S4E08:IOCSF’s Freshly Squeezed Program & A Return to Live Singing
This week’s episode of In Unison is the first in a mini-series of sorts, all about the International Orange Chorale of San Francisco’s return to live performance with our “Freshly Squeezed” program. Originally slated for our Spring 2020 concert series, this program exclusively features the premieres of new works for our Bay Area audience, and over the next several weeks we’ll be chatting with all of the composers featured on the program. Today’s episode will also provide an update on how IOCSF has navigated through the past nearly 20 months of absence from rehearsals: what we’ve been up to when we couldn’t sing in person, and how we’re managing through what will hopefully be the final vestiges of the pandemic to bring you our first live performances in nearly two years.
And now a word from our hosts!
Edited by Fausto Daos
Music excerpts
“Chrysopylae,” by Dominick DiOrio, performed by the International Orange Chorale of San Francisco on the album The Unknown Region
“The Unknown Region,” by Elizabeth Kimble, performed by the International Orange Chorale of San Francisco on the album The Unknown Region
Episode references
Theme Song: Mr. Puffy by Avi Bortnik, arr. by Paul Kim. Performed by Dynamic
Episode Transcript
Intro [00:00:07] Hello! And welcome to In Unison, the podcast about new choral music and the conductors, composers and choristers who create it. We are your hosts: I am Zane Fiala, Artistic Director of the International Orange Chorale of San Francisco, and I'm Giacomo DiGrigoli, a tenor in IOCSF, the Golden Gate Men's Chorus and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus. And this is In Unison. (I like being in unison!)
Zane [00:00:35] Hey, everybody! On this week's episode of In Unison, we are kicking off a mini series of sorts, all about the international Orange Chorale of San Francisco's return to live performance with our Freshly Squeezed program. Originally, we had this program slated for the spring of 2020, but we all know what happened right around then. And this program exclusively features the premieres of new works for our Bay Area audiences.
Giacomo [00:01:01] So, over the next several weeks, we're excited to bring to life on this podcast conversations with the composers of our upcoming Freshly Squeezed program about the works that we'll be premiering to give you a more intimate understanding and connection to these new pieces and the people who wrote them.
Zane [00:01:16] And on top of that, we'll be sharing with you how IOCSF has navigated through the past nearly 20 months of absence from rehearsals.
Giacomo [00:01:25] Yikes.
Zane [00:01:25] What we've been up to when we couldn't sing in person and how we're managing through what will hopefully be the final vestiges of the pandemic to bring you our first live performances in nearly two years.
Giacomo [00:01:37] And by the way, if things sound a little different today, it's because we're recording this week's episode from a new location in sunny Dolores Park in San Francisco.
Zane [00:01:45] Woo!
Giacomo [00:01:46] So, you might hear the occasional dog bark or a bus rumble by. Well, that's the magic of podcasting on the go.
Zane [00:01:51] So let's go!
Giacomo [00:01:52] Yee-ha!
Zane [00:01:53] Let's start off with a composition that was at the center of our very first Freshly Squeezed program back in 2012. The winner of a composition competition surrounding a performance we gave helping celebrate the 75th anniversary of the completion of the Golden Gate Bridge. This is "Chrysopylae", written by Dominick DiOrio. And you can also find this track on IOCSF's first live album, The Unknown Region. [00:02:20] [Music excerpt: an exclamation issues forth from a chorus, which then opens out into a dense chord. The song reflects the long and thorny relationship between the grandeur of modern engineering and the hardship in extracting gold out of the California hills.]
Giacomo [00:06:12] So, uh... Zane, has anything been going on... anything been going on for the, uh, past - oh, I don't know - 20 months or so? [laughter] No, but seriously actually... IOCSF has been in a little bit of a... sort of hiatus, I guess, from live performances. But what has the group been up to for the last 20 months?
Zane [00:06:28] Yeah. Well, I mean, we had to adapt just like anybody else and transition from live... live rehearsals into online Zoom type rehearsals. And we actually were able to premiere a piece...
