Category: Past Season

This December, two of the Bay Area’s leading choirs will come together to create a sensational tour de force of seasonal choral music. Voci Women’s Vocal Ensemble and WomenSing, directed by Ofer dal Lal, will present Synergy, a varied program that will include works for double-choir, choir with solo, and other choral combinations. Allow the music to envelop you as you hear these stellar singers create a unity of sound that will be more expressive and affecting than any single part.

End of the Season concert and celebratory gathering of refreshments and community.

Susan Swerdlow, Guest Conductor
Matt Bourne, Accompanist

Voci presented a concert of madrigals and related musical forms from the Renaissance, early Baroque, and 20th century.

• Sing We and Chant It – Thomas Morley
• Beauty Is a Lovely Sweet – Thomas Bateson
• Come, Lovers, Follow Me – Thomas Morley
• What Ails My Darling? – Thomas Morley
• Draw on, Sweet Night – John Wilbye
• Revecy venir du printans – Claude Le Jeune
• Ayez pitié – Juan de Castro
• Il est bel et bon – Pierre Passereau
• La fiera vista – Claudio Monteverdi
• Morte! Que voi? – Maddalena Casulana
• Vagh’e ninfe pastori – Artusi
• Lasciatemi morire – Claudio Monteverdi
• River from Madrigals – Tomislav Zografski
• It Was a Lover and His Lass – Vaughan Williams
• O Mistress Mine original – William Byrd
• Three madrigals – Emma Lou Diemer
  • O Mistress Mine
  • Take O Take these Lips Away
  • Sigh No More, Ladies

Full Program pdf

An Urgent Wish for Our Times

Ofer Dal Lal, Guest Conductor
Matt Bourne, Accompanist

In this concert, through sounds that are not only soothing, but at times provoking, Voci will present a REAL peace – one that may require effort and even sacrifice.

Program

• Dona nobis pacem – Ko Matsushita
• Peace Upon You, Jerusalem (Psalm 122) – Arvo Pärt
• Lo Yilmedu Od Milhama – Sara Shoham
• Sanctus and Benedictus – Krzysztof Penderecki
• Jaakobin pojat (The Sons of Jacob) – Pekka Kostiainen
• Jerusalem – Michael McGlynn
• Adinu – arr. Shireen Abu-Khader & Andre de Quadros
• Pseudo-Yoik Lite – Jaakko Mäntyjärvi
• Truth – Andrea Ramsey
• So Many Angels (from The Spirit of Women) – Gwyneth Walker
• Arise My Love – Joan Szymko

Full Program pdf

Embracing Change and Transformation

Li-Wen Monk, Co-Artistic Director
Edna Yeh, Co-Artistic Director
Matt Bourne, Accompanist

This program explores the changes from one season to the next, as well as transitions such as birth, marriage, leaving and returning home. Voci will also premiere Edna Yeh’s setting of Sara Teasdale’s “Twilight.”

Program

• Deer Song – Craig Hella Johnson
• Flanders Fields – Paul A Aitken
• Four Blake Songs – Karl Korte
  • Pipping Down the Valleys Wild
  • Infant Joy
  • A Cradle Song
  • Spring
• Thinking of my Home – Chen Yi
• Heaven Haven – Samuel Barber
• Pronuba Juno – Orlando Lassus
• The Child with the Starry Crayon – Eleanor Daley
• Twilight (World Premiere – Edna Yeh)
  

Full Program pdf

Join us for a special concert featuring favorites from Johannes Brahms and his dear friends, Robert and Clara Schumann.

Mitchell Covington, Artistic Director
Matt Bourne, Accompanist
Kathy Walrath, Accompanist
Kristin Lloyd, Harpist
Alena Zidlicky, Horn
Kyle Ko, Horn

Program

• In stiller Nacht – (In Peaceful Night) Friedrich Ruperti
• Ave Maria, Op. 12 – Edited by Jean Lunn
• Three Robert Schumann Lieder – Robert Schumann
  • Der Wassermann, Op. 91 (The Waterman)
  • Von dem Rosenbusch (From the Rosebush)
  • Liebesgram (Love’s Sorrow)
• Two Clara Schumann Lieder – Clara Schumann
  • Warum willst du andre fragen? (Why do you ask others?)
  • Sie liebten sich beide (They loved one another)
• Four Songs by Brahms – Johannes Brahms
  • Vier Gesänge (Op. 17)
  • Es tönt ein voller Harfenklang (The rich sound of a harp)
  • Der Gärtner (The Gardner)
  • Gesang aus Fingal (The Maid of Inistore)
• A Collection of Brahms Waltzes – With 4-Hand Piano
  • Walzer, Op. 39, No. 1
  • Wie des Abends schöne Röte (Like a Lovely Sunset)
  • Wohl schön bewandt war es (How Pleasant It Used to Be) – Lezlee Flagg, Soprano Soloist
  • Walzer, Op. 39, No. 2
  • Nein, Geliebter, setze dich (No, My Love, Do Not Sit So Close)
  • Walzer, Op. 39, No. 3
  • Vögelein, durchrauscht die Luft (A little bird rushes through the air)

Full Program pdf

Fall 2022

We Rise! Songs of Overcoming, a watershed concert that explores the themes of courage, hope, healing, acceptance, confidence, resilience, redemption, and kindness.

