Brahms and the Schumanns

Cover design for the album being discussed (with its own take on trios)

This past Friday harmonia mundi s.a.s. released a new album of music composed during the nineteenth century by a close-knit community of composers. In chronological order of the year of birth, those composers are Robert Schumann, Clara Schumann, Joseph Joachim, and Johannes Brahms. The entire album is framed by Brahms.

It begins with his contribution to the “F-A-E Sonata,” whose movements were distributed among Robert Schumann, Brahms, and Schumann's pupil Albert Dietrich. That movement was the third of four, which, as is often the case, was a Scherzo. The album then concludes with a full composition by Brahms, his Opus 114 clarinet trio in A minor.

Each of the other three composers is represented by a single composition. The Joachim selection is his Opus 9, the three-movement “Hebrew Melodies,” scored for viola and piano. The other two selections are arrangements for viola and piano by the album’s violist, Tabea Zimmermann. They are works by the two Schumanns, beginning with Robert’s Opus 94 set of “Three Romances,” followed by Clara’s Opus 22, which is also titled “Three Romances.” For all of these selections, the pianist is Javier Perianes; and Jean-Guihen Queyras plays cello in the performance of the Opus 114 trio.

I suspect that some listeners will approach the program for this album with the old joke that “this is the sort of thing that people who like that sort of thing are bound to like.” By way of disclaimer, I am one of those “people!” That said, I appreciate how this album was conceived to provide a particular window on the nineteenth century in Europe. All of the composers have been familiar to me as I have cultivated my listening experiences; but I have to admit that I found the overall design of the album to be an absolute delight, no matter how many jokes may be made about it!

SFCMP to Present Three West Coast Premieres

The San Francisco Contemporary Music Players in performance (from the City Box Office Web page)

The third of the four programs planned by the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players (SFCMP) for its 2025–2026 Concert Season will take place in a little less than a month’s time. The title of the program will be Steps Toward Ascent, which may have been chosen to represent the transition from the last century to the present one. Thus, the program will begin in 1926, the year in which Ruth Crawford Seeger composed her “Music for Small Orchestra.” This will be followed by three recent compositions, all of which are at most three years old as follows:

1. Seare Ahmad Farhat: Muzzahaimat (2023)
2. Vivan Fung: Ominous (2024)
3. Steve Reich: Jacob’s Ladder (2023)

This performance will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 11. The performance will take place in the Taube Atrium Theater, located on the top (fourth) floor of the Veterans Building at 401 Van Ness Avenue. There will also be an Under the Hood conversation hosted by Artistic Director Eric Dudley. This will take place in the same venue, beginning at 6:45 p.m. Tickets may be purchased online through a City Box Office Web page.

David Russell Returns to SFP After 14 Visits

David Russell with his guitar (courtesy of SFP)

Guitarist David Russell has been bringing solo guitar recitals to San Francisco Performances (SFP) since March of 1993. Most, if not all, of these events have been presented in association with the Omni Foundation for the Performing Arts, which annually prepares a more extended recital series focusing primarily on guitars. Last night he returned to San Francisco to perform at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church.

It would be fair to call last night a “past and present” program. The past was represented by Johann Sebastian Bach, Mauro Giuliani, and Isaac Albéniz. The living composers were Stephen Goss and Gabriel Estarellas. Bach and Albéniz were the two composers that were not guitarists, and the five Albéniz selections were all transcriptions by Francisco Tárrega. Sadly, Russell was more than a little casual in introducing his Bach selections, describing them only as “pieces I enjoy.”

The major work on the program was the San Francisco premiere of Goss’ Don Quijote suite, which he had dedicated to Russell. This consisted of six movements, which Russell described as alternating between “how the world sees the Don” and “how the Don sees the world.” The performance included projected images, which seem to reflect on the movement titles but did little to establish any sense of narrative over the course of the performance. There was no end of spirit in the text of author Miguel de Cervantes, but Goss never seemed to capture any of this spirit in his score.

