Making the North Pole Gay Again
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DR. TIMOTHY SEELIG, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR g the North Pole gay a makin gain DECEMBER 8, 2017 - 8PM DECEMBER 9, 2017 - 2:30PM + 8PM NOURSE THEATER PROGRAMS | 2017.12 Love Where You Live! STEVE GALLAGHER sfsteve.com M: 415-250-3779 O: 415-437-4524 CalRE#01193002 HAPPY HOLIDAYS! Dear friends and family, 526 Castro Street It’s that time of year when we set aside our differences and are San Francisco, CA 94114 reminded of what matters most – Santa and his elves! But before 415.865.3650 we jet off to the North Pole for some SFGMC hilarity and antics… 415.865.3655 • fax [email protected] As you know, we kicked of our 40th season with the historic and life-changing Lavender Pen Tour. During the nine-day event, the Chorus made twenty-three appearances, performed in nine churches BOARD OF across five states, and raised over $100,000 for local beneficiaries! We tore down walls and built bridges and we want you to know DIRECTORS that support made a difference in many, many lives. Thank you. Steve Huffines chair This past year has been challenging. We’ve experienced a divisiveness like never before in our country. During this holiday Peter Drake season, we have a moment to step back, take a breath and reflect vice chair on what is truly important in our lives: friends, family, community, Skip Schneider love, freedom, and music. treasurer Whether this is your first show or your 100th, by being with us you Glenn DeSandre have become our family. Sit back and allow yourself to be immersed chorus president in beautiful music and entertained by Santa and his 260 elves! We Mike Bernard are here to serenade you with some of your very favorite holiday Cammy Blackstone songs, surprise you with some new ones and in the process, make Eric Chau the North Pole gay, again! Kenyon DeVault André Farris Sean Livingston Gregory Marks Chris Padula Eddie Reynolds Dr. Timothy Seelig Paul Saccone artistic director John Ybarra CHORUS LEADERSHIP Christopher Verdugo executive director Glenn DeSandre membership president Kevin Koerner membership vice president Michael Tate performance advisory committee chair Dave Andrade Eric Chau Roy Eikleberry Raymond Mark Gonzales Tom Paulino Nick Weichsler Gregory J. Gorman Phillip P. Whitely chrorus ombudsmen 2017.12 • BAYSTAGES.COM | 1 SPONSORS SFGMC STAFF Dr. Timothy Seelig SEASON PARTNERS artistic director Christopher Verdugo executive director Demetri Rizos director of development Peter Zimmerman associate director of marketing Wil Wright production manager Mitch Galli educational outreach & member services manager, assistant conductor Spencer Blank operations manager Lynden Bair ADDITIONAL SPONSORS music assistant Maren Amdal organizational consultant ENSEMBLE MUSIC DIRECTORS S A N F R A N C I S C O Eric J. Carlson Let’s Go Places Since The Lollipop Guild Sanford Smith SWAG Mitch Galli HomoPhonics sfgmc @sfgmc sfgmc sfgmcvideo 2017.12 • BAYSTAGES.COM | 3 SAN FRANCISCO GAY MEN’S CHORUS Our NEW ALBUM recorded live at Skywalker Sound Featuring the best of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, in celebration of our 40th Season. AVAILABLE AS CD, Limited Edition Vinyl & Digital Download Get your copy in the lobby today or online at SFGMC.org SFGMC40.PlaybillAd.V2.indd 1 9/12/17 3:48 PM LEADERSHIP BIOGRAPHIES TIM SEELIG is a conductor, singer, teacher and motivational speaker. In addition to artistic director of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, he continues a busy guest-conducting schedule throughout the US and across the globe. He is conductor emeritus of the Turtle Creek Chorale, which he conducted for twenty years, he co-founded the Women’s Chorus of Dallas, and he taught on the faculty at Southern Methodist University for fouteen years. Dr. Seelig holds four degrees, including the Doctor of Musical Arts and the Diploma from the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. He has authored seven books and DVDs on choral technique. Recordings have been on the Billboard Top Ten and iTunes Top Ten classical charts. The PBS documentary about the Turtle Creek Chorale received the national Emmy Award for Best Documentary. Dr. Seelig has conducted regularly at Carnegie Hall for the last ternty-five years, as well as at Lincoln Center and the Southbank Centre in London. His groups have commissioned choral works for a variety of amazing organizations including amfAR (The image: chris turner American Foundation for AIDS Research), the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation (featuring Dr. Maya Angelou), and St. DR. TIMOTHY SEELIG Jude Children’s Research Hospital (featuring Marlo Thomas). artistic director Recent commissions with SFGMC include “Tyler’s Suite” for the Tyler Clementi Foundation, I Am Harvey Milk by Andrew Lippa, and #twitterlieder. Dr. Seelig’s first career was as a singer. He made his European operatic debut at the Staatsoper in