San Jose Symphonic Choir

Dear Friends:

It is my pleasure to introduce the 83rd season of the enormously popular San Jose Symphonic Choir of which I am honored to be its director. This season promises to be very exciting as we explore together a broad spectrum of varied repertoire including the rarely performed Christmas cantata, HODIE, by Ralph Vaughan Williams. We will be joined for this concert by the Menlo High School Choir directed by Linda Jordan.

The Choir completed a successful tour of California this summer, performing at many of California's Mission Churches as we joined the nuance of the past roots of California with music performed today by California's brightest and best composers, including Henry Mollicone and Morten Lauridsen. One of the pieces by San Jose composer, Dale Victorine, was an arrangement of a Chumash Indian wailing song. As we sang the piece in the candlelit sanctuary of the Mission Church in Lompoc, the spirit of the Chumash was evoked and felt by the standing-room-only crowd the original inhabitants of that region and at that Mission were in fact Chumash. We all felt it and have been talking about it ever since. Such is the joy and privilege of choral societies, experiencing so much richness that transcends music alone. You are welcome to join this experience as an audience member, or as a future singer in the choir. Check out membership and audition requirements elsewhere on our web site.

Besides the Vaughan Williams concert on November 24 at St. Joseph's Cathedral, we are continuing a twenty-seven year tradition with the *You Sing It Messiah* at the
California Theater in December, two performances of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the Winchester Symphony in March, and a reprise of the time-eternal masterpiece that we have made famous nationally, The Beatitude Mass by Henry Mollicone, two performances in April. In May we celebrate a concert of *Opera Choruses* with the Mission Chamber Orchestra. We are also proud to serve the community's children by presenting to them portions of Opera Choruses at the City of San Jose's City Hall Rotunda, also with the Mission Chamber Orchestra. For many San Jose children, this will be their first exposure to art music and opera.

During the month of December, the choir will join folk singing legend, Glenn Yarbrough, in a memorable concert called "The Forgotten Carols." Tickets and information are available by navigating to other information points on this web site.

As you can see from our concert schedule this season, we have an extremely diverse and fascinating slate of works planned, beginning November 24 at St. Joseph Cathedral Basilica, and culminating May 4, 2008 with the Opera Choruses concert in Campbell. (See Events)

So please review the list of concert repertoire and dates, and then join us to experience the very special camaraderie and artistry displayed by the city's premiere choral group, The San Jose Symphonic Choir. You will not want to miss a moment of it!

Sincerely,
Leroy Kromm

Here is a brief reference to events and concerts we have recently performed; please read on........

Mozart Requiem at St. Josephs commemorating 9-11........
Sacred Mosaic concert of familiar sacred gems with instrumentalists from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.........
The "You Sing it Messiah" at California Theater..........
The impromptu Christmas program at San Jose's Le Petit Trianon with the
Vivace Choir..........
The enormous success of preparing Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky
in Russian with the Peninsula Symphony...........
Four superb performances of the German Requiem in Salinas,
Carmel, and San Jose with the Monterey Symphony...........
The important outreach children's concert at the City Hall
Rotunda............
The NACUSA (National Association of Composers) event in mid-June at the Palo Alto's Art Museum, performing all new music by local composers...........
The Mission Choir Tour through California's historic Mission churches in July............

Leroy Kromm is one of the country's most versatile musicians bringing a broad range of experience to his conducting, singing and teaching. He is Professor of Voice and Co-Chair of the voice department at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music as well as the Music Director of the San Jose Symphonic Choir and the Monterey Symphony Chorus.

Since 1985, he has conducted most of the major choral works with orchestra, and has led concert tours to Spain, France, England, and Scotland. In June 1999, he led the Choir to Alaska to perform Verdi's Requiem for the Festival of Music in Anchorage. He toured New Zealand and Australia (2001) and Italy (2003) for a dramatic Cathedral tour with chorus and orchestra, and recently Scandinavia and Russia (summer of 2005).