The ideal complement for our group is 10-14 singers: 2-3 sopranos, 3-4 altos, 2-4 tenors, and 3-4 basses. We encourage anyone who might be interested in singing with the group to contact us, even if there may not seem to be a vacancy in your part at the moment. Please follow the steps below and chat with the director as soon as possible. You are also invited to attend any of our events and chat informally afterward with the singers and director.
The ensemble normally rehearses about twice a month, usually on Sunday afternoons from 1:30 to 4:30. Our primary rehearsal venue is presently First Congregational Church of Berkeley. Our intention is to find another excellent rehearsal venue in San Francisco and alternate rehearsals between San Francisco and Berkeley.
Since we often sing with one or two persons on a part, we are looking for singers who are both skilled musicians and will live up to their commitments to the group. Singers with the following characteristics will probably be the best fit:
For this ensemble to work and in fairness to the other performers (not to mention audiences) we must all commit to and do the following:
Anyone considering participating in this ensemble should probably read this article by Peter Phillips, founder and director of the Tallis Scholars. While some of the ideas presented in that article are quite the opposite of those underlying our ensemble, others of them are so cogent and directly applicable to our genre and our ensemble, that they could form part of a sort of mission statement for our organization. All of the thoughts in the article are well articulated and worth considering.
There is neither any fee from performers nor any compensation to them. It would be wonderful if the ensemble could evolve into one that could compensate performers; however, that is a very difficult feat to accomplish—no one should quit his or her day job just yet.
The normal steps to join are as follows:
We would encourage you to first go through this web site to make sure that you think the group and its repertoire might be a good fit for you.
Please think through your schedule carefully and let the director know, in your first conversation or email, what activities you have that might limit your availability for rehearsals on Sunday afternoons from 1:30 to 4:30 in Berkeley and in San Francisco. Please include any specific dates, for at least the next six months, on which you have activities planned that could conflict with Sunday afternoon rehearsals.
The events scheduled for this season so far (as of July 29, 2008) are:
If you think you might be interested in joining the group, please email or call the director using the contact information shown in the box to the right of this paragraph. Typically we would talk by phone a time or two before scheduling an audition. The prospective singer would also be welcome to chat with other members of the ensemble to discuss their thoughts and feelings about the group. The goal is that any prospective singer have a very clear idea of what singing with the group involves early in the process.
In most cases, the prospective member and the director would next schedule an informal audition together. Every effort is made to make the audition as painless as possible. The following link provides details about the audition process.
We wouldn't expect a singer to make a commitment to the group, nor would we invite a singer to become a regular member without sitting in on a trial rehearsal. If, after the steps described above, the prospective member and the director believe it might be a good fit, the singer would be invited to participate in one of our rehearsals. If all goes well, the singer would be invited to become a regular member.