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performances, deepen cross-cultural understanding, director) alternate conducting each set. Each year we
and further amplify the spirit of collaboration and in- trade who begins and who ends the concert. Within
clusivity within our project. each set, there is no applause, so the “mood” of the
pieces flow into one another, creating a program that is
both reflective and energetic but never forced.

The Choral Project
Submitted by: Daniel Hughes, Artistic Director What is the collaborative element of your project?
Location: San Jose, CA Sharing the podium and stage with a world-class or-
www.choralproject.org chestra, the organic essence of the repertoire, and the

Program or Project Title: emotional/spiritual effect of the program.
Winter’s Gifts

Tucson Girls Chorus
Submitted by: Marcela Molina
Location: Tucson, Arizona
www.tucsongirlschorus.org
Program or Project Title:
Community Engagement Program

The Choral Project presents an annual collabora-
tion with the highly acclaimed San José Chamber Or-
chestra (Barbara Day Turner, Music Director). The
collaboration is called Winter’s Gifts, and it features
classical and world music from the diverse cultures
with which we are blessed in the San Francisco Bay
Area; this program’s themes have included honoring
celebrations of light (Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa,
Diwali, etc.), New Year/Lunar celebrations (Chinese
New Year, Tet, etc.), and music about the winter season
(Solstice, Yule, etc.). The Tucson Girls Chorus programs are created
based on the belief that all girls deserve access to a high-
What is the most successful aspect of the project? quality choral education that provides an empowering
space for girls to share their voices. TGC’s Community
The most successful aspects of this annual collabo- Engagement Program was founded in 2013 and was
ration are the nature of the repertoire (both ensembles created to remove barriers that prevent families and
share a similar programming aesthetic) and the format singers from participating.
of the program itself. The concert runs approximately This program, central to our mission, allows the
seventy-five minutes with no intermission, organized TGC to focus on digging deeper and expanding ser-
into four concert sets. Barbara Day Turner (the con- vices. We provide robust scholarships and dependable
ductor of the chamber orchestra) and I (the artistic subsidized programming to our partner school partici-

CHORAL JOURNAL October 2024 Volume 65 Number 3 77