Author: Jan Clayton

2024 Spring Choral Exchange

2024 Spring Choral Exchange

Resounding Achord Productions is pleased to present our Spring Choral Exchange concert, which will feature Resounding Achord, the Pariter Vocal Ensemble, and our friends, Mixed Chorus Kakehashi, conducted by Yumi Shiraiwa.

In case you missed Resounding Achord’s send-off performance on March 3rd, Resounding Achord will perform their stunning set from the ACDA Western Region Conference once more. If you haven’t seen it you don’t want to miss it. Pariter will perform all-new repertoire with works by Andrea Ramsey and a Beatles medley in the barbershop style. Mixed Chorus Kakehashi’s program will feature two Japanese children’s songs and a piece from the “Xenoblade” video game.

This concert will be a lovely way to start the Spring season. Please join us.

Date: Saturday, March 23, 2024 4:00 pm
Location: Campbell United Methodist Church, 1675 Winchester Blvd., Campbell, CA

Ticket prices: Adults $20;  Collect Students $10; Kids  (18 years and younger) are always free

Glad Tidings

Glad Tidings

Looking for the perfect way to start out your holiday season? Join Resounding Achord Productions for a festive celebration with all three of our choirs: Chromatic Convergence, Pariter Vocal Ensemble, and Resounding Achord. Works include pieces for Chanukah, a trio of songs for the solstice inspired by Hindustani Raags, and a rousing holiday finale sung by all three choirs together.

Date: Sunday, December 3, 2023  3:00 pm

Location: St. Francis Episcopal Episcopal Church, 1205 Pine Avenue, San Jose CA 94022

Ticket Prices:
    Adult:
$25 online sales, $30 at the door
    College Student:
$10 online and at the door
    Kids:
Always Free

2024 ACDA Western Regional Conference Sendoff Concert

2024 ACDA Western Regional Conference Sendoff Concert


Resounding Achord is honored and overjoyed to have been selected to perform at the 2024 ACDA Western Region Conference in Pasadena!

Our program, titled, “Living the Dream,” takes the audience through the life journey of a living soul. Their birth is celebrated, and they start out with youthful exuberance and joy. As they grow into adolescence and adulthood, they long for the simplicity of youth, when comfort was as simple as the touch of their mother’s hand. In adulthood, they struggle to find belonging, feeling like a wanderer, a stranger in their own community, but they cling to the dream of home. They soon learn that home can mean many things, but above all, it is a place where they can love and be loved. The final piece celebrates that realization and challenges the singers and audience members to do their utmost to take care of one other because “we belong to each other.” (Ffe Mwe, Mwe Ffe, Joan Szymko)
ragazzi boys chorus

For our local audiences, we are excited to join with Ragazzi Boys Chorus, also selected to perform at the conference, for a special send-off concert on March 3 in Portola Valley. Don’t miss your opportunity to see this very special program!

Date: Sunday, March 3, 2024 4:00 pm
Location: Valley Presbyterian Church, 945 Portola Rd, Portola Valley, CA 94028

Music In Bloom

Music In Bloom


Spring has sprung! Chromatic Convergence, Pariter Vocal Ensemble, and Resounding Achord come together to celebrate the end of Resounding Achord Productions’ 2023-2024 season.

This concert honors the beauty of spring and welcomes the warmth of summer.

Date: Saturday, May 4, 2024 7:30 pm

Location: Campbell United Methodist Church, 1675 Winchester Blvd., Campbell

Tickets on Sale soon.

What’s Streaming

What’s Streaming


Resounding Achord Productions is proud to present Chromatic Convergence in their first concert as an official RAP choir. “What’s Streaming” is filled with fan-favorites from social media, TV Shows, movies, and musicals, including songs from Ice Age, Austin Powers, Coco, and many more.

Join us as we travel down Memory Lane enjoying classic tunes from the past 60 years of media.

Date: October 6th, 2023, 8:00 pm

Location: Stone Church, 1937 Lincoln Ave, San Jose CA 95125

Cost: $20 for adults; $10 for college students; Kids are always free

2023 SVCreates Grant Photos

Enclosed are a few photos from our 2022 Summer Conducting Lab. The lab consisted of six 2-hour sessions in July 2022. Fifteen conductors-in-training and approximately 70 singers participated in the program last summer. Extremely experienced conducting instructors work directly with the conductors-in-training. This program is produced by Resounding Achord Productions in partnership with San José State University and their Three Summer Master’s Program in Music Education.


 

Jubilation

Jubilation

Celebrating Our Future

Jubilation / joobə’lāSH(ə)n/ noun a feeling of great happiness and triumph

For the closing concert of our Season of Celebration, we look toward our future and the next 10 years of Resounding Achord Productions. Join Resounding Achord and Pariter in San Jose or Los Altos for a program that features works by Susan LaBarr, Orlando Gibbons, and Carlos Cordero with a brand new commissioned work by Kendrick Huynh in honor of our 10th season. A happy triumph, indeed!

