ARTISTS & ELDERS

HELLO CHORUS

In March 2020, Beth Wilmurt invited 100 older adult singers to sing with her on Zoom. As Beth transitioned them from a live to a virtual choir, a series of email exchanges were collected like small poems in Wilmurt’s inbox. Wilmurt transformed these email exchanges into mini-songs.

Beth Wilmurt has been teaching with CMC for the past 20 years. She started there as the Children’s Choir Director and now is in full swing with the Older Adult choirs, private lessons and other classes. Alongside the music, Beth has also had both feet in the theater for even longer - performing, directing, devising and teaching. She has appeared in over seventy plays, musicals, dance pieces, and cabarets with a variety of companies throughout the Bay Area and as far reaching as New York, Washington DC and Berlin. Much of her recent work has been with Shotgun Players, of which she has been a company member since 2010, Aurora Theater and Z Space.  bethwilmurt.com

San Francisco’s Community Music Center developed their Older Adult Choir Program to provide the many personal, social, artistic, and quality of life benefits that musical activity can bring to older adults. The Program partners with the Department of Aging and Adult Services (DAAS) and 12 senior centers throughout San Francisco. The program has grown as choirs have cycled out of the Community of Voices research study led by UCSF in partnership with CMC and DAAS. These are tuition free choirs are designed specifically for older adults (ages 55 and above).  To find out more about the program and all the offerings of Community Music Center visit sfcmc.org. 

Hello Chorus is a project of For You’s ongoing Artists & Elders Projects.