Some readers may recall that, when the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) announced its 2023–24 season at the end of this past March, the announcement included the third season of the Shenson Spotlight Series. At that time only the artists that were to be featured were named. However, a little less than two weeks ago, SFS announced the program details for the four recitals that will take place between the end of January and the end of June. All of the programs will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday evenings. Specifics are as follows:
January 31: The series will begin with a solo piano recital by Eric Lu. He has prepared a program consisting of only two compositions, both of which are rich in their inventive content. Taken together, they define the “bridge” between the classical and romantic styles. The first of these will be Franz Schubert’s D. 935 set of four impromptus, published posthumously as Opus 142. The second half will present the last of Frédéric Chopin’s three piano sonatas, Opus 58 in B minor.
February 21: The second recitalist will be cellist Gabriel Martins. He will be accompanied at the piano by Victor Santiago Asunción. The program will begin by following Chopin with his most accomplished contemporary, Robert Schumann. The Schumann selection will be his Opus 73 set of three Fantasiestücke, originally composed for clarinet and piano. The program will then leapfrog into the early twentieth century with works by two decidedly different composers. The first of the selections will be the D minor cello sonata by Claude Debussy (his only cello sonata). The second will be Anton Webern’s Opus 11, entitled simply Drei kleine Stücke (three short pieces, with particular attention to the modifier “short”). The program will then conclude by reflecting the Schumann offering with the second cello sonata in F major (Opus 99) by Johannes Brahms.
March 6: The third program has been prepared by violinist Alexandra Conunova. As of this writing, her accompanist has not yet been identified. She will begin her program with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s K. 261 Adagio in E major. This will be followed by Edvard Grieg’s third violin sonata in C minor. The second half of the program will begin with the “Introduction and Rondo capriccioso” by Camille Saint-Saëns. Conunova will then conclude with Franz Waxman’s virtuosic “Carmen Fantasie,” originally composed for violin and orchestra.
June 26: This will be the one program to present a soloist to have previously given a recital here in San Francisco. Violinist Stella Chan made her San Francisco debut with a Chamber Music San Francisco recital on this past March 14. By that time she had released her debut album, Stella x Schubert, which had been discussed on this site a little over a week earlier on March 5. Her Shenson recital will begin with one of the selections on that album, Franz Schubert’s D. 895 rondo in B minor. This will be followed by Eleanor Alberga’s “No-man’s-land Lullaby. The second half of the program will be devoted entirely to Ludwig’s van Beethoven’s Opus 47 violin sonata in A major, best known as the “Kreutzer” sonata. Chan will be accompanied at the piano by George Li.
There is a single price of $45 for each of the recitals. Single tickets may be purchased through the hyperlinks attached to the above dates. As of this writing, there is not a separate Web page for subscribing to all four concerts. Both single tickets and subscriptions may be purchased by calling the SFS Box Office at 415-864-6000.
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