We are  excited to announce that Dr. Donald Kendrick and Ms. Natascha Bach are coming to Sacred Heart School in the Fall 2022 to audition children for a professional level choir for some very special concerts this year.  

The choir, which is open to Grade 5, 6, 7 and 8 students only, will be chosen by audition and will perform at occasional school assemblies and once or twice at the Sunday 9:30 AM Mass in Sacred Heart Church.  They will also perform for 2000 people in Sacramento’s Memorial Auditorium for the annual Home For The Holidays concert with the 160-voice Sacramento Choral Society and Orchestra (SCSO) that will also feature guest artist Salvator Atti, Tenor, and the Christopher Cook Puppet Theater. In addition, the choir will perform with the SCSO in Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana in May 2023 in the brand new downtown SAFE Credit Union Performing Arts Center. 

This is a fantastic opportunity for our students to receive the highest level of music training available from the esteemed Choral Conductor Donald Kendrick and Natascha Bach.  Successful candidates who pass the audition will pay $50 per semester for membership dues.

Please download this separately attached excel spread mandatory rehearsal schedule which will be held in the Sacred Heart Church Hall on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:30 PM – 4:45 PM starting on August 22, 2022 through May 17, 2023. 

As a professional choir involved with union orchestras and public performances, singers are permitted to miss two rehearsals per semester only before they will be dismissed from the choir.  There will be no refund of dues following their dismissal. 

Don’t miss this once in a lifetime experience for your child to receive professional training from some of the finest choral conductors in the profession. 

Please download the excel spreadsheet (see below) that lists the rehearsal schedule.

AUDITIONS
To arrange an audition please call Dr. Kendrick at (916) 847-0424 or email at kendrick@csus.edu
Please have your Audition Form downloaded, printed and completed entirely before entering the room to sing.

Dr. Donald Kendrick is the founding Conductor of the 160-voice Sacramento Choral Society and Orchestra (SCSO) that presents large choral orchestral performances each season in the Sacramento Community Center Theater, Memorial Auditorium, Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament and Fremont Presbyterian Church. The SCSO is celebrating its 26th season this year. (Check out the SCSO’s repertoire over 25 years.)

• June 2019 Mozart Requiem Performance – Zagreb, Croatia
• Rogues Gallery
• Awards and  Plaques

In May 1995, Kendrick made his Carnegie Hall conducting debut in a performance of Verdi’s Requiem. In May 2003, he once again returned to Carnegie Hall with the SCSO to conduct a triumphant performance of Orff’s Carmina Burana. (Check out the SCSO’s soloists over the past 25 years.)

In July 2006, Dr. Kendrick led the Sacramento Choral Society and guests from the CSUS Choral Music Program on a performance tour of China, with concerts in Beijing, Tianjin, Xian, Jinan (Sacramento’s Sister City) and a special performance on the Great Wall. Kendrick has led the SCSO in performances at the Vatican in Rome, Notre Dame in Paris, St. Paul’s in London and in Normandy’s American Cemetery. In the summer of 2017 Kendrick led the SCSO to the Baltics where they partnered with orchestras in Latvia, Estonia, and Finland. In June 2019 he and the SCSO partnered with orchestras and soloists in Salzburg, Austria, Ljubljana, Slovenia and Zagreb, Croatia in performances of the Mozart Requiem.

For 33 years (1985-2018), Dr. Kendrick was also Director of Choral Activities at California State University, Sacramento, where he conducted the Concert Choir, Chamber Choir and the University Chorus. At CSUS he also directed the Graduate Degree Program in Choral Conducting that he initiated in 1986. His CSUS Choirs performed internationally in France, Switzerland, Italy and Canada (Montréal, Vancouver, Victoria). His choirs also performed throughout California and they appeared on an international telecast at the invitation of the Prime Minister of Canada.

In May 2004, Dr. Kendrick received the CSUS School of the Arts Outstanding Community Service Award for his work in linking the community to the University. In July 2004, Conductor Kendrick led SCSO members and guests of the CSUS Choral Program on their first international European tour to Munich, Prague, Vienna and Budapest!

He also served as the “Repertoire and Standards” representative for Community Choruses for the State of California for the American Choral Directors Association. In May 2007 Dr. Kendrick was named Outstanding Teacher of the Year by the Capitol Section of the California Music Educators Association (CMEA).

Since 1992, Dr. Kendrick has also been Organist and Director of Music at Sacramento’s Sacred Heart Church where he conducts Vox Nova (Sunday 9:30 a.m. Men’s Chorus) and ScholaCantorum, a mixed ensemble that has recorded 9 compact discs and has toured extensively throughout the West Coast. Schola has also enjoyed numerous European tours that included two performances at the Vatican for Pope Benedict (2007) and for Pope Francis (2013).

