The Bay Area's best sacred music since 1976
Soli Deo Gloria:
Celebrating Music and Unity
Soli Deo Gloria is a San Francisco Bay Area SATB choir for experienced singers with a family-like atmosphere dedicated to the joy of performing a variety of masterworks of the sacred repertoire, mostly with orchestra. The choir’s membership is drawn from six Bay Area counties and rehearses in Alameda. Founded in 1976, Soli Deo Gloria is dedicated to bringing the joy of music to our community and is open to people of all religious or non-religious beliefs. With a diverse repertoire and a passion for performance, we strive to create unforgettable musical experiences.
Whether you’re a seasoned singer or someone who loves to support the arts, there’s a place for you in Soli Deo Gloria. Join us, attend a concert, or support us with a donation. Your involvement makes all the difference.
Recent and Upcoming Performances
THE ETERNAL LIGHT
December 6 & 7, 2025
Embark on a musical journey through light and celebration with “The Eternal Light,” a concert of choral masterpieces that span centuries. From the jubilant grandeur of J.S. Bach’s beloved Magnificat to the tender and spiritual grace of Margaret Bonds’ “They Brought Fine Gifts,” this program explores the spectrum of divine and human light. Experience the radiant peace and profound beauty of Morten Lauridsen’s transcendent Lux Aeterna, a modern classic that offers solace in its luminous harmonies. The evening culminates with the festive and heartfelt wonder of Brad Holmes’ enchanting Noel. Each piece in this collection illuminates a different facet of eternal hope and joy.
A Garland of Psalms
May 24 & 25, 2025
Evocative, intimate, and raw, the book of Psalms has long been an inspiration to composers. Bookended by rich triptychs, this program explores the full range of human emotions through modern settings of Psalm texts.
Featuring Eric Choate on the organ, together with harp and percussion, Adolphus Hailstork’s I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes and Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms examine joy and praise, strife and despair, and the revitalizing strength of faith. Soli Deo Gloria also presents Melissa Dunphy’s Suite Remembrance, a four-movement danse macabre concluding on Psalm 30’s restorative text, and Francis Poulenc’s stirring motet Timor et Tremor.
Faith and Resilience
March 8 & 9, 2025
A strong program featuring two profound works that explore faith and resilience. Simon Bore the Cross by Margaret Bonds and Langston Hughes highlights Simon of Cyrene, incorporating the spiritual melody “He Never Said a Mumblin’ Word.” Christ lag in Todesbanden (Christ Lay in Death’s Bonds), BWV 4, by Johann Sebastian Bach, reflects on the battle between life and death through a Lutheran hymn. Experience the powerful convergence of African American spirituals and Lutheran hymns in this inspiring concert.
A Vivaldi Christmas: Gloria and Carols
Featuring Rita Lilly, soprano and Courtney Miller, mezzo-soprano.
December 7 & 8, 2024
Experience the brilliance of Vivaldi’s Gloria (RV 589) performed by our choir and instrumental ensemble, capturing the majestic and uplifting spirit of the Baroque era. The program also features a beautiful selection of hymns to Mary by Rachmaninoff, Choate, and Bruckner, along with festive carols by McDowall and Gardner. We are thrilled to include beloved choral and instrumental arrangements by Eric Choate, encouraging audience participation with sing-along favorites like O Come, O Come Emmanuel and Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming. This concert promises to be a memorable celebration of sacred and seasonal music, perfect for the whole family.
Haydn: Lord Nelson Mass
May 25 & 26, 2024
Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass is considered to be his greatest work — a pillar of choral music — composed originally in troubled times, but harmoniously coinciding with the victory of Lord Nelson over Napoleon. A fitting send-off for Artistic Director, Allen Simon as he conducts his final concert with Soli Deo Gloria. Featuring soloists Victoria Fraser, Shauna Fallihee, Elias Berezin, Jim Monios.
A Time for Peace
March 9 & 10, 2024
In celebration of the Treaty of Utrecht and a call for peace in our time, this concert features the Utrecht Te Deum of George Frederic Handel and Bach’s uplifting Lobet den Herrn.
Featuring soloists Rita Lilly, Katherine Nägele-Lin, Alexander Frank, Sepp Hammer
Christmas Comes Again – Dec 2023
December 2 & 3, 2023
Experience the joy and anticipation of Christmas with Baroque favorites by Bach, Vivaldi and Buxtehude and the charming Gaudete (Joy!) by Anders Ohrwall
This choral concert is accompanied by Orchestra Gloria and features soloists Christa Pfeiffer, Janet Campbell, Elias Berzin & Chad Runyon.
