Nineteen Voices, Six Hands - May 2013

Chromatica, a newly formed East Bay chorus of 20 men and women led by David Huff, a San Francisco opera tenor and choral director, will present two concerts of classical and modern vocal music. At 8 pm on Friday May 31, Chromatica will perform at Clayton Valley Presbyterian Church, 1578 Kirker Pass Road in Clayton and at 8pm on Saturday June 1 at Peace Lutheran Church, 3201 Camino Tassajara in Danville.

The program will include songs from Brahms' Zigeunerlieder sung in German, a riveting choral work by Ralph Vaughan Williams titled Rest, a new piece by local composer Don Benham based on Gerard Manley Hopkins' poem As Kingfishers Catch Fire, Frank Titcheli's There Will Be Rest and Verdi's Coro di Schiavi Ebrei, sung in Italian.

“Putting Chromatica together and seeing it grow has really been a labor of love” said David Huff, Chromatica's founding director. “Singing music of this character and difficulty requires great dedication as well as musical skill — the men and women of Chromatica have made enormous progress over the past 18 months and we are finally ready to offer ticketed concerts for the first time.”