RAGAZZI BOYS CHORUS
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Mission Statement
Ragazzi teaches boys from all walks of life. They learn singing, performing, teamwork, persistence and more. We make great music and help make great young men.
About This Cause
Ragazzi Boys Chorus Mission Statement Ragazzi Boys Chorus is committed to excellence in musical performance and education. The Ragazzi experience instills self-confidence, cooperation, leadership, sensitivity and tenacity, helping our boys develop into young men of character and distinction. Ragazzi serves our boys and the community by performing a diverse selection of choral works to the highest artistic standards. Background and Goals We train boys from all walks of life to be good musicians and good singers. Our complete music education program leads them to discover the value of leadership, teamwork, commitment and self-discipline. They become better students and good citizens. We perform music from the full range of Western tradition and from other cultures around the globe, in their original languages. We believe that our boys enrich the community through this gift of art – this gift of harmony, in all its meanings. Ragazzi’s programs includes • a comprehensive music training program • an annual self-produced concert series • appearances in non-Ragazzi sponsored concerts • requent collaborations with regional arts organizations • community service outreach performances • a 7-10 night summer camp • domestic and international tours • self-produced recordings (six CDs since 1997) Ragazzi boys develop an appreciation of music that will last them a lifetime and find enduring friendships. Ragazzi offers our boys a golden opportunity to find success; and from that success, a genuine sense of self-esteem; all the more valuable because it’s earned... the old-fashioned way. Soaring music, talented singers, exceptional boys! Our organizational priorities over these next few fiscal years include 1) smart growth, 2) upgrading our onsite and online infrastructure and 3) making deeper inroads into Redwood City’s population of underserved boys, and 3a) expanding our scholarship program. 1) Ragazzi has been growing steadily and we’ve been able to accommodate that growth by making better use of our fixed cost resources and renting additional space. We’ve opened up a new class of beginners (Primary) on Tuesday evenings, expanding from our historic Mondays and Wednesdays, and we will house our changed-voice chorus (mostly high schoolers), “Young Men’s Ensemble” across the street in the First United Methodist Church this season. Continued growth, which leads to greater financial stability and artistic capabilities, will require continued careful planning, including making additional expenditures. Success will be signaled by more boys being served as well or better than before. 2) Since moving our administrative offices we have made, in cooperation with St. Peter’s Church where we rent admin and rehearsal space, many improvements to our physical plant. We have made significant improvements to our IT assets and plan further upgrades including iPads for faculty to interact with our registration system. We launched a new website in the fall of 2014 which allows us full control of content without the mediation of a webmaster. This is really an ongoing project with additional functionality being added as needs arise and new modules already in mind. We have also teamed up with a school database start-up, NeatSchool, which allows us to forego annual paper registrations, and as capacity is added, permit online payments, grades and volunteer organization. Success will be shown by a solid 21st century online and IT infrastructure with attendant greater efficiencies and a physical facility that serve our boys, parents, staff and faculty well. 3) For decades we bemoaned not really belonging to a single place. Our families come from all over the San Francisco Bay area and for a good part of our history, we were vagabonds, moving our rehearsal site every few years. Our peers, San Francisco Boys, the Tuscon Boys Choir or the Phoenix Boys Chorus among others, all benefit from their location and their city’s pride of place. With our administrative move in 2013 to collocate at St. Peter’s, our rehearsal home for 15 years, we’ve come to realize the we need to build pride in Ragazzi in Redwood City. Better serving the underserved right here is an obvious choice. We’ve worked over the past few seasons with Music for Minors, the Redwood City Education Foundation and the Redwood City Civic Cultural Commission to subsidize bringing Redwood City school children to Ragazzi concerts and to bring Ragazzi performances to Redwood City school children. There is no substitute for directly inspiring boys to want to sing with us. This will take years of persistence, community support, and foundation support. We will also likely need to expand our Flexible Tuition Assistance Program (FTAP) – our scholarships to families with need. Success will be measured by an increasing number of boys from Redwood City, and very likely an increased draw on our scholarship resources. 