Crescent City Choral

Festival June 21-27, 2017

Please join us for Cantabile’s

Summer Tour to New Orleans

Cantabile’s Summer Tour to the

Crescent City Choral Festival

June 21-27, 2017

Why Come on Tour with Cantabile

We invite you to join us as our singers enjoy the 18th annual Crescent City Choral Festival with

New Orleans Children’s Chorus. Cantabile will collaborate with children’s choirs from across the

United States to sing a complex and rewarding repertoire of music, and work with New Orleans

conductor Cheryl Dupont, and guest conductor and British composer, Bob Chilcott. The tour

culminates in a celebration concert in historic St. Louis Cathedral in Jackson Square. This is an

opportunity for students to begin to understand touring and the special preparation required to

be a performer on the world’s stages. This 6-day tour offers the chance for singers to make new

friends, see a vibrant cultural city and learn how to travel, sing, tour and be a professional

musician.

ABOUT BOB CHILCOTT

Festival Conductor

Bob Chilcott, described by British newspaper, The

Observer, as “a contemporary hero of British Choral

Music”, has become one of the most widely

performed composers of choral music in the world.

He has a large catalogue of works published by Oxford University Press which reflects his wide

taste in music styles and his commitment to writing music that is both singable and

communicative.

From his catalogue of larger works, Salisbury Vespers, written in 2009, was first performed by

over 600 singers and players in Salisbury Cathedral. His Requiem, of 2010 has now been

performed in sixteen countries, and his large-scale cantata, The Angry Planet, was premièred

in the 2012 BBC Proms by 550 adult and young singers. In March 2013, his St John Passion was

premièred in Wells Cathedral by the Cathedral Choir conducted by Matthew Owens. Most

recently he wrote The King Shall Rejoice for the service at Westminster Abbey to celebrate the

60th Anniversary of the Coronation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Of his smaller works, A Little Jazz Mass, commissioned by the New Orleans Children’ Chorus

for the Crescent City Choral Festival remains a favorite with choirs around the world, as do

many of his pieces for children’s choir, including the piece with sign language, Can you hear

me? Chilcott is a frequent Guest Artist at the Crescent City Choral Festival and has written

these other works for the Festival: Be Simple Little Children, Happy Land, This Day, I Lift My

Eyes, Jazz Songs of Innocence, and My Dancing Day.

Between 1997 and 2004 he was conductor of the chorus of The Royal College of Music in

London and since 2002 he has been Principal Guest Conductor of The BBC Singers. He has

been privileged to conduct many choirs in some 30 countries over the last ten years. Over the

coming eighteen months he will conduct in Russia, Canada, the USA, Japan, Czech Republic,

Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway.

There are four recordings of his music on the Signum label performed by The BBC Singers, The

King’s Singers, The Sirens, and The NFL Wroclaw Philharmonic Choir. His Requiem is recorded

on the Hyperion label by the Choir of Wells Cathedral, who will also record his St John Passion

in 2014. In 2013 an album of his music was released on the Naxos label by The Wellensian

Consort and in the autumn of the same year Naxos released a recording of his Christmas

music sung by the chamber choir Commotio. His music has been recorded by many other

choirs and groups including Tenebrae, The Cambridge Singers, The Choir of King’s College,

Cambridge and The Choir of Westminster Abbey.

ABOUT CHERYL DUPONT

Cheryl Dupont is the Artistic Director of the New Orleans

Children’s Chorus and Youth Chorale. Although she is known

throughout the United States for her work with children’s

choirs, Cheryl is also experienced at working with mixed choirs

on the high school, college and adult levels. She has many years

of experience as a high school choral director, and served as

Interim Director of Choral Activities at the University of New

Orleans for the 1999-2000 academic year. Mrs. Dupont has also

served as an Instructor of Voice at the University of New

Orleans, Womens’ Chorus Director at Loyola University of the

South, and as Associate Conductor of the Symphony Chorus of New Orleans. Other experience

includes teaching and conducting at an elementary level and in churches. Her choirs have won

numerous awards in music festivals throughout the South, and have appeared at state as well

as regional conventions of the American Choral Directors Association and the national

convention of the Organization of American Kodaly Educators.

Mrs. Dupont is in demand as a guest conductor, clinician and adjudicator. She has conducted

numerous all-state choirs throughout the country, and frequently conducts honor choirs for

children, middle school, junior high and high school. She holds the Bachelor of Music

Education degree in Piano and Voice and the Master of Music Education degree in Conducting

Performance, both from Loyola University of the South, and the Artist-Teacher Diploma from

the Choral Music Experience Institute. She is a Master Teacher for the Choral Music

Experience Institute, working in the field of advanced training of choral teacher/conductors.

For fifteen years Cheryl has directed CME courses in South Carolina, North Carolina and

Kansas, and served as a Teaching Associate at CME Institutes in the US, England, Sweden,

Scotland, Ireland and Wales. In addition, she is the Artistic Director and Conductor of the

Crescent City Choral Festival, an annual choral festival for children throughout the United

States, which is in its 18th successful year. In 2006 she directed the Children’s Honor Chorus at

the Southern regional convention of the America Choral Directors Association and in March of

2010, she conducted the Youth Treble Honor Choir at Western Division ACDA.