May 13, 2023, 7:30 pm
St Francis Episcopal Church
1205 Pine Ave, San Jose, CA 95125, USA
May 14, 2023, 4:00 pm
Los Altos United Methodist Church
655 Magdalena Ave, Los Altos, CA 94024, USA

Summer Conducting Lab Choir

Summer Conducting Lab Choir

Need a place to sing when your choir is off for the summer?
We have the perfect gig for you.

The Summer Conducting Lab gives conductors-in-training an opportunity to work with a choir in a rehearsal setting, gaining valuable podium time and real-time feedback. During the 2-hour sessions, 3-5 conductors work with the all-volunteer choir, made up of singers from all over the Silicon Valley. Dr. Jeffrey Benson and Kristina Nakagawa provide feedback to the conductors both during the session and afterward in private communication.

What else is great about the Summer Conducting Lab?

No audition.
No practicing.
No cost.
No pressure.
No commitment.

Just show up, sing, and have fun.

Resounding Achord provides music for all participants. About 20 pieces are selected each year that represent different styles, musical eras, and difficulties. About 25-30% of the music changes each year so that there is sufficient variety for returning singers and conductors.  It is a perfect opportunity to practice your sight-reading skills.

Session Dates for 2023

Monday and Wednesday nights, 7:30 – 9:30
July 10, 12, 17, 19, 31, & August 2

 

All sessions are located at:

St. Francis Episcopal Church
1205 Pine Ave, San José, CA

What do the lab choir singers like best?

“I loved getting to learn more about the insides of conducting!”“Making great music.””I loved being a part of a group of extremely skilled musicians; both the singers and directors!””The feedback given by Dr. Benson and Kristina Nakagawa and their effect on the conductor/choir were eye- (and ear-) opening for me as a singer.”
Click to Register as a Singer or Student Conductor

History of the Conducting Lab

We started the conducting lab in 2014 in conjunction with San Jose State University (SJSU) as part of their Three Summer Master’s Program in Music Education. The summer masters students are music educators, and many are conductors of community or school ensembles. The SJSU program offers advanced conducting instruction as part of its program; however, because the residency is held during the summer, there are no ensembles at SJSU for the students to conduct. Our lab provides a live conducting opportunity for the students.
Each year the program follows a basic framework:

  • There are typically six evening sessions — typically two evening sessions per week for a 3-week period.
  • Conductors sign up for one or more 20–40 minute conducting time slots and arrive prepared to conduct 1–3 pieces.
  • The conductors can either be members of SJSU’s Three Summer Master’s Program, regular-term students at SJSU, or community members who are seeking an opportunity to sharpen their conducting skills.
  • There is no participation fee for conductors or singers, and all music is lent to the conductors and singers free of charge for the program.
  • We invite and welcome singers of any age and any level to be part of the choir. They don’t have to make a commitment to show up for all or even most of the sessions, and singers do not need to practice.
  • Dr. Jeffrey Benson and Kristina Nakagawa give instruction and written feedback to the conductors.
“The Summer Lab Choir partnership between SJSU and Resounding Achord provides a tremendous opportunity for our SJSU Summer Masters students to gain much-needed experience in front of a choir. Thank you to RA for the amazing leadership in our field.” — Dr. Jeffrey Benson, SJSU
Summer# Student
Conductors
# Singers
Signed Up
Average #
Participants
Each Night
2015165226
2016158535
2017139244
20181410451
20191510249
2020
2021144028
2022156535

Choral Cultural Exchange

Choral Cultural Exchange

Resounding Achord Productions’ mission is to create a thriving and welcoming artistic community through musical accessibility, community involvement, and educational outreach. Outreach, we feel, is critical to building our community, and we are constantly looking for new outreach avenues. One of our singing members came to us with an idea to create a program that brings together choral organizations from many different ethnic communities to share in a day of song, and we are excited to bring her idea to life.

Resounding Achord Productions will perform with 3-4 choirs from diverse ethnic backgrounds for this event. Each choir will share 10 minutes of music, and all choirs will combine for at least one piece as the concert finale. The choirs will have social time available during the day to share their musical and cultural interests.

Friends and family members of the choirs are welcome to attend the performance — their admission is free. Donations are gratefully accepted to help offset the cost of the event. Preregistration of general audience members is requested.

When: March 18, 2023
3:00 pm performance

Location: St. Francis Episcopal Church, 1205 Pine Avenue, San Jose, CA

 

Carols & Cocoa

Carols & Cocoa

Join us for all the warm and cozy feelings as we get into the holiday spirit while also celebrating what makes us special: our beloved community! This fan-favorite event will include holiday choral favorites voted on by our audiences from Resounding Achord, along with sets of music from Pariter and special guests Chromatic Convergence.

While you’re there, grab a cookie and a cup of hot cocoa, take a family picture in our holiday photo booth, and be delighted with songs of the season.

Date: Sunday, December 18th, 3:00 pm
Location: St. Francis Episcopal Church, 1205 Pine Avenue, San José, CA

Couldn’t make it to San Jose? Watch the concert at https://youtu.be/VuLZ3CX6YQg.