San Francisco Boys Chorus Celebrates 65 Years — San Francisco Boys Chorus celebrated 65 years and participation in some 175 San Francisco Opera productions at a benefit gala in San Francisco on March 9, 2013. Honorees included Senator Mark Leno, who served on the San Francisco Boys Chorus board of directors early in his career, and distinguished alumnus Phillip Kelsey, assistant conductor for Seattle Opera.
The Grammy-Award winning San Francisco Boys Chorus was founded by Gaetano Merola and Madi Bacon in 1948 to provide trained singers for the San Francisco Opera. Today, the chorus is led by artistic director Ian Robertson who also serves as chorus director for San Francisco Opera.
Since his arrival in 1996, Robertson has built the Chorus to 240 singers from 50 Bay Area cities and 120 schools, including campuses in San Francisco, Oakland and San Rafael. The San Francisco Boys Chorus tours extensively to Europe, Asia, and the Americas and has performed at Carnegie Hall in New York, the Grand Teton Music Festival in Wyoming, and in 2009, at the inauguration of President Barack Obama in Washington, D.C.
