New Music For Treble Voices | Peninsula Women's Chorus

The idea for the New Music for Treble Voices Festival (NMFTV) came about in 2008 with the realization that the Bay Area is home to several acclaimed treble choirs, all national and international leaders in commissioning and performing new music. Founding groups were Volti, a professional choir dedicated to American contemporary music, Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir, both conducted by Robert Geary, and the Peninsula Women’s Chorus (PWC), conducted by Dr. Martín Benvenuto.

Hosted and produced by the PWC since 2013, this invitational festival under the direction of Dr. Anne K. Hege brings together experienced treble choirs with an affinity for innovative new music. In line with PWC’s mission of creating and performing diverse, dynamic, and adventurous music, we believe maintaining a forum for new music is essential as it inspires and enriches our singers and audiences.

The 10th anniversary New Music for Treble Voices Festival will celebrate pioneering female composers Pauline Oliveros and Florence Price. The festival will include guest groups Ensemble from the Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir and Vox Musica from Sacramento, with PWC, sharing a day of workshops in Deep Listening, a form of meditation and musical practice created by Pauline Oliveros led by Jennifer Wilsey, and collective libretto creation led by Denise Newman and Lynn Marie Kirby. The concert will include solo sets by each participating ensemble and PWC will premiere “Mouth,” composed for the PWC by our first Composer-in-Residence, Julie Herndon. The concert will close with a solo set of art songs by Florence Price performed by guest soloist Michele Kennedy, followed by all choirs performing Price’s “The Moon Bridge” and inviting all to participate in Oliveros’ “Tuning Meditation.”

Join us in celebration with some of the Bay Area’s finest treble choirs in an afternoon of exciting music making.

Sat, March 11, 2023 at 4PM
First United Methodist Church, Palo Alto (directions)