SFO Orchestra: Concerts for the Community

This month the San Francisco Opera (SFO) Orchestra will step out from the orchestra pit in the War Memorial Opera House to present free community concerts in both San Francisco and Oakland. The first of the two events in San Francisco will involve chamber music that will involve six violinists along with individual performers on viola, cello, bass, flute, oboe, and English horn. The second will be performed by the full orchestra. Specifics are as follows:

Wednesday, May 7, 6 p.m., Minnesota Street Project: The title of the program is Music and Flowers. Two of the selections were originally conceived as chamber music. The first of these is the string quartet by Giacomo Puccini given the title “Crisantemi” (chrysanthemums). The other will be a duo for flute (Stephanie McNab) and oboe (Gabriel Young) composed by Alberto Ginastera.

There will also be a somewhat unconventional “Carmen Fantasy.” As might be guessed, this is an arrangement by Julian Milone based on themes from Georges Bizet’s opera Carmen, scored for four violins (performers not yet finalized) and bass (William Wasson). “Crisantemi” will be followed by two instrumental arrangements of vocal music. The first of these will be Gustav Mahler’s song cycle Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (songs of a wayfarer), followed the duet from Léo Delibes opera Lakmé, usually known as the “Flower Duet.”

The Minnesota Street Project is located on the northeast corner of Minnesota Street and 24th Street on the second block to the west of Third Street. (The street address is 1275 Minnesota Street.) Doors will open at 5 p.m. There will be a reception, which will also provide an opportunity to tour the venue’s galleries.

Poster design for SoundCheck (from the Web page from which tickets may be acquired)

Saturday, May 17, 2:30 p.m., Saint Joseph’s Arts Society: The full SFO ensemble will be led by Caroline H. Hume Music Director Eun Sun Kim. The program, entitled SoundCheck, will begin by introducing the orchestra to the audience with a performance of Benjamin Britten’s Opus 34, given the title “The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra.” The score begins by introducing the four sections of the ensemble: woodwinds, brass, strings, and percussion. The subtitle of the piece is “Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell;” and each variation showcases a different instrument, taking a one-by-one account of the instruments in those four sections. Those thirteen variations are then capped off by an Allegro molto fugue. The theme cited in the title is from incidental music that Henry Purcell composed for a performance of Aphra Behn’s tragic play Abdelazer. The Britten selection will be followed by Purcell’s original version of the theme from that incidental music. The program will conclude with Richard Wagner’s symphonic poem “Siegfried Idyll,” with thematic material that would later find its way into his Siegfried opera.

The venue for this performance is in SoMa at 1401 Howard Street. Advance ticket registration will be required for this event. A Web page has been created with an “RVSP” hyperlink. Doors will open at 1:30 p.m.; and seating will be limited, available on a first-come, first-served basis.