In February 2005, Schola Cantorum was selected to perform at the National Convention of the American Choral Directors’ Association in Los Angeles at the new Cathedral Our Lady of the Angels. In addition, he is Co-Founder and Artistic Director of the Sacramento Children’s Chorus and was recently awarded a Certificate of Recognition from the California State Assembly for his work in promoting choral music for youth in the greater Sacramento area. In October 2017 Kendrick was awarded the Legend of the Arts award by the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission. In November 2017, Wells Fargo presented Dr. Kendrick with the Wells Fargo CARE Award (Community, Achievement, Recognition, Engagement) honoring his dedication and commitment to growing the arts for over 3 decades.

Dr. Kendrick has prepared choruses for such leading orchestras as the Boston Symphony, the Boston Pops, the Toronto Symphony, the San Jose Symphony, the Chautauqua Symphony, the Baton Rouge Symphony, the Sacramento Symphony, and other orchestras in Canada.

He has studied at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, Boston’s New England Conservatory of Music, Stanford University, and he holds a doctoral degree from the Eastman School of Music where he also served on the faculty. He earned the CHM (Choirmaster) Certificate from the American Guild of Organists and was the first recipient of the Louise Rogers Goucher Memorial Scholarship given by the American Choral Federation in New York.

Dr. Kendrick has taught at Louisiana State University, the University of the Pacific Conservatory of Music, and at universities in Canada where his choirs won national competitions for their excellence. In 1989, he accepted an invitation from Boston’s celebrated Chorus Pro Musica, to serve as its third conductor in 41 years. He has served on the statewide board of the California American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) where he was the representative for Community Choruses in California.

He has appeared on the CBC as a recitalist and conductor, and his choirs have been broadcast locally on KXPR-FM and KVIE Television. He is active as a guest conductor and an adjudicator for choral festivals throughout the country.

Sign Up to Audition

Ms. Natascha Bach, private voice instructor, has positively impacted the lives of children for over 25 years as a choral director, music educator, and in her private voice studio. She attended the University of North Dakota and graduated with her BA in Music Education in 1997.

Natascha began her teaching career working for the Standing Rock Grant School in Standing Rock, ND where she worked for 2 years with students in grades K-6. For 15 years she taught for the Bismarck Public School District in Bismarck, ND.  She began as an Elementary Music Specialist at Rita Murphy Elementary School teaching 750 students.  She participated in the development and creation of an opera education program for sixth graders city-wide where she also performed demonstrating the mezzo-soprano voice. In 2008, Natascha was invited to co-direct at the high school level where she donated her time, during her prep periods, to ensure that all students in the choral programs, at two high schools, had access to free voice lessons. At Bismarck High School, Natascha co-directed 4 choirs and 1 jazz choir teaching 253 students. During her time with the Bismarck Public Schools she supervised 5 student teachers and helped to mentor first and second year music educators who were just beginning their teaching careers.

In 2014, Natascha relocated to San Francisco, CA. Natascha served as Head of School, Choral Conductor, and Voice Instructor at the Pacific Boychoir Academy. In addition to conducting the Intermezzi Boy Choir, she also created the first ever sister choir at PBA, called Sorella. In 2019, Natascha began working with the San Francisco Girls Chorus as Director of Chorus School Programs and Level Director.  As choral conductor, she worked with Prep Chorus, Training Chorus, and Level I. She also developed and implemented a supplemental program for high school singers called the Choral Skills Immersion Class. In 2020, Natascha moved to Sacramento where she has been teaching voice remotely.

Throughout her 25 year career, she has maintained a private voice studio. Natascha is passionate about the role music plays in learning and well-being. Utilizing her expertise in vocal pedagogy, her work with her vocal students focuses on raising awareness of their physical positioning and how adjustments to each aspect of their body influences vocal results, empowering singers. Over the years, her students have received top awards and accolades, and have been selected to honor choirs at the state, regional, and national level. Her voice students have also successfully auditioned for scholarships and placement in prestigious music colleges and universities.

Natascha is a classically trained mezzo-soprano who performs varied repertoire in opera, oratorio, and song recital. Dedicated to her craft, Natascha has continued her own personal vocal studies most recently studying voice under Internationally renown Wagnerian Soprano, Deborah Voigt, and Voice Technician, James Toland. She has also studied voice under Dr. DeVera Bowles, Maria Williams-Kennedy, Dr. Carol Sedwick, and Katherine Henjum. Natascha has been a featured mezzo-soprano soloist in Handel’s Messiah, Bernstein’s Candide, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, and Mozart’s Magic Flute. Natascha is thrilled to be a part of the Sacramento music community and is currently a member of Schola Cantorum, under the direction of Dr. Donald Kendrick.

NOTE: If you are interested in voice lessons for your child, Natascha has some openings in her voice studio for the upcoming 2022-23 school year.  Please visit her website VoicesbyBach.com for more information and to book a lesson.

Sign Up to Audition