Sunday, January 27, 2019

Joyce Yang to Return to SFP, Again with ASQ

Zakarias Grafilo, Frederick Lifsitz, Joyce Yang, Paul Yarbrough, and Sandy Wilson (from the SFP event page for this recital)

In November of 2015, pianist Joyce Yang made her San Francisco Performances (SFP) debut by sharing her recital with the members of the SFP Ensemble-in-Residence, the Alexander String Quartet (ASQ), violinists Zakarias Grafilo and Frederick Lifsitz, violist Paul Yarbrough, and cellist Sandy Wilson. That program was structured entirely around quintets for piano and strings. Next month the entire quintet will return to SFP. This time the program will consists of quartets and quintets, but not necessarily in the way one might expect.

The quartets will be the two piano quartets of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, K. 478 in G minor at the beginning of the program and K. 493 in E-flat major at the conclusion. These are scored for violin, viola, cello, and piano; and presumably each of the two quartets will have a different ASQ violinist. Between these two selections, the entire quintet will present the West Coast premiere of “Quintet with Pillars” by Samuel Carl Adams, scored for string quartet and piano with digital resonance. As the composer himself put it, “Quintet with Pillars explores the question: what would it sound like if a piece were to build itself?” The “piece itself” is “Part II” of the composition; and “Part I” was conceived to provide an auditory account of how “Part II” came to be. The two parts are separated by “pillars,” three short episodes that mark the beginning, middle, and end of the entire work.

This recital will be held in Herbst Theatre, beginning at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 14. Ticket prices will be $70, $55, and $45. As of this writing, seats are still available in all price categories. They may be purchased in advance online through a City Box Office event page.

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