BARS' June 2012 Concert an Official Event of SF Pride: June 2, 2012, 8pm

San Francisco Conservatory of Music, 50 Oak St at Van Ness, SF 94102 (Map) | Tickets

Conte – Fantasy for Orchestra

Bay Area composer

Milhaud - Scaramouche

David Henderson, saxophone

Mussorgsky - Pictures at an Exhibition

(Ravel orchestration)

This event's post concert reception sponsored by

Barefoot Wine & Bubbly

About David Henderson, saxophone

David Henderson grew up in Hartford City, Indiana, and has degrees from the University of Michigan and the Juilliard School. In 1980 he gave his Carnegie Recital Hall solo debut as a winner of the East and West Artists competition - the New York Times stating, "An exceptionally accomplished instrumentalist with something to say, his work is poised, cultivated and expressive." In 1981 he received a first prize in saxophone from the Conservatoire de Bordeaux as a recipient of a Fulbright-ITT grant to study in France.

Since moving to San Francisco in 1988, he has played regularly with the San Francisco Symphony, including tours, recordings and television broadcasts under maestro Michael Tilson Thomas. He has also toured with the BBC Symphony under Andrew Davis and performed with the New World Symphony, the San Francisco Opera and Ballet, the Bolshoi Ballet and Orchestra, and the St. Petersburg (Russia) Philharmonic. He has appeared as soloist with the Oakland/East Bay Symphony.

In 1989 he joined the San Francisco Saxophone Quartet as tenor saxophonist and keyboard player. Starting out as street musicians in downtown San Francisco, the group was discovered on the street by the president of Angel/EMI records in 1990, and has since recorded many CD's and toured most of the 50 states as well as Japan. In 2006 Mr. Henderson joined the Premiere Saxophone Quartet, artists-in-residence at San Jose State University.

He has worked as a musician at Disney World and Great America theme parks, and played both on and off-Broadway while living in New York, including the original productions of Nunsense and March of the Falsettos.

Mr. Henderson currently teaches saxophone at the University of the Pacific and Stanford University. Summertime activities include the Sun Valley (Idaho) Summer Symphony, the Cabrillo Festival (Santa Cruz), Woodminster Summer Theater (Oakland) and the Mountain Play (Marin County). He and his partner Mike live in Pittsburg, CA.

March 24, 2012, 8pm

San Francisco Conservatory of Music, 50 Oak St at Van Ness, SF 94102 (Map) | Tickets

Piazzola – Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas

Dawn Harms, violin

Brahms – Symphony No. 1

Part of BARS 2012-2015 Brahms Symphony cycle

This event's post concert reception sponsored by

Barefoot Wine & Bubbly

About Dawn Harms, violin

Dawn's diverse career ranges from playing with Fredrica von Stade for a Haiti fundraiser, to playing Take Me Out to the Ballgame at a Giants game and chamber music in Aspen with Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, to playing on her cousin Tom Waits' CD's Alice and Blood Money. A member of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and associate concertmaster of the critically acclaimed New Century Chamber Orchestra, Dawn also performs as co-concertmaster with the Oakland East Bay Symphony. Dawn was chosen to be one of the fellows at the exclusive American Academy of Conducting at the Aspen Music Festival, where she worked with some of the top conductors of the world. She and her partner, Amy Duxbury, co-founded the Music at Kirkwood chamber music festival, soon celebrating it’s seventh season. Dawn currently serves on the music faculty at Stanford University.

In addition to her participation as a 2008 fellowship artist at the American Academy of Conducting in Aspen, recent guest conducting engagements include appearances with the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra, the Livermore-Amador Symphony, and Symphony Parnassus.

Harms, a strong advocate for children's music education, was conductor and music director of the Amarillo Youth Orchestra and continues to design and perform educational concerts throughout the United States. Dawn recently performed her one-woman family show with the Lincoln Symphony, the Oakland Symphony, Berkeley Symphony and the Napa Youth Symphony.

Dawn’s recent solo appearances include Symphony Parnassus in Herbst Theatre in San Francisco, Master Sinfonia Chamber Orchestra, the Folsom Symphony, the Paradise Symphony, the Flagler Symphony in West Palm Beach, Florida, and the Stanford Symphony Orchestra. Dawn was featured in a concert at the Guggenheim Museum premiering works by Jake Heggie and Gordon Getty, where she collaborated with Frederica von Stade, Zheng Cao, Eugenia Zukerman, and Matt Haimowitz. The highlight of this appearance included a once-in-a-lifetime ride in the “Jetty” -- Gordon Getty's private jet.

