This week the San Francisco Opera Center and the Merola Opera Program jointly announced the program plans for the 37th season of the Schwabacher Recital Series. The series is named after James Schwabacher, who was a co-founder of the Merola Opera Program; and it provides an opportunity to showcase the talents of the exemplary artists who have participated in the training programs of the Merola Opera Program and/or the San Francisco Opera Center. As in the past, the season will consist of four concerts. These will take place at the end of this month and at the beginning of March, along with two at the beginning and end of April. Only one program, the first in April, will be a solo recital. As was the case last year, all of this season’s concerts will take place on Wednesday evenings, beginning at 7:30 p.m., and the venue will again be the Taube Atrium Theater. Specifics are as follows:
January 29: The vocalists will be mezzo Alice Chung and baritone Laureano Quant. The program will have a nocturnal theme, viewed from a variety of different perspectives. On the more popular side, one of those perspectives will be “night life” as imagined by William Bolcom with selections from his Cabaret Songs collection. The most familiar offerings will be selections from Hector Berlioz’ Opus 7 collection Les nuits d’été (summer nights), probably drawing upon the version composed for different voices, which includes one song for baritone, the lament “Sur les lagunes” (on the lagoons). While these songs are best known in their orchestral versions, Berlioz originally composed them for piano accompaniment in 1841. The Berlioz selections will be complemented by Francesco Santoliquido’s I Canti della Sera (the evening songs). Similarly, there will be a coupling of the dark shades evoked by Quant’s own Sombras and Luis Carlos Figueroa’s soothing lullaby “Berceuse.”
Simone McIntosh (courtesy of the San Francisco Opera)
March 4: The second recital will also see a pairing of a mezzo, Simone McIntosh, with a baritone, Timothy Murray. The pianist will be Robert Mollicone. The major work on the program will be a performance of Olivier Messiaen’s Harawi in its entirety by McIntosh. The title refers to a style of Andean music in which the opposing dispositions of romance and tragedy are juxtaposed. Messiaen became aware of this style after the death of his first wife, Claire Delbos. Lasting about 50 minutes, the composition is one of the most ambitious in the mezzo repertoire. Murray’s contribution will draw upon texts by two male poets, Jonathan Dove’s settings of three poems by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and Claude Debussy’s songs based on three ballads by François Villon.
April 1: The solo recital will be given by mezzo Ashley Dixon, accompanied by second-year Adler Fellow, pianist Kseniia Polstiankina Barrad. Specific selections have not yet been announced. However, the program will give particular emphasis to the French and Spanish repertoire. Featured composers will include Fernando Obradors, Joaquín Turina, Francis Poulenc, Maurice Ravel and Carlos Guastavino.
April 22: At the final recital pianist Warren Jones will accompany three Adler Fellows: soprano Esther Tonea, tenor Victor Starsky, and baritone Timothy Murray. Again, the specific selections have not yet been announced. However, the program will feature three major composers from the history of American music, Charles Tomlinson Griffes, Charles Ives, and Amy Beach. The more familiar composers on the program will be Giuseppe Verdi, Franz Liszt, and Gioachino Rossini.
The Taube Atrium Theater is part of the Diane B. Wilsey Center for Opera, which is located in the Veterans Building (on the fourth floor) at 401 Van Ness Avenue on the southwest corner of McAllister Street. General admission will be $30. Tickets may be purchased in advance online through an event page on the San Francisco Opera Web site. Note that, because much of the seating is raked, it is possible to select the option of Wheelchair Accessible seats. In addition, subject to availability, student rush tickets will go on sale at 7 p.m. at the reduced rate of $15. There is a limit of two tickets per person, and valid identification must be shown.
Subscriptions for the entire four-recital series are available for $100. However, these are not available online. They may be purchased in person at the San Francisco Opera Box Office, located in the outer lobby of the War Memorial Opera House at 301 Van Ness Avenue, on the northwest corner of Grove Street. They may also be purchased by calling 415-864-3330.
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