San Francisco Bay Area Chamber
Choir
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About the Choir
Now under the direction of Dr. David Stein, the choir specializes in a cappella works of masters of the past and significant modern composers. The group has also performed large-scale works with orchestra and a variety of lighter works including American folk songs and spirituals. The choir's repertoire has varied from Renaissance and Baroque choral works to the lush Romanticism of Brahms and Bruckner, to the 20th century works of Schoenberg, Stravinsky, and Penderecki, as well as local composers such as Kirk Mechem, Donald Aird, David Conte, and Frank La Rocca. Although its concerts are almost always a cappella, the choir has performed with piano and organ and with the Oakland Symphony Orchestra. The choir usually maintains a roster of
40-45 singers. About
half of the choir members are church or synagogue musicians or music educators; the rest
work in fields such as medicine, accounting, teaching, and computer programming, but are
also very highly skilled and dedicated musicians. Several members of the Cal State
Hayward Music Faculty have been choir members over the years. In addition to regular performances in the San Francisco Bay Area, the choir has made 11 European concert tours with performances in 17 countries including participation in 6 EUROPA CANTAT festivals and the 1992 Zimriya International Choral Festival in Jerusalem. In 1994, the choir was invited to perform at the Western Division Convention of the American Choral Directors Association in Sacramento, California, and received rave reviews. More recently, the choir performed Frank La Rocca's "O Vos Omnes" at the October 2004 Composers, Inc. concert in San Francisco. Dr. Stein is a life member of the American Choral Directors Association, and has served that organization as national chairman of the Committee on Choral Repertoire and Standards - College and University. Other professional affiliations include Pi Kappa Lambda Music Honorary Society, American Musicological Society, Music Educators National Conference, California Music Educators Association, College Music Society, and Association of Lutheran Church Musicians. He makes frequent appearances as adjudicator, guest conductor, lecturer and clinician at national, regional, and local conventions and festivals. Dr. Stein has published numerous editions of choral works by the Austrian composers Michael Haydn and Anton Adlgasser, and the German composers J. E. Bach and Johan Ernst Eberlin, as well as articles and numerous reviews of choral works and CDs in professional journals. He was honoroed by CSUH as a recipient of the Meritorious Performance and Professional Promise Award. To futher his interest in learning more choral repertoire from around the world, he has participated in Europa Cantat choral festivals held in France, Hungary, Spain, and Denmark, and attended World Symposium of Choral Music conferences held in Sweden, Estonia, Finland, Canada, Australia and The Netherlands, and the Zimriya in Israel. During the summer of 1998, Dr. Stein conducted the CSUH Chamber Singers on a tour to Europe, singing concerts in Austria, the Czech Republic, and Poland.
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Reach us at sfbacc@sfbaychoir.org .
The San Francisco Bay Area Chamber Choir was founded in 1978 by
Dr. Harry Carter, then Director of Choral Activities at California State
University Hayward, now 
David Stein is Professor
Emeritus of Music and former Director of Choral Activities at California
State University, Hayward. Since retiring in 2002, after being on
the faculty since 1971, he continues to teach half-time music history and
literature classes and seminars, and is Coordinator of Graduate Studies
for the Music Department. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from
St. Olaf College and the Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts
degrees from the University of Illinois. Prior to coming to CSUH, he
taught high school choral music in Wisconsin and Minnesota and served as a
graduate teaching assistant at the University of Illinois.
Dr. Harry Carter, who
founded the choir in 1978, retired as director of the choir in 2003 after 25
years of dedication and service. Dr. Carter received his Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from the University of Illinois
and joined the music faculty at California State University, Hayward, shortly thereafter.
He retired several years ago as Professor of Music and Chairman of Vocal/Choral Activities after twenty-seven years of service. Dr. Carter has always had an enduring
interest in international choral activities and has organized choral directors' exchanges
with Argentina, Germany, Great Britain, Sweden, and Venezuela.