Artistic Director, Elena Sharkova leads the Cantabile
Youth Singers in their final season programs Where
the Music Takes Us on both June 10 and 12 at Le Petit
Trianon in San Jose.
June 10, 2005 program will feature Cantabile Youth Singers
Preparatory and Intermediate Choirs with a special guest
appearance from our Tour Choir.
June 12, 2005 program will feature Cantabile Youth Singers
Concert and Chamber Choirs and Tour Choir. Repertoire will
focus
on where
music
takes a person, both figuratively and literally.
Maestra Sharkova
feels that “by singing music of different
people and different lands, we feel rhythms, taste languages,
soak in the harmonies and experience many cultures. Music helps
us realize the power and beauty in diversity, connecting us
with each other and the world beyond.”
The focus of these
programs is to educate our young singers and audience that
music is a part of our shared experience
as Americans—it illuminates our history, connects us
in a shared present and helps us to understand each other
for a better future. Experiencing the music produced during
our
country's rich history, as well as the music of world cultures,
helps our youth to see the world with more tolerant and compassionate
hearts and a wider perspective on how their thoughts and
actions affect those around them.
Repertoire for Preparatory
and Intermediate choirs will include
American musical styles, Native American songs, folk tunes
based on nursery rhymes, spirituals and jazz. Concert and
Chamber choirs together are singing 6 numbers, all of which
are from the mass choir repertoire for their
Carnegie Hall tour, June 24-27. These 6 selections cover
a huge territory.
From Baroque England (Purcell) and the echoes of that era
in James Mullholand setting of Mary Queen of Scots' poem
to the
sunny shores of Cuba where they dance pambiche (El Pambiche
Lento). A folk song from Russia is back to back with a new
age arrangement of a Norwegian South Sami people song performed
in the folk style of yoik.
Chamber choir will perform the
exquisite 5 Hebrew Songs by
a young American composer Eric Whitacre. The set is sung
in Hebrew and has unique and intricate Middle Eastern melodies.
The vocal lines are interwoven with melodies of a solo violin.
The
45-member Tour choir will perform a 20 min set in which they
are also preparing for their solo performance at Carnegie
Hall. This exciting and eclectic set will feature a haunting
melody from Carmina Burana, an arrangement of an Argentinian
tango, the soulful spiritual My Lord
what a morning and
a jazz piece that will have your feet tapping! Baroque or
Classical, Jazz or Spiritual, Latin American or European,
these singers
are at home in every style! This is Professor Sharkova’s
first season as Artistic Director, having taken over from
founding director Signe Boyer, who retired
in 2004. “I am delighted to be working with the accomplished,
dedicated, and talented Cantabile singers. It is a great
opportunity to enhance young singers’ lives and share
their talents with appreciative audiences.”
Professor Sharkova
began her career working with children in St. Petersburg,
Russia, and Cantabile has taken her back
to her
musical roots. “Children are a special cosmos of joy,
creativity, talent, and emotion, and I find great rewards
in helping them find their voices within.”
Cantabile
Youth Singers is part of the Cantabile Choral Guild and the
Foothill College Performing Arts Alliance and welcomes
dedicated singers ages 6-18. Auditions are held June 20 and
21 by appointment for fall season and kids are also invited
to join Cantabile’s Summer Music Day Camp August 8-12.
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