Giacomo [00:06:44] Oh, really?
Zane [00:06:44] During... during COVID. It was a quote unquote "virtual choir" piece. Our composer-in-residence program was still going. We had composer Michael T. Roberts, who we will be talking to in a future episode. He was our composer in residence for 2020, and when he found out we couldn't perform live in person, he said, "You know what? I'm going to write something specifically designed for the virtual choir world." And he wrote us a piece called "Zoom", which interestingly was all about the Zoom experience, which at that time was still pretty new to us. And we made a music video of the piece - a traditional virtual choir video.
Giacomo [00:07:25] That's right. And during that time, I think that was... I think the genesis of that was one of these interviews that you did with the composers with us. So, we were having Zoom sessions this whole time sort of chatting with some of the composers. Who were some of the other folks that you brought in? I'm trying to remember who we had chats with during that period of time.
Zane [00:07:42] Yeah. Well, because it was a Freshly Squeezed program in 2020 at the beginning, when we immediately transitioned to online virtual rehearsals, I thought it was a nice opportunity to zoom in, as it were, some of the other composers because they're living composers, we're working directly with them. We wanted to get their... you know, their input, the information from them about the pieces and about their journey as composers, et cetera, et cetera. And so, we brought in Mike Roberts. He came and joined us on a Zoom call along with Soren Austenfeld...
Giacomo [00:08:12] Mmhmm.
Zane [00:08:12] ... on the East Coast, and Kyle Randall joined us as well and Lauren Bydalek.
Giacomo [00:08:18] Yup.
Zane [00:08:19] And of course, we're going to be talking to all of these folks on these episodes of In Unison in this mini series as well. So, they all joined us on Zoom. And then I even had an interview with Jake Heggie, which of course, was fantastic.
Giacomo [00:08:31] He of the great hair.
Zane [00:08:32] I know! [laughter from Giacomo] And I feel so lucky to be able to call Jake a friend. And so I interviewed him by myself on Zoom one time, and we made that video available for the singers as well. And the singers got a chance to really connect to the composers. And this was just a really great emphasis of what Freshly Squeezed is all about.
Giacomo [00:08:53] Yeah. And speaking of having interviews and chat with Jake Heggie, I guess some folks may or may not actually also know this, but this podcast actually also started during this period of time. Maybe you can tell folks a little bit about the genesis of how we...
Zane [00:09:07] Yeah, it's funny. We've never... you know, we've done, however many episodes of In Unison. We've never really talked about its genesis. And, and that's kind of exciting is that we were all suffering from this restriction of getting together in person and we are feeling the need to reconnect to the community. And you know, Giacomo and I got together one day and I said, "Yeah, I interviewed Jake Heggie, and I think we should do a podcast about choral music." And that was the beginning. So yeah, those interviews, those conversations with those composers were really the seed that germinated into this, you know, beautiful tree that we have here as the podcast that is In Unison.
Giacomo [00:09:46] Yeah. And on top of that, I mean, we've had what, 40 some odd interviews at this point, which is kind of insane that we've had four seasons of this podcast that came out of, you know, idle hands for, for a little while...
Zane [00:09:57] [laughter] Yeah, seriously.
Giacomo [00:09:57] ... and a great idea. And then, on top of that, we were able to - through our conversations with Mari Esabel Valverde, friend of the podcast, friend of IOCSF...
Zane [00:10:06] Former member of IOCSF.
Giacomo [00:10:08] And, and I would say family member as well, too. I think she's pretty darn close to us. And we worked on a second virtual project. Maybe you can tell folks about that piece as well.
Zane [00:10:17] Yeah. The project was "I Flow... I Am", which is a piece of music written by Mari Valverde, as you just stated, and we recorded it virtually. Or, I would actually like to use the word remotely. We recorded it remotely. All the singers recorded on their own, sent me the audio tracks, and we've edited those together into one single audio file. But then, we're making a video to go along with it. And actually, Giacomo, you're the one who should tell us a little bit more about the video because you're really producing that.
