Choral Festival Schedule

(Chorus scheduled to perform will be announced shortly)

 

Monday, July 9

Opening Concert • 3pm

LDS Interstake Center, Oakland

Tuesday, July 10

Vocal Solo Competition • afternoon

Competition Concert - Folk/Historical, Children • 2pm

First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way, Berkeley

Free admission

Competition Concert - Folk/Historical, Youth • 7pm

First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way, Berkeley

Free admission

Spotlight Concert • 7pm

St. Theresa Church, 30 Mandalay Road, Oakland

Free admission

Spotlight Concert • 7pm

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 114 Montecito Ave, Oakland

Free admission

 

 

Wednesday, July 11

Vocal Solo Competition • afternoon

Competition Concert - Folk/Historical, Children • 2pm

First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way, Berkeley

Free admission

Competition Concert - Folk/Historical, Youth • 7pm

First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way, Berkeley

Free admission

Spotlight Concert • 7pm

Old First Church, 1751 Sacramento St, San Francisco

Admission $17 General, $14 Seniors, $14 Students

http://www.oldfirstconcerts.org/performances/

Spotlight Concert • 7pm

Christ Episcopal Church, 1700 Santa Clara Ave, Alameda

Free admission

 

Thursday, July 12

Competition Concert - Contemporary • afternoon

Competition Concert - Folk/Historical, Youth • 7pm

First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way, Berkeley

Free admission

Spotlight Concert • 7pm

First Presbyterian Church, 2407 Dana Street, Berkeley

Free admission

Spotlight Concert • 7pm

Lafayette Orinda Presbyterian Church, 49 Knox Drive, Lafayette

Free admission

 

Saturday, July 14

Grand Finale Concert • 7pm

Zellerbach Hall, Lower Sproul Plaza, UC Berkeley

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/239294

 

Sunday, July 15

Community Concert at Festival Del Sole • 1pm

Napa Valley Opera House, 1030 Main Street, Napa

Performance at the San Leandro Library • 3pm

San Leandro Library, 300 Estudillo Avenue, San Leandro

 

For more information about the 2012 Festival, visit http://goldengatefestival.org/

MEDIA CONTACT:

Scott Horton Communications

510-735-9200

[email protected]