Friday, October 20, 2017

Center for New Music: November, 2017

Next month will get off to a busy start at the Center for New Music (C4NM); but things will probably start to quiet down around the middle of the month due to preparations for the Thanksgiving holiday. So it probably makes sense to account for the month in its entirety, although readers will note the “density” change after November 19. C4NM is located at 55 Taylor Street, half a block north of the Golden Gate Theater, which is where Golden Gate Avenue meets Market Street. Not all of the events listed below will have the same price of admission, so that information will be provided with the description of each particular show. However, all tickets may be purchased in advance through a Vendini event page. Hyperlinks to the appropriate Web pages will be attached to each of the dates in the following summary:

Wednesday, November 1, 7 p.m.: This will be an evening of original compositions by three pianists, all of whom will be playing their own works. The pianists are Steven Cravis, Doug Hammer, and Philip Wesley. The music involves a blend of new age, classical, and jazz. General admission will be $15 with a $10 rate for C4NM members.

Thursday, November 2, 7:30 p.m.: Julia Ogrydziak is curating a program entitled Poland Meets World. The Cracow Duo, whose members are cellist Jan Kalinowski and pianist Marek Szlezer, will be visiting San Francisco; and C4NM will host their recital program, which includes works by Polish and international composers. Each selection will be by a different composer. The composers to be performed during the first half of the program will be Tomasz Jakub Opalka (“The Glitch”), Arvo Pärt (“Spiegel im Spiegel”), Andrej Panufnik (“Dreamscape”), and Witold Lutosławski (“Grave, Metamorphoses”). The composers whose works will follow the intermission will be Jakub Polaczyk (“Act for T.K.”), David Rodriguez de la Pena (“Desplegar”), Marcel Chyrzyński (“Farewell”), and Wojciech Widłak (“All my angers”). General admission will be $15 with a $10 rate for C4NM members, students, and seniors.

Friday, November 3, 7:30 p.m.: Adam Marks will curate a benefit concert for the American Civil Liberties Union. The concert will be a solo piano recital by Russian-American Liza Stepanova. The title of the program will be Immigrant Voices. Stepanova is, herself, an immigrant; and she will be playing music by composers currently based in the United States but coming from countries around the world. “Tahiri, the Pure,” by Iranian composer Badie Khaleghian, will be given its world premiere; and, “The Way North,” by Venezuelan-American Reinaldo Moya will receive its first performance on the West Coast. Stepanova will also perform pieces by Lera Auerbach, Anna Clyne, Chaya Czernowin, Gabriela Lena Frank, Kamran Ince, Eun Young Lee, and Pablo Ortiz. General admission will be $15 with a $10 rate for C4NM members.

Saturday, November 4, 7 p.m.: This will be “movie night” with a program entitled Light Moves Like Sound Waves. Two films by Lynne Sachs will be screened, both of which are products of her five-year collaborative relationship with sound artist Stephen Vitello, who provided the soundtracks. Vitello will also present selections of his recent compositions. This event will be free to SF Cinematheque members. General admission for all others will be $10.

Sunday, November 5, 7 p.m.: Jim Santi Owen will curate a program entitled Mexcla Music – Music for String, Percussion, and Breath Instruments of Europe, India, and Mesoamerica. Elements of different forms of indigenous music will be combined with the Western classical tradition, resulting in a contemporary language for musical expression. The performers, Jxel Rajchenberg and Christopher Garcia, will play on a prodigious variety of instruments. General admission will be $15 with a $10 rate for C4NM members.

Monday, November 6, 8 p.m.: This will be the first anniversary of the election of Donald Trump to the position of President of the United States. To mark the occasion Phillip Greenlief and his colleagues will give a performance of THE STATES UNITED. This is one of Greenlief’s map scores, created for any ensemble or group of performers from diverse disciplines. General admission will be $15 with a $10 rate for C4NM members.

Wednesday, November 8, 8 p.m.: The latest installment of the permutations series will bring together two string chamber groups. andPlay is the duo of violinist Maya Bennardo and violist Hannah Levinson, both of whom are based in New York City. Their set will be followed by the “transnational” trio, consisting of violinist Myra Hinrichs (Chicago), violist Carrie Frey (New York City), and cellist Helen Newby (San Francisco). General admission will be $15 with a $10 rate for C4NM members.

Saturday, November 11, 8 p.m.: This will be the second part of Emma Logan’s Alone/Not Alone series. Flutist Jessie Nucho will join pianist Anne Rainwater for a program of music for flute, piano, and electronics by living women composers. Contributing composers will be Alex Temple, Mei-Fang Lin, Elaine Lillois, and Anne LaBerge. General admission will be $15 with a $10 rate for C4NM members and students.

Sunday, November 12, 7 p.m.: Kurt Rohde will curate a double bill of one-act operas hosted by Opera on the Spot. The first selection, “The Italian Lesson,” was composed by Lee Hoiby, taking a comedic monologue by Ruth Draper has his point of departure. This will be followed by a much older comic opera, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s “La Serva Padrona.” General admission will be $20 with a $15 rate for C4NM members.

Tuesday, November 14, 7 p.m.: Katarina Countiss is a multimedia artist who has been working with the phenomena arising from ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response). She will present a 90-minute performance with live sounds inspired by graphic scores, live drawing, projection art, audience participation, and ASMR. After the performance concludes at 8:30 p.m., there will be a post-performance hang out at which the artist will compare experiences with those members of the audience who choose to participate. General admission will be $10 with a $5 rate for C4NM members.

Thursday, November 16, 8 p.m.: This will be a program of new works by graduate composers from the University of California at Berkeley. Contributing composers will be Andrew Harlan, Clara Olivares, James Stone, and Jon Yu. Their music will be performed by the Sound Icon ensemble, which will also play Helmut Lachenmann’s “Trio Fluido.” General admission will be $15 with a $10 rate for C4NM members, students, and the underemployed.

Friday, November 17, 7 p.m.: Searching for Serotonin will be a cello and electronics program by an (as yet) unnamed cellist. The performance was conceived to evoke the sorts of anxieties that emerge from our relationships with advanced technology. General admission will be $10 with a $5 rate for C4NM members.

Saturday, November 18, 7:30 p.m.: This will be a release show for Brett Carson’s latest album, Mysterious Descent. This is a recording of a mythodramatic song cycle in twelve movements. The presentation of Mysterious Descent will be preceded by an opening set taken by guitarist Jakob Pek. General admission will be $15 with a $10 rate for C4NM members.

Sunday, November 19, 8 p.m.: Readers may recall the Jellyphones that Dennis Aman provided for the performance of Jelly Choruses, the final selection on the program entitled The Voice and The Machine, which was performed at C4NM last Saturday. Next month Aman will join forces with writer and sound artist Martin Azevedo (who was the librettist for Jelly Choruses). The title of the November program will be Disassembling The Clocks. Aman will perform on custom-designed instrument to explore a family history of inventions, devotions, confinements, and escapes. General admission will be $15 with a $10 rate for C4NM members.

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