Giacomo [00:10:45] That's right. We're really excited. We actually began... this is a very interesting segue into how we started getting back to live rehearsals and performances this summer. And actually, the majority of the cinematography that was shot for this video was actually done at a mini summer retreat. So, as we were starting to come back to life and to live rehearsals and performances, we actually pulled the group together for a little mini retreat in our home, up in Occidental. And it was nice to actually see everybody! You know, we were all vaccinated. We all sort of decided, "Oh my God! It has been far too long since we've been together!".
Zane [00:11:24] This is pre-delta?
Giacomo [00:11:24] This is pre-delta. So, this is back in the summer of 2021, when we all thought, "Oh, yay! Masks are going to sort of start going away and we can sort of begin to manage through this." And so we all got ourselves together and we recorded this, this mini kind of social retreat. It was just really an opportunity for all of us to kind of see each other and hug each other and just do a little bit of singing together, which was something I think that we desperately needed as a community of singers. But that led us to recording a lot of the background and B-roll and sort of this lovely moment of everyone kind of coming back together.
Giacomo [00:11:57] But, as it turns out! [laughter] Pivoting a little bit now talking about how we really got back into the swing of our live rehearsals and performances - we had a tough decision. You had a tough decision as a board of IOC to make, to think about how to put the safety of our singers first, but kind of get our community back together. Tell us a little bit about how IOCSF made the decision to return to regular rehearsals.
Zane [00:12:19] Yeah. I mean, it was so clear after it had been 18 months since we had sung together that that was a top priority for, not only the IOCSF, but other choirs around the country - around the world, I imagine. And GGMC, of course, that you're involved with, they were... IOC kind of followed their model because GGMC started about a month prior to IOC starting. So, it was a matter of taking all of the safety of the singers into consideration, making arrangements to have masks worn during rehearsal, which is not a pleasant experience, as I'm sure our listeners know and verifying that everyone's vaccinated and having very specific, you know, recommendations as to what people should do or not do to protect the safety of the ensemble at large.
Zane [00:13:08] And so, we put a bunch of things into place for our rehearsal location, where we're singing in a slightly different location. We keep the doors and windows open for ventilation. Everyone wears masks. We don't have communal snacks, for the time being - which is a bunch of things that we had to put into place just to make sure that the safety was at the top, you know, one of the top priorities, the safety of the singers was up there.g
Giacomo [00:13:31] And by the way, a debt of gratitude to the folks at Saint Matt's Lutheran Church at 16th and Dolores, who really bent over backwards. I mean, there are so many groups that rehearse within that space. I think there's us, there's GGMC, there's Tactus, there's a few other groups I think that rehearse there. Boy! I mean, they went above and beyond to make sure that, not only were their congregation safe, but all of the groups that were rehearsing as well. So, they took precautions and helped us with extra cleaning and making sure that we could be ventilated in the downstairs community space as well as up in the sanctuary as well. So, a huge "thank you" to the folks at St. Matt's.
Zane [00:14:04] Yes, absolutely.
Giacomo [00:14:06] So let's talk a little bit about why we decided to start getting together. What have we got coming up this December that we're going to be sharing with folks?
Zane [00:14:14] Yeah. Well, as we mentioned at the top of the episode, this program that we're doing this season is called Freshly Squeezed. It's a program we try to do every third season. So, every year and a half or so. Which, ironically, the last time we tried to do this program was... [laughter from Giacomo] three seasons ago - spring of 2020 is when we were planning to do it. And so it seemed to make the most sense. While it would have been a natural decision to choose to do a program that was something about rebirth or getting back together or something like that, I felt like sticking to IOC's mission of promoting up and coming composers was more important. And so, we decided to go ahead and just move the program and do exactly the same set of music, almost, for this program this fall. And it's called Freshly Squeezed. And that's, of course, a play on the orange part of IOCSF.
Giacomo [00:15:10] [laughter] I see what you did there.
