Masterworks Chorale is a choral ensemble based in San Mateo, California.
About Masterworks Chorale
Masterworks Chorale is one of the oldest choruses in Northern California. Founded in 1964 by Galen Marshall (born 1934 in Greensburg, Kansas and died December 4, 2014), and currently conducted by Dr. Bryan Baker, the mixed chorus presently consists of 120 members, and performs a wide variety of music from the Renaissance and Baroque to modern masterpieces. Masterworks is a community chorus in the best sense of the word; singers come from all over the Bay Area and vary in age from the 20s to the 80s. Each season the Chorale performs four concert sets and a summer program. The Fall and Spring concerts generally include major choral works in which the chorus is usually accompanied by a professional orchestra and renowned soloists. The December and March concerts are more intimate and give the Chorale a chance to sing shorter pieces, often without accompaniment. Chorale members must pass an audition to join the chorus, and many of the singers have had voice and/or choral training. Each rehearsal starts with 15 to 20 minutes of varied vocal exercises that are used to improve pitch and tone production.
Members of Masterworks Chorale have created a number of extra programs that reach out to the larger community. Outreach activities include Sing Out (for under-served children), Song Partners (for older adults coping with memory loss), Feel the Music (for children in the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community), Paint the Music (for everyone), and Pocket Choir (performing at schools, hospitals, community centers, eldercare facilities, and a variety of community events).
History
Masterworks Chorale was initially called the San Mateo College Community Chorus and performed with an orchestra of students, faculty, and members of the community, either in the Little Theatre or the main gymnasium at the College of San Mateo. During its early years under Galen Marshall the chorus gradually grew in size and started giving concerts throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1972 the group was renamed the Masterworks Chorale and gave its first complete performance of Handel's Messiah that December at St. Bartholomew's Church, San Mateo. In May 1985 it became a self-sufficient non-profit organization.
In the summer of 1982, Masterworks Chorale sang in three performances of Mozart's Requiem during the Midsummer Mozart Festival. The performances were conducted by Calvin E. Simmons (1950–1982); they were one of his last appearances before his tragic death later that year. In September 1984, Masterworks was one of four choirs chosen to participate in four performances of the Eighth Symphony of Gustav Mahler by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra under Edo de Waart in Davies Symphony Hall. Other Northern California concerts have included performances with the San Francisco Opera, San José Symphony, and at the Festival of Masses and the Cabrillo Festival.
One of the most exciting performances took place on December 12, 1988, when Masterworks, Geneva’s Suisse Romande Choir, and the USSR State Academy Russian Choir—all linked by satellite—joined the World Philharmonic Orchestra in Montreal to sing the “Ode to Joy” from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. At the time, this was an unprecedented concert in the musical field, made possible by the latest satellite transmission technologies and the challenge of Françoise Legrand, musical director and co-founder of the World Philharmonic Orchestra, composed of musicians from all over the world. This concert made Beethoven’s dream a reality: to have people around the world sing the “Ode to Joy” at the same time.