Dawn has released two solo CD’s, The Black Swan for violin and harp, and her latest CD, The Hot Canary. Learn more about Dawn at dawnharms.com

Eight Is Not Enough: February 26, 2012, 2pm

San Francisco 1st Congregational United Church of Christ, 1300 Polk St @ Bush (Map)

Rainbow Chamber Players, tenor Brian Thorsett, and conductor Jessica Bejarano, will perform:

Beethoven - Octet

Gounod - Petite Symphonie

Various Mozart opera arias

Cost: Free, Voluntary Donations Appreciated, Reception will follow the performance.

Hosted by Cariwyl Hebert of Salon97. No knowledge of classical music is necessary. The listening portion of the event will last about an hour. As always, mixing and mingling will abound. Bring friends and come have fun!

Mr. Thorsett is a graduate of the San Francisco opera's Merola Opera Program and Music Academy of the West and Adjunct Lecturer in Voice and Opera Workshop, Santa Clara University. Jessica Bejarano is Assistant Conductor of BARS. Cariwyl Hebert is the founder of Salon97.

Salon 97 is a community-based organization that makes classical music inclusive, educational — and awesome — for people with an interest in arts and culture, but who find the formal nature of the concert hall intimidating.

Rainbow Chamber Players is made up of member of Bay Area Rainbow Symphony (BARS). BARS is dedicated to increasing visibility and challenging stereotypes of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and (LGBT) composers and instrumentalists, connecting with audiences from all communities.

Public Transportation: MUNI 19, 2, 3, 4, 38, 42, 45, 47, 49

About Brian Thorsett, Tenor: Since taking to the operatic stage in 2001, tenor Brian Thorsett has been seen and heard in over 70 diverse operatic roles, ranging from Monteverdi to Britten, back to Rameau and ahead again to works composed especially for his talents. Highlights from the 2011–13 seasons include the Sailor and Spirit in Dido and Aeneas with Philharmonia Baroque and Mark Morris Dance Company, Britten’s Captain Vere in scenes from Billy Budd, the title character in Rameau’s Pygmalion, and concert version of Mozart’s Magic Flute. He was a participant in Glimmerglass Opera’s Young American Artist program and spent two summers at the Music Academy of the West. In addition to his performing credits, Brian recently has been named Adjunct Lecturer in Voice and Opera Workshop at his alma mater, Santa Clara University.

About Jessica Bejarano: Maestra Bejarano is the Assistant Conductor of the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony. She also serves as Music Director of West County Winds; Assistant Conductor of the Peninsula Symphony; Assistant Conductor, Community Women’s Orchestra, and Artist-In-Residence with LEAP as a music education curriculum developer and teacher.

Maestra Bejarano received her Bachelor of Music from the University of Wyoming; and her Master of Arts in Conducting from the University of California, Davis. In September 2010, Maestra Bejarano was selected to attend a Master class with Maestro Jorma Panula and the Rousse (Bulgarian) National Philharmonic. She has served as Artistic Director of the Sacramento Gay Men’s Chorus; Music Director of VOICES Lesbian Choral Ensemble; and Music Director of GLAM Youth Choir. She has also guest conducted the Beloit Community Orchestra, in Beloit Wisconsin; and the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus www.jessicabejarano.com

About Salon97: Established in 2008, Salon97 is a community-based organization that makes classical music inclusive, educational—and awesome—for people with an interest in arts and culture, but who find the formal nature of the concert hall intimidating. Salon97 hosts monthly events in San Francisco. Please visit www.salon97.org for more information.

About Rainbow Chamber Players and BARS : Rainbow Chamber Players is made up of members of the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony (BARS). BARS is an orchestra dedicated to increasing visibility and challenging stereotypes of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) composers, instrumentalists, and performing artists.

Jan 18, 2012, 7:30PM - Open Rehearsal

Bay Area Rainbow Symphony (BARS) First Open Reading Rehearsal, Wed Jan 18 7:30-10:00 PM

1600 Holloway Ave, Creative Arts Building Room 153, San Francisco State University

To get the year started by making great music together, please join the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony (BARS) for an Open Reading Rehearsal on Wednesday January 18th.  BARS members, and any interested string players, will play through Tchaikovsky:  Symphony #4 (Movements 1 and 4), Wagner:  Rienzi Overture, and another mystery piece.    Double bass and violin players are especially encouraged to join us!   (The wind and percussion parts will be taken by BARS members).

The reading session will be lead by BARS Assistant Conductor, Jessica Bejarano, who is also the Assistant Conductor of the Peninsula Symphony, the Community Women’s Orchestra, and Music Director of West County Winds (see www.jessicabejarano.com for more info).    You will have the opportunity to practice sight reading, to reconnect with old friends, to make new friends, and to find out more about playing with BARS.

