San Diego Sings! Festival will be a field day for sweet harmony
By Beth Wood
THE SAN DIEGO UNION TRIBUNE
PUBLISHED: March 22, 2026 at 6:00 AM PDT
More than 600 choristers in 15 vocal ensembles will perform Saturday at La Jolla’s Baker-Baum Concert Hall
Get ready for a marathon! The biannual San Diego Sings! Festival will have three back-to-back concerts, each featuring five choirs — in a single day!
No offense to runners, but the odds are San Diego Sings! is sonically superior to most marathons.
Presented by the Choral Consortium of San Diego, the festival on Saturday will feature 15 choruses from all over the region, including Baja California. More than 600 choristers will perform at the Baker-Baum Concert Hall in La Jolla Music Society’s Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center.
There will be groups big and small, religious and secular, traditional and contemporary, gay, lesbian and straight, and English- and Spanish- speaking. Each of the choirs get the rare opportunity to sing on a stage in an acoustically excellent and visually attractive hall.
There will be groups big and small, religious and secular, traditional and contemporary, gay, lesbian and straight, and English- and Spanish- speaking. Each of the choirs get the rare opportunity to sing on a stage in an acoustically excellent and visually attractive hall.
Arian Khaefi, who co-chairs San Diego Sings! with Yewon Lee, pointed out that San Diego Sings! Festival is the consortium’s flagship event. The all-volunteer organization has about 85 member groups.
“San Diego Sings! celebrates the robust choral community in San Diego,” said Khaefi, who is also associate professor of music and choral studies director at San Diego State University, as well as La Jolla Symphony and Chorus’ music director and chorus conductor.
“I don’t know of another concert like this in the region that showcases 15 choruses across a single day.”
The mission of the consortium is to unite, support, and promote the choral community of the San Diego/Tijuana region through collaboration, inclusion and performance. The nonprofit had its first San Diego Sings! at Balboa Park in 2015. The Conrad hosted the event in 2022 and 2024, as it will this year.
“The choruses put so much effort into the performances,” said Stephanie Weaver, a past president and current chair staffing and operations. “This is not a kids’ band concert. All the directors are excellent and bring high standards to each chorus. The quality of the music is first-rate.”
‘Kaleidoscopic Cross Section’
The consortium accepts applications from member groups to participate in the festival. Co-chair Lee, who leads the San Diego Festival Chorus, is music director at San Dieguito United Methodist Church and visiting professor at SDSU.
Lee and Khaefi, who volunteer their time to the festival, go through the applications. Priority goes to those groups who have not yet participated in the festival.
“We try to build a diverse array of choirs from different age groups and vocational statuses,” said Khaefi, who lives with his wife and almost 1-year-old child in La Mesa. “It’s a kaleidoscopic cross-section of choirs, as representative as possible. If a chorus doesn’t make it onto this cycle, then we guarantee them a spot in the next cycle.”
Three of the groups performing Saturday give a glimpse of that musical kaleidoscope.
San Diego Children’s Choir will perform in the 11 a.m. concert. Led by artistic director Ruthie Millgard, it’s the county’s largest choral training program for children up to the age of 18. The nonprofit, established in 1990, works closely with area school districts.
“To see the choral arts being performed at that level by a youth ensemble reminds us of how important music education is, how important it is to start training at a young age, especially for vocal arts,” Khaefi noted.
At the 3 p.m. concert, the First United Methodist Church of San Diego Chamber Choir will perform, directed by Brian Woods-Lustig, who is the director of Choral Activities there and oversees a choral music program of more than 100 singers.
“Brian has created a dynamic chamber choir program,” Khaefi said. “This is the first time that we’ll be seeing them perform in this kind of festival setting. The festival is an important place for the musical community to see the new goings-on, to see who’s here and who’s new, and what work everyone’s doing.”
One of the three groups representing Mexico at San Diego Sings! is Tijuana’s Coro Femenino Meraki, which will perform at the 7 p.m. concert. Cuban-born Daria Abreu founded the all-female choir in 2020. Last fall, she invited San Diego Women’s Chorus (who will also perform Saturday night) to a joint performance at the Tijuana Cultural Center.
The consortium’s current president, and a former Union-Tribune border reporter, Sandra Dibble, is member of Coro Femenino Meraki.
“This group has performed widely throughout Mexico and across the border here as well,” Khaefi said. “Sandra is an integral part of the choral scene in the border region and has advocated for Tijuana’s participation.”
Growing, healthy and vibrant
Khaefi will emcee Saturday’s first two concerts and co-chair Lee will host the third. Backstage throughout the day, the two will oversee about 30 volunteers and coordinate the five back-to-back performances at each concert.
In addition to offering discounted rent for the Baker-Baum Concert Hall, La Jolla Music Society will provide professional and technical support during the concerts. Each chorus goes home with a professional recording of its performance.
“Not all of these groups would be able to create a recording on their own,” the consortium’s past president Weaver said. “The Conrad’s acoustics are fantastic and the aesthetic is beautiful. A lot of these singers would never be able to perform there. The choruses are very excited.
“With the switch from Balboa Park to The Conrad, we lost a little of the community engagement. People would walk by, families would come and listen. We’ve traded that for the amazing acoustics and aesthetics.”
Both Weaver and Khaefi joined the Choral Consortium of San Diego during the tenure of its founder and former executive director Carol Manifold.
“Carol was instrumental in the growth of the choral consortium and expanding its reach,” Khaefi said. “She insisted that choral music in San Diego was very special and should be supported and cultivated.
“The choral arts were deeply impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. And since then, it has been built better, stronger and more responsibly. It’s growing, healthy and vibrant. It’s a very exciting time for choral arts in San Diego.”
Concerts lineup:
11 a.m. concert: Belles (a division of the Christian Children’s Chorus), Point Loma Presbyterian Church choir, Sorelle San Diego, San Diego Children’s Choir, San Diego Gay Men’s Chorus.
3 p.m. concert: Mission Hills United Church of Christ Chancel Choir, Estorninos Select Choir from Promotora de las Bellas Artes (Tijuana), Stellarum Chamber Choir, First United Church of San Diego Chamber Choir, Encore Vocal Ensemble.
7 p.m. concert: Coro Femenino Meraki (Tijuana), San Diego Chinese Christian Chorale, San Diego Women’s Chorus, Coro Polifonico Allegro (Rosarito Beach) San Diego Saints Choir.
Choral Consortium of San Diego: San Diego Sings! Festival 2026
When: 11 a.m., 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday
Where: Baker-Baum Concert Hall, Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, 7600 Fay Avenue, La Jolla
Tickets: $23 per concert
Phone: 858-459-3728
Online: theconrad.org/events/san-diego-sings-2026