Friday, October 13, 2017

Even More Choices for the Third Weekend of the Month

Those agonizing over the choices that need to be made for this weekend had better brace themselves for the following weekend! Each of next weekend’s three days will required choosing from a larger number of options. [added 10/16, 4:35 p.m.: Two more options have been added to the list. Fortunately, both of them take place earlier in their respective days.] [added 10/17, 10:40 a.m.: In addition I realized that I should remind readers of my previously reported announcement of the next gig at Adobe Books on Friday, October 20.] Furthermore, that will be a weekend in which six concert series are being launched. Fasten your seat belts:

[added 10/16, 4:35 p.m.:

Friday, October 20, 12:30 p.m., Cadillac Hotel: The next Concerts at the Cadillac will be another classical music offering. The title of the program will be Song and Dance: Music from South America. The selections will be by composers from South America or heavily influences by visits to South American countries. The music will be performed by cellist Jorge Maresch and pianist Lisa Maresch.

Like all Concerts at the Cadillac events, this recital will begin at 12:30 p.m. and will take place on Friday, September 15. The Cadillac Hotel is located at 380 Eddy Street, on the northeast corner of Leavenworth Street. All Concerts at the Cadillac events are presented without charge. The purpose of the series is to provide high-quality music to the residents of the hotel and the Tenderloin District; but all are invited to visit the venue that calls itself “The House of Welcome Since 1907.”]

Friday, October 20, 7:30 p.m., Herbst Theatre: This will be the first concert in the annual Guitar Series that San Francisco Performances (SFP) presents in partnership with the Omni Foundation for the Performing Arts. Guitarist Jason Vieaux will give his debut recital for SFP. He will be joined by Julien Labro alternating between bandoneon and accordion. Labro will also be making his SFP debut.

As might be guessed, the entire program will involve arrangements with different levels of creative contributions. The performance of Astor Piazzolla’s “Esucalo” is the result of a collaborative arrangement by both players. Their duo performance of Pat Metheny’s “Antonia” was arranged by Vieaux, while Labro has prepared arrangements of Arvo Pärt’s “Fratres” and the four movements of Radamés Gnattali’s Suite Retratos. They will also play a prelude and a scherzo, which Rossen Balkanski scored for guitar and piano; and Labro will play the piano part on bandoneon.

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 venue is excellent for public transportation, since that corner has Muni bus stops for both north-south and east-west travel. Tickets prices are $55 for premium seating in the Orchestra and the front and center of the Dress Circle, $45 for the Side Boxes, the center rear of the Dress Circle, and the remainder of the Orchestra, and $35 for the remainder of the Dress Circle and the Balcony. Tickets may be purchased in advance online through a City Box Office event page.

Because this is the first concert of a series, subscriptions are still available for $250, $220, and $150. 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.

Friday, October 20, 7:30 p.m., Red Poppy Art House: As is the case tonight, the SFP recital will coincide with a gig at the Poppy, which will also involve a guitarist. Gabriel Pirard plays guitar for the French Oak Gypsy Band. He also adds harmony to the melody lines sung by Stella Heath. This quartet will be filled out by Jimmy Inciardi on saxophone and a bass player not yet announced. The group has a repertoire of songs in French, Spanish, Roma, Catalan, Portuguese, Russian, and English; but their primary focus is French music and the French relationship to American jazz.

The Red Poppy is located in the Mission at 2698 Folsom Street. Doors will open at 7 p.m. Because the Poppy is a small space, it is almost always a good idea to be there when the doors open. Admission will be on a sliding scale between $15 and $20, and tickets will be sold only at the door.

Friday, October 20, 8 p.m., St. Mark’s Lutheran Church: The California Bach Society will begin its 47th season with a program devoted entirely to (who else?) Johann Sebastian Bach. Artistic Director Paul Flight will lead the 30-voice chorus in performances of the BWV 235 Mass setting in G minor and the BWV 21 cantata Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis (I had much grief). Instrumental support will be provided by a Baroque orchestra whose string section will be supplemented by oboe, bassoon, trumpet, and timpani.

St. Mark’s Lutheran Church is located at 1111 O'Farrell Street, just west of the corner of Franklin Street. Tickets are $35 with discounts for advance purchase, seniors, students, and those under the age of thirty. Tickets may be purchased online through a Web page on the California Bach Society Web site.

