Local Choir Puts Bluegrass Spin on Spring Concert

[Editor's note: The following was submitted by Viva la Musica.] Viva la Musica Choir and Orchestra presents two performances of its spring program “Blue Skies, Blue Grass” Saturday May 18, at 3 p.m., and Sunday, May 19 at 4 p.m. at Transfiguration Episcopal Church, 3900 Alameda de las Pulgas, San Mateo. Eclectic mix of musical ambition The program features two Masses by living composers: Norwegian native Ola Gjeilo’s Sunrise Mass and American composer Carol Barnett’s The World Beloved: A Bluegrass Mass, both listener-friendly and uplifting. The Sunrise Mass is at once spiritual uplifting and earthily romantic. The peppy Bluegrass Mass combines traditional Latin text with syncopated rhythms, gospel lyrics, and Bluegrass guitar, fiddle, mandolin, banjo, and upright bass. St. Paul’s Suite by Gustav Holst is a set of charming English country dances for string orchestra. The eclectic concert opens with a short Vivaldi antiphonal piece, and the concert is rounded out by Down to the River to Pray and Scott Joplin’s Maple Leaf Rag. “The choir, a true pro-am ensemble, inspires our audiences by its dedication to high performance standards,” says artistic director, Shulamit Hoffmann.  “We have serious and diverse musical ambitions and we perform a wide selection of major classical and modern works, along with high-quality smaller pieces from varied eras and cultures, in a dozen languages.” Performing classics and modern works Every winter and spring, Viva la Musica performs major classical and modern works: Mozart Requiem, Handel Messiah, Schubert Magnificat, the West Coast première of Vivaldi’s third Dixit Dominus, recently discovered by scholars in a royal archive in Saxony.  Major modern repertoire has included Benjamin Britten Ceremony of Carols, Jenkins L’Homme Armée, and the Spanish Misa Criolla (“Creole Mass”) by Ariel Ramírez. Holiday concerts include traditional carols in Latin, Spanish, French, German, Haitian creole, and Catalan. Multicultural offerings have featured traditional South African songs in Swahili and Yoruba and a text by St. Francis of Assisi set to a Caribbean rhythm and accompanied by steel drums. The choir has undertaken tours, international and local, has twice performed at Carnegie Hall, and is often asked to collaborate with sister performing arts organizations, locally and abroad. Always community-minded, Viva la Musica now runs a program whereby disadvantaged seniors gain free admission to Viva concerts. "Come hear why Viva concerts sell out!" “We invite new patrons to our upcoming performances: Come and hear why Viva concerts sell out! We also invite for new singers to join us. Members find the Viva experience enjoyable, educational, and personally uplifting,” says Hoffmann.  Hoffmann is in her eleventh year of teaching at College of San Mateo and is completing a doctoral degree in music education at Columbia University. Information on purchasing Viva concerts tickets and joining the choir is available at www.vivalamusica.org or by calling 650 -281-9663.