St. Gallen, Switzerland and his solo recital debut at Carnegie Hall. He appeared as soloist in world premieres by composers including John Corigliano, Conrad Susa, and Peter Schickele (P.D.Q. Bach). Interesting facts about him include conducting the Longest Choral Concert (Guinness Book of World Records) and carrying the Olympic torch in 1996 as a community hero. He has not run since. He is married to Dan England and is the proud grandfather of the amazing Clara Skye and Eden Mae. CHRISTOPHER VERDUGO had his first introduction to the gay choral movement at the age of eighteen when he joined the Gay Men’s Chorus of South Florida. Three years later, he became artistic director of Paragon Productions, choreographing, directing, and producing theatrical productions for cruise lines and hotels throughout the world. In 1999, he combined his event production background with his fundraising skills, working with the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, Miami Beach’s Winter Party Music Festival, and the Communion Foundation, and sat on the board of directors of the South Beach Gay Men’s Chorus. After moving to Los Angeles in 2003, he was selected as one of two choreographers for the Miss Universe Pageant. Soon after he left his artistic roots to focus on LGBT and social justice issues working with various LGBT nonprofits including the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Equality California, the Human Rights Campaign, and GLAAD for which he produced Queer Lounge at Sundance. In 2006, he joined the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los image: shane downing Angeles as a singer and five years later was named executive director and chief executive officer. Under Verdugo, GMCLA built CHRISTOPHER VERDUGO an international reputation for musical excellence, doubled its executive director operating budget, and expanded its visibility to television and film appearances, most notably on the Academy Awards. It also expanded local education programs in Los Angeles high schools and launched a nationwide tour - It Gets Better - to combat LGBT teen bullying and suicide in rural American towns. Mr. Verdugo moved to San Francisco in 2016 to assume the role of executive director of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus. 2017.12 • BAYSTAGES.COM | 5 2PRINT-BBB_BAM_ELF-Dec17_full-pg.pdf 1 12/1/17 10:19 AM C M Y CM MY CY CMY K ARTISTIC BIOGRAPHIES CARL PANTLE is a vocal coach, accompanist, and singer who frequently works with San Francisco Opera, West Bay Opera, Opera San Jose and the Bay Area Summer Opera Theatre Institute. He is an alumnus of the prestigious Merola Program at the San Francisco Opera Center. Mr. Pantle studied voice and choral conducting at Brigham Young University and soon after returned to the Bay Area to pursue vocal coaching and accompanying at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He has appeared as a vocalist with SFGMC on numerous occasions and appeared at Lincoln Center as accompanist for Dr. Seelig in The Wisdom of Old Turtle in 2011. Mr. Pantle has collaborated with some of the finest talent Broadway has to offer including Daniel Reichard, Keala Settle, Julia Murney, Alysha Umphress, and Laura Benanti. image: devlin shand MITCH GALLI is a conductor, singer, pianist, and teacher from CARL PANTLE Williamstown, Massachusetts. Mitch earned a BA in music from principal accompanist St. Lawrence University and a master's in urban education with an administration and policy focus from Loyola Marymount University. He was assigned to move to the Bay Area in 2012 as a corps member with Teach for America and has stayed ever since. Mitch taught at a high school in Oakland for four years, first in mathematics and then as a choir and piano teacher. He then transitioned to a middle school in San Francisco where he taught music to grades five through eight for a year. Mitch has been a singing member in the chorus for three years. During his first year with SFGMC he founded our newest ensemble, HomoPhonics, which he still directs. He is thrilled to help develop and unveil SFGMC’s new educational outreach program: RHYTHM (Reaching Youth Through Music). RHYTHM will launch in early 2018. The program will bring members of the chorus to local high schools and middle schools to sing and share messages of anti-bullying and the importance of expressing one’s authentic self. GUEST ARTIST MITCH GALLI educational outreach & member services manager, THE COUNTESS KATYA SMIRNOFF-SKYY has enthralled Bay assistant conductor Area audiences for years with her unique blend of opera, pop, and booze. With a career spanning a very… very long time, Katya claims to have invented popera, romanced William Shatner, and lived across the hall from John Lennon at the Dakota during her infamous 1970s stint in New York. Once Eastern Europe’s most sought after mezzo soprano understudy, the countess now spends her evenings crooning and drinking her way through the finer theaters, bars, and bathhouses of America.