November 12, 2011, 8pm

Calvary Presbyterian Church, 2515 Fillmore St at Jackson, SF 94115 (Map) | Tickets

Part of the Calvary ConcertConnect Series benefitting Larkin St Youth Services

Poulenc – Suite Française

Jessica Bejarano, assistant conductor

Poulenc – Organ Concerto

Jonathan Dimmock, organ

Beethoven – Symphony no. 7

About Jonathan Dimmock, organ

Concert organist Jonathan Dimmock is a graduate of Oberlin Conservatory, Yale School of Music and Yale Divinity School, and has held musical posts at Westminster Abbey (Organ Scholar), the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York City, and St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral in Minneapolis. Well-known internationally, he resides in San Francisco where he is the Organist at St. Ignatius Church, Lafayette-Orinda Presbyterian Church, Congregation Sherith Israel, and the San Francisco Symphony. With the San Francisco Symphony, he has had the opportunity to work under the baton of many of the world’s greatest conductors.

Jonathan has an active career as an organ soloist having made numerous solo tours on five continents. He has been interviewed and featured on National Public Radio, Radio France, BBC3, ABC (Australia), MTV2 (Budapest), and SABC (South Africa). His teachers and mentors include Jean Langlais, Naji Hakim, Frédéric Blanc (improvisation), Peter Hallock, Gillian Weir, Haskell Thomson, Thomas Murray, Harald Vogel, J. Clark, Paul Halley, and Simon Preston. A Grammy award winner for his work with the San Francisco Symphony, Jonathan has recorded more than 35 CDs, with labels including Gothic, ReZound, Loft, Arkay, BCI Records, Time-Warner Recordings, and Koch International.

He is co-founder of the highly acclaimed American Bach Soloists, founding director of AVE (Artists’ Vocal Ensemble), and founding President of Art to the Nations - which uses music in international conflict resolution. He is deeply committed to healing our broken world through the beauty of music and talks eagerly on the subjects of spirituality, psychology, aesthetics, and the Arts.

Learn more about Jonathan at jonathandimmock.com

About Jessica Bejarano, assistant conductor

Maestra Jessica Bejarano is honored to serve as the first Assistant Conductor of Bay Area Rainbow Symphony. Maestra Bejarano also serves as Music Director of West County Winds; Assistant Conductor of the Peninsula Symphony; and Artist-In-Residence with LEAP as a music education curriculum developer and teacher.

Maestra Bejarano received her Associates of Fine Arts in Music Education from Casper College; a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from the University of Wyoming; and her Master of Arts in Conducting from the University of California Davis.

Just recently in September 2010, Maestra Bejarano was selected to attend a Master course with Maestro Jorma Panula and the Rousse (Bulgarian) National Philharmonic where she performed works by Edward Elgar and Hector Berlioz in Rousse, Bulgaria.

During the summer of 2007, Maestra Bejarano was selected to attend the International Academy of Advanced Conducting in Saint Petersburg, Russia where she received “Honorable Mention” for her performance with the Classical Symphony Orchestra of Saint Petersburg, Russia. Maestra Bejarano was invited back by the Academy (IAAC) in 2008 to continue her studies and perform in Urbino, Italy. During the same summer, she also attended the International Institute for Conductors in Bacau, Romania and conducted The Philharmonic Orchestra “Mihail Jora” of Bacau in two separate performances.

Maestra Bejarano has served as Artistic Director of the Sacramento Gay Men’s Chorus; Music Director of VOICES Lesbian Choral Ensemble; Music Director of the Davis Summer Symphony; Assistant Conductor with the Community Women’s Orchestra in Oakland; Assistant Conductor of the University of California Davis Symphony Orchestra and Assistant Conductor of the University Chorus and Chamber Singers at the University of California Davis; and Music Director of GLAM Youth Choir. Ms. Bejarano has also guest conducted the Beloit Community Orchestra, in Beloit Wisconsin; the University of Wyoming Symphony Orchestra in Laramie, Wyoming; and the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus of San Francisco.

Learn more about Jessica at jessicabejarano.com

September 10, 2011, 8pm

San Francisco Conservatory of Music, 50 Oak St at Van Ness, SF 94102 (Map) | Tickets

Elgar – Nimrod from Enigma Variations

Jessica Bejarano, assistant conductor

Liebermann – Concerto for Flute, op. 39

David Latulippe, flute

Prokofiev – Romeo and Juliet Suite no. 1

This event's post concert reception sponsored by

Barefoot Wine & Bubbly

About David Latulippe, flute

David Latulippe currently performs with several Bay Area orchestras, including the Peninsula Symphony, Golden Gate Opera, and the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony. He has performed throughout New England as a soloist and in chamber music settings and as a member of the Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra and New Amsterdam Symphony. Internationally, he has performed as soloist in Taiwan, with the AIMS Festival Orchestra in Graz, Austria, and was featured with percussion ensemble for concerts throughout Ireland under the direction of New York Philharmonic percussionist Morris Lang. He has also sung with the Fred Petra Big Band in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, and has toured with the “Three Irish Tenors.”

