Joyce Yang to Return to SFP Next Month

Joyce Yang (photograph by KT Kim, courtesy of SFP)

Pianist Joyce Yang made her San Francisco Performances (SFP) recital debut at the end of November of 2021. As I observed at that time, her selections “focused primarily on virtuoso compositions grounded in nineteenth-century rhetoric.” That rhetoric will prevail in the program she has prepared for next month’s return to Herbst Theatre.

The program will be framed by two of the major composers of the early nineteenth century. The opening selection will be the last of the three Opus 31 sonatas that Ludwig van Beethoven composed in 1802. It was given the nickname (in the words of the Wikipedia author) “The Hunt,” which was inspired by the last (Presto con fuoco) of the four movements; but the rhythm is more like that of a tarantella. Somewhat more explicit in narrative will be the concluding work, Robert Schumann’s Opus 16. The full title of this work is Kreisleriana: Phantasien für das Pianoforte; and the title was inspired by Johannes Kreisler, a character in the tales of Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann, an imaginary musician given to manic depression, whose moods swings were captured in Schumann’s composition. Beethoven and Schumann will be separated by six of the thirteen preludes that Sergei Rachmaninoff collected for his Opus 32. This was the composer’s last set of preludes, accounting for the major and minor keys that he had not yet composed for in his Opus 3 and the ten Opus 23 preludes.

This program will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 1. Ticket prices are $75 (premium Orchestra and front and center Dress Circle), $65 (remainder of Orchestra, all Side Boxes, and center rear Dress Circle), and $55 (remaining Dress Circle and Balcony). As always, they may be purchased through an SFP secure Web page. The venue will be Herbst Theatre, whose entrance 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.