Sonos at Davies Hall

Last night, Sonos appeared as guest artist with the San Francisco Girls Chorus at their annual "Stars of Wonder" concert at Davies Symphony Hall in downtown San Francisco.

We played a short Fanfare, written by our director James Meredith, to start the program. We also played in the last piece on the first half, "Ring Out, Wild Bells!" for SSAA chorus and handbells by Bradley Ellingboe.

During intermission, we set up for the second half - our solo number was the fifth piece in the second half. We played "Christmas Tidings" by James Meredith, a medley of "Mary Had a Baby" and "Go Tell it on the Mountain" for bells and clarinet. Our clarinetist for the evening was Joel Jaffe.

When we went onstage for our piece, the audience clapped politely. When we finished the piece, the audience went WILD! The hall *erupted* in applause, with some whistles, hoots, and hollers thrown in for good measure! It was obvious that they really really liked the piece!! Yay!

Immediately after "Christmas Tidings", 5 of us stayed on stage to join the Girls Chorus on the audience sing-along "I Saw Three Ships" - we played on verse six, "And all the bells on earth shall ring".

At that point, we left the stage, to return for the final piece on the program, the audience sing-along "Joy to the World", with brass, piano, and organ, too!

Davies Hall is a simply DIVINE place to play - wonderful acoustics, stage managers & -hands who know their stuff and aren't overly-authoritarian.

We always enjoy it when we get to collaborate with other wonderful musicians, and the SFGC certainly fits that bill! While we were backstage, the girls sang "O Holy Night" and I commented (with a happy sigh), "This is what heaven sounds like!"

Here are some pictures I took. Ruben took some, too, and when he puts them online, I'll post a link.

Now it's time for me to get ready to conduct the Sunnyvale Presbyterian Church's Choir of Bells in our annual "Prelude of Bells" before the 11:00pm Candlelight Christmas Eve service. Fun!

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