About Us
Mission Statement
The mission of Sonoma Bach is to build a community of music-lovers of all ages to share the experience of Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque and Classical music in Sonoma County. Sonoma Bach brings together choral musicians of all ages to present outstanding performances of the finest repertoire and offers a broad array of educational activities, workshops and festivals for High School choirs, professional singers and choir members.
Sonoma Bach focuses its efforts in four areas:
Sponsoring ensembles: We serve as an umbrella organization for the Sonoma Bach Choir, for Circa 1600, for Live Oak Baroque Orchestra, and for the Honor Choir (in collaboration with the Santa Rosa Symphony), and also for special-project ensembles as needed.Presenting concerts: We produce a concert series featuring our own ensembles and outstanding guest artists, as well as workshops and other early-music events in the community.
Promoting education: We sponsor a broad array of educational offerings, helping singers and instrumentalists to build technique, sensitive ears and sharp minds.
Providing resources: We provide musicians and the community at large with a range of resources, including scores, books, recordings, software and information.
Through these activities, Sonoma Bach works to build a community of musicians and music-lovers of all ages to share the experience of this magnificent music.
Bob Worth
Robert Worth recently retired as Professor of Music at Sonoma State University, where he taught choral music and many other subjects for 27 years. He is the founding music director of Sonoma Bach.
In addition to his work in the fields of choral and early music, Bob has a specialty in Kodály musicianship training, and for ten years ran the ear training program at SSU. He is a composer and arranger of both choral music and jazz, and his vocal jazz arrangements have been performed by many groups throughout California and beyond. He was deeply involved in the Green Music Center project in its early years, serving as consultant to the architects on such issues as acoustics, choral performance facilities and the Cassin pipe organ.
Bob received his BA in music at SSU in 1980, and earned his MA in musicology at UC Berkeley. He has received numerous community and university honors, including SSU’s Outstanding Professor Award for 1996-97 and Distinguished Alumni Award for 2007-08. After completing numerous collaborative projects with Jeffrey Kahane and the Santa Rosa Symphony, he was named to the position of choral director at the Santa Rosa Symphony in 2002.
Email Address: worth@sonomabach.org; worth@sonoma.edu
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