In the News: SF Bay Times

Opera Superstar Frederica Von Stade to Sing Street Requiem in Support of Homeless Choir 

reposted from:  http://sfbaytimes.com/opera-superstar-frederica-von-stade-to-sing-street-requiem-in-support-of-homeless-choir/

Famed mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade will join with a mass chorus of singers and chamber orchestra in two California premiere performances of Street Requiem by Australian composers Dr. Kathleen McGuire, Andy Payne, and Dr. Jonathon Welch AM. Other vocal soloists include Blake Quin, Ilyas Iliya and Mark Jackson.

This week, it was also announced that Street Requiem has been selected as a semi-finalist in the professional choral composition division of The American Prize national non-profit competitions in the performing arts. (For more information, see http://theamericanprize.blogspot.com.au/2015/08/composer-semi-finalists-2015-choral.html)

McGuire, who is well known to Bay Area audiences having led the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus and others from 2000 to 2013, will return from Melbourne, Australia, to conduct Street Requiem on Saturday, August 29, at 7:00pm at Old First Presbyterian Church at 1751 Sacramento Street, San Francisco, and on Sunday, August 30, at 2:00pm at the Congregational Church of San Mateo, 225 Tilton
Avenue in San Mateo.

The concert is a benefit for Singers of the Street (SOS), which McGuire founded in 2010. Now led by Ashley Moore and a project of Welcome, SOS is a choir of San Franciscans who have experienced, or are at risk of, homelessness. Its mission is to raise their voices for justice, healing and joy. SOS will open the concert and will also sing with the mass choir in Street Requiem.

“Street Requiem provides a musical opportunity for us to mourn not only the homeless who have passed away, but also our own frustration that there are still so many homeless individuals living in streets and shelters,” said the Rev. Megan Rohrer, Executive Director of Welcome. “Beyond a one of a kind concert experience, audience members can also celebrate that the price of admission enables homeless individuals to heal and express themselves for years to come.”

Composed in 2014, Street Requiem has already received international acclaim. Music critic Wayne Lee Gay (Dallas Magazine) said: “A remarkable, unique and beautiful work…an unfailingly engaging cantata. The religious texts were constantly questioned, but with an effect that produces transformation rather than blasphemy. The audience is never let off the hook: in the final movement, the chorus intones, as if to remind those who observe suffering are as much in need of divine intervention and guidance as those who suffer directly: ‘Given them peace. Give us peace.’”

Street Requiem is a 40-minute multi-movement cantata scored for choirs, soloists, and chamber orchestras. It aims to bring a sense of peace, remembrance, and hope to communities struggling with homelessness, poverty, war, hate-crime and street violence. The work is neither secular nor religious, but is intended to be spiritual and includes English and African lyrics, as well as traditional Latin texts. While at times deeply moving, the work is optimistic and uplifting, and employs Gospel, Celtic, neo-Romantic, neo-Baroque, and contemporary compositional styles and instrumentation to reflect the multicultural and multi-faith traditions of modern city living.

McGuire said, “Street Requiem provides an opportunity to mourn those we’ve lost—often ‘nameless’ on our streets—and to protest the tragic injustices we witness every day. These are global issues, but we can each make a difference, one by one. Ms. von Stade’s generous participation is a testament to the importance of this project and the wider cause.”

Ms. von Stade will be joined on stage by a mass choir including singers from The Choral Project (San Jose), the Chancel Choir of the Congregational Church of San Mateo, singers from CREDO (Dallas, Texas, who performed the U.S. premiere in January), and Singers of the Street (San Francisco). Accompaniment will be provided by members of the Community Women’s Orchestra, and Carl Pantle will play piano.

Rehearsals led by Stephanie Lynne Smith, Grace Renaud, Daniel Hughes, Dana Sadava, Dr. Jonathan Palant and Carl Pantle are currently underway in San Francisco and San Mateo; singers wishing to participate should visit: trybooking.com/IEJK

Tickets for Street Requiem range from $15–$50 and are available online at http://streetrequiem.blogspot.com/p/tickets.html or by calling (415) 731-1305. All proceeds benefit Singers of the Street.

It’s Time for Night Ministry’s Spring Concert!

It’s time for one of the best events of the year! All of Night Ministry’s fund raisers rock, but your loyal Minster of Volunteers looks forward to the Spring Concert the most.  It often is the best show I go to all year and I go to some really good shows.  Last year we had a wonderful assortment of performers that had the audience captivated. Gryphons Wild blessed us with an assortment of medieval tunes including one about a miracle involving Mother Mary and a lost pork chop.  Where else are you going to find that?  There were plenty of songs to laugh at but Joey McGuire also had the whole crowd in tears with one of his songs.  And there’s the campaign and chocolate intermission of course. 

Get your tickets now for this year’s concert so you won’t miss out on all the great acts we have this year.  As usual we are blessed with the talents of many fine performers you won’t want to miss.

The music is priceless, and the intermission alone is worth the ticket price of $20 ($10 for seniors and students).  You can get them at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/343347

Tickets will also be available for $25 at the door.

Don’t miss this wonderful event!

Our Newest Project

Welcome has partnered with St. Francis Lutheran to help run their Sunday morning meal and the Senior Center on Wednesdays.