Zane [00:15:12] ... of International Orange Chorale. Yeah. And we've been doing Freshly Squeezed for quite some time, actually. We started it in the spring of 2012. That was our first season doing a Freshly Squeezed program. And that kind of tied in to something that we had been invited to participate in, which was the celebration of the Golden Gate Bridge's completion seventy five years prior. So, that was the celebration that happened in 2012, and we got invited to perform as part of that. And so we decided, "You know what? Let's have a choral composer competition. Get some scores in for that. Let's do a premiere by David Conte" because he had written a set of music. One piece was called "Facing West", which was all about looking west from California's shores. And that's kind of where the genesis of the program started. And then we've done it several times since then. So, spring of '12, fall of '14, spring of '17, fall of '18, and then now this program, which was delayed.
Giacomo [00:16:06] And you've had quite a string of some notable up and coming composers here in the Bay Area. Who are some of the folks that we have premiered through the Freshly Squeezed program?
Zane [00:16:16] Yeah, we've actually done a whole lot of composers from around the country, not just Bay Area composers - although we have featured some of our members who are also composers many times. But some of the more notable composers - and I want to make a point that Freshly Squeezed is more about promoting the composers who aren't big names, who aren't published, who aren't... whose names aren't out there. We, that's kind of at the core of our mission anyway. And so that's really what the Freshly Squeezed program is all about.
Zane [00:16:47] However, if we have a commission or we have a relationship with a composer who is a little more notable, we're not going to say no if they have a new piece that we can premiere. So, we've done pieces by David Conte, Dominick DiOrio. Actually, both of them were on that very first program. In fact, Dominick won the composer competition with his composition called "Chrysopylae". We've premiered Caroline Shaw, Pulitzer Prize winner, Robin Estrada, Mari Esabel Valverde, Nico Muhly. Those guys have all made appearances on these Freshly Squeezed programs, as well as lots of composers who perhaps you've never heard of.
Giacomo [00:17:24] Yeah, and some of them who actually also happened to be singers in IOCSF, who are also composers. Were there a few that were going to be featured in this upcoming concert set?
Zane [00:17:33] Yes! Absolutely. In fact, we have been lucky in IOCSF to always have several composers. And I have to mention Nick Weininger, of course, to begin with.
Giacomo [00:17:44] Yes. We love Nick.
Zane [00:17:44] Because Nick... Not only was Nick one of our first... He was our first composer in residence. But he's also one of the first composers to be featured on a Freshly Squeezed program, and he's been in the choir as long as I have. He and I joined the same season. So, he's just a long standing member. He's on the board. He's a great composer. And so, I just have to give him a quick shout. Yeah, Nick!
Giacomo [00:18:06] Woo-hoo.
Zane [00:18:06] For writing some amazing music and really getting, giving us a chance to see him develop as a composer. But this season, we actually have four composers on this Freshly Squeezed program who either are members or were members of IOCSF, and that includes Brian Lin, Sam Maurer, Soren Austenfeld and Mari Valverde. All four of them have been members of IOC, or are currently members.
Giacomo [00:18:33] Man! I am a slacker. I need to get to composition school.
Zane [00:18:35] Start writing some music!
Giacomo [00:18:36] What am I doing here? I need to start writing some music. [laughter].
Giacomo [00:18:40] Zane, is there anything new about - you know, we've been through a hell of a past 20 months with this pandemic - anything new about this program from previous programs? Anything we've learned over this period of time during COVID that we want to push forward?
Zane [00:18:54] Well, I mean, I think that for us and for most choirs out there, the idea of utilizing the technology that's available to us as far as live streaming is something that we want to bring to our audience members who either can't come because they're not here in the Bay Area or don't yet feel comfortable coming to a live concert - because I imagine that that's still true for for some people out there, depending on your age and your other health concerns and stuff like that, that you may not want to come to a live performance. So, we're going to live stream the San Francisco concert. We always perform twice, you know, once in Berkeley or the East Bay somewhere, and then once in San Francisco per season. And so we're going to stream the San Francisco concert this year for our audience members who want to tune in remotely.
