Volti
| Volti | |
|---|---|
| Origin | San Francisco, CA, United States |
| Genres | classical, contemporary |
| Years active | 1979-present |
| Website | www.voltisf.org/ |
Volti is a 20-person professional vocal ensemble based in San Francisco. The group was founded by Robert Geary in 1979 as the San Francisco Chamber Singers. Beginning with an all-Bach program, the group quickly moved on to the more contemporary works that have shaped its mission ever since: "to foster and showcase contemporary American music and composers, and to introduce contemporary vocal music from around the world to local audiences." When the group turned 25 in 2003-2004, it changed its name to Volti - a reference to the Italian musical instruction "volti subito" meaning "turn quickly."
Volti regularly performs two to three concert series each season in venues throughout the Bay Area. Volti has appeared at the Switchboard and SoundWave festivals of new music, and has collaborated with many Bay Area new music groups. In addition, Volti sponsors the Choral Arts Laboratory, a commissioning and residency program for American composers under age 35, and the Choral Institute for high school students. In 2009 Volti became the first choir ever to have been awarded the Chorus America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming six times. 2009 also marked the choir's 30th anniversary. Volti has released two CDs on the innova label: "Turn the Page" and "House of Voices." A third, "This is what happened," will be released in January 2017. [1]
Volti's Choral Institute program brings together high school choir singers from around the Bay Area for weekend-long workshops at the CYO-McGucken Center in Occidental. The high school singers work with Volti singers, Volti conductor Robert Geary, and their own conductors to improve upon their choral technique and to prepare pieces for performance as a massed choir. The Choral Institute is offered twice during the school year; once for mixed choirs in October, and once for treble choirs in January. In 2009-10, Volti added a resident composer to the Choral Institute program. Morten Lauridsen worked with the students for the weekend intensive, and returned in May 2010 to play the piano accompaniment to his "Nocturnes" song cycle, sung by the massed choir of 120 voices. Other composers in residence have included [2] Kirke Mechem, [3] Stacy Garrop, Eric Tuan, Melissa Dunphy and LJ White.
Started in 2003, Volti's Choral Arts Laboratory is a commissioning and residency program aimed at composers under 35. Each year, the composer selected for the program takes part in workshops to develop a piece, then works directly with the Volti singers in rehearsal, hearing how the piece sounds and getting feedback the singers. The composer may then consult with Robert Geary (Volti's artistic director) and Mark Winges (Volti's resident composer) throughout the year as they finish perfecting the piece, which is then premiered at a Volti concert during the regular season.
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