Old First Concerts: January, 2026

As we near this afternoon’s annual Wintersongs program performed by Kitka (which will be livestreamed) it is time to start making plans for the coming year. As of this writing, there will be three performances next month, all towards the end of that month. Two of them will begin at 8 p.m., and the next LIEDER ALIVE! offering will be at 4 p.m. on a Sunday afternoon. As usual, all of the events will remain “hybrid,” allowing both live streaming and seating in the Old First Presbyterian Church at 1751 Sacramento Street on the southwest corner of Van Ness Avenue. Hyperlinks to the event pages (which include hyperlinks for streaming) will be attached to the date and time of the performances as follows:

Sarah Cahill (photograph by Kristen Wrzesniewski, from the Old First Concerts Web page for her solo recital)

Friday, January 23, 8 p.m.: Pianist Sarah Cahill describes her next program as “a new project combining classical and new compositions on the theme of homage and loss.” The title of the program is No Ordinary Light, taken from Jawaharalal Nehru’s eulogy after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi: “The light has gone out, I said, and yet I was wrong. For the light that shone in this country was no ordinary light.”

The performance will begin with the oldest work on the program, Maurice Ravel’s suite Le Tombeau de Couperin. There will be four other “retrospective” compositions: “Homage a Fauré” by Robert Helps, Zenobia Powell Perry’s “Homage to William Dawson,” and two Lou Harrison works, “Fugue to David Tudor” and  “Homage à Milhaud.” The contemporary offerings will be by Samuel Adams (“Prelude: Hammer the Sky Bright”), Maggie Payne (“Holding Pattern”), and Danny Clay (“Circle Songs”).

Sunday, January 25, 4 p.m.: The next installment in LIEDER ALIVE!’s fourteenth annual Liederabend Series will be a solo recital by mezzo Kindra Scharich. The first half of the program will be devoted to an account of Robert Schumann’s Opus 39 song cycle, Liederkreis, in its entirety. The second half will then present selected solo vocal compositions by Johannes Brahms, who had been mentored by Schumann. The program will celebrate the 75th birthday of LIEDER ALIVE! founder and director, Maxine Bernstein.

Saturday, January 31, 8 p.m.: It seems as if the Circadian String Quartet makes a visit to Old First every other year during the winter season. Membership consists of violinists Monika Gruber and David Ryther, Ed Wharton on viola, and cellist David Wishnia. Their program, Footprints in the Snow, will consist entirely of twentieth-century compositions. They will begin with selections (not yet identified) by Austrian composer Hugo Kauder. More familiar will be arrangements of three of Claude Debussy’s piano preludes, “Ondine,” “Des pas sur la neige,” and “La danse de Puck.” The final selection will be Philip Glass’ fifth string quartet.