The Season Of Sound Schedule Of Performances

On the weekend of December 16 & 17, the Exploratorium is a cavalcade of auditory and musical delights. From the folksy to the flamboyant, these performances showcase a rich array of cultural traditions and unusual sound makers in the Bay Area, offered in celebration of the holidays and in conjunction with Listen: Making Sense of Sound, a major new exhibition now on view.

The schedule of weekend performances is as follows:

Saturday, December 16, 2006: True Harmonic Equation of the Oakland Youth Chorus, Noon
Take flight on the vocal sonorities of True Harmonic Equation (T.H.E.), the a cappella troupe of the Oakland Youth Chorus. Hum along to contemporary African and Kwanzaa songs, as well as other holiday tunes steeped in a diversity of cultures and religions. Spirituals, as well as classical and pop music, round out the musical offerings of this young, auditioned signers ensemble.

Born to Drone is a women's vocal ensemble specializing in folk music from the Balkan region and beyond. Their main focus is Bulgaria, but they also sing music from former Yugoslavia (Serbia, Croatia, Macedonia, Bosnia, Slovenia), Albania, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Georgia, Israel, Latvia, Romania, and Russia. Their repertoire comes from ethnographic field recordings, professional recordings made by Eastern European folk artists and ensembles, as well as material presented at workshops and Balkan music camps in the United States. Most of their music is sung a cappella, while some pieces are accompanied by musicians playing traditional instruments. The drone in their name refers to a traditional Eastern European method of diaphonic singing, in which a lead singer sings the melody while the others sustain a single tone, or drone note, creating an effect much like that of a bagpipe.

The Ringmasters of the San Francisco Bay is an internationally renowned group. They perform local concerts and are the premier handbell group of the Golden Gate Boys Choir. The Ringmasters are most known for wowing their audiences with their delightful interpretations of upbeat classics such as "The Stars and Stripes Forever." Under the direction of maestro Steven Meyer, the group is composed of eleven young men ranging in age from middle school to high school students. In this group, these young men acquire the necessary skills in theory and musicianship to become successful performers.

Sunday, December 17, 2006: Ohlone Tuba Ensemble, Noon. The Ohlone College Tuba Ensemble, under the baton of Tony Clements, is an ensemble comprised of instruments of the tuba family, including baritone, euphonium, bass and contra bass tubas. They perform selections from standard tuba ensemble repertoire and transcriptions from all styles of music. Members of the ensemble are often featured as soloists.

Tune up your ear and get ready to experience the power and passion of live opera as tenor Will Hart Meyer and Mezzo-Soprano Kathleen Moss perform well-known classics from contemporary and classic operas like Carmen, La Traviata, and The Merry Widow.

Melody of China (MOC), a Chinese music ensemble, journeys through the musical landscapes of China. Listen for the clomp and clatter of galloping hoofs in one of their Mongolian folk songs, called "The Horse Race." The trio will perform from their repertoire of musical forms that combine the traditional and contemporary. Hong Wang is a multi-instrumentalist; Yangqin Zhao specializes in the yangqin (hammered dulcimer) and Xian Lu's expertise is with the dizi (bamboo flute) and other wind instruments. The award-winning, Bay Area-based ensemble performs regularly throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and Australia. Melody of China's extensive repertoire includes folk songs, opera, instrumentals, as well as classical, festival, and contemporary music. They also celebrate the musical heritage of Chinese ethnic minorities, concentrated in the far western and northern edges of the mainland.

By www.exploratorium.edu