Sonoma County Bach Choir
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The Sonoma County Bach Choir is a group of 50-60 gifted singers drawn largely from Sonoma County. The Bach Choir specializes in the music of the Baroque period, with special emphasis on Johann Sebastian Bach; members and audiences alike thrill to the constant inventiveness and incredible degree of feeling in Bach's music. Other masters featured include Monteverdi, Schutz, Handel, Hadyn, and Mozart. The group has been on two Italian tours (view a slide show of our 1999 Italian tour), a tour of Mexico, and, in June 2005, a tour of many of the cities in eastern Germany where Bach lived and worked (click "Slideshows" above to view pictures from Germany).
Our programming in recent years has demonstrated both our diversity and our ultimate focus on the works of Bach. In the fall of 2007, we performed the Verdi Requiem with the Santa Rosa Symphony, and in spring 2008, we presented the Bach B Minor Mass, again with the Santa Rosa Symphony.
Our fall 2008 program was a Baroque Christmas celebration featuring the Monteverdi Gloria a 7 Voci, the Charpentier Midnight Mass, and Bach's Cantata 36, Schwingt Freudig Euch Empor. In addition, we joined the Santa Rosa Symphonic Chorale and the Santa Rosa Symphony in December in a performance of Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass. In May 2009, we presented four Bach cantatas: 140, 147, 187, and 196.
Historically the Bach Choir has been affiliated with Sonoma State University and has drawn many members from its student body, staff, and faculty. The Bach Choir now has its own nonprofit status, and starting in the fall of 2010 will be operating independent of the university.
The Bach Choir is auditioned in late summer each year. Any slots which open up mid-year are filled at the beginning of our spring concert preparation period in early February. We rehearse on Wednesday evenings in Rohnert Park from 7:00 to 9:40 p.m.
Our first rehearsal in late August is an open rehearsal in which all interested singers, new and returning, attend and sing through the repertoire. Audition signups happen that evening, and the auditions themselves take place over the following week. The audition consists of four parts: scales and warmups; a prepared piece of your choice (bring a copy if you want to be accompanied); sightsinging of a simple diatonic piece; and pitch memory exercises. The audition results are usually posted on the morning of the second rehearsal.
© 2009 Sonoma County Bach Society. All Rights Reserved.