David holds degrees in music from Ithaca College and Brooklyn College, where he served on the flute faculty and was Concert Director. He was music consultant to director Mike Nichols for his HBO productions of Wit and Angels in America. While living in New York, David was also heard on New York City’s signature public radio station, WNYC, as host for news and classical music programs. He is currently on the announcing staff of public radio station KALW in San Francisco. David can also be heard (and occasionally seen) in various commercials and corporate projects, which have included Bank of America, Radio Shack, Oracle, Yahoo!, and the Sony Halo video game series.

Learn more about David at davidlatulippe.com

33rd Annual PRIDE CONCERT®, June 24th, 2011, 8:00pm

BAY AREA RAINBOW SYMPHONY (BARS) JOINS 33^rd ANNUAL PRIDE CONCERT® PROGRAM & PRODUCTION TEAM

The newest LGBTQ community music group in town, and one of San Francisco’s hottest concert tickets, Bay Area Rainbow Symphony (BARS) joins the performance line-up for the Annual Pride Concert™, making BARS the first string orchestra to perform at the Pride Concert in the event’s 33-year history.

The 33^rd Annual Pride Concert – five pioneering ensembles, one fabulous performance – kicks off pride weekend with music by the world’s first and most recent openly LGBTQ music ensembles performing some of the flashiest music written for chorus, orchestra and wind ensemble.

Playing one night only, the concert features Bay Area Rainbow Symphony, Lesbian/Gay Chorus of San Francisco and San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band, with special guests Golden Gate Men’s Chorus and San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus Ambassadors, emceed by Trauma Flintstone. The program includes an Americana-style tribute to honor the 2011 Pride Theme, “In Pride We Trust,” and the lifting of the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy.

Show starts at 8 pm, Friday, June 24 at Everett Auditorium, 450 Church Street (between 16 ^th & 17^th streets), San Francisco. Tickets are $15-$30. Wheelchair accessible. (800) 595-4TIX, or from the PRIDE CONCERT website.

BARS' 2011 Pride Month Concert™: Saturday, June 4, 2011, 8pm

San Francisco Conservatory of Music, 50 Oak St at Van Ness, SF 94102 (Map) | Tickets

Marquez – Danzon no. 2

Villa-Lobos – Guitar Concerto

Jon Mendle, guitar

Falla – El sombrero de tres picos

(Three Cornered Hat) suite no. 2

Ravel – Bolero

This event's post concert reception sponsored by

Tres Agaves Tequila and Barefoot Wine & Bubbly

About Jon Mendle, guitar

Since making his Carnegie Hall debut at age 19, classical guitarist Jon Mendle is rapidly building a career as a performer, teacher, arranger, and composer.

In August 2010, Jon embarked on a ten concert tour of music festivals in the U.S. with Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble.

In 2005, as a second-year student at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Jon was the only undergraduate selected by audition to perform at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in a concert presented by the Conservatory's guitar department. Jon performed his own transcription of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor, a piece originally written for organ, which Jim Tosone of Guitar Review Magazine called, "...a monumental work, performed with a great deal of poise."

Jon began studying the guitar at the age of 12, and recently finished his graduate studies at the San Francisco Conservatory under the tutelage of renowned guitarist Sergio Assad, earning a Master of Music degree in Classical Guitar Performance.

Based in San Francisco, Jon has performed solo and ensemble works at venues throughout Northern California and Nevada. In 2008, at the Guitar Foundation of America's annual convention, Jon played at Herbst Theater in San Francisco in an ensemble conducted by guitarist David Tanenbaum, in the U.S. premiere of Sergio Assad's "Trois Bresiliens a Saint Paul.” More recently, in 2009, he won the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s biennial Guitar Concerto Competition, playing Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Concerto for Guitar and Small Orchestra. He performed this work with the Conservatory Orchestra in May, 2010.

Jon’s primary instrument is an 11-string Archguitar built in 2007 by Alan Perlman of San Francisco. The Archguitar is a hybrid of the Renaissance and Baroque lutes, 19th century guitar, and modern guitar, making it ideal for a large cross section of early music, as well as certain modern and impressionist works.

Jon received a Bachelor of Music in classical guitar performance in 2007 from the Conservatory, where he studied with Lawrence Ferrara, Marc Teicholz, David Tanenbaum, and Dusan Bogdanovic. His first teacher was Matthew Grasso. He has participated in master classes given by guitarists James Kline, David Russell, Carlos Barbosa-Lima, William Kanengiser, Miroslav Tadic, and lutenist Nigel North. He has also studied the classical music of North India with Ustad Ali Akbar Khan at the Ali Akbar College of Music in San Rafael, Calif., and privately with sarod player Steve Oda. Outside of the classical guitar world, Jon enjoys playing the occasional punk rock show and practicing yoga.