Welcome our new director
Starting with the 2025-2026 season, we are excited to welcome our new Guest Musical Director, Ash Walker.
Grammy-nominated conductor Ash Walker began his musical career with the Philadelphia Boys Choir and Chorale, where he performed throughout the U.S including Carnegie Hall, as well as Switzerland, Australia, South Africa, Israel and many other countries.. While completing a B.A. in music at Millersville University in Pennsylvania, Ash co-founded and directed the Men’s Choir, served as Drum Major of the Marauder Marching Band, and President of the American Choral Directors Association, Lancaster. After graduating, Ash served as Director of Curriculum for the Music Preparatory Program at El Redentor United Methodist Church in Lancaster, while also serving as Director of Choirs for the Pennsylvania Academy of Music.
In 2009, Ash founded the ‘Music for Everyone,’ Lancaster Community Chorus; Serving as Artistic Director of this non auditioned community choir, whose mission was cultivating the power of community and music in Lancaster City, Pennsylvania. During this time, Ash also served as Director of Music at Linden Hall School for Girls in Lititz, PA, and performed regularly with the Mendelssohn Club Choir of Philadelphia as a core singer and soloist. More recently, Ash completed his Masters degree in Choral Conducting at California State University East Bay, where he won the Trustees Scholarship, sang with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in Boris Godunov, and on two occasions presented research at National American Choral Directors Association Conferences with his mentor and CSU professor Dr. Buddy James. He also founded the People’s Choir of Fremont, served as Director of Choirs at Mt. Eden High School, and served as Associate Director and Cantor for the Archdiocese Cathedral of San Francisco. Ash now lives in Oakland California and serves as Chorus Director of the Oakland Symphony Orchestra, and clinician for several Bay Area vocal ensembles.
Welcome our new director
We are excited to welcome our new Musical Director, Derek Tam for our 50th anniversary 2025-2026 season!
In demand as a conductor and historical keyboardist, Derek Tam performs regularly in the Bay Area and elsewhere. He is the executive and artistic director of the San Francisco Early Music Society, a major advocate for early music in the United States, and serves as the artistic director of the biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition, an internationally-renowned celebration of early music.
Praised for his “deft” conducting (San Francisco Chronicle), Tam appears frequently with choral and orchestral ensembles. In addition, Tam is a specialist on historical keyboards, and has been called “a master of [the harpsichord]” (San Francisco Classical Voice) and “the fortepianist of the beguiling fingers” (Bloomington Herald-Times). Recent concerto appearances include performances with Elevate Ensemble, Modesto Symphony, Chamber Music Silicon Valley, and the Hong Kong Early Music Society.
In addition to performing as a soloist, Tam is a founding member and harpsichordist (and occasional conductor) for MUSA, a San Francisco-based Baroque chamber ensemble. His fortepiano trio, the Costanoan Trio, performed at the 2018 Early Music America Emerging Artists Showcase. He has performed with leading period ensembles such as Voices of Music and Musica Pacifica, and has served as principal keyboardist for most of the professional symphonies in Northern and Central California.
Tam currently serves as the Director of Music at First Church Berkeley (First Congregational), one of the major performance venues for classical music in the East Bay. In this role, he also produces Resonance, the church’s critically-lauded performance series. He is also deeply involved with community music-making; frequently in demand as a guest conductor for many choral groups in the Bay Area, he is the leader of the Berkeley Bach Cantata Group, a reading ensemble devoted to the composer’s 200+ choral works.
Tam is the most recent past president of the board of Early Music America, a national organization dedicated to strengthening historical performance.
Tam is a registered tax professional with the State of California. He is a graduate of Yale University.
Join us!
If you live in Alameda, Oakland, or Berkeley, or elsewhere in the East Bay this choir is particularly convenient.
Consider joining us for our next program with performances in December 2025!
The joyfulness of voice, instruments and wonderful composition.
A wonderful program, with works that complimented each other nicely. I loved hearing an orchestral selection as part of a choral program.
All a joy!!!
The concert was very impressive and inspirational
So lovely 🙂 The expressions on everyone’s faces showed how much they enjoyed singing and playing. Joyful!
Emotionally Stirring.
Spectacular program & performance
I like hearing beautiful classical pieces that are less often performed; the Handel Utrecht Te Deum was wonderful
Lovely music, beautifully performed
Serious intent, tonal clarity, distilled beauty