Maurice Duruflé, Requiem, 1947
Duruflé was born in 1902. Steeped in the choral plainsong tradition as a boy, he became an organist and composer, studying composition with Paul Dukas (Sorcerer’s Apprentice). In 1947 he completed probably the most famous of his few pieces: the Requiem op. 9, for soloists, choir, organ, and orchestra, leaning into his plainsong background. He had begun composing the work in 1941, following a commission from the Vichy regime.
Duruflé was highly critical of his own compositions. He published only a handful of works and often continued to edit and change pieces after publication. The result of this perfectionism is that he published relatively few works, but they are quite polished and are frequently performed, especially his organ works.
Antonio Vivaldi, Gloria, 1715
Composer, virtuoso violinist, impresario of Baroque music, and teacher, Vivaldi is regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, pioneering many developments in orchestration, violin technique and programmatic music.
Simply known as the Vivaldi Gloria, it is an outstandingly popular opus in the choral repertoire. Motivic material including octave jumps and rhythmic repetitions in the opening of the piece are a signature of his work from this time. The last movement, “Cum Sancto Spiritu”, is based on earlier pieces, but here it is extensively modified, harmonically, becoming more chromatic than its predecessors, reflecting a maturity in Vivaldi’s output and the emerging style of the late Italian Baroque.
Dr. Anne K. Hege, conductor, is also composer, vocalist, and instrument builder. She explores the roots of musicality in the intersection of ensemble interaction, technology, embodiment, and expression. As the artistic director of the Peninsula Women’s Chorus (2021-present), Anne works to expand the role of the community chorus in commissioning and performing adventurous and transcendent works for treble voices. During her tenure with PWC, she has founded a two-year composer-in-residence program, a beginning/intermediate conducting course, a flexible Virtual Voices program, and has premiered nine new works commissioned by PWC.
As a composer, Hege’s works have been performed and commissioned by ensembles worldwide, including So Percussion, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Princeton Laptop Orchestra, Stanford Laptop Orchestra, loadbang, Ensemble Klang, Clerestory, and Volti SF. In 2025, Hege founded Laptopera Productions to produce operas for laptop orchestra and live voices, including the premiere of her second laptopera, The Glance, May 29-31, 2026, at ODC in San Francisco. Laptopera Productions has received grants from New Music USA, Intermusic SF, and 836M.
César Cancino, pianist, is a native of the San Francisco Bay Area, and enjoys a musically diverse career as pianist, musical director, and conductor. He graduated from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and then studied piano with Alain Naude, a pupil of the great Dinu Lipatti. For five years he toured with singer/songwriter Joan Baez as her musical director and pianist. Later he spent five more years as the musical director/pianist for Teatro Zinzanni (a European style circus-cabaret in San Francisco). He is a recipient of the Bay Area Theatre Critic’s Circle award for Outstanding Musical Director.
Mr. Cancino has performed throughout North America, Europe, and Australia in such venues as Montreux Jazz Festival, Newport Folk Festival, Carnegie Hall, Int’l Music Festival of Mexico City, Atlanta Summer Pops Symphony, and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. He has appeared with such diverse artists as singers Rita Moreno, Liliane Montevecchi, Thelma Houston, Maria Muldaur, Mercedes Sosa; cellist Ron Leonard; and violinists Pierre d’Archambeau, Martha Caplin and Tracy Silverman. Local credits include Berkeley Rep, Silicon Valley Symphony, Broadway By The Bay, Theatreworks, Beach Blanket Babylon, Monterey County Symphony, and Musical Director/Conductor of Morrison Theatre Chorus.