About
The UC Alumni Chorus shall be a high quality performance chorus representing the Cal community, well-known in the Bay Area, which promotes its members' musical growth and enjoyment.- Mission statement adopted at the June, 1991, annual membership meeting
UCAC has an additional purpose distinguishing it from other singing groups in the Bay Area. It is committed to providing both musical and financial support to the University of California Choral Ensembles. (UCCE is a student-run umbrella organization for several vocal groups on the Berkeley campus, including UCAC.) Musical support is provided through one or two joint concerts annually with the students. In addition, UCAC and its members provide financial support by spearheading fund-raising activities to offset shrinking campus resources, contributing towards much needed equipment replacement and capital improvements.
In the Spring of 1985 two former members of Treble Clef, Alma Toroian Raymond and Ronni Kordell Gravitz, united with Music Director Carol Young to organize a chorus of alumni of Cal student singing groups. They inspired like-minded others who also wanted to rekindle the musical and social associations they had enjoyed as students. Many of those original thirty members are still singing with the UCAC these many years later.
Present Music Director, Mark Sumner, joined us in the Fall of 1997, and we began taking a more active role in our support of the student singing groups of the UC Choral Ensembles. The combined talents of our Director and Accompanist William Garcia Ganz have improved the quality of our chorus and the breadth of our repertoire. Recent highlights include Mozart's Mass in C Minor (the Levin edition), Durufle's Requiem, Walton's Belshazzar's Feast, performed with the UC Wind Ensemble and UC Men's and Women's Chorales, Lauridsen's Midwinter Songs, and Britten's Cantata Misericordium.
UCAC diversified into theater with a 1994 semi-staged production of Gilbert & Sullivan's Trial by Jury, and in 1995 performed in a concert production of Berlioz' Beatrice and Benedict with the acclaimed Berkeley Opera Company. We continue this relationship with Berkeley Opera, most recently performing in their May 2005 concert production of Verdi's Macbeth. In recent spring concerts, we have presented staged radio shows using popular music of the 1930's and 1940's. Our Spring 2001 concert, "Raised on Radio", based on Gerald Nachman's book, played to a sell-out crowd in Zellerbach Playhouse and a reprise to an enthusiastic audience at Rossmoor.
We also enjoy taking our music on the road. A highlight of our first decade was an appearance at EXPO 88 in Brisbane as part of a concert tour of Australia and New Zealand. In July of 1997, with acting music director William Garcia Ganz, we performed Brahms' German Requiem with other choirs in Lichfield Cathedral as part of the Lichfield Festivals. This was the musical highlight of a tour of England, which also included stops in London, York, and Oxford, and a master class with the King's Singers.
UCAC continues to tour around the world including locations such as China and Argentina.
Chorus Officers |
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