This is Jon's first performance with BARS.

March 26, 2011, 8pm

San Francisco Conservatory of Music, 50 Oak St at Van Ness, SF 94102 (Map) | Tickets

Mozart – Overture to La Clemenza di Tito

Barber – Violin Concerto, op. 14

Bettina Mussumeli, violin

Tchaikovsky – Symphony no. 5 in E minor, op. 64

This event's post concert reception sponsored by

Barefoot Wine & Bubbly

About Bettina Mussumeli, violin

First violinist of the Ives Quartet since 2005, Bettina Mussumeli received her B.A. and M.M. degrees from The Juilliard School. She has studied with Ivan Galamian, Dorothy DeLay and Paul Doktor, as well as chamber music with members of the Juilliard, Guarneri and Cleveland quartets. She has studied with Kato Havas at Oxford, England, focusing on the elimination of tension in violin playing.

After completing her studies at Juilliard, Ms. Mussumeli became co-concertmaster and soloist with the Italian chamber group I Solisti Veneti. She has performed throughout Europe, Australia and the Far East, and made numerous recordings for the Erato, RCA, Tactus and Concerto labels. She has collaborated frequently as guest concertmaster with the Orchestra Toscanini of Parma, Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Orchestra del Teatro di Cagliari and the Orchestra della Fenice.

This is Bettina's second performance with BARS. Bettina lives with her partner Jodi in San Francisco.

A Tenor In Winter: Benefit Concert & World Premiere

January 30, 2011, 5pm

Calvary Presbyterian Church, 2515 Fillmore St at Jackson, SF 94115 (Map)

Tickets: Pay-what-you-can (sliding scale) at the door the evening of the performance

Showcasing music for tenor, strings, and winds by Arthur Bliss, Bohuslav Martinu, Monteverdi, Schubert, and a world-premiere by David Conte, internationally recognized Professor of Composition at SF Conservatory of Music.

The performance features Brian Thorsett, tenor, graduate of SF Opera's Merola Opera Program, who has performed over 50 operatic roles and 60 concert works. Brian is principal tenor at Calvary Presbyterian Church of SF. BARS chamber ensembles join Brian for this event (click here for artist info and bios).

Benefit Concert: All ticket sales and proceeds benefit Larkin Street Youth Services, whose Castro Youth Housing Initiative and services for HIV+ youth serve the LGBTQ community, and BARS Drum Drive for Timpani and Percussion, matched dollar-for-dollar by the Jon Sims Endowment Fund for the Performing Arts.

A free reception with wine and hors d'œuvres will follow the performance. This concert is part of the Calvary Connect Concerts series.

Program: Haydn-String quartet movement; Arthur Bliss-Elegiac Sonnet; Monteverdi-Madrigals; Schubert-5 songs from Winterreise (Winter Journey) transcribed for tenor and woodwind quintet; Schubert-Octet mvt. 6; David Conte-World Premiere piece for Tenor and String Quartet; Bohuslav Martinu-Nonet mvts. 1 and 3

Parking at CPMC Hospital garage (Clay between Fillmore & Webster) | MUNI 3, 22, 24

About Brian Thorsett, tenor

Since taking to the operatic stage in 2001, tenor Brian Thorsett has been seen and heard in over 70 diverse operatic roles, ranging from Monteverdi to Britten, back to Rameau and ahead again to works composed especially for his talents. During the 2010-11 season, he returns to the roles Jupiter and Apollo in Semele, Acis in Acis & Galatea and adds the role of Beppe in I Pagliacci.

As a concert singer Brian fosters a stylistically diversified repertoire of nearly 100 works, which has taken him to concert halls across the US and Europe. Future engagements include Evangelist and soloist in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion and Mass in B Minor, the Seasons and Creation of Haydn, Handel’s Messiah, Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610, Purcell’s Hail, Birght Cecilia, Beethoven’s Christus am Ölberge, Choral Fantasy and Mass in C, Mendelssohn’s Christus, Elijah and Lobgesang (Symphony No. 2), the Requiem of Mozart, Schubert’s Intende Voci Orationis, Psalm 92 and Mass in E-Flat, Finzi’s Dies Natalis, Dvorak’s Stabat Mater, Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn & Strings and a rare performance as Ishmael in Bernard Hermann’s Moby Dick.

An avid recitalist and principal tenor at Calvary Presbyterian Church, Brian will be featured in recitals in San Francisco, San Jose and Half Moon Bay, CA presenting the music of Monteverdi, Grieg, Rossini, Enescu, Coates, Ginastera, Turina, Britten, and premieres of Nicholas Carlozzi. He is a graduate of San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program, Glimmerglass Opera’s Young American Artist program and spent two summers at the Music Academy of the West.

