San Francisco Girls Chorus perform concert on January 18th

Middleburg got a taste of the upcoming Inaugural festivities without the hassle of fighting the crowds in Washington D.C. The San Francisco Girls Chorus performed on Sunday, January 18, at the Engelhard Activities Building on the School's Middleburg, VA, campus.

SFGC is among a very select group invited to perform at the swearing-in ceremonies on January 20. The 43-voice ensemble of 11- to 18-year-old girls, which will sing with the San Francisco Boys Chorus, will also share the West Front of the Capitol with such illustrious performers as Aretha Franklin, Itzhak Perlman, YoYo Ma, Gabriela Montero, Anthony McGill and conductor John Williams.

The Foxcroft concert is a "thank you" to the School community for helping to make SFGC's trip east possible by hosting the 50+ singers and adults for the six days that they are in the area. "With accommodations and transportation at such a premium due to the huge crowds expected, we might not have been able to make this trip without Foxcroft's generosity," says SFGC Executive Director Melanie Smith. "We are extremely grateful to the School."

How did the San Francisco Girls Chorus, the 56th Presidential Inauguration and Foxcroft come together? As Foxcroft Head of School Mary Louise Leipheimer says, "Small world stories can lead to big world events."

When the invitation to perform at the Inauguration came to the Chorus from the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies in late November, SFGC artistic director Susan McMane happened to be entertaining her brother and sister-in-law, who were visiting from Virginia. And they just happened to be Fred McMane and Cathrine Wolf, coach and communications director, respectively, at Foxcroft.

Wolf and McMane shared the exciting news – and the challenge of arranging transportation, accommodations and food for 50+ individuals during the week of this historic Inauguration with colleagues at Foxcroft and . . . the girls' school reached out to help the girls' chorus

Foxcroft Head of School Mary Louise Leipheimer and the Foxcroft community responded generously, with faculty and local parents offering their homes and students and residential faculty opening their dormitories to the visitors. "We are happy to be of service –'giving back' one of the School's core values," says Leipheimer. " And we are delighted to play a little part in the historic events taking place on January 20."

The most immediate reward for the Foxcroft hosts and their neighbors will be the musical treat of hearing SFGC sing on Sunday. The public is invited to attend the concert but seating is limited. Please call 540.687.4513 so that we may plan appropriately.

Founded in 1978, the SFGC is an internationally-known program of choral music education and performance. More than 300 girls, ages 5-18, from 160 schools in 44 Bay Area cities participate. The organization is comprised of four programs: "Chorissima," the concert, recording, and touring ensemble, an Alumnae Chorus, the four-level Chorus School training program, and a Preparatory Chorus for 5-7 year olds.

Chorissima -- the group that will perform at Foxcroft and the Inauguration -- presents an annual concert series in the Bay Area, tours nationally and internationally, and appears with renowned artistic partners, such as the San Francisco Opera and San Francisco Symphony. Chorissima has taken ten international tours, the most recent of which was in July 2007 when the ensemble represented the United States in the prestigious World Vision Children's Choir Festival in Seoul, Korea, and in the Gateway to Music Festival at the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing.

McMane, SFGC artistic director and conductor of Chorissima and the Alumnae Choir, has a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Choral Conducting from the Conservatory of Music, University of Missouri-Kansas City, and holds degrees in Vocal Performance from Tulane University and from Washington University in St. Louis.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, chairman of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies for President-elect Barack Obama chose the SFGC and SFBC – both of which have won Grammy Awards, because of their talent, embodiment of the American spirit and promise for the future.

"These two organizations provide musical training to hundreds of boys and girls every year and have delighted audiences around the world," Feinstein said. "As a San Franciscan, I am particularly proud that these talented young people will have the opportunity to lend their voices to this historic event."

McMane and her counterpart at the Boys Chorus, Ian Robertson, called the invitation "the highest honor we could imagine."