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Let's Hear It for the S.F. Boys Chorus

Janos Gereben on February 18, 2014
San Francisco Boys Chorus in San Francisco City Hall
San Francisco Boys Chorus in San Francisco City Hall

Last week's Music News had an item about the San Francisco Girls Chorus, so it seemed only fair to check in with Ian Robertson, who in his spare time from duties as San Francisco Opera's Chorus Director (for 27 years) has been running the San Francisco Boys Chorus since 1996.

Even in the glow and rush of the birth of granddaughter Isabella (to Elaine Robertson, also a prominent figure on the choral scene), Robertson found time to list the many activities of the huge chorus, which has the Grammy award-winning Concert Chorus, the Graduate Chorale, the Hand Bell Program, and the four-level training chorus school, which includes the Preparatory Chorus.

Earlier this month, SFBC appeared at the Friendship Across the Ocean event in the Palace of Fine Arts, singing with some 200 young singers and instrumentalists from China, and now the chorus is getting ready for:

February's choral newcomer, Isabella, daughter of Elaine, daughter of Ian Robertson
February's choral newcomer, Isabella, daughter of Elaine, daughter of Ian Robertson

* Sine Nomine Concert, Feb. 25, St Mark's Lutheran Church, with Cuba's premier a cappella men's chorus, Camerata Vocale Sine Nomine

* Gala & Auction, March 1, St. Regis Hotel

* New chorister auditions, May 31

* Mozart Madness Spring Concert, June 7, Calvary Presbyterian Church

* Oakland Concert, June 14, Cathedral of Christ the Light