Mrs. Dupont has assumed many leadership roles on the district level of the Louisiana Music

Educators Association. An active member of the American Choral Directors Association, she

currently serves as the National Repertoire and Standards Chairperson for Children and

Community Youth, having previously served as Southern Division Chair. She is the founder and

chairperson of the Louisiana ACDA Children’s All-State Chorus and served two terms as

president of the Association for Choral Music Education.

JACE WITTIG

Cantabile Choir Tour Conductor Young Men’s Division Director, Bravi and Aria Conductor Voice Master Class Clinician

Baritone, clinician, and educator Jace Wittig is excited to join the artistic

faculty of Cantabile Youth Singers for the upcoming season as Director of the

Young Men's Division and as a Vocal Master Class clinician. A native of

Indianapolis, he began his musical training as a young singer with the Indianapolis Children's Choir under

the direction of Henry Leck, performing and touring often in North America and Europe. He received his

Bachelors of Music degree in Vocal Performance at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, studying

voice with Dr. Craig Priebe and piano with Dr. Jim Helton. Mr. Wittig sang baritone with the Grammy-

award winning men’s choir Chanticleer for five seasons and served as the Interim Music Director from

2011 to 2014, during which time Chanticleer collaborated frequently with Maestra Elena Sharkova. An

active participant in the Bay Area choral scene, he currently serves as an Artist-in-Residence at the San

Francisco School of the Arts (SOTA) and has served as the Interim Music Director for the International

Orange Chorale of San Francisco, dedicated to the commissioning and performance of new choral music.

In 2015, Wittig founded GAUDE, a professional a cappella octet specializing in music of the Renaissance,

which he directs. His other interests include stumbling through old piano music and cooking for his loved

ones. He is thankful for the unending support of his friends and family, and for the opportunity to work

with the talented young singers in Cantabile.

ELENA SHARKOVA

Artistic Director and Conductor of Vocalise and Ensemble

Artistic Advisor to Aria

Elena Sharkova was born and trained in St. Petersburg, Russia and holds a

graduate degree in conducting from the famed Rimski-Korsakov Conservatoire.

A resident of the United States since 1993, Ms. Sharkova has a busy and

versatile career and is recognized as an inspirational, skilled and passionate

conductor and music educator. Ms. Sharkova enjoys working with people of all ages: she has

conducted professional, university, youth, and community choirs and orchestras in seventeen

countries across three continents.

As the Artistic Director of Cantabile Youth Singers of Silicon Valley since 2004, Ms. Sharkova oversees all

educational and performance aspects of the program that now serves over 300 children ages 4 to 18 and

she directs Cantabile’s top performing choir Vocalise and serves as Artistic Advisor to Aria and

Bravi. Under Ms. Sharkova’s direction, Cantabile’s touring choirs made a solo appearance on the

legendary stages of Carnegie Hall and Chicago’s Orchestra Hall and toured Estonia, Finland, Russia,

England, Italy, and Canada.

Ms. Sharkova moved to the Bay Area in 1998 to join the music faculty at San Jose State University and

served as Director of Choral Studies until 2006 when she assumed the position of the chorus master for

the professional Symphony Silicon Valley. In this role, Elena has prepared and conducted the Symphony

Chorale. In her seventeenth year as Music Director of Symphony Silicon Valley Chorale, Elena Sharkova

has prepared and conducted the symphony chorus in over 50 major choral-orchestral works such as

Ralph Vaughn Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem, Serenade to Music, and Five Mystical

Songs, Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem, Poulenc’s Gloria, Brahms’ German

Requiem and Nanie, Bruckner’s Te Deum, Orff’s Carmina Burana, among many others. Under Sharkova’s

direction, SSV Chorale presented complete performances of the monumental masterpiece of

Russian liturgical music – Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil in 2008, and in 2011 premiered the new edition

of Ippolitov-Ivanov’s All-Night Vigil, op. 43.

Elena Sharkova regularly appears with professional artists: most recently, in 2014, she served as guest

music director for the Grammy Award winning “Orchestra of Voices” Chanticleer in a genre- and time-

spanning program entitled Russian Dreams that featured folk, spiritual, secular, and urban vocal heritage

of the nation. Ms. Sharkova’s other recent projects have been with Kronos Quartet, Symphony Silicon

Valley and Stanford Symphony, Ballet San Jose, visual artist Nene Humphrey, and actor Ryan Gosling’s

rock play, Deadman’s Bones, among others. Upcoming engagements include a series of concerts with

Grammy-winning professional choir Seraphic Fire and a conducting residency with BBC Singers in

London, UK.

A passionate advocate for Russian choral music, Elena has lectured extensively on its repertoire and

conducted several U.S. premieres of Russian contemporary compositions. Since 2013, she has served as

the editor for “Elena Sharkova Choral Series” with Carl Fischer Music Publishing. The series focuses on

twentieth and twenty-first century Russian choral music for treble and mixed voices.

