Two days before the San Francisco Girls Chorus performed on the West Steps of the U.S. Capitol Building at Barack Obama’s Inauguration, the stunning ensemble elicited several standing ovations Sunday during a one-hour concert at Foxcroft School. The performance was a “thank you” for the school’s generosity for housing and feeding the 49-person entourage for a week.
The concert attracted approximately 325 spectators, including several parents of the choristers from the Bay Area and Virginians from as far away as Norfolk. The eclectic program of 14 piecesincluded four of the six songs the SFGC sang with the San Francisco Boys Chorus on Tuesday, including “America the Beautiful” and “I Hear America Singing.” Classical, folk and recently-commissioned works were also performed. To view videos of several songs from the concert, click here.
The SFGC’s entire tour was a group effort, with Foxcroft playing a large part, by supplying accommodations, food and – when it became apparent just how cold Inauguration Day would be, boots! More than a dozen teachers and students lent singers their Uggs, Bean and assorted warm boots for Tuesday! The Chorus members and adult chaperones stayed in the campus dorms and faculty homes, as well as Foxcroft families’ house for one night, when the campus was also hosting a poetry festival and the Board of Trustees. Many availed themselves of Foxcroft’s Currier Library facilities to keep up with their schoolwork and attended several School activities They all ate at the dining hall and some experienced the sight of snow falling for the first time in their lives.
Foxcroft’s kindness made it possible for the SFGC to participate in the inauguration ceremony. “Without Foxcroft’s generosity we would not have been able to make the trip,” McMane said.
Sunday’s concert consisted of classical, folk and patriotic songs. Much of the music was very challenging, especially for such young voices, but the girls handled David MacIntyre’s intricate “Ave Maria” and two specially commissioned pieces by Augusta Read Thomas of poems by e. e. cummings with assurance and elegance.
The chorus, a highly disciplined and committed group under the direction of Artistic Director and Conductor Susan McMane, brought the house down with its rendition of a traditional spiritual called “So Many Angels!” The number included 17 complicated patterns of hand gestures forming angels’ wings.
“We had a choreographer teach them the movements at our camp last summer,” McMane said. “Some of the girls did not want to do the number because it is very difficult, but I told them it was a crowd-pleaser. As soon as the number was over and the applause began I turned to them and said, ‘you see, it’s a crowd-pleaser.’”
How did the Chorus and Foxcroft come together? When the group was invited to participate back in November, there was only a short time to put together the logistics necessary to make the trip happen. Since they received no money from the inauguration’s entertainment committee the nonprofit organization had to solicit donations. Gap Inc. provided the group with matching sweatshirts, pea coats, scarves and hats. United Airlines came up with a discounted fare, but there still was no place for the girls to stay. Hotel rooms were scarce and those that were available were too expensive. Foxcroft came to the rescue, a happy experience for all involved.
