SFP 2026–2027 Great Artists & Ensembles

Having provided the “overview” for the San Francisco Performances (SFP) 2026–2027 season this past Sunday, current events are quiet enough that this site can begin to account for the individual series. In the coming season, the first performance will be in the Great Artists & Ensembles series. This will involve one solo violin recital, two duo programs for cello and piano, and the opening concert, which will be one of the events in the Gala Benefit that will begin the season. Not all program details have been finalized, but the current specifics are as follows:

Friday, October 2, 7 p.m.: Violinist Geneva Lewis will be accompanied at the piano by Joshua Mhoon. The program will be structured around three duo sonatas at the beginning, middle, and conclusion of the program. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart will be the first composer on the program with a performance of his K. 379 duo sonata in G major. The program will conclude with Richard Strauss’ Opus 18, his only sonata for these two instruments, composed in the key of E-flat major. The “middle sonata” will be Mieczysław Weinberg’s Opus 53, his fifth sonata composed for these two instruments. This selection will be preceded by two pieces for violin and piano composed by Valentyn Silvestrov in 2010. The Strauss sonata will be preceded by Anton Webern’s Opus 7, four pieces for violin and piano, all usually shorter than 90 seconds in duration.

Jean-Guihen Queyras with his cello (photograph by Marco Borggreve, courtesy of SFP)

Thursday, October 29, 7:30 p.m.: Cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras last visited SFP in February of 2020, performing in a trio with violinist Isabelle Faust and pianist Alexander Melnikov. For his return, he will be accompanied at the piano by Alexandre Tharaud. The program will focus on selected movements from longer compositions, including Franz Schubert’s D. 821 sonata for pianoforte and arpeggione, Benjamin Britten’s Opus 65 duo sonata in C major, and Claude Debussy’s D minor sonata. Queyras will also give a solo performance of the “Prélude” to a suite in D minor from the second book in the Pièces de viole collection by Marin Marais. The program will begin with Francis Poulenc’s Suite Française, followed immediately by Alban Berg’s Opus 5 collection of four pieces for clarinet and piano. The program will conclude with two “consecutive” compositions by Gabriel Fauré, his Opus 78 “Sicilienne” followed by the Opus 77 “Papillon” duo. These will then lead to three of the Hungarian Dance compositions by Johannes Brahms, the first in G minor, the seventh in A major, and the fifth in G minor.

Tuesday, April 6, 7:30 p.m.: Pianist Juho Pohjonen will accompany cellist Jonathan Swensen; the program has not been finalized beyond identifying composers Frédéric Chopin, Francis Poulenc, Arvo Pärt, Witold Lutosławski, more Fauré, and probably others.

Thursday, April 22, 7:30 p.m: The soloist will be Tessa Lark, performing a program entitled Stradgrass–Works for Solo Violin. The title refers to bring bluegrass together with the more “classical” repertoire. She will conclude the program with the bluegrass tune “Sally Goodin’,” which will be preceded by John Corigliano’s “STOMP.” The program will begin with a pairing of Georg Philipp Telemann and Johann Sebastian Bach. The former composed a set of twelve fantasias for solo violin, and Lark will play the fifth of them: TWV 40:105. The Bach selection will be the BWV 1002 partita in B minor, which is much more familiar. This will be followed by the fifth of the seven solo sonatas in Eugéne Ysaÿe’s Opus 27. The remaining work on the program will be Nathan Milstein’s “Paganiniana.”