By Khalida Sarwari
The West Valley College Chamber Singers and College Chorale joined the San Jose State University Choraliers in a concert tour of England and France earlier this summer.
The ensembles performed together in five concerts during an 11-day tour that ran from May 27 through June 7.
Throughout the tour, the West Valley College Chamber Singers opened each concert with a set of music including English and French madrigals, American spirituals and folk songs, and an original song by WVC’s music composition major Lauren Pham.
After the SJSU Choraliers’ set, the choirs joined together to perform an English anthem, a French sacred song, an American folk song and an African-American spiritual.
WVC choral director Lou De La Rosa and SJSU choral director Dr. Jeffrey Benson split conducting duties. De La Rosa is the director of choral and vocal music at WVC, where he conducts the college chorale and chamber singers and oversees the jazz singers, student a cappella ensembles, musical theater and opera scenes, and the vocal music program.
“This collaboration between the WVC and SJSU choral music programs is an extension of an already vibrant connection through joint concerts and co-sponsorship of a choir festival and a choir leadership seminar,” said WVC spokesman Scott Ludwig.
Among the locales where the ensemble performed were Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford and Southwark Cathedral at the south end of London Bridge. From there, the tour headed to Notre Dame d’Amiens, a 13th-century Gothic cathedral in Amiens, France, and Eglise St. Andre in the ancient city of Reims, France, before traveling to Paris for the last four days. The final concert was in La Madeleine off Place de la Concorde and featured the French composer Gabriel Fauré as the organist. The combined choirs performed Fauré’s Cantique de Jean Racine.
The touring ensemble was comprised of 19 singers and three alumni who are members of the SJSU Choraliers.
The West Valley College Chamber Singers have been invited to join the San Jose State University Choraliers on a tour of Ireland in a few years to commemorate the Sister City status between San Jose and Dublin.
Past tours undertaken by WVC choirs have included Austria, the Czech Republic and most recently, the famed Carnegie Hall in New York City.
