Pacifica Choirs Programs
Goals
- Present 3 or more choral concerts each year
- Explore quality choral arrangements of sacred & secular music spanning several centuries
- Teach children music literacy
Weekly rehearsals are held for each of 4 auditioned groups. The groups meet from September through May or June every year. Ear-training starts with the very youngest children, using the principles of music education based on the methods of Zoltán Kodály. Teachers all have post-baccalaureate experience with the Kodály methods, or are required to become engaged in that learning process within a year of joining the choir. A written theory program begins in the third grade.
Pacifica has focused on world folk music and has sung with Gamelan Pacifica, an Indonesian orchestra in residence at Cornish College of the Arts, performed with Mary Sherhart and Dave Clelland on music of Eastern Europe, and with Eduardo Mendonca on the music of Brazil. We have touched on music from many other regions of the world, including France, Italy, Germany, Israel, Hawai'i, French-Canada, England, Spain, Africa, and Mexico.
Pacifica begins a focus in middle school of music of the classical masters, including 20th and 21st century composers. Pacifica has commissioned several new choral works from many local northwest composers.
Recent Successes and Current Challenges
Pacifica Chamber Singers sang with the combined choirs of the Edmonds and Northlake Unitarian Universalist Churches on March 1, 2013, presenting 2 movements from "Mass" by Steve Dobrogasz, Wana Baraka and Swingin' with the Saints. The Chamber Singers also sang 2 pieces by Sid Rabinovitch from "Canciones Por Las Americas" to an extremely appreciative audience. We were delighted that the most used comment from listeners was "stunning". We're eager to present the Dobrogasz again in March and the Rabinovitch pieces in June, 2013, at the Maple Leaf Lutheran Church.
We added one more of of Poulenc's 4 Christmas Motets to our repertoire in winter of 2012 with the addition of "O Magnum Mysterium" and plan to add the final one "Hodie Christus Natus Est" in the Winter of 2013.
In Winter of 2013, we plan to present Benjamin Britten's "Ceremony of Carols" with harp accompaniment. We are hoping to raise the funds to pay the harpist for this production.