Tuesday, October 4, 2016

San Francisco Performances’ Plans for the 2016 Fall Salons at the Hotel Rex

At the end of this month, San Francisco Performances (SFP) will begin its annual series of one-hour recitals on Wednesday evenings in the casual and intimate setting of the Hotel Rex. The intimacy combines the performance of music with a Q&A session with the audience for the last portion of the hour. This season the series will be planned in two separate segments, the first for the fall and the second for the spring. Thus far programming has only been released for the fall series, with dates and artists for the spring to be announced later in the season. Specifics for the fall are as follows:

October 26: The first recital will be given by Jennifer Kloetzel, formerly the acclaimed cellist of the Cypress String Quartet. The major work on her program will be Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Opus 19 sonata in G minor. This is one of those sonatas whose first edition had a cover describing the work as being for piano and cello (in Russian and French), the same way in which the five cello sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven were described. However, while Beethoven was not shy about giving the piano pride of place (particularly if he happened to be the pianist), Rachmaninoff seems to have at least claimed that he wanted the two instruments to be seen as equals. Kloetzel will also play one of the Beethoven sonatas, but she has not yet announced which. Her accompanist will be pianist Robert Koenig.

November 16: For some time SFP has collaborated with San Francisco Opera to use the Salon series to provide a recital platform for Adler Fellows. This recital will feature two Adlers, both of whom are New Zealanders, soprano Amina Edris and tenor Pene Pati. The accompanying pianist will be Robert Mollicone, and the program will include both solos and duos. Unfortunately, as of this writing, all tickets have been sold for this particular event.

November 30: The Village Road Trio brings concert violinist Alisa Rose together with Rob Reich on accordion and Daniel Fabricant on bass. Their objective is to cultivate a repertoire that explores folk elements from both the United States (such as bluegrass) and Europe (such as gypsy tunes) and then traces their impact on composers inspired by those sources. Details of the program have not yet been announced, and it is likely that selections will only be announced from the stage. However, two of the composers whose music has been prepared for this program were both inspired by Eastern European sources. These are Antonín Dvořák and Béla Bartók.

December 14: Last season pianist Sarah Cahill concluded the Salons at the Hotel Rex series with a solo recital that gave a reprise of approximately half of a full-length program examining the chaconne as a source for compositions from both the Baroque period and the twentieth century. She also played a brief excerpt of a chaconne written for her by local composer Danny Clay. This made a deep enough impression that one of the Q&A questions was whether she would return to play that new piece in its entirety. This will be that occasion at which Cahill will play the remainder of that original full-length program.

Each concert takes place from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The Hotel Rex is located at 562 Sutter Street, between Powell Street and Mason Street. Tickets are $25 for each of the concerts; and, because the second concert is sold out, subscriptions are not currently available. Hyperlinks to City Box Office event pages are given above on the dates for which tickets may still be purchased in advance online. Any additional information (which may include last-minute availability of tickets for November 16) may be obtained by calling San Francisco Performances at 415-392-2545.

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