2019 was a big year for Seattle Girls Choir! And as it comes to a close, we wanted to reflect on some of our top moments made possible by our talented singers, dedicated family members, faculty, and generous supporters.
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Prime Voci debuted a new concert program, Unsung Voices. Featuring 1,000 years of female composers, this concert presented current northwest composers alongside oftentimes overlooked female composers of the past. Program notes were researched and written by Prime Voci choristers themselves! Prime Voci took the program on tour, bringing this music not only to audiences in Seattle but to the peninsula for concerts in Sequim and Port Townsend as well with the help of our Artistic Director Emeritus, Dr. Wright.
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We returned to the brilliantly remodeled Town Hall for two superb multi-choir concerts in June and December.
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We said “bon voyage” to a group of 12 amazing senior singers, who had a collective 110.5 seasons (averaging nine years per singer!) with us under their belts. We were sad to see them go off to colleges across the country, but so proud of all the talent and leadership they bring with them into the wider world. (Plus, we’ll see them again when they come back each year to sing “Personent” as alums!)
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Summer camp was great fun! Our singers always embrace the camp themes, but this year’s was an especially huge hit. The magical world of Harry Potter brought a professional magician to camp (shout out to Steffan Soule!), plus lots of Hagrids, Hermiones, and Golden Snitches. Plenty of music was learned too!
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We welcomed two new choirs to SGC! Entrata, our training choir for singers in 3-5 grade, had its debut performance at our Gift of Song concert this December. Sorella, our contemporary performance choir for teenage singers has been working hard together each Monday evening since September, and will have their first performance in February 2020. The sprinkles on top of this great achievement: we got to hire two great new faculty members to lead these groups.
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The SGC Board of Directors underwent a search for SGC’s new executive director, to help guide the organization into its next phase. They hired Meaghan Leferink (who’s pretty cool) and she immediately got to work on the annual raffle, marketing and communication efforts, and getting to know our choristers, parent, and many traditions.
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We took part in some exceptional collaborations over the year. We had a chance to work with Choral Arts NW, the UW Symphony and Choirs, the Magnolia Chorale, the Byrd Ensemble, and Orchestra Seattle & the Seattle Chamber Singers. We look forward to more collaborations in the coming year!
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We honored Artistic Director Jake Winkler for his 10th year with Seattle Girls Choir, as well as Alex Gagiu for his 20th year as Assistant Artistic Director. There was much fist-bumping and rounds of applause!
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Our supporters gave generously throughout the year at the 2019 Cabaret, during GiveBig, Giving Tuesday, and our December appeal. This support allowed us to offer more than $10,000 in scholarships to students in need of financial aid, to pay for rehearsal space, compensate expert faculty, book awesome concert venues, and more. We raised more that $8,000 at our Gift of Song concert alone! Thank you!
There were so many more things we could have mentioned in this post. We have a lot to be thankful for, and we really, truly, couldn’t do this without you.
Thank you so much for helping to make 2019 a spectacular year for our organization. Here’s to an even better 2020!
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If you’d like to show your support for Seattle Girls Choir, but haven’t yet made an end of the year gift, you can do so here. Thank you very much for your generosity!