One of the nation’s busiest choral clinicians and festival conductors, Elena Sharkova has conducted state,

divisional, and national honor choirs for American Choral Directors Association, National Association of

Music Educators, Organization of American Kodàly Educators and the Association for Music in

International Schools. In February 2015, Ms. Shakova received one of the nation’s highest honors when

she conducted the Junior High/Middle School Women’s Honor Choir at the 2015 ACDA National

Convention in Salt Lake City. Other recent and upcoming engagements include Texas, Alabama, North

Carolina, Florida, Washington and Virginia All-State High School Honor Choirs as well as Southwest ACDA

Division College Honor Choir and All-Eastern Honor Choir.

As a soprano, Elena Sharkova has performed and recorded with Lege Artis, one of Russia’s finest

professional choirs, and appears on five studio CDs on the Sony Classical label.

Ms. Sharkova has held academic positions at St. Petersburg State Conservatory in Russia, Western

Michigan University and San Jose State University.

TOUR PROGRAM: NEW ORLEANS

Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Arrival with coach transport

to Hotel

Evening: Dinner

Thursday June 22, 2017

Morning: Sightseeing and

lunch

Afternoon: Rehearsal

Evening: Pre-Festival solo

Concert

Friday June 23, 2017

Morning: First Rehearsal

Afternoon: Sightseeing

Evening: Dinner and

Sightseeing

Saturday June 24, 2017

Morning: Mass Choir

Rehearsal

Afternoon: Sightseeing

Evening: Dinner and Dancing

evening

Sunday June 25, 2017

Morning: Mass Choir

Rehearsal

Afternoon: Sightseeing

Evening: Dinner and Dancing

Monday June 26, 2017

Morning: Rehearsal at St.

Louis Cathedral

Afternoon: Mass Choir

Concert

Evening: Dinner cruise on

Riverboat Natchez

Tuesday June 27, 2017

Departure

NEW ORLEANS TOUR PACKAGE:

FULL-SINGER PACKAGE: $2,400

PACKAGE INCLUDES:

Lodging at a Loew’s Hotel. All

lodging is Quad Occupancy for

students - no exceptions

Full-Singer package includes

Round Trip Air Fare from San

Francisco to New Orleans with

ground transportation to and from

New Orleans airport

Breakfast, lunch and dinner each

day

Fully Chaperoned Experience for

singers

Optional Travel Insurance

package (TBD)

Pre-Festival Concert

Guided tour activities for the

group

Tour t-shirt and tour materials

provided for each singer

Post-concert Dinner Cruise on

Riverboat Natchez for singers

PAYMENT SCHEDULE: FULL-SINGER $2,400:

Due Date Amount

NON-REFUNDABLE DEPOSIT

Sign-Up Date (By September 30th)

$400

Payment #1 November 1, 2016 $500

Payment #2 December 1, 2016 $500

Payment #3 January 15, 2017 $500

Payment #4 February 15, 2017 $500

CHAPERONES $1,900:

Due Date Amount

NON-REFUNDABLE DEPOSIT

Sign-Up Date $300

Payment #1 November 1, 2016 $400

Payment #2 December 1, 2016 $400

Payment #3 January 15, 2017 $400

Payment #4 February 15, 2017 $400

REGISTRATION AND PAYMENT:

Registration for our New Orleans Tour will be through our registration site, Jumbula. The

deposit payment will be made at the time of registration, and the subsequent four

payments will be due on the dates stated above, you will receive a reminder two weeks

before each payment is due. Online registration will open on Monday, September 19

and spots will go quickly! All singers must be registered for tour by November 10. We

have to report the number of participants to the Festival organizer much earlier than

usual for this tour so please help us by signing up and paying your deposit. You should

complete your online Follow-Up Forms for Tour when you register.

CANCELLATION: All deposits are NON-refundable and refunds for this tour will NOT be

available after November 15 unless a substitution can be made for the cancelling

singer. This is the requirement of the Festival organizer. Full payment for all previously

scheduled payment installments is due for all late registrations.

CHAPERONES: WE NEED YOU!!! Chaperones receive a $400 discount off the package

price. All chaperones must travel with the tour for the entire trip – including flying back

to San Francisco at the end of the tour. Chaperoning a trip is a great way to get an inside

look at Cantabile’s rehearsals, to get to know other Cantabile parents and have a great

time with your singer. Please contact the office if you are interested in more details:

650-424-1410 or Amelia@cantabile.org.

**Please note: There is no “Land-Only” option for this tour. There may be the

opportunity to arrange a flight deviation for the return trip but these must be made

directly with the travel agent and will require the signer to fly home from New Orleans

on the same airline that the tour is using. This tour is only for singing participants.

Parents and family are welcome to make arrangements and travel to New Orleans to

see the performance; however, touring and rehearsal activities are restricted to singers

only.

TOUR REHEARSAL DATES: Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, June 18-20th TBD