This is Brian's second performance with BARS.

About David Conte, composer

David Conte is currently Professor of Composition and Conductor of the Conservatory Chorus at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He has received commissions from Chanticleer, the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus, the Dayton, Oakland and Stockton Symphonies, the American Guild of Organists, Sonoma City Opera and the Gerbode Foundation. Conte has composed five operas: The Dreamers; The Gift of the Magi; Firebird Motel; and America Tropical; (these last two commissioned by San Francisco theater company Thick Description, for whom Conte has been Composer-In-Residence since 1991); and Famous, based on the book Famous for 15 Minutes - My Years with Andy Warhol by Ultra Violet. He is also the composer of a musical The Passion of Rita St. James produced at the SF Conservatory in 2003. The Gift of the Magi has been produced by the Asheville Lyric Opera, Winnipeg Opera, Muddy River Opera Company, Greenburg American Opera, and Opera South. He has also composed songs for singers Barbara Bonney, Thomas Hampson and Phyllis Bryn-Julson. His work is represented on many commercial CD recordings.

A Fulbright Scholar in Paris with Nadia Boulanger, a Ralph Vaughan Williams Fellow and an Aspen Music Festival Conducting Fellow, Conte earned his Bachelor’s degree from Bowling Green State University, where he studied with Ruth Inglefield and Wallace DePue, and his Master’s and Doctoral degrees from Cornell University where he studied with Karel Husa, Robert Palmer, Steven Stucky and Thomas Sokol. In 1982, Conte worked with Aaron Copland preparing a study of the composer’s sketches. He has taught at Cornell University, Keuka College, Colgate University and Interlochen. With composer Todd Boekelheide, Conte co-wrote the film score for the documentary Ballets Russes, shown at the Sundance and Toronto Film Festivals in 2005, (now available on DVD), and composed the music for the PBS documentary, Orozco: Man of Fire in 2006, shown on the American Masters series in the fall of 2007. His composition The Nine Muses was commissioned by the American Choral Director's Association for their National Convention and was premiered on March 8th, 2007, in Miami. For more info see davidconte.net

Additional BARS Musicians

Thomas Alexander, violin, Russ Bartoli, cello, Clayton Bullock, violin, Hans Brightbill, cello, Michael Cook, piano, David Latulippe, flute, Fred Fox, oboe, Thomas Hill, bassoon, Mark Hodgson, violin, Don Hubert, viola, Jeff Johnson, horn, Gene Nakajima, clarinet, and Steve Willis, bass, led by Jessica Bejarano, conductor.

About Calvary Presbyterian Church

San Francisco's largest Presbyterian church, located in Pacific Heights at the corner of Jackson and Fillmore Streets. Constructed in 1854, its building is on the national registry of historic landmarks. Calvary's music programs include performances from its renowned chancel choir, chamber music and full orchestral performances, professional touring groups from around the world, and Calvary ConcertConnect series. For more info see calvarypresbyterian.org/

November 20, 2010, 8pm

First Unitarian Universalist Church, 1187 Franklin St at Geary, SF 94109 (Map) | Tickets

Pärt – Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten

Britten – Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings, op. 31

Brian Thorsett, tenor

Rachel Harvey, horn

Dvorak – Serenade for Wind Instruments in D minor, Op. 44 (B. 77), Mvt. III

Copland – Appalachian Spring

VIP Wine Reception

After the concert, join a limited number of fans and enjoy lush wine from Barefoot Wine & Bubbly. Proceeds benefit BARS artistic and member programs. VIP reception is 21+ only, proper ID required for admittance.

About Brian Thorsett, tenor

Since taking to the operatic stage in 2001, tenor Brian Thorsett has been seen and heard in over 70 diverse operatic roles, ranging from Monteverdi to Britten, back to Rameau and ahead again to works composed especially for his talents. During the 2010-11 season, he returns to the roles Jupiter and Apollo in Semele, Acis in Acis & Galatea and adds the role of Beppe in I Pagliacci.

As a concert singer Brian fosters a stylistically diversified repertoire of nearly 100 works, which has taken him to concert halls across the US and Europe. Future engagements include Evangelist and soloist in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion and Mass in B Minor, the Seasons and Creation of Haydn, Handel’s Messiah, Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610, Purcell’s Hail, Birght Cecilia, Beethoven’s Christus am Ölberge, Choral Fantasy and Mass in C, Mendelssohn’s Christus, Elijah and Lobgesang (Symphony No. 2), the Requiem of Mozart, Schubert’s Intende Voci Orationis, Psalm 92 and Mass in E-Flat, Finzi’s Dies Natalis, Dvorak’s Stabat Mater, Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn & Strings and a rare performance as Ishmael in Bernard Hermann’s Moby Dick.