Because this will be the first of the four concerts of the 2017–2018 season, subscriptions are still on sale. All concerts will take place on Fridays at 8 p.m. in St. Mark’s. The dates and titles for the remaining concerts are as follows:
  • December 1: Christmas in Poland and the Baltic Countries
  • March 2: German Romantics
  • April 20: Handel in Rome
Summaries for the music to be performed at each of these concerts can be found of the season summary, currently on the group’s home page. Tickets for the entire season will be $95 with a $75 rate for seniors and $35 for students and patrons under the age of 30. Subscriptions may be ordered from the same Web page that supports single ticket orders. Those wishing further information may call 650-485-1097.

Friday, October 20, 8 p.m., Star of the Sea Church: Another genre of choral music will be available at the same time in another part of town. This month the Slavyanka Russian Chorus is giving its second Festival of Russian Choral Music led by Artistic Director Irina Shachneva. This will be the first of two performances in San Francisco, and Slavyanka will be joined by three other choral resources from the Bay Area:
  1. Burlingame: Church of All Russian Saints Choir, Music Director Andrei Roudenko
  2. San Francisco: Holy Virgin Cathedral Pontifical Choir, Music Director Vladimir Krassovsky
  3. Santa Cruz: The Choir of St. Lawrence Orthodox Christian Church, Music Directors Anne Schoepp and Alice Hughes
The program itself will be a broad survey of Russian sacred music from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

The Star of the Sea Church is located in the Richmond district at 4420 Geary Boulevard. General admission is priced at $20 with discounted $15 tickets available for students with valid identification. Children under the age of twelve will be admitted at no charge. Tickets may be purchased in advance online through a Brown Paper Tickets event page.

The title of the second performance in San Francisco will be Russia’s Bach. That title refers to Sergei Taneyev, whose music will account for most of the program. Slavyanka will be joined by the Russian Festival Chorus & Orchestra led by Irina Shachneva and guest conductor Eric Kujawski. Vocal soloists will be soprano Elena Stepanova-Gurevich and countertenor Andrej Nemzer. Donna Stoering will provide piano accompaniment.

This concert will begin at 4 p.m. on Sunday, October 22. The venue will be the Mission Dolores Basilica at 3321 16th Street, on the southwest corner of Dolores Street. Ticket prices will be the same, and a separate Brown Paper Tickets event page has been created for advance purchase.

Friday, October 20, 8 p.m., Community Music Center (CMC): In a completely different vein, CMC will host the next installment of Jazz in the Neighborhood. The program has been arranged jointly by bassist Marcus Shelby, who is Director of the CMC Teen Jazz Orchestra, and saxophonist Charlie Gurke, who is Director of the CMC Jazz Ensemble. They will be joined by Max Miller-Loren (a member of the CMC Jazz Improvisation faculty) on trumpet and Adam Shulman on piano.

This performance will be held in the CMC Concert Hall. CMC is located in the Mission at 544 Capp Street, between Mission Street and South Van Ness Avenue and between 20th Street and 21st Street. Tickets will be sold at the door at prices of $15 for adults and $10 for students and seniors. Those wishing further information may call 415-826-2765.

Saturday, October 21, 7 p.m., Center for New Music (C4NM): C4NM will host a visit from the Bottesini Project, a free improvisation ensemble based in Denver. The group was founded by saxophonist Glen Whitehead. The rest of his lineup will consist of Glen Whitehead on trumpet and a rhythm section of Scott Walton on bass, Mark Clifford on vibraphone, and Scott Amendola on drums.

C4NM is located at 55 Taylor Street, about half a block north of the Golden Gate Theater, where Golden Gate Avenue meets Market Street. General admission for this concert will be $15 with a $10 rate for C4NM members. Tickets may be purchased in advance through a Vendini event page.

Saturday, October 21, 7:30 p.m., Taube Atrium Theater: San Francisco Contemporary Music Players (SFCMP) will kick off its 47th season with two premiere performances. Nicole Mitchell’s “Procession Time” will be given its world premiere by Tod Brody on alto flute, Jeff Anderle on bass clarinet, Stephen Harrison on cello, and Kate Campbell on piano. This will be preceded by the West Coast premiere of “Postlude à l’Épais” by Philippe Leroux. Performers will include Brody (this time on flute), Harrison, and Campbell, as well as Peter Josheff on clarinet and Hrabba Atladottir on violin. The final work on the program will be “Schnee,” scored for a moderately large chamber ensemble by Danish composer Hans Abrahamsen.