The Sunday Breakfast got its start fifteen years ago when St. Francis began serving coffee to their neighbors who live outside.  Soon doughnuts were added to the offering.  Over the years it became a full meal.  Most of the food is donated so St. Francis keeps its cost low.  The meal now feeds between 80 to 130 of their homeless and marginally housed neighbors, including families and children, each week. 

The Senior Center draws a dedicated group of seniors who enjoy visiting with each other, sharing lunch, and a game or other activity.  There is also a program that varies week by week, including such cool acts as a troupe of women in the 80’s who come and do dance routines, ballroom dancers, and a singer who gives pop quizzes on Judy Garland trivia.  The occasional motivational speaker visits as well.

We are delighted, as always, for another opportunity to feed people’s bodies and souls.  One of the things we’re trading to St. Francis for the opportunity to work with them is our promise to recruit some additional volunteers.

 We have quite a variety of tasks and shifts available:

 

Food to Sort

 On Saturday we need folks to:

• Receive food donations from 9:00am - 1:00pm
• Help do prep work for the Sunday morning meal, such as setting up, arranging flowers etc.
• Deliver food to other programs when we have more than we’ll need for Sunday.

On Sunday we need folks to:

• 5:00am - 7:00am: do morning kitchen support such as assisting the cook in preparing the meal for the day, and helping set up dessert trays
• 7:00am - 8:30am: serve coffee to our guests
• 7:00am - 8:30am: serve food to our guests
• 7:00am - 8:30am: do food pantry support such as help give away food pantry items and clothing to guests at the meal
• 8:00am -9:30am: help clean up such as help pick up trash around the neighborhood, do dishes, take out trash, clean toilets
• 9:00am -12:30pm: do guest support such as help support and de-escalate individuals with mental health, addiction, or hunger issues who are interested in attending Sunday morning services

For the Senior Center on Wednesdays we need folks to:

• 10am-2pm: do elder care and nursing support such as helping seniors in need of mobility assistance, answer questions about health questions and providing blood pressure readings for participants
• 10:00am -1:00pm: assist the cook in preparing the meal for the day
• 1:00pm -2:00pm: help pick up trash around the neighborhood, do dishes, take out trash, clean toilets

If any of these tasks sound like something you’re called to, let our Minister of Volunteers, Valerie, know either at 415-673-3572 or sfcares@welcomeministry.org and she’ll give you all the details and get you scheduled.

Thankful For All Of You

I have a practice of writing at least one thing that I am grateful for each day in my journal each day.  With Thanksgiving coming up day after tomorrow, I'd like to share some SF CARES specific gratitude with you all.

Today I am greatful for all the volunteers that have allowed SF CARES and all our collaborators to do our work this year.  I’m grateful for the forty some odd folks who have served as Crises Line Counselors for the Night Ministry, taking calls from the lonely and the desperate every single night of the year.  I’m grateful for the churches that make lunch to serve after Open Cathedral.  I’m grateful for the many many folks who’ve come out to the Free Farm to plant, water, weed, harvest, and fertilize and especially to the dedicated core group who make lunch for each Wednesday and Saturday workday.  I’m grateful to the many churches and volunteer groups who have come to Old First Presbyterian on a second or fourth Saturday to set up, serve, and clean up after the Community Dinner we feed to 200-300 people on those nights and especially grateful for those who come early to bring ingredients and cook the meal.  (One dedicated pair cooks every single second Saturday and we have several groups who trade off to cover most fourth Saturdays.)  I’m grateful, too, for the folks who come each week to serve the smaller Tuesday afternoon meal and chat with our guests.  I’m grateful for the groups who buy groceries and cook for the Friendship Banquet we serve to folks living with HIV and AIDS each Tuesday.  I’m grateful for all the folks who have come out for a street retreat, or one of the many other opportunities to learn offered by the Faithful Fools.  I am grateful for all of the wonderful donors to all of our collaborators and the few SF CARES itself has attracted that, along with our volunteers, allow us to continue our work.  I’m grateful for all the socks and blankets and toiletries we’ve been able to hand out because so many good folks donated them to us.

 

We can always use funds and volunteers for all of our programs,(not to mention socks), but today I’m not going to ask you for anything.  Today I just want to say, ‘THANK YOU!’  and wish you all a blessed Thanksgiving.  May you each have much to be grateful for in the coming year.

Advice from the homeless guy in front of your church: Episode 1

What if all the homeless individuals who slept in front of churches got their own pulpit. The priesthood of all believers suggests that we should take the time to listen. Here is the first episode:

2 Videos Featuring Mikey

This week i interviewed Welcome volunteer, Mikey. Here are two of the videos that were created from that interview.

Faith = Action is a series of videos where individuals and groups talk about how their faith compels them to respond to poverty and hunger issues. Hopefully the videos will encourage you to put your faith into action or to speak out about the great work you already do. Here is Mikey's response. Notice that getting involved volunteering as a child made him more willing to act on his faith as an adult.


3 Lenses on Mental Health is a series about common mental health issues that are found in increased number among those living In poverty or who experience hunger. The videos will feature the views of psychologists, pastors and individuals who are homeless or formerly homeless speaking about how their condition made it difficult to get off the streets. The goal of this project is to increase awareness and is not intended to diagnose or inform you how to treat mental health issues. Please consult credentialed professional support for that. For emergencies, call 911.

Location:San Francisco