Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Left Coast Chamber Ensemble Announces its 2016—2017 Season

Left Coast Chamber Ensemble (LCCE) has announced the program details for the five concerts it has planned for its 2016—2017 season, which will run from this October through June of next year. San Francisco performances will be divided between the Concert Hall and Recital Hall of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) and the Dennis Gallagher Arts Pavilion. The first three will take place on Mondays and the remaining two on Tuesdays. All performances will begin at 7:30 p.m. As in the past, each concert will be organized around a particular theme with a title to match. Details are as follows:

Monday, October 24, SFCM Concert Hall, A Close Correspondence: The theme of this concert will be letter writing. Because this is a text-based topic, San Francisco’s premiere new music chorus Volti will appear as special guest artists for the occasion. Authors will include Leoš Janáček, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Virginia Woolf, and others. In Janáček’s case those texts are implicit in an instrumental composition, his second string quartet, to which he gave the title “Intimate Letters.” Volti will present world premiere performances of two compositions for string quartet and chorus by Onur Türkmen (“but for you alone”) and Mark Winges (“Letters”), respectively. In addition Volti will give an a cappella performance of David Lang’s “A Father’s Love.”

Monday, December 5, Gallagher Pavilion, Brilliant Palette: At the end of last season, LCCE announced that both percussionist Loren Mach and soprano Nikki Einfeld would become members of the ensemble. The title of this concert thus reflects the broader ranger of sonorities afforded by the addition of these two performers. Both of them will perform George Crumb’s first book of madrigals, which he scored for soprano, vibraphone, and bass. Mach will also perform Martin Matalon’s vibraphone solo “Short Stories” and Caroline Shaw’s “Boris Kerner,” which she scored for cello and flowerpots. Einfeld will contribute to two chamber pieces, Ernest Chausson’s “Chanson Perpétuelle” (Opus 37) for soprano, string quartet, and piano and Gabriel Fauré’s “La Bonne Chanson” (Opus 61) for soprano, string quintet, and piano. There will also be a surprise new work that Einfeld and Mach will perform as a duo.

Monday, February 6, SFCM Recital Hall, House of the Beehives: This is the title of a major work on the program by Melody Eötvös, winner of the 2016 Composition Contest. It is inspired by a story by Italo Calvino of the same name, and it will be receiving its West Coast premiere. There will also be a world premiere performance of David Coll’s “Ghost Dances.” In addition the “broken consort” theme of one of last season’s programs will be continued by a sextet for flute, oboe, violin, cello, and two guitars by Sebastian Currier titled (appropriately enough) “Broken Consort.” This will be complemented by two more “integrated” duos, the sonata by Maurice Ravel for violin and cello, and Dusan Bogdanovich’s “Canticles” for two guitars.

Tuesday, March 21, SFCM Concert Hall, Brahms through the Looking Glass: This will be a call-and-response program in which Johannes Brahms’ very first piano trio, his Opus 8 in B Major (which he revised significantly later in life) will be reflected by the world premiere of a new work for piano trio by Kenneth Lim.

Tuesday, May 30, SFCM Recital Hall, Francophilia: This program will be a study in influence, pairing compositions by Ravel (Chansons madécasses), Claude Debussy (Chansons de Bilitis), André Caplet, and Henri Dutilleux, with those by Americans who lived and/or studied in Paris, Aaron Copland (selections from his songs based on poems by Emily Dickenson) and Ned Rorem. The program will also include the world premiere of a new work by Kurt Rohde setting texts by Michel Foucault, “Power is Everywhere,” scored for soprano, flute, cello, and piano. This will be the synthesis of an American composer setting the words of a French philosopher translated into English.

Subscriptions for the full season are currently available for $125 for general admission and $105 for seniors. This amounts to a savings of up to $70 if tickets are purchased individually. There is open seating for all concerts. Tickets may be purchased online through a Vendini event page. Student subscriptions are available for $50. These apply to currently enrolled high school and college students. School representatives may contact Managing Director Nick Benavides for further details. Information is also available by sending electronic mail to the Box Office. Single tickets are not yet available for advance purchase, but they will be sold at the door for $35 for general admission and $17.50 for those under the age of 35.

No comments: