Our Mission

To present concerts and chamber operas of extraordinary music written for voices to audiences throughout the San Diego/Tijuana Border region.

To offer emerging singers and composers the opportunity to collaborate on the creation and performance of new works.

To connect audiences of all ages to the experience of hearing new and unusual works for voice.

Our History

Established by Grammy award-winning soprano Susan Narucki at the Department of Music at the UC San Diego in 2009,  kallisti has offered San Diego audiences exceptional performances of rarely heard works for voice in intimate settings. 

Over the course of a decade, singers from UC San Diego's graduate program in Contemporary Music Performance and distinguished guest artists have collaborated in a wide range of repertoire that celebrates the extraordinary beauty and power of the singing voice, in concert, chamber music and chamber opera.

The Golden Apple of Discord

Why is kallisti named after a golden apple on which the words “to the most beautiful” were inscribed? Good question. According to Greek Mythology, Eris, the goddess of discord was more than a little annoyed at being left off of the A- list of the wedding of Thetis and Peleus. Nowadays, people would tweet their rage and try to crash the party by creating a ruckus, but Eris had a much more insidious plan. She tossed the most perfect, gleaming, golden apple over the fence, and it landed at the feet of three ravishing but wildly insecure goddesses. Reading the inscription, each imagined that the apple could only have been intended for them. Jealousy and bickering ensued, and next thing you know, we’re in the middle of the Trojan War.

But why did we choose it? Well, there’s also a lot of bickering that goes on in the face of music that dares to be original and unexpected. Music that offers a pathway into mysterious sound worlds of audacious expression and unearthly beauty. We’re tossing that apple over the fence - who knows where it will land? Come join our party!