In 2010, director Karen R. Clark (contralto) founded Vajra Voices to develop a deeply embodied approach to ensemble singing, with a particular focus on the works of Hildegard von Bingen. Each member - Allison Zelles Lloyd, Amy Stuart Hunn, Phoebe Jevtovic Rosquist, and Celeste Winant - contributes an extraordinary level of vocal artistry as well as individual areas of expertise in conducting, education, comparative literature, vocal pedagogy, physics, and historically informed performance practice. Together, these musicians form a “robust, heartfelt and elegant ensemble” (San Francisco Chronicle).
The group's repertoire has expanded since its first performance at the Berkeley Early Music Festival in 2010. Its early music repertory now includes the florid chant of Hildegard von Bingen, early polyphony from the St. Martial de Limoges, and Las Huelgas manuscripts; songs of the troubadours and trouvères; and motets, formes fixes, and lais of Guillaume de Machaut. The ensemble's 2016 recording with multi-instrumentalist Shira Kammen, O Eterne Deus: Music of Hildegard von Bingen (Music & Arts) is acclaimed worldwide. The U.K.’s Choir & Organ hailed the CD as "the most convincing Hildegard disc yet from the USA”. A concert review in 2018, hailed an ensemble that "moves, breathes and sings as one, with a striking level of vocal artistry, unbelievable accuracy and precision, and...obvious delight" (San Francisco Classical Voice).
Vajra Voices expanded its ambit into new music in 2018 with the development and premiere of Theresa Wong’s improvisatory composition To Burst To Bloom, a collection of six songs setting the poems on inner alchemy of the 12th Century Chinese Taoist Immortal, Sun Bu’er. After months of collaborative rehearsals between composer and ensemble, the full work was premiered in January, 2019 at "The Eve of the March," a Vajra Voices-produced concert at San Francisco's Grace Cathedral, held the night before the 2019 national Women's March. The event featured Vajra Voices, the Kitka Women's Vocal Ensemble, and composer/instrumentalists Shira Kammen and Theresa Wong, performing medieval and new works celebrating the divine feminine aspects of spirituality.
Vajra Voices has partnered with numerous Bay Area organizations to present creative, collaborative, and meaningful performances, including Garrett-Moulton Productions, the Oakland Ballet, the San Francisco Early Music Society, the Santa Cruz Baroque Festival, and the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.
Vajra Voices is sincerely grateful for the support we’ve received over the years from:
The San Francisco Early Music Society
The California Arts Council
The InterMusic San Francisco Musical Grant Program (MGP)
And, our generous individual contributors.
The group's repertoire has expanded since its first performance at the Berkeley Early Music Festival in 2010. Its early music repertory now includes the florid chant of Hildegard von Bingen, early polyphony from the St. Martial de Limoges, and Las Huelgas manuscripts; songs of the troubadours and trouvères; and motets, formes fixes, and lais of Guillaume de Machaut. The ensemble's 2016 recording with multi-instrumentalist Shira Kammen, O Eterne Deus: Music of Hildegard von Bingen (Music & Arts) is acclaimed worldwide. The U.K.’s Choir & Organ hailed the CD as "the most convincing Hildegard disc yet from the USA”. A concert review in 2018, hailed an ensemble that "moves, breathes and sings as one, with a striking level of vocal artistry, unbelievable accuracy and precision, and...obvious delight" (San Francisco Classical Voice).
Vajra Voices expanded its ambit into new music in 2018 with the development and premiere of Theresa Wong’s improvisatory composition To Burst To Bloom, a collection of six songs setting the poems on inner alchemy of the 12th Century Chinese Taoist Immortal, Sun Bu’er. After months of collaborative rehearsals between composer and ensemble, the full work was premiered in January, 2019 at "The Eve of the March," a Vajra Voices-produced concert at San Francisco's Grace Cathedral, held the night before the 2019 national Women's March. The event featured Vajra Voices, the Kitka Women's Vocal Ensemble, and composer/instrumentalists Shira Kammen and Theresa Wong, performing medieval and new works celebrating the divine feminine aspects of spirituality.
Vajra Voices has partnered with numerous Bay Area organizations to present creative, collaborative, and meaningful performances, including Garrett-Moulton Productions, the Oakland Ballet, the San Francisco Early Music Society, the Santa Cruz Baroque Festival, and the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.
Vajra Voices is sincerely grateful for the support we’ve received over the years from:
The San Francisco Early Music Society
The California Arts Council
The InterMusic San Francisco Musical Grant Program (MGP)
And, our generous individual contributors.
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Shira Kammen, multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, composer
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