Founded in 1996, Solstice is a female vocal ensemble specializing in music written by women or for women's voices. Our music spans many different genres with an emphasis on world, classical, pop, and jazz. We are also committed to performing new works for women's voices and regularly compose, commission, and arrange new songs.
Solstice has performed in many Bay Area venues including Freight and Salvage, La Pena, the San Francisco Community Music Center, Music on the Hill, the Berkeley Arts Center, Trinity Chamber Music series, and Villa Montalvo. Solstice has also performed on KALW's Folk Music and Beyond On-Air Folk Festival. Solstice was a featured performer at the 2001 West Coast A Cappella Summit along with nationally known groups such as the Bobs and M-pact. At the 2007 San Francisco Regional Harmony Sweepstakes, Solstice was awarded 1st Place and Becca Burrington’s arrangement of Joni Mitchell’s “Blue” won Best Original Arrangement. Solstice ranked 3rd at the 2007 Harmony Sweepstakes National Competition.
Solstice released their self-titled CD in February 2000, recorded at the Presidio Chapel in San Francisco. The CD includes music from eleven countries in nine
different languages, spanning more than 900 years, and features original songs and arrangements. Primarily A Cappella called the recording "a thoughtful and intelligent debut." The album won critical acclaim and a Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award for Best Folk/World Song nomination for "Blood and Gold."
The second CD, "Full Circle", released in 2004 and also recorded at the Presidio Chapel, has a wide range of material including the Macedonian folk song "Shto
Mi E Milo," the Cuban "Bossa Cubana," the powerful Bulgarian folk song "Ergen Deda," Tracy Nelson's blues tune "Down So Low," the soaring, tambourine-accompanied "A Chantar," an original arrangement of Chaka Khan's "You Got The Love," and the original wedding song by a founding member Sheryl Kaskowitz, "I Carry Your Heart With Me." Primarily A Cappella reviewed the album as having "complex, difficult harmonies, well-chosen, rarely-heard selections, sung with spirit and joy by these six very talented women."
Solstice’s third CD, “Rise”, was recorded at Skyline Studios in Oakland and released in May, 2008. “Rise” continues the group's tradition of offering music from Palestrina to Paul Simon, in eight different languages. “Rise” also includes Becca Burrington’s award-winning arrangement of “Blue”.
Solstice includes members Emily Bender, Becca Burrington, Lark Coryell, Krista Enos, Mari Marjamaa, Kim Warsaw, and Sara Webb-Schmitz.
Solstice: Who we are
Emily Bender - Soprano
Emily has been singing since birth (or possibly before—it’s hard to know), and joined a choir as soon as she was old enough. Growing up, she sang in numerous church and school choirs and performed in musicals and plays. She attended Oberlin College, where she sang in the choir. In her adult life, she has sung with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and Coro Allegro in Boston, the San Francisco Bach Choir, and the Pacific Mozart Ensemble. She has been singing with Solstice since 2004.
Becca Burrington - Soprano
Becca's first teachers were her trombonist/singer Grandfather and pianist Grandmother. Her solo debut was singing "Away in a Manger" at the age of 3 with her family singing in 4 part harmony. Becca received the Dean's Talent Award at Oberlin Conservatory and graduated with honors in trombone performance. An active freelancer on trombone and voice, she is a founding member of Solstice. She also performs with the Pacific Mozart Ensemble, Mirabai Ensemble, Montclair Women's Big Band, and the San Francisco Sinfonietta. Becca teaches trombone at the Community Music Center in San Francisco and at her home studio in Oakland. She is happy to have a wonderful family with baby Kai, husband/pianist Kymry Esainko, and cats Inka and Millie.
Lark Coryell - Alto
Lark's earliest memories are singing in the car with family on the way to her grandparents' cabin. In high school, she and her sister sang duets together (thereby getting out of class to sing for community programs and PTA teas.) Since then, she has sung with many groups, including the Oakland Symphony Chamber Singers, the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, and George Coates Theatre Works. She sings with the Grammy-nominated Pacific Mozart Ensemble and has been a member of Solstice since 2006. She is also president of BrandHound, a brand identity and marketing agency.
Krista Enos - Alto
Krista is a founding member of Solstice. While earning her B.A. in vocal performance from Mills College, she founded and directed the Mills College Treblemakers, a predecessor to Solstice. Besides singing in Solstice, Krista performs as a singer/songwriter and guitarist with her partner Kim Baker as the acoustic rock duo, Rising Tide. Krista lives in Half Moon Bay where she teaches gymnastics as well as private voice and guitar.
Mari Marjamaa - Soprano
Mari is a native of Oulu, Finland, and has been singing all her life. She quit piano lessons and began studying voice at age 15; first at the Oulu and Savonlinna Conservatories, and later with private teachers. She has been a member of Solstice & the Grammy-nominated Pacific Mozart Ensemble since 2001. She loves her “day job” with the Nature Conservancy and in her free time sings in a cover band, in a bilingual pop/rock band "Kippis", bicycles around Alameda and loves to drink Earl Grey tea.
Kim Warsaw - Alto
Kim has been singing her way through life, from a childhood of singing into the bathroom mirror with a brush as a microphone, to a college life of singing with the Indiana University Afro-American Choral Ensemble, to singing with Solstice since 1996. On the side, Kim is an attorney for the County of Santa Clara and lives in Menlo Park with her partner and two children, whose favorite game is “Name That Tune”.
Sara Webb-Schmitz - Alto
Sara, a graduate of Oberlin College, specializes in the development and production of video footage, DVDs, and documents for the infant/toddler childcare field. In addition to singing with Solstice since 2000, she has worked with the award-winning theater group Killing My Lobster as a band member (French horn), producer, and board member. One day, she hopes to resurrect her bluegrass band, but in the mean time, she enjoys singing songs about dogs and ducks with her son, Sam.