Friday, March 10, 2017

A “Secular Shift” for This Month’s Third Sunday Concert

The title of month’s installment in the 2016–2017 season of Third Sunday Concerts at the Church of the Advent of Christ the King was originally announced as Music for the Lenten Season. The performers were going to be the members of Schola Adventus, the Church’s professional choir led by Director of Music Paul Ellison. However, Ellison recently announced that this month’s offering would be secular rather than sacred. The featured artist would be violinist Ely Karr presenting a program entitled Bach & Pärt.

The program will begin with Karr performing Johann Sebastian Bach’s BWV 1005 sonata in C major for solo violin. For the remainder of the program, Karr will lead a string quartet, whose other members are violinist Azat Fishyan, violist Samuel Nelson, and cellist Andres Vera. They will perform three compositions by Arvo Pärt. The first of these, “Summa,” was originally written for chorus. However Pärt himself rescored it for instruments, and that version was performed by the Kronos Quartet about fifteen years ago. The next selection, “Fratres,” was conceived in 1977 without fixed instrumentation. However, there is an authorized version for string quartet that was published in 1985 and revised in 1989. The final selection will be “Wallfahrtslied” (pilgrim’s song), which Pärt composed for tenor or baritone and string quartet in 1984. The vocalist for this performance will be baritone Kenric Taylor.

Like all Third Sunday events, this concert will start at 4 p.m. on the third Sunday of the month, March 19. The Church of the Advent of Christ the King is located at 261 Fell Street, between Franklin Street and Gough Street. The entry is diagonally across the street from the SFJAZZ Center. For those planning on driving, parking will be available in a lot adjacent to the church. A festive reception will follow the performance in Lathrop Hall. The concert is free, but there is a suggested donation of $20.

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