Hayes Valley is home to several musical performance spaces in San Francisco.
Whether it's Ben Folds performing with the San Francisco Symphony at Davies, Herbie Hancock playing the piano at the SFJazz Center, or Maximo Park rocking out at the Rickshaw Stop, our neighborhood sees a lot of musicians on a weekly basis.
While many bands and artists perform in Hayes Valley when they come through town, we also have several local musical groups who call this neighborhood their home when it comes to practicing or performing.
Let us introduce you to one of these musical groups: Resound Ensemble.
Started by musical director Ryan Connolly in 2011, this non-religious chamber chorus has been practicing at the Kanbar Center (44 Page) for the past few years. They rehearse on the third floor every Wednesday night and are often found singing at Martuni's afterwards.
We first chatted with the ensemble back in April 2012. In order to get caught up on the past two years, we stopped by one of their recent rehearsals where Ryan filled us in on the some major milestones for the chorus.
(Ryan Connolly, Musical Director)
Hoodline: Hi Ryan! It's been exactly 2 years since we last checked in with Resound. Can you run us through the past 2 years in 100 words or less. No pressure.
Ryan: Sure! The ensemble has grown a bit to 45 singers. In the past two years, we've added concerts and other events, singing workshops, a collaboration on an opera, two newly commissioned pieces, a performance of a major work, and new arrangements of popular songs written for Resound Ensemble. It's been a pretty remarkable two years!
Wow. Sounds like you guys have been busy. Do you have a favorite moment from those 2 years that you specifically want to highlight?
My favorite moments are when we realize how beautiful music making is. It happens during a first read through sometimes. But it also happens so many times during a concert -- when the audience and the ensemble are creating an energy together that's just not possible in any digital way. It's breathtaking.
As we learned in yoga, let's focus on the now. Talk to us about the current group of singers in Resound. Similar from previous years? New faces? What types of people tend to join the ensemble?
We have a few new faces with each set of auditions, but we also have several singers who've been with Resound since our first concert in 2011. Our retention rate is well over 90%, so singers must be enjoying what we're doing. We continue to attract a wide range people: our youngest member is just out of college, and we have a few singers with their eyes on retirement. Most singers live in San Francisco, but a few brave the traffic from the East Bay on Wednesday nights for rehearsal. Much like our repertoire, our singers are difficult to put in just one category.
Your upcoming program is called "At My Cottage Door." We don't have many cottages in San Francisco. What does it mean? What inspired the title?
The concert title comes from a series of poems by Rabindranath Tagore, one of which was set to music by Craig Hella Johnson and opens our concert. The concert explores the idea of home in its many meanings: a place of welcome and hospitality, of family and love, of identity and value. The subject of one piece on the concert addressed being taken from home. It's a rich subject, and there are a lot of contrasts in repertoire to address that.
We know you love all the songs you've picked out equally just like I love every guacamole I come across. But is there one or two you're most excited about? Or looking forward to see how the audience reacts to them?
The world premiere of Tat Tvam Asi by San Francisco composer ilyas iliya is stunning. When I first met with him to look at his sketches, I was expecting a 2-3 minute piece. Walking to his studio, he casually mentioned that it was up to about 10 minutes, but that he was still working on the ending. It starts simply, and by the end when the entire choir is improvising, it's created a whole musical world to get lost in.
What do you like about rehearsing in Hayes Valley? Does your group do anything else in the neighborhood?
Hayes Valley rules! Before I moved to the Bayview District, I would walk down Fell Street to rehearse at the Kanbar Center. Other than being conveniently located for everyone, we often go out after rehearsal to Martuni's, Zuni, Hotel Biron, or The Grove. Some singers have started going to Sauce before rehearsal too.
There are a lot of diverse and great vocal performing groups in San Francisco. What makes Resound stand out in this collection of local choruses?
San Francisco has a wealth of vocal performing groups, and we're lucky to be counted among them. What our audience members say consistently is how much they enjoy the breadth of our repertoire, how the choir changes its sound and its mood to reflect the subtleties of the pieces we do. It reminds us how much we appreciate hearing different kinds of music, and how hearing a concert of these can be so fulfilling.
After chatting with Ryan, we spoke to a few members of the chorus about their personal experiences and why they keep coming back.
"When I first moved to the city, I was looking for a strong community of singers to join," Min Cho told us. "I heard about it through a friend who was in Resound at the time. After auditioning, I knew I found my place."
We also spoke to Jake Aftergood, a member who sang with the chorus for a few seasons, took a little break, but found himself missing Wednesday nights at the Kanbar Center.
"I took one season off," Jake began. "This is my 4th program. What keeps me coming back is that this experience is a refuge from my day-to-day working existence. This is so different from everything I do that's not Wednesday nights. It's a different reality from the rest of my week."
Emily Shisko, the Vice Chair of the Resound Ensemble board, commutes from Emeryville to San Francisco just for rehearsals.
"I've been in Resound for two years," she told us. "When I first joined, I was singing with another choir. I stopped going because they didn't get into the music. This has the benefit of rigorous music, beautiful programs, and kind, warm, friendly people."
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Resound Ensemble is offering 4 performances of their spring concert, At My Cottage Door. Tickets cost $20 and you can purchase them here. Performances begin this Thursday and run through Tuesday: May 15 (8pm), May 17 (8pm), May 18 (2pm), and May 20 (8pm). All performances are held at St. Aidan's Church (101 Gold Mine Drive).
