Elizabeth Blumenstock will Perform as Soloist at Next Month’s PBO Concert

When Philharmonia Baroque announced plans for its 36th season, the title of next month’s concert by the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra (PBO), conducted by Waverley Fund Music Director Nichols McGegan, was given as Haydn & Mozart with Isabelle Faust. Unfortunately, Faust had to cancel her engagement earlier this fall. The good news is that the program will still include Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s K. 219 violin concerto in A major, nicknamed “The Turkish” for the idiomatically characteristic style of the coda for the concluding Rondeau movement. Faust will be replaced by PBO violinist Elizabeth Blumenstock, who has performed frequently with a soloist, not only with PBO but also with many of the other historically-informed ensembles in the Bay Area. Joseph Haydn’s Hoboken I/91 symphony in E-flat major will still conclude the program as originally planned. However, while the original plan had been to frame Mozart’s concerto with two Haydn symphonies, there has also been a change in the opening selection.

The program will now begin with a symphony in F major by Adalbert Gyrowetz, the third in his Opus 6 publication of six symphonies modeled on Haydn’s music. (Gyrowetz’ models were so good that an English publisher tried to pass off one of his symphonies as having been composed by Haydn.) The program will thus present Haydn’s impact on two composers during the first half and then turn to one of Haydn’s own symphonies in the second.

The San Francisco performance of this concert will take place at 8 p.m. on Friday, January 27. The venue will be Herbst Theatre, located on the southwest corner of Van Ness Avenue and McAllister Street. (For those taking public transportation, this is conveniently located at bus stops for both north-south and east-west lines.) Ticket prices range from $27 to $108. City Box Office has an event page for online purchase that shows which prices apply to which sections of the house and current availability in each of those sections. (Clicking on a section brings up a details plan showing which seats are available at which prices. Those without tickets should be advised that, at the time of this writing, not many seats are still available.) Ticket holders will also be able to attend the pre-concert talk given by John Prescott, which will begin at 7:15 p.m.