Tamlyn – New York – Carnegie Hall

san francisco photography portrait tour chorister

The last entry from a personal project while on tour last month in New York. Who would you be today if not for chorus?

Young Women’s Chorus charter member and graduating senior, Tamlyn. Photo taken before the performance in Carnegie Hall.

“I would not be the person I am today without the Young Women’s Chorus of San Francisco. I remember walking into the audition room at only twelve years old, a middle schooler, terrified of messing up, and doubting that I would be accepted. Now, I have walked out of the rehearsal room forever, eighteen years old, a high school graduate, still terrified of messing up, but knowing that chorus has changed me forever.

Chorus has given me a voice. It has increased my confidence in my abilities in a world that seeks to tear teenage girls apart. It has helped me realize my power. Through chorus I know that I have the ability to transform others. Because of this chorus I have learned that music is unlike anything else on earth. It has powers beyond explanation. Music can move people to tears, bring people together, and can undoubtedly change the world.”

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Katrina – New York – Ellis Island

san francisco portrait chorister tour

Part of a personal project while on tour last week in New York. Has singing in a chorus ever connected you to someone that doesn’t speak your language?

Young Women’s Chorus charter member and graduating senior Katrina. Photo taken on Ellis Island.

“When I first joined the Young Women’s Chorus, my nickname was Eeyore, the expressionless to the point of depression character from the Winnie the Pooh series. I was quite serious about singing, but I only really focused on singing the correct notes and rhythms. After my first voice masterclass, another chorister immediately said, “You’re just like Eeyore! This song is about happiness and love but you look so sad!” Before hearing this critique, I didn’t really understand the purpose of having expression. I saw music in a very straightforward and technical way, analyzing chord progressions and dynamics by the book. However, over time, YWC truly opened the door and showed me how universally powerful music is.

I first experienced this on our first tour to Italy. We were rehearsing in this gorgeous church in Venice, when we noticed people peeping through the gate at the entrance of the church. We only started with some simple warm-ups and yet people were flocking, trying to get a better look. Some even waited until we were done rehearsing to meet us outside. Despite the language barrier, both tourists and locals expressed their gratitude for our singing. It dawned on me that people didn’t need to know the music we were singing to enjoy our chorus. People didn’t need to speak the same language in order to feel connected through this celestial experience. Whether it was in San Francisco, Venice, Berlin, Vancouver, or Budapest, our singing connected people from all around the world, and that to me is an incredible and inimitable feeling.”

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Sarah – New York – Greenwich Village

san francisco chorister photography tour

Part of a personal project while on tour in New York. Has singing in a choir affected you in a similar way?

Young Women’s Chorus charter member and graduating senior Sarah. Photo taken in Greenwich Village.

“Singing with the Young Women’s Chorus these past six years has been an invaluable experience that I know will continue to shape my life long after I leave the chorus. No words can express how thankful I am to have learned and performed such renowned and challenging repertoire at a professional level in venues all around the world.

I have learned that choral performance goes far beyond mastering a piece of music; the most rewarding part of choir is our ability to connect with entire communities, across language barriers, using nothing more than a piano and our own voices. During one particular concert in an old church in a remote German hamlet, I noticed several men with tears running down their cheeks. Our free concert that evening, it seemed, was a gift graciously received. It touched me to no end to see how deeply our music had affected them. The concert we gave in that packed German church was by no means the splashiest production we’d ever put on, but it was the most moving and meaningful.”

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Alyssa – New York – St. Francis Xavier Church

san francisco chorister photography

Part of a personal project while on tour in New York. Taken at St. Francis Xavier church.

Young Women’s Chorus charter member and graduating senior Alyssa.

“The chorus has been more than an after-school activity to me. It’s been my home, my family, and so much more to me than I could have ever imagined over the past 6 years.
My first rehearsal, I was just a small kid among a sea of girls with mature and powerful voices. Yet, I wasn’t intimidated because everyone was so encouraging to each other. Even though I didn’t have a voice like all of the older girls, I felt like I was a valued member of the group, and played a vital role in making music. Over time, my voice grew to be louder, but my responsibilities within the chorus stayed the same: to make breathtakingly sensational music with my friends.

I remember, in the summer of 2015, YWC sang Franz Biebl’s “Ave Maria” in a small village in Germany. Our sound resonated in the large church packed full of people listening to us. After we finished and the sounds of the music dissipated, the room was silent. It was not until a few seconds after everything had stopped when the first sounds of applause began. It’s moments like these where I remember why I stayed in this chorus in the first place.”
– Alyssa

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Katie Innes – Noe Valley/Sally Brunn Branch Library

Katie Innes – Noe Valley/Sally Brunn Branch Library

The next portrait from an ongoing personal project.

Native Sons and Daughters is a photo series that tells a story of the people that live in the city in which they grew up. Each subject chooses a portrait location that is meaningful to them in some way and represents their own connection to the city.

Katie chose to take her portrait at the Noe Valley Branch Library. According to the SF Public Library website, this branch building opened in 1916 with a Spanish-style facade of brick and terra cotta. It was most recently renovated in 2008.

joseph fanvu photography san francisco 150318
joseph fanvu photography native san francisco

 

I grew up in Noe Valley, back when there were barely any kids in the neighborhood. From there I traveled to the Mission to attend Children’s Day School, then Katherine Delmar Burke School in Sea Cliff, and finally the Urban School in the Haight. After four years away in Walla Walla, WA for college, I returned to SF to live in the Richmond, then the Castro, and now the Marina.

 

joseph fanvu photography native san francisco
joseph fanvu photography native san francisco

 

I chose the Noe Valley Library because I spent so much time there as a toddler at lapsit, as a kid eagerly participating in the summer reading program, as a teenager doing research for school papers, and as a recent college graduate trying to figure out what to do with my life. The building is nearly 100 years old and it’s so beautiful from the outside and inside. I always felt so lucky that it just happened to be a block from my house and that I could read and learn in such a historical space.

 

joseph fanvu photography native san francisco
joseph fanvu photography native san francisco

 

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