CalBach.org
Title
California Bach Society
Contact
- California Bach Society, Inc.
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- Menlo Park CA
- United States 94026
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- +1.65029986
Description
Suzanne Elder Wallace maintains an active career as a professional singer and choral director. She has performed and recorded with Theatre of Voices, American Bach Soloists, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Kronos Quartet, Magnificat, Bimbetta, and California Bach Society, among others. Suzanne teaches three choirs at Santa Rosa Junior College, and she has taught world music, music history, and applied voice at Dominican University. Suzanne also directs the professional ensemble “inQuire,” which specializes in pre-Baroque and 20th–21st century vocal chamber music. Suzanne holds a bachelor of music degree in vocal performance and conducting. She earned a master of arts degree in choral conducting from the Claremont Graduate University, where her studies emphasized early performance practice, and where she served as choral teaching assistant at Scripps College and directed the graduate school’s Collegium Musicum. She holds a Ph.D. in musicology from the University of California at Davis, where she was teaching assistant to Paul Hillier and Jeffrey Thomas. One of the great joys of Suzanne’s life is her interest in Cornish culture; her doctoral research started out as an historical study of May Day rituals in Cornwall, but quickly changed directions to explore the ongoing role of folk music and ritual in ethnic self-identification. The most valuable product of Suzanne’s field research has been the formation of deep, abiding, and loving friendships in Cornwall.
The California Bach Society has established a reputation for its historically informed interpretations of Renaissance and Baroque choral music as it might have been performed in the original liturgical settings. The Society has performed with such early music luminaries as Magnificat and members of the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. In 2003, California Bach Society joined the world-renowned Kronos Quartet in the Bay Area premiere of Terry Riley’s Sun Rings. San Francisco Classical Voice has praised the choir for its “superb sonority and expressiveness” and noted that performances are “musically impeccable as well as academically adroit in terms of style and tempo.” In June 2000, the California Bach Society capped a successful 1999-2000 season with a sold-out performance at the Berkeley Early Music Festival. In May 2001, choir and orchestra presented Bach's Mass in B minor, which was praised by the San Mateo County Times as "The best of Bach at its best" and "a feast for the ears". The Society's performances of music by Monteverdi during the Christmas season have become a holiday tradition in the Bay Area, drawing capacity crowds every year.