Giacomo [00:19:43] And we'll give you guys a little bit of the details on that at the end of the show here. But it sounds like we're also doing something pretty interesting with this little mini series as well, because I think this podcast sort of coming to life during COVID also gave us the opportunity to make friends around the world. And so it's great that we'll be able to livestream to our friends who are as far away as our friends...
Zane [00:20:04] Denmark. Australia.
Giacomo [00:20:06] In Denmark and Australia, and get Danielle O'Keefe and all those folks who are out there and Astrid Vang-Pedersen. Hello!
Zane [00:20:11] Yeah!
Giacomo [00:20:12] [laughter] So, we're excited to actually be able to share our music with you, you all out there as well. And I love the fact that we actually are also doing this little mini series. We'd sort of talked about the idea of, you know, it's great to come to a concert and read the program notes and sort of get to know people and the story behind a piece of music. But gosh, when something grips you, there's nothing better than being able to talk to the person who actually wrote it and be like, "What was up with this section or this thing? Or what was your inspiration?"
Zane [00:20:35] Yeah. You know, IOC being a choir that works with living composers and also a lot of composers that are in the area or even in the group, we get this unique opportunity to check in with them while we're rehearsing. In fact, when I have a singer who's also a composer whose piece we're performing, it's so wonderful to, in the middle of the rehearsal, to just all of a sudden stop [laughter from Giacomo] and go, "Hey Sam! What do you think? A breath there or no?" And you get that response in the moment. But in addition to that like technical side, there's also the aspect that we as a choir get the opportunity to hear the inspiration behind the piece, hear the motivations the composer had when they chose to set something a certain way, why they chose a text, what the text means to them.
Zane [00:21:19] And I think that the In Unison podcast has been such a great opportunity for us to provide that same kind of insight to our audience, to the composers that we're talking to and the conductors all about their music. And this mini series is a great way for us to kind of bridge that, bridge those two things. So we're going to be able to provide our listeners of In Unison with this insight into the actual music that we're going to perform. And so you could put all this together into a package and you could listen to each episode that talks to each composer and then live stream the concert if you're not here in the Bay Area, or come to the concert. But I think that that extra connection, that extra bit of information that you get from the composer makes music come alive.
Giacomo [00:22:05] Yeah, I agree. And it'll be great to see you all in person as well. You'll be able to chat with these folks at the live concerts if you do come to our receptions. There won't be... there probably won't be communal food. (Thanks COVID!) [laughter from Zane] Well, we'll probably still have booze. I mean, my god, we have to drink! We have to live!
Zane [00:22:21] We have to have a glass of wine afterwards. [laughter]
Giacomo [00:22:24] So we're, we're keeping that tradition, folks. They'll probably be individually wrapped in some way. We'll see... But we do, we do.... We'd love to see you there. And you know, one thing that to mention to folks is that it is also part of IOCSF's mission that our concerts will still be free. And that'll include our streaming content because we do want to really get this music out into your hands and we want to introduce you to all the amazing folks that we've had an opportunity to see. We will, of course, ask you for generous donations to support the work that we're doing. But of course, you know, if you can't or if you're not so moved, we totally understand. But we still want you to come and check out this music and hear some new stories and hear some great new music. That being said... Zane, when are our concerts, when are these performances coming up?
Zane [00:23:07] Yeah! We're coming up. I was just looking at the calendar today and I thought, "Oh my goodness, we're just a month away. Holy cow!" We have concerts in December here in the Bay Area, so we'll be performing at Christ Church in Berkeley on Saturday, December 4th at 7:30 p.m. and then again in San Francisco, two weeks later, at St. Mark's Lutheran Church, which is a beautiful space. It's kind of our home in San Francisco for performances. That is also at 7:30, and that's on December 18th, also a Saturday. And like I said, we're going to stream that Saturday concert on the 18th of December, starting at 7:30 p.m. And of course, those times are all Pacific Standard Time.
