• Submitted by: manso
• Arts and Culture
• 08 / 05 / 2011

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Tamara Straus. San Francisco Chronicle August 4, 2011 04:00 AM. Thursday, August 4, 2011. SF Girls Chrous / Elaine Sullivan.

The San Francisco Girls Chorus performs in July in Havana, Cuba, where director Susan McMane says they were impressed by the level of musical appreciation and sophistication.

Girls' chorus sings praises of Cuba visit. This summer the San Francisco Girls Chorus performed what outgoing Artistic Director Susan McMane said was among its most memorable concerts: a performance of American, Latin and other songs in Santa Clara, Cuba, where McMane and 40 girls were awed by the level of musical appreciation and sophistication.

"Music is very much part of public education," said McMane. "There are 27 professional choirs in Cuba, supported by the government, in a country of only 11 million people. And those choirs are not just in the capital - they can be found all over the country."

There is also real pageantry to Cuban concerts. McMane described the SFGC's reception as being "like in a movie": The Santa Clara choir, dressed in classic red-and-black dresses and suits, escorted the girls into the packed concert hall to the roaring appreciation of the audience. They sang Cuban American composer Tania León's newly commissioned "Rimas Tropicales" as well as American folk songs and spirituals like "Hold On" and even a choral rendition of "San Francisco."

The July 2-10 tour to Cuba came by permission of the U.S. Special Interest Section Headquarters, which serves as an unofficial embassy on the island nation, which also heard a Fourth of July concert in Havana, where the SFGC performed "The Star-Spangled Banner." Other stops included the northern coastal town of Matanzas and participation in three master classes in Havana with Cuban choral conductors, including Maestra Digna Guerra of Coro Nacional de Cuba.

McMane was surprised that "such a struggling economy has such a high level of art and music. I don't think we ever had an audience as appreciative as in Santa Clara. The girls were moved by the poor conditions under which people live and the richness with which they approach music. Our country is so rich, and yet we cut money for the arts."

Not many artistic institutions are 100 years old in the Bay Area, but the Mission District's Roxie Theater is among them, at a ripe 102. To celebrate this achievement in the midst, no less, of the decimation of the independent movie theater industry, the Roxie is going off the wagon permanently. After several events in which it offered film with booze, the theater has applied for a permanent beer license and intends to offer brews to its discriminating customers as soon as possible.

Smuin schedule

Smuin Ballet's 2011-12 season will include a world premiere in the fall from Amy Seiwert and one by Tulsa (Okla.) Ballet's Ma Cong in the spring. Also on tap will be Michael Smuin's "Tango Palace" and "Obrigado, Brazil," "Eternal Idol" and "Stabat Mater," a tribute to Sept. 11. Seiwert, a stalwart at Smuin, will set her dance to the music of Patsy Cline. Programs will be presented in San Francisco, Mountain View, Walnut Creek and Carmel between September and May 2012. Tickets can be purchased at (415) 556-5000 or www.smuinballet.org.

Arts appointments

René Mandel is making his return to the Berkeley Symphony as executive director of the 44-year-old classical music institution. Mandel served as the symphony's artistic administrator and orchestra manager from 2006 to 2009, as well as the orchestra's principal second violin. Most recently, he was the director of artistic operations and executive producer of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal. His return to the Bay Area is also a homecoming for his wife, Joanna Berman, who was a star at the San Francisco Ballet for many years.

Jean Kellogg has been appointed the first executive director of the Merola Opera Program, the San Francisco Opera's young-artist training program. Until now, the program has been mostly volunteer-led through the opera's board. Kellogg will be leaving her post as executive director for the Hylton Performing Arts Center in Manassas, Va., where she completed a $50 million capital campaign and organized 125 performances in the center's first season.

Source: www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/08/04/DDJL1KGCBS.DTL