Lortie to Return to San Francisco as Recitalist

 Pianist Louis Lortie (from the SFP Web page for purchasing tickets to his recital)

According to my archives, next week will see my first opportunity to listen to French Canadian pianist Louis Lortie as a recitalist. My past encounters have all taken place in Davies Symphony Hall. Back in October of 2007, he performed Franz Liszt’s “Totentanz” with Kurt Masur conducting the San Francisco Symphony (SFS). In April of 2019, her appeared with another guest conductor, Simone Young, this time playing Maurice Ravel’s piano concerto in G major. In addition, he had previously played that concerto during the SFS Centennial Season in January of 2012 when the Philadelphia Orchestra visited Davies with their Chief Conductor  Charles Dutoit.

Next week Lortie will be hosted by San Francisco Performances as the next artist in the Robert and Ruth Dell Piano Series. Once again, his focus will be on Ravel, performing seven of that composer’s works for solo piano:

1. Menuet Antique
2. Pavane pour une infante défunte
3. Jeux d’eau
4. Gaspard de la nuit
5. Sonatine
6. Valses nobles et sentimentales
7. La Valse

This is far from a complete account of the music that Ravel composed for solo piano, but it will provide an opportunity to appreciate the diversity of approaches he took to this instrument.

This performance will take place less than a week after Jan Lisiecki’s recital on Thursday, March 20. Lortie will perform on the following Tuesday, March 25; and, as usual, the performance will begin at 7:30 p.m. Ticket prices will again be $85 (premium Orchestra and front and center Dress Circle), $75 (remainder of Orchestra, all Side Boxes, and center rear Dress Circle), and $65 (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.