An avid recitalist, Brian will be featured in recitals in San Francisco, San Jose and Half Moon Bay, CA presenting the music of Monteverdi, Grieg, Rossini, Enescu, Coates, Ginastera, Turina, Britten, and premieres of Nicholas Carlozzi. He is a graduate of San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program, Glimmerglass Opera’s Young American Artist program and spent two summers at the Music Academy of the West.

A great enthusiast of Benjamin Britten’s music, Brian has extensively performed the composer’s work. He has dedicated multiple recitals entirely to Britten’s songs, including the complete works for tenor and horn. A favorite recital project involved reading from the private letters of Britten and life-long partner, Peter Pears, interwoven with specifically mentioned songs. Concert works range from the large scale War Requiem to the more intimate Canticles and Serenade, which he has performed several times to great acclaim.

During the summer of 2009 he studied and performed the St. Matthew Passion with Masaaki Suzuki (Bach Collegium Japan) at the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme at the Aldeburgh Festival in England. While there Brian was able to conduct research in Britten’s private library and perform on the Snape Maltings stage where many of the composer’s works were premiered.

This is Brian's first performance with BARS.

About Rachel Harvey, horn

Rachel Delevoryas Harvey received a Bachelor of Arts degree from San Jose State University, and was one of only two graduate students to receive a full scholarship to California Institute of the Arts where she was granted the Master of Fine Arts degree in Horn performance. Following graduation, she immediately auditioned for, and won the position of principal horn in a professional Mexico City orchestra where she performed and also served as the music librarian and recruiting manager for 3-1/2 years. In 1985 she was one of the seven founders of The Redwood Symphony (Redwood City, CA), where she served as principal horn, librarian, manager and soloist for 23 years. In 1996 as an expatriate in Tokyo, Japan, she auditioned for, and won the principal horn position in The New Symphony Orchestra (aka Shinkyo) of Tokyo where she performed for two years before returning to the United States.

From 1975 to present, Rachel has participated in more than forty orchestras, chamber workshops and groups, working brass quintets, and and a number of solo engagements. The Britten Serenade, along with Bruckner's Fourth Symphony, were the two works that strongly influenced Rachel to continue with the horn when she was eleven years old. She first performed the Britten Serenade in 1991 with the Redwood Symphony and well-known tenor, Dr. Nile Norton. In 2008, Rachel participated in the very first concert of the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony where she serves as the horn section principal. She has recorded a number of personal CD's: An Afternoon of Chamber Music which featuring the Brahms Horn Trio, a live performance with Rachel's father, Professor Emeritus John Delevoryas on piano, and Ms. Binh Huang, violin. Most recently, she recorded a performance of Dame Ethel Smyth's "Concerto for Horn, Violin, and Orchestra" with the Community Women's Orchestra (CWO).

Rachel also spends free time composing music for horns and brass. She plans a work for full orchestra in the near future. In 2008, Rachel participated in the very first concert of the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony where she serves as the horn section leader.

September 25, 2010, 8pm

San Francisco Conservatory of Music, 50 Oak St at Van Ness, SF 94102 (Map) | Tickets

Tchaikovsky – Piano Concerto no. 1 in B-flat minor, op. 23

Daniel Glover, Piano

Rimsky-Korsakov – Scheherazade, op. 35

VIP Wine Reception

After the concert, join a limited number of fans and enjoy lush wine from Barefoot Wine & Bubbly. Proceeds benefit BARS artistic and member programs. VIP reception is 21+ only, proper ID required for admittance.

About Daniel Glover, piano

Pianist Daniel Glover has been described as “a whirlwind…an incisive, exciting, and apparently tireless player…a natural for hyper-virtuosic challenge.” He has performed in 24 countries throughout South America, Europe, Asia, Canada, the Caribbean, as well as 42 states in the US.

He received his Master’s degree from The Juilliard School. His teachers include Eugene List, Abbey Simon, Jerome Lowenthal, Nancy Bachus and Thomas LaRatta. Mr. Glover has served on the faculties of New York University, University of the Virgin Islands (St. Thomas), University of San Francisco, and Notre Dame de Namur (continues) University.

His extensive repertoire encompasses 60 concerti, and he has recorded eight CDs, which have been broadcast on radio stations in the US, Canada, Germany and Israel.

Daniel Glover resides in San Francisco. This is Daniel's second performance with BARS. Visit Daniel online at danielgloverpianist.com.

Special FREE Concert: Sextets & a Septet

Chamber Music of Dohnanyi, Ireland, & Stravinsky

Saturday, September 18, 2010, 8pm

SF Community Music Center, 544 Capp St at 20th, SF 94110 (Map)

Parking Garage is $15 at Capp and 19th.

