The San Francisco Performances 2017–2018 Guitar Series

This coming season San Francisco Performances (SFP) will once again partner with the Omni Foundation for the Performing Arts in presenting its Guitar Series. While the series usually consists of solo recitals, three of the five concerts will each have a way of offering a variation of its own. All of the concerts will begin at 7:30 p.m., but the venue will alternate between Herbst Theatre and St. Mark’s Lutheran Church. The entrance to Herbst is the main entrance to the Veterans Building at 401 Van Ness Avenue, located on the southwest corner of McAllister Street. The church is located at 1111 O’Farrell Street, just west of the corner of Franklin Street. The specific dates and their related performers are as follows:

Friday, October 26, Herbst Theatre: This will be the SFP debut recital given by guitarist Jason Vieaux. He will be joined by Julien Labro on the bandoneon. Both players will share responsibility for arranging the selections on the program. They collaborated an on arrangement of Astor Piazzolla’s “Esucalo,” while Vieaux prepared an arrangement of Pat Metheny’s “Antonia.” The program will open with Labro’s arrangement of Arvo Pärt’s “Fratres,” followed by his arrangement of Radamés Gnattali’s Suite Retratos. The program will conclude with two short pieces by Rossen Balkanski, a prelude and a scherzo, with Labro taking the piano accompaniment on bandoneon.

Saturday, November 11, St. Mark’s Lutheran Church: Russian guitarist Irina Kulikova will make her SFP debut. Specifics have not yet been provided, but her program will include music by the Russian composer Konstantin Vassiliev. She will also include guitar works by Federico Moreno Torroba and Agustín Barrios (more generally known as Mangore). In addition she will play arrangements of works by Johann Sebastian Bach and Frédéric Chopin.

Friday, December 1, Herbst Theatre: Uruguayan master Alvaro Pierri will return to SFP. His program will also include music by Mangore. He will also play works by Ralph Towner, Dušan Bogdanović, and other composers.

Saturday, March 10, Herbst Theatre: This will be an “all-star” evening that will present both Eliot Fisk and Angel Romero. Between the two of them, they will play and arrange a wide diversity of solo and duet compositions. The composers to be represented on the program will be Antonio Vivaldi, Luigi Boccherini, Isaac Albéniz, Manuel de Falla, Joaquin Rodrigo, and Manuel Ponce.

Saturday, April 28, St. Mark’s Lutheran Church: The series will conclude with the return of American lutenist Paul O’Dette, who has not yet announced the details of his program.

Subscriptions are now on sale for $250 for premium seating in the Orchestra and the front and center of the Dress Circle, $220 for the Side Boxes, the center rear of the Dress Circle, and the remainder of the Orchestra, and $150 for the remainder of the Dress Circle and the Balcony. Subscriptions may be purchased online in advance through a City Box Office event page. Orders may also be placed by calling the SFP subscriber hotline at 415-677-0325, which is open for receiving calls between 9:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Single tickets will go on sale on July 31.