Mitchell Covington, Artistic Director
Matt Bourne, Accompanist
Jon Weiner, Drums
Tom Elliott, Bass
Suzanne Rublein, Flute

Program

• Lorica – Joan Szymko
• Truth – Andrea Ramsey, Text by Gardenia Bruce
• Now Let Me Fly – Traditional Spiritual, Arranged by Stacey V. Gibbs
• The Dawn is Not Distant – Christine Donkin
• Look! Be: Leap; – Libby Larons, Text by Muriel Rukeyser
• Rise Up – Jake Runestad
• How Can I Keep From Singing – Robert W. Lowry, Arranged by Gwyneth Walker
• Blackbird – Paul McCartney, arranged by Deke Sharon
• Peace, My Heart (Premiere) – Mitchell Covington, text by Ragindrinath Tagore
• Where the Light Begins – Susan LaBarr, Text by Jan Richardson
• This Day! (Premiere) – Mitchell Covington, Text attributed to Kālidāsa
• Stars in Your Bones – Joan Szymko, Text by Alla Renée Bozarth
• Brave – Sara Bareilles and Jack Antonoff, arranged by Audrey Snyder
• Ain’t No Grave Can Hold My Body Down – Traditional Spiritual, Arranged by Paul Caldwell and Sean Ivory

Full Program pdf

Voci sings from the American Songbook

Mitchell Covington, Artistic Director
Matt Bourne, Accompanist
With the West Coast Swing Jazz Trio

Program

• With a Song in my Heart – Richard Rodgers Arr. Kirby Shaw
• Embraceable You – George Gershwin
• Blue Skies – Irving Berlin
• A Day in the Life of a Fool – Luis Bonfa
• Too Darn Hot – Cole Porter, Adapted Edna Yeh
• My Romance – Richard Rogers Arr. Kirby Shaw
• Twisted – Wardell Gray
• What’ll I Do – Irving Berlin
• Get Happy – Harold Arlen
• Sing, Sing, Sing – Louis Prima
• It Don’t mean a thing – Duke Ellington Arr. Mac Huff
• When I Fall in Love – Victor Young Arr. Mitchell Covington
• Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen – Jacob Niles and Solomon Secunda

Full Program (pdf)

Voci Women’s Vocal Ensemble and Artistic Director Mitchell Covington presented a one-hour virtual concert in October 2021. This 1 hour presentation of Best-of-Voci recordings from our archives features some of our favorite pieces over the years as well as interviews with past and present Artistic Directors. You can find the event on our YouTube channel.

Program

• Hymn to the Waters – Holst
•  Ljustfallen – Rehnqvist
•  Rain of Diamonds – Walker
•  Lullaby – Beglarian
•  Rise Up My Love – Daley
•  Duo Seraphim clamabant – Victoria
•  Miserere in D – Hasse
•  Beautiful is the World – Navari
•  Qasida of Breath – Covington
•  On Music and Nature (Henry Purcell) – Calloway
•  Are Women People? (2 of 3 movements) – Yeh
•  Hoj Hura Hoj! – Macha
•  Yome Yome – Ullman
•  Dujnel Idi – Bulgarian folksong
•  Hotaru Koi – Ogura
•  A Ma Lei – Yi
•  Hosanna – Nystedt

Message of Peace: Beloved Seasonal Gems

Celebrating 30 Years of Beautiful Singing

Mitchell Covington, Artistic Director
Edna Yeh, Assistant Conductor
Amy Belles, Piano

Program

• Hodie Apparuit in Israel – Orlando di Lassus
• Wolcum Yole! (Welcome Yule) – Benjamin Britten
• Quem Pastores Laudavere – Arr. John Rutter
• Lullaby – Eve Beglarian
• Herself a Rose, Who Bore the Rose – Eleanor Daley
• Noël des enfants qui n’ont plus de maison – Claude Debussy
• Magnificat from “Magnificat Quarti Toni” – Giovani Pierluigi da Palestrina
• Durme, Durme – Arr. Alice Walker
• Jerusalem – Michael McGlynn
• Regina Coeli from “Magnificat” – Katherine Dienes
• Ma Navu – Joseph Spivak
• The Peace of Wild Things – Joan Szymko
• The Tree of Peace – Gwyneth Walker

Full Program (PDF)

With Jubilate Baroque Orchestra

Dedicated to the brave men, women, and children fighting for freedom around the world.
In memory of Arsinoe Ferry (1966-2020)

Mitchell Covington, Artistic Director
Edna Yeh, Assistant Conductor

Program

• Salve Regina – Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
• Ave Maria – Jacob Arcadelt
• Ave, Regina Coelorum – Giovanni Legrenzi
• Miserere Mei – Johann Adolf Hasse
• Stabat Mater – Giovanni Battista Pergolesi
• Fecit Potentiam (from Magnificat) – Nicola Porpora
• Fiat Pax (from Laetatus Sum) – Nicola Porpora

Full Program (PDF)

Voci Women’s Vocal Ensemble joined the Kensington Symphony Orchestra for a performance of Debussy’s “Nocturnes,” as part of the Orchestra’s “Great Anniversaries” concert, kicking off their 41st performance season. Voci was featured in the 3rd Nocturne, “Sirènes.”   The concert commemorated the anniversaries of three great composers: Leonard Bernstein (birth centennial), Claude Debussy (death centennial) and Edvard Grieg (175th birthday).

Voci was selected to perform at the SheSings2015 Women’s A Cappella Festival Showcase!  The Women’s A Cappella Association (WACA) founded the annual SheSings festival to further the reach of powerful female a cappella singing. The festival features performances by high caliber groups representing a wide range of musical styles, from barbershop, to gospel, to classical tradition (Voci!) to folk.