Presented by BARS Rainbow Chamber Players, featuring BARS musicians Thomas Alexander, Russ Bartoli, Michael Cook, Tom Hill, Mark Hodgson, Don Hubert, Jeff Johnson & Gene Nakajima

Pre-concert, no host coffee/dinner: Crepe House, 1132 Valencia at 22nd after 6:30pm (Map). Reception immediately following performance.

BARS' 2010 Pride Month Concert™: Saturday, June 19, 2010

San Francisco Conservatory of Music, 50 Oak St at Van Ness, SF 94102 (Map) | Tickets

Milhaud – La création du monde

Gershwin – Rhapsody in Blue

Ruth Butterfield-Winter, piano

Revueltas – Janitzio

Copland – Rodeo

About Ruth Butterfield-Winter, piano
Ruth Butterfield-Winter, pianist, is a native of California. She studied piano with Adolf Baller and John Delevoryas in the San Francisco Bay Area before attending the Curtis Institute.

Ruth is known throughout the San Francisco Bay Area; she has ongoing musical projects with members of the San Francisco Symphony and was recently the guest artist with the San Francisco Bay Area Winds. Ruth has served as orchestral pianist in the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, Monterey Chamber Orchestra and Santa Cruz Symphony. Before returning to California in 1994, Ms. Winter lived in New York City, where she was on the accompanying staff at The Juilliard School of Music and played with the New York Chamber Ensemble.

Ms. Winter is a singing member and accompanist for The Choral Project of San Jose, CA. She has been serving as staff pianist at Advent Lutheran Church, in Morgan Hill, CA since 1999.

March 26-27, 2010, 8pm

The historic first collaboration between BARS and San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus

Friday, March 26, 2010, 8pm
First Unitarian Universalist Church, 1187 Franklin St at Geary, SF 94109 (Map)

Saturday, March 27, 2010, 8pm
San Francisco Conservatory of Music, 50 Oak St at Van Ness, SF 94102 (Map)

Schubert – Overture to Die Zauberharfe (The Magic Harp) in C, D. 644

(Also known as Rosamunde)

Brahms – Alto Rhapsody

Marla Volovna, mezzo-soprano

San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus

Dr. Kathleen McGuire, Artistic Director & Conductor

Sibelius – Symphony no. 2 in D major, Op. 42

About Marla Volovna, mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano, opera director, and voice builder, Marla Volovna made her operatic debut in Besancon, France, as Adalgisa in Bellini’s Norma. She has performed the Verdi Requiem in Paris and Bordeaux, radio broadcasts of Mahler’s Kindertoten Lieder in France, Darius Milhaud’s Return of the Prodigal Son and Mahler’s Lieder eines Fahrenden Gesesllen for the RAI, Italian Radio. Among the roles she has sung in Europe and America are Olga and Filipievna in Tschaikowsky’s Eugene Onegin, Taven in Gounod’s Mireille, Fenena in Verdi’s Nabucco, Astarto in Bononcini’s Astarto, Nancy in Fowtow’s Martha, Baba in Stravinsky’s Rakes’s Progress, the Mother in Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors, Carmen the Witch in Humperdink’s Hansel and Gretel, Elvira in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Adah in Victor Herbert’s Naughty Marietta, and the Second Lady in Mozart’s Magic Flute.

Ms. Volovna frequently directs for the Apollo Opera and received extraordinary acclaim for Carmen, Madame Butterfly, Rigoletto, Dido and Aeneas and, most recently, Amahl and the Night Visitors. Ms. Volovna is a renowned voice teacher who has taught voice at the University level for thirteen years. Her students have repeatedly achieved the highest honors including 1st prize in the Metropolitan Opera Completion for the western region. Ms. Volovna has just returned from Buenos Aires, Argentina where she gave master classes at the School of the Colon Theater and has now opened a voice studio in San Francisco. For more information, visit volovnavocalstudio.com

About San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus
Dr. Kathleen McGuire, Artistic Director & Conductor
Teddy Witherington, Executive Director

Founded in the fall of 1978, San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus was the world’s first chorus to have the word “gay” in its name. The chorus made its first public appearance on the steps of San Francisco City Hall the night Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk were assassinated. Rising to instant acclaim, the chorus embarked upon an inspirational national tour in 1981, which led to the formation of many new gay choruses across the nation and overseas. The Chorus has raised over $400k for other charities and has a current budget of $700k. The full chorus is over 200 members strong and presents a home season of five concert productions. In addition, the SFGMC Ambassadors and small ensembles, The Lollipop Guild and Vocal Minority, support communities around the Bay Area by performing at over 30 events each year. For more information, visit sfgmc.org