3a) We support our families with financial need via our Flexible Tuition Assistance Program (FTAP). We typically reserve about 10% of our revenues for tuition relief for our Choral Training Tour and Camp programs. It’s our core belief that the benefits of participating in Ragazzi should not be denied to any boy who loves to sing, regardless of family finances. The gap between what it costs to educate a Ragazzi boy and what some of our families are able to pay is only likely to increase. As we serve more boys with need, our FTAP program must grow. Success will be measured by how easily we meet the demand for tuition relief. Ragazzi as a whole constantly seeks feedback from music professionals. We believe that • our participation in high profile festivals (PICCFest [2x], International Kathaumixw [2x], St. Petersburg, Osaka, Llangollen, AmericaFest, Loto-Québec World Choral Festival, World Vision Int’l Children’s Choir Festival, and Choirs of America) and • our work with nationally and internationally known conductors on our own, as invitees to professional conferences and as contributors of boys to honor choirs (Vance George, Craig Jessop, Henry Leck, Rollo Dillworth, Bob Chilcott Grant Gershon [who called Ragazzi “amazing” at Carnegie Hall], among many others) and that • we are viewed as a resource for professional groups in the Bay Area for boys as a group and as soloists (San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Symphony, West Bay Opera, Stanford, Opera San Jose, Fremont Opera, Masterworks Chorale, etc.) serve as ongoing affirmation of our skill in training boys and the program’s artistic success. History and more Ragazzi Boys Chorus was co-founded in 1987 by Joyce Keil and Carolyn Watts as a volunteer–run and staffed enterprise, with seven boys and an $800 budget. The next year the chorus grew 500% to 35 boys, the music director was awarded an annual salary, and additional music directors were hired to create a new preparatory level. Recognized from the beginning for the high quality of its music program, Ragazzi is currently one of the largest boy choruses in the San Francisco Bay Area with about 220 boys and young men, ages 5–18, from over 100 schools in 26 communities in San Mateo, Santa Clara and Contra Costa counties. Each year Ragazzi performs a full range of classic and contemporary works for both the treble and changed voice, chosen from Western traditions and from cultures around the globe sung in their original languages. We train and provide singers to perform with Bay Area opera companies, symphonies, and chorales. We also frequently collaborate with other Bay Area performance and educational organizations, most recently West Bay Opera, Stanford Symphonic Chorus, Peninsula Girls Chorus, Young Woman’s Choral Projects, Masterworks Chorale, Music For Minors, Redwood City Education Foundation, for the town of Woodside, and the American Choral Directors Association among others. This coming season (so far!) we will be working with Peninsula Girls Chorus, the Redwood City Chamber of Commerce, and the California chapter of the American Choral Directors Asso. Tours will take groups to Sacramento (our intermediate boys), Flagstaff, Phoenix and Tucson in Arizona (our apprentice-level boys) and to three Baltic centers of culture – Tallinn, Riga and St. Petersburg (Concert boys and the Young Men’s Ensemble). Ragazzi’s Music Education programs consist of: ➢ Intensive Music Training: All boys receive choral training that focuses on vocal technique, practical musicianship, music theory, performance skills, and the joy of singing. Equally important is training in teamwork, cooperation, commitment, self-confidence, and self-discipline. In return, the chorus offers the community the gift of song – through concerts, outreach programs, and private performances. ➢ Public Performances: Ragazzi produces its own concert series and, in addition, performs regularly with other prestigious professional and amateur Bay Area music groups. The boys also participate in community events, sing at private events such as holiday parties, weddings and memorial services, and perform at community outreach performances in schools and senior centers. ➢ Summer Camp: A residential summer camp is mandatory for the four upper levels and our mixed Camp (day camp and then away camp for a few nights) is optional for the Primary (entry level) boys. Camp plays a key role in our training and ensemble development. It provides focused time for the boys to enhance their music skills, teamwork, and sense of personal independence. Supported by Ragazzi’s leadership training, they help each other learn to sing in foreign languages, learn music theory, and much repertoire. Older boys are mixed in counselor groups with younger boys to foster vertical communications, community and leadership skills in the older boys. Alumni of Ragazzi who have graduated from high school are eligible to apply for positions as Camp counselors. Camp also prepares boys with the skills necessary to participate in lengthy domestic and international tours where they represent the Bay Area, California, United States as singing ambassadors.