December Concert Tickets on Sale Now!
|
|
|
|
Sponsors
|
Special support for our December concerts is provided by the
Robert J. and Doreen D. Marshall Fund for Dramatic Arts and Classical Music of the Orange County Community Foundation.
|
Find Us on Facebook
|
|
|
Affiliations
|
|
|
Greetings!
Welcome to the first electronic issue of Music and Muses, the periodic newsletter of the Orange County Women's Chorus. We are excited to share our new look, here and in our redesigned website, our concert announcements and all of our communications. We've redesigned everything to
provide easier access to all you need to be an ongoing part of our lives. Thank you for your support during our first decade. We look to forward to our next decade together!
Eliza Rubenstein Mary Langsdorf
Artistic Director President, Board of Directors |
|
December 12th & 13th Concerts
Celebrate "The Strangest Moment in History"
The Magnificat is,
as one author puts it, "a hymn of praise by a young woman chosen for perhaps
the strangest moment in history." In other words, it's the moment at which the
Virgin Mary, in Christian tradition, discovers that she will give birth to a
savior. We'll rediscover her words of wonderment, fear and joy through the
wildly different works featured in the December program.
In his mystical setting of the Magnificat, Vaughan Williams casts a solo mezzo-soprano (the
fabulous Deborah Winsor Williams in our performances) as the astonished Mary;
the chorus as the angel delivering the news; and a solo flute (our own Sandy
Hilger) as the Holy Spirit that weaves enigmatically through the work. A new Magnificat setting by Christine Donkin
puts a different spin on the mystical elements of the text, while Z. Randall
Stroope captures the sheer ecstasy of the moment in his piece for soprano solo,
chorus, and four-hand piano.
Joan Szymko, whose "Ave
Maria" was a hit at our 10th anniversary concerts, has created a
new women's-chorus edition of her luscious "My Soul Magnifies the Lord" just
for the OCWC. We'll premiere it on our December concerts. You'll also hear a
stunning work by Los Angeles
composer Paul Chihara, a lively, jazzy setting by Gwyneth Walker, and many
more.
It may seem "strange" to make a whole program of Magnificats, but we're confident that
this is a story worth hearing more than once. Get your tickets, invite your
friends, and prepare to be amazed!
Saturday, December 12, 2009 ● 7:00
p.m.
Newport Harbor Lutheran Church, 798 Dover Drive, Newport Beach
Sunday, December 13, 2009 ● 3:00
p.m.
St. Wilfrid of York Episcopal Church, 18631 Chapel Lane, Huntington Beach
|
|
Introducing the New
OCWC Website
The brand-new OCWC website debuts this month. Go take a look
and let us know what you think! It's now much easier to find concert
information, join the e-mail list, buy a ticket or make a donation.
The
OCWC would like to thank Arts Orange County and the Orange County Community
Foundation for a grant supporting the website's development. Carol Garner
designed the updated look and Tom Lewis served as the website designer.
|
Meet Our 2009-10
Conducting Intern,
Ariel May
For the past five years, the OCWC has invited a
promising young choral conductor from a local university to assist Artistic
Director Eliza Rubenstein as a Conducting Intern. The intern works with the
chorus for an entire year, sharpening her conducting skills and learning about
the inside operations of a non-profit choral organization. Past conducting interns
have come from UC Irvine, CSU Fullerton and Chapman University. After her work
with the OCWC, each woman has gone on to put her choral conducting
skills to use, conducting choirs in schools, churches, synagogues and
communities--and sometimes all of the above!
This year's Conducting Intern, Ariel May, is a senior at
Chapman University's conservatory of music. She was introduced to classical
music and jazz at a young age in a family that valued music (her father was a
jazz bassist). She studied piano, flute and guitar while growing up, but discovered
that choral music was her calling. Her major is music education with an
emphasis in vocal and choral studies. In her first semester at Chapman, she
co-founded the University's premier a cappella group, "Sound Check," serving as
executive officer, arranger and director of music. Ariel is now serving her
second term as President of Chapman's student chapter of the American Choral
Directors' Association. Besides singing in Chapman's renowned University Choir
and University Singers, she also performs with the Chapman Jazz Combo, gives
private voice and piano lessons, and tutors music theory. In 2008 and 2009, she
worked at the Idyllwild Summer Arts Choral Program as an alto section leader
and chorus member. We're thrilled to have her, and excited to introduce her to
you at our December concerts!
|
First-ever Silent Auctions at December concerts!
Donate to our silent auctions, and bring your friends to shop!
Do you love to cook, travel, or sail? Do you have knowledge about
gardening, wine-making, or rock climbing you could share? Perhaps your
business has a service or item you could donate. Tickets to local arts
and cultural events, movies, gift cards for local restaurants and
bottles of wine are always popular. Join the fun today! If you would like to make a
donation to our upcoming silent auctions, please download a silent auction form or email Lisa Claborne, our silent auction chairperson. The deadline to contribute is December 1, 2009. The Orange County Women's Chorus operates under 501(c)(3) non-profit
status. |
Eliza Rubenstein
Joins Full-Time Music Faculty at Orange Coast College
The OCWC's Artistic Director already maintains a busy
teaching and conducting schedule in Southern California...and it just got busier!
Eliza Rubenstein became a full-time member of the music faculty at Orange Coast
College this fall after teaching part-time there last year.
Dr. Ricardo Soto,
Chair of OCC's
Music Department, said, "I have been following Eliza's career for
many years and always loved the sound of her choruses. I had the opportunity to
see her before a concert and I just loved the way she spoke to her singers, the
respect she had for them and for the music. I wanted her at OCC to continue to
build our choral program. Our goal in hiring Eliza was to make Orange Coast
College the first choice for high school students wanting to major in music."
As Director of Choral and Vocal Activities, Eliza
conducts the OCC Chamber Singers and the OCC Chorale, and teaches music theory and
music history. OCC has a strong tradition of choral music and we know Eliza
will continue to build on that strong foundation--benefitting the musical life
of the students, the college, and the community.
|
| Introducing New Board Members
In this and future newsletters, we'll be introducing you to
a few important people who are lending their professional expertise and working
behind the scenes to help the OCWC grow and prosper. We'd like to introduce you
to two community members who joined the OCWC Board in 2008.
Kent Rhodes, Ed.D.
is a core faculty member with Pepperdine's Doctoral Programs in Organizational
Change and Organizational Leadership and MBA programs where he teaches courses
in leadership, applied behavioral science, organizational theory and ethics. He
is an entrepreneur who maintains a successful coaching and consulting practice
for a variety of privately held and family-owned enterprises. He is experienced
in strategic planning with an emphasis in clarification of mission, vision and
cultural influences in organizations and how those factors influence branding
and marketing. Kent has been invaluable in leading the Board's work in strategic
planning and board development.
Eva M. Weiler is
an Associate for the law firm Shook, Hardy & Bacon, LLP. As an associate in
the firm's Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Litigation Division, she works
closely with expert witnesses in hormone therapy litigation and handles many
aspects of discovery and case management in other state and federal
pharmaceutical lawsuits. Eva also coordinates pro bono opportunities for
the Orange County office. She holds a bachelor's degree in philosophy from
Westmont College and her JD from the University of Minnesota Law School. Eva is assisting the OCWC Board in governance
and concert production.
We thank both for contributing their time and professional
expertise for the benefit of the Orange County Women's Chorus!
|
|
|
|
The Orange County Women's Chorus
Eliza Rubenstein, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
1 Mansfield Drive, Irvine, California 92620
(949) 451-8590
www.ocwomenschorus.org
|
|
|