As usual, background information will be provided by a series of free events earlier in the day. There will be an open dress rehearsal of “Procession Time” at 4 p.m. This will be followed by the next installment in How Music is Made, facilitated by Artistic Director Steven Schick. Schick will engage in conversation with Mitchell for about 50 minutes. Finally, ticket holders will be able to attend a pre-concert discussion between Schick and the SFCMP performers, which will begin at 6:30 p.m.

The Taube Atrium Theater is part of the Diane B. Wilsey Center for Opera, which is located on the fourth floor of the Veterans Building at the southwest corner of Van Ness Avenue and McAllister Street. General admission will be $35, with a $15 rate for students. In addition, SFCMP members will be able to purchase additional tickets at the discounted rate of $28. Tickets may be purchased in advance online from an Eventbrite event page.

This will be the first of the five 2017–18 season concerts that will be led by Schick. Four of those concerts will be presented as a group beginning at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, March 23, and concluding at 11 p.m. on Saturday, March 24. All events will take place in Z Space, located in NEMIZ (NorthEast Mission Industrial Zone) at 450 Florida Street. The remaining concert will be the next installment of the in the LABORATORY series. It will run from 4 p.m. to 9:30 p.m in the Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, located at 50 Oak Street, near the Van Ness Muni station.

Subscriptions for the entire season are still on sale for $170 for general admission and $85 for students. Subscription may be purchased online through a separate Eventbrite event page. SFCMP has created a Web page describe the full scope of subscriber benefits.

Saturday, October 21, 7:30 p.m., Red Poppy Art House: Korean percussionist and vocalist Dohee Lee will give a duo performance with multi-instrumentalist Raphael Radna. They will present a seamless integration of sound, dance, singing, and percussion work, which integrates the influences of both Korean roots and postmodern performance styles. As on Friday, doors will open at 7 p.m.; and it is again a good idea to be there when the doors open. Admission will again be on a sliding scale between $15 and $20, and tickets will be sold only at the door.

Saturday October 21, 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, October 22, 2 p.m., San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM): This will be the performance by the Conservatory Orchestra, whose details were provided in the summary of October activities at SFCM.

[added 10/16, 4:40 p.m.:

Sunday, October 22, 10 a.m., Episcopal Church of the Incarnation: This will mark the beginning of San Francisco Renaissance Voices serving as Artists-in-Residence. They will provide the music for a service celebrating the visit of the Bishop of California, The Right Reverend Marc Handley Andrus. The musical offering will include works composed by Hildegard of Bingen, William Byrd, and Claudio Monteverdi, as well as other selections appropriate for the service itself.

The Episcopal Church of the Incarnation is located at 1750 29th Avenue, about halfway between Moraga Street and Noriega Street. This will be the Sunday morning service. Admission will not be charged. However, contributing the the collection will be appreciated as a sign of respect.]

Sunday, October 22, 2 p.m., Red Poppy Art House: This will be the October installment of the free Monthly Community Rumba, described on this site about a month ago.

Sunday, October 22, 3 p.m., Davies Symphony Hall: This will be the first solo organ recital of the season hosted by the San Francisco Symphony. The organist will be Nathan Laube, and he has prepared a program of diverse selections. Bach will be represented with the familiar BWV 582 passacaglia in C minor. Other selections will include a pastorale by Jean Roger-Ducasse, a suite by Maurice Duruflé, and the “Eroïca” sonata by Joseph Jongen. In addition, Laube will play his own transcription of one of Felix Mendelssohn’s most ambitious works for solo piano, his Opus 54 “Variations sérieuses.”

Tickets for this concert will be $28 for the Front Orchestra and Upper Orchestra and the Rear Box and the $38 for the rest of the Orchestra, the Side Boxes, and the Loge. All other sections will be closed. Tickets may be purchased online through the event page for this program on the SFS Web site, by calling 415-864-6000, or by visiting the Box Office in Davies Symphony Hall, whose entrance is on the south side of Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street. The Box Office is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, and from noon to 6 p.m. on Saturday. It will also open two hours before the performance begins.

