JUNE 18 AT DAVIES SYMPHONY HALL
Tickets are on sale now at sfsymphony.org
(SAN FRANCISCO, CA, May 13, 2024)—On June 18, at 7:30 PM, The San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus (SFGMC) presents their exciting contribution to Pride Month: “All We Need is Love.” This uplifting two-act concert with the San Francisco Symphony is a testament to love’s unending capacity to inspire and unite. Led by Artistic Director Jacob Stensberg, the concert will feature bass-baritone soloist Enrico Lagasca. Members of San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Company (BATCO) will also appear, with the 280-member Chorus, in “I, Too, Sing America”, from BATCO’s award-winning production of the same name.
SFGMC’s appearance, as part of the San Francisco Symphony’s Summer Concert Series marks their third annual collaboration, following two sold-out engagements with the San Francisco Symphony since 2022.
Tickets are currently on sale at sfsymphony.org.
This one-night only concert will showcase the full musical range of SFGMC by performing classical standards like Ralph Vaughan Williams’s “Five Mystical Songs”, featuring Mr. Lagasca, San Francisco composer David Conte’s “Elegy for the Matthew”, a newly arranged setting for Michael Tilson Thomas’s “I Like to Learn”, a new commission for chorus and orchestra by Dominick DiOrio and contemporary selections including Cyndi Lauper’s “True Colors” and Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Cut to the Feeling.”
“When conceiving this concert, I knew we would be performing again with the spectacular San Francisco Symphony, but for both acts for the first time,” revealed Jacob Stensberg, SFGMC’s Artistic Director. “Having them harmonize with the Chorus in June, the heart of Pride Month, I aimed to select music embodying the essence of what the Chorus stands for: music, activism, pride and community."
SFGMC CEO Chris Verdugo added, “‘Love’ epitomizes everything we are about this Pride month and always. While Jake has curated an astonishing evening of traditional love songs, once again he raises the bar by expanding our repertoire to delve into the multifaceted nature of love, recognizing its unparalleled potency."
About SFGMC
Founded in 1978, SFGMC sparked a nationwide LGBTQ choral movement after its first public performance at a vigil on the steps of City Hall following the assassinations of Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone. Since then, SFGMC has been embedded in the fabric of San Francisco. It has soothed souls in pain, lifted spirits in triumph, and has remained a steadfast beacon of hope.
Under the leadership of Chief Executive Officer Chris Verdugo and Artistic Director Jacob Stensberg, SFGMC has established a heightened level of performance standards bringing renewed audience and choral industry acclaim. Recent touring schedules, recordings, and outreach programs have broadened its impact and reputation in the community while maintaining its signature blend of humor, personality and ground-breaking performances. In 2019, SFGMC acquired a historic facility that has become its permanent home for rehearsals and offices. The building also serves as The Chan National Queer Arts Center, the first-ever community space for LGBTQ artists and arts organizations.
About Jacob Stensberg
Jacob Stensberg is the conductor and artistic director of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus and the recently-opened Chan National Queer Arts Center. As conductor, Stensberg has led the Chorus in sold-out performances with the San Francisco Symphony and in world-class venues like The Green Music Center (Sonoma) and Zellerbach Hall (as part of the Cal Performances series), Grace Cathedral and more. The Chorus’s recent purchase and renovation of their building, The Chan National Queer Arts Center, has allowed the Chorus to expand their programming and Stensberg has produced and conducted numerous cabarets, community sing-alongs and a four-part spoken word series since the building was inaugurated in December 2023. Following their engagement with the San Francisco Symphony, Stensberg will lead SFGMC in a 2024 tour of the Midwest, with stops in Omaha, Cedar Rapids and Des Moines, followed by the keynote performance at the GALA Choral Festival in Minneapolis this summer.
Prior to his appointment with SFGMC, he was the assistant director for Purdue Musical Organizations at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. While at Purdue, Mr. Stensberg worked with more than 300 students in eight different ensembles, performing in annual traditions like the Purdue Christmas Show, as well as writing and performing custom music for special events like NASA’s 50th anniversary of the moon landing in 2019.
In addition to his work at Purdue, Mr. Stensberg enjoyed working with Butler University choirs and orchestras, Indianapolis Symphonic Choir, Circle City Chamber Choir, Booth Tarkington Civic Theater, Zach&Zack Productions, BOBDIREX, Eclectic Pond Theatre Company, and Civic Theater of Lafayette.
Mr. Stensberg received his formal and formative training from Kristina Boerger at Carroll University in Waukesha, Wisconsin, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in music education. He earned his master’s degree in conducting from Butler University where he studied with Eric Stark.
About Enrico LaGasca
Filipino-American bass-baritone Enrico Lagasca has traveled long musical distances in the short time since he began his career – comprising 16 oratorios, 17 new-music works, seven opera roles plus 13 song cycles and collections. Heard on four Grammy Award-nominated recordings, Enrico is both a solo and ensemble singer in settings as diverse as New York’s mission-specific TENET Vocal Artists and major orchestras under conductors such as Riccardo Muti, Zubin Mehta, Pablo Heras-Casado, Nicholas McGegan, Jane Glover, John Butt, John Nelson, Matthew Halls and Carl St. Clair. Soloist highlights of his current season include Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass
with Voices of Ascension in New York, Handel's Messiah at Ann Arbor's University Musical Society and at Carnegie Hall with Musica Sacra, Bach's Christmas Oratorio at Washington Bach Consort, and Mendelssohn's Walpurgisnacht with the St. Louis Symphony and Craig Johnson's Considering Matthew Shepard - the latter reflecting Enrico’s particular interest in works that address the LGBTQ+ community. He is a member of the Kaleidoscope Vocal Ensemble, which is dedicated to diversity and social justice.
HeisagraduateofNewYork'sMannesCollegeofMusicandlivesinNew York City with his domestic partner of several years.
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