A season of exciting new ventures
Dear SGC community,
As we near the close of our 2024-2025 choir season, we’d like to share some reflections on the year with you and highlight some standout accomplishments!
We are so proud of the enthusiasm, commitment, and progress we’ve seen among our 230 choristers this year, made possible by the investments that families, volunteers, SGC donors and supporters, and our talented faculty of conductors, accompanists, theory instructors, teaching assistants, and vocal coaches have made in their growth. Every member of our community helps advance our mission to provide high-quality music education and a place for choristers to belong.
Season Highlights
There were many bright spots in our season this year, but here are a few standouts:
During the holiday season, SGC choirs performed at over a dozen events:
- Prime Voci put on two performances of Carmina Angelorum, sang at seven performances of The Nutcracker at Pacific Northwest Ballet, and performed for residents of Horizon House. A few members of Prime Voci also performed on New Day Northwest at King 5.
- Sorella performed on Argosy Cruises’ Christmas Ships, at the Ballard Farmers Market, and at an SGC family holiday party.
- Cantamus put on the Tidings of Joy concert at St. Dunstan’s.
- Allegra and Cantamus performed a re-imaged Readings & Carols with the Byrd Ensemble, covered in the Seattle Times!
- Entrata and Allegra performed at Holiday in the Park
- Vivissimi performed at the Providence O’ Christmas Trees Gala
- Dolcine presented a combined winter recital
- Piccolini put on two winter recitals – for many, this was their first choir performance ever!
- Seven SGC choirs performed at Gift of Song
SGC strengthened and expanded our community connections through collaborations with Music of Remembrance and Northwest Boychoir, Seattle Pro Musica, the Byrd Ensemble, Masterworks Choral Ensemble, workshops with members of local Balkan folk choir Dunava, and new performance opportunities at the Skyline and Northaven retirement communities.
Cantamus and Allegra participated in the Youth Choir Festival NW at the University of Puget Sound this spring, performing alongside ten other local choirs with guest conductor Robyn Lana.
Prime Voci recorded an album! Unsung Voices: 1,000 years of women composers features choral music written exclusively by women dating as far back as the 12th century through the modern day, including several local Pacific Northwest composers and a new commission by Joan Szymko. It’s been over a decade since SGC last released an album, and we’re thrilled to showcase the work of women composers with this project under the direction of Artistic Director Sarra S. Doyle, the first woman to hold this position in SGC’s history. As part of the album release, Prime Voci had the opportunity to perform on Classical King FM to an audience of over 13,000 listeners! Unsung Voices is now available for purchase here, or streaming wherever you listen to music.
Through a bustling year of rehearsals, retreats, recitals, and concerts, we saw choristers make great progress in their vocal technique, ear training, theory, and overall musicianship, while also building strong bonds with their peers and trusted adults. These relationships not only foster a supportive learning environment for our choristers, they are also one of the strongest protective factors in reducing risk of mental health crisis among youth.
Our Resources
SGC has an all-star team of faculty, teaching assistants, and staff, led by Artistic Director Sarra S. Doyle and Executive Director Lauren Kastanas. We hired a new Vivissimi conductor this season, Emily Herivel, and said goodbye to Marilee C’Stranne who taught Vivissimi for over three years. We are deeply grateful for her time and talents. We also said goodbye to Anne Sanders, Administrative and Accounting Coordinator, who was instrumental in helping SGC bridge the transition after long-time Office Manager Stacia Cammarano’s retirement last year.
We are also grateful for the financial support of our community this year. Your generosity yielded over $80,000 in individual donations, $75,000 in grants, $21,000 in corporate matching gifts, and over $24,000 through other fundraising activities at our Voices event – thank you so much for investing in SGC’s mission and programs.
What’s On Next Year
Next year, we look forward to a new collaboration with the Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Adam Stern – Prime Voci will be performing Debussy’s “Nocturnes” at Benaroya Hall in spring 2026! SGC will also continue cultivating relationships within the PNW arts community, including bringing back performance opportunities with Pacific Northwest Ballet, the Byrd Ensemble, Seattle Pro Musica, Christmas Ships, and other performing arts organizations and cultural practitioners in our region.
We’re excited to announce that two SGC choirs are going on tour in summer 2026! Cantamus will travel to Denver, CO to participate in the Sing A Mile High Festival, and Prime Voci will travel to the Netherlands, Belgium, and France for an eight-day performance tour.
If you’d like to make a charitable donation toward SGC’s mission and programs, visit our website to make a gift. Your contribution supports all of our music education programs, including our ability to provide tuition assistance to every family that needs it.
Thank you again for being an integral part of the SGC community! We look forward to another wonderful year of joyful singing, musical excellence, and meaningful connections with you next season.
-Sarra, Lauren, and the whole SGC team