Sunday, October 22, 4 p.m., St. Mark’s Lutheran Church: The San Francisco Early Music Society will begin its 2017–18 concert season with a recital by The Aulos Ensemble. Members are Christopher Krueger (flauto traverso and recorder), Marc Schachman (baroque oboe), Linda Quan (baroque violin), Myron Lutzke (baroque cello), and Arthur Haas (harpsichord). The title of their program will be Handel and His World. George Frideric Handel will be the featured composer; and his “world” will consist of selections by Henry Purcell and Georg Philipp Telemann.

Ticket prices range from $50 down to $15. Tickets may be ordered by calling 510-528-1725. They may also be ordered online through an event page that allows selection from a seating chart. Discounts of up to 25% are applicable for memberships and subscriptions for three or more concerts.

San Francisco dates (all on Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m., except for the final concert on Friday at 8 p.m), ensembles, and program titles for the remainder of the season are as follows:
  • November 19, Ciaramella: 1517—German Music Before and After the Reformation
  • January 7, Vajra Voices with Shira Kammen and Kit Higginson: Annus Novus: One Yeare Begins—Medieval Poetry, Music & Magic to Ring in the New Year
  • February 4, Agave Baroque: Peace in our Time—Music of the Thirty Years War
  • March 4, Les Délices: Age of Indulgence
  • April 8, Wildcat Viols: The Magnifick Consort of Four Parts—Fantasies, Suites and Sonatas for viol quartet
  • May 4, Hana Blažíková and Bruce Dickey: Breathtaking—A Cornetto and a Voice Entwined
All concerts will take place at St. Mark's except for those in February and March. Those will be held at the Church of the Advent of Christ the King at 261 Fell Street. A Web page has been created that summarizes all subscription options and enables online purchase. The full subscription consists of the first six events of the season, and Breathtaking can be added at a reduced rate as a special event.

Sunday, October 22, 4 p.m., Noe Valley Ministry: At exactly the same time, Noe Valley Chamber Music will launch its 25th anniversary (silver) season. The season will begin with a duo recital that brings cellist Angela Lee together with guitarist Marc Teicholz. The major work on the program will be Franz Schubert’s D. 821 “Arpeggione” sonata in A minor. The arpeggione was basically a bowed guitar, and that part will be played by Lee. Göran Söllscher transcribed the piano accompaniment for guitar, and that will probably account for Teicholz’ accompaniment. They will also play an arrangement of the first movement from the fifth of Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras compositions. Other composers on the program will include Gnattali, Christoph Schaffarath, and Antônio Carlos Jobim.

The Noe Valley Ministry is located in Noe Valley at 1021 Sanchez Street. Tickets are $30 at the door with a $25 rate for seniors and a $15 rate for students aged thirteen or older. (Those over the age of eighteen will be required to show valid identification as confirmation of full-time status.) Children younger than thirteen will be admitted for free. If purchased in advance through a Brown Paper Tickets event page, general admission will be discounted to $25. Tickets may also be purchased in advance by calling NVCM at 415-648-5236.

All of the season concerts will take place on Sunday afternoons at 4 p.m. Dates and performers are as follows:
  • November 19: Lazuli String Quartet
  • January 21: The Joshua Trio
  • February 15: Brian Thorsett & Friends
  • March 18: Chamber Music Society of San Francisco
  • May 20: Telegraph String Quartet
In addition, the annual benefit concert, featuring the return of Jake Heggie performing with his close friends, will begin at 6 p.m. on Sunday, April 22. Another Brown Paper Tickets event page has been created to handle all subscription options. Tickets for the benefit will be $100, and further information will be forthcoming.

Sunday, October 22, 7:30 p.m., Musicians Union Hall: The next concert to be offered by Outsound Presents in the Static Illusion Methodical Madness (SIMM) Series will consist of two sets of inventive composition work. The first set will present Joseph’s Bones, a large instrumental ensemble that specializes in “avant dub.” They will be followed by the Trouble Ensemble, consisting of vocalist Ernest Larkins performing with Mia Bella D’Augelli on violin, Rent Romus and Joshua Marshall on saxophones, Jakob Pek on guitar, Andrew Jamieson on piano, and Tim DeCillis on drums. The Musicians Union Hall, which is located at 116 9th Street, near the corner of Mission Street. Admission will be on a sliding scale between $10 and $15.

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