Giacomo [00:23:52] And if you're dying to hear IOC or some live music from us during this period of time, another thing that we worked on during the pandemic was... Drum roll, please - A brand new album was released.
Zane [00:24:01] Yeah. "Hope in Times of Disquiet" is the name of the newest CD. We actually have, if you go on Apple Music, you can find three different albums from us, and two of them are live albums. Every track on those two albums are live, and then we have our Milton Babbitt - "Music for the Masses" is what we called that program, I believe. And so, yeah, check out that album "Hope in Times of Disquiet". It's all live tracks, and a whole bunch of those recordings were premiere performances, and we'll play a couple of them on this episode as well.
Giacomo [00:24:34] And of course, if you like what you're hearing from this group and you really are appreciative of IOCSF's mission, you can always support us in our end of year fundraiser at "IOCSF dot org slash donate". And of course, to the podcast itself "in unison podcast dot com slash donate". We're going to be releasing the next couple of weeks our new music video for "I Flow... I Am", Mari Esabel Valverde's new composition. And we'll be putting that out as part of the drum beat up to this concert series. So, if you listen along for the next several weeks, you're going to be hearing interviews with folks like Lauren Bydalek, Michael T. Roberts and others. Who else are we chatting with the next couple of weeks? Literally every composer...
Zane [00:25:16] I mean...
Giacomo [00:25:17] Brian Lin and Sam Maurer. So, we're excited to chat with all of those folks.
Zane [00:25:20] Yeah, absolutely.
Giacomo [00:25:21] Well, and folks, if you... If you like you, obviously you're listening to the podcast so you can find us here, but you can also find the podcast and you can find IOCSF and you can find the Golden Gate Men's Chorus on Instagram and Facebook. The podcast is @inunisonpod on all platforms. You can find IOCSF under the name IOCSF on Instagram and Facebook, and the Golden Gate Men's Chorus @ggmenschorus, or GGMC on all platforms. So, come check us out. We've all got concerts coming up this December, and we are excited to see you all again, live and in person or via live stream, if that's how you feel more comfortable. But we're just excited to be making live music for you again.
Zane [00:26:00] So excited. I will never forget that experience, that first rehearsal and everybody opened their mouths and we heard harmony together for the first time in so long. It just... It was food for the soul.
Giacomo [00:26:13] I'm not crying, you're crying. [laughter from Zane] Well, thanks, folks! We hope to see you at a concert coming up real soon. Again, those dates are December 4th, 2021, 7:30 p.m. at Christ Church in Berkeley, and then December 18th, 2021 at 7:30 p.m. at St. Mark's Lutheran Church in San Francisco. And that will be the concert that will be streaming as well and we'll send out those details shortly.
Zane [00:26:37] Yeah. Tune in to the rest of this mini series. You won't regret it!
Giacomo [00:26:42] We will see you soon.
Zane [00:26:43] How about we wrap things up today with one more piece from a Freshly Squeezed program? This is the title track from IOCSF's first live album, "The Unknown Region", by Elizabeth Kimble. [00:26:56] [Music excerpt: a challenge issues forth from a chorus, as an urgent melody, to venture forth into the unknown.]
Outro [00:31:07] Thanks for listening to this week's episode of the In Unison podcast. Be sure to check out episode extras and subscribe at inunison podcast dot com. You can follow us on all social media @inunisonpod. And leave us a review on Apple Podcasts to let us know what you think!
Chorus Dolores [00:31:23] Live video streaming effects provided by Chorus Dolores, who can't stand serif fonts.
Credits [00:31:35] In Unison is produced and recorded by Mission: Orange Studios. Our transcripts have been diligently edited by IOCSF member, and friend of the pod, Fausto Daos, and our theme music is Mr. Puffy, written by Avi Bortnick, arranged by Paul Kim and performed by the Danish vocal jazz ensemble Dynamic on their debut album, This is Dynamic. Special thanks to Paul Kim for permission. Please be sure to check them out at www.dynamicjazz.dk