This was followed by six movements from the Estarellas suite entitled Homage to Charles Chaplin. Scott Cmiel provided an informative paragraph for the program book accounting for what those movements were intended to depict. Sadly, however, none of those depictions registered with much impact, resulting in an extended one-thing-after-another performance that just got drearier and drearier.

Somewhat more spirited was a take on the “Irish Washerwoman” theme. The first word of the title was “Dirty,” and the second was muttered beyond recognition. However, the attempt to depict scrubbing made this an engaging encounter. Russell then revisited the “Dulcinea” movement from Goss’ suite; but I am afraid that, by that time, I had had more than enough of that composer’s music!

SFP Art of Song Series to Conclude Next Month

Soprano Miah Persson (from the Web page for tickets to her performance)

The final vocalist in the Art of Song Series will be Swedish soprano Miah Persson. She will be accompanied at the piano by Magnus Svensson. The title of their program will be Nordic Songs.

I suspect that most readers will not be familiar with this repertoire. The composers of the songs will be, in “order of appearance,” Wilhelm Stenhammar, Gösta Nystroem, Jean Sibelius, Emil Sjögren, Ture Rangström, and Edvard Grieg. By way of disclaimer, I can confess that my only encounter with songs by Sibelius came when I was writing about The Sibelius Edition, an entire account of the Sibelius catalog released in thirteen multi-CD volumes. Where Grieg is concerned, the last time I wrote about his vocal works was at the end of April of 2019 as part of my account of the Warner Classics’ 13-CD collection entitled Grieg: Piano, Orchestral & Vocal Works, Chamber Music.

The performance will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 9. The venue will be Herbst Theatre, which many (most?) readers know is located in the heart of the Civic Center at 401 Van Ness Avenue, on the southwest corner of McAllister Street. Ticket prices will be $70, $60, and $50. As those readers probably also know, SFP has created a Web page for purchasing those tickets, which includes an account of all the selections to be performed.

SFS: Rustioni Conducts Dvořák and Brahms

Statue of Antonín Dvořák in Prague with the Rudolfinum behind (from a Wikimedia Commons Web page, photograph by Andrevruas, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license)

Last night in Davies Symphony Hall Daniele Rustioni made his debut as conductor of the San Francisco Symphony (SFS). He prepared a program of two major works, both composed in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. These were presented in reverse chronological order, beginning with Antonín Dvořák’s Opus 104 cello concerto in B minor. The intermission was then followed by Johannes Brahms’ Opus 73 (second) symphony in D major. The concerto soloist was cellist Daniel Müller-Schott, also making his SFS debut.

Brahms was instrumental in launching Dvořák’s career. However, it would be fair to say that the latter honored the legacy of the former by finding his own way of doing things. That “path” eventually led him to the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, where, in 1892, he was appointed the directorship of the National Conservatory of Music of America in New York City. Opus 104 is one of the works he composed during his time in the United States, but it would be fair to say that his Bohemian rhetoric prevailed over any American influences.

The Opus 104 concerto has become an audience favorite, and it would be fair to say that most of the audience members had a personal favorite cellist in mind before Müller-Schott took the stage. Nevertheless, while his performance could not have done a better job in honoring the composer’s legacy, he brought a fresh gust of energy to the outer Allegro movements while finding just the right rhetoric for the middle Adagio movement. That full scope of dispositions emerged readily through the chemistry between soloist and conductor. It would not surprise me if I learned that the coupling of conductor and soloist was a meeting of old friends.

As might be expected, the audience was impressed enough to demand an encore from Müller-Schott. As many may have hoped, he turned to Johann Sebastian Bach for that encore. He performed the final Gigue movement from BWV 1009, the third of the six solo cello suites, this one composed in the key of C major.

The second half of the program was devoted entirely to Johannes Brahms’ Opus 73, his second symphony composed in the key of D major. My past listening experiences have led me to believe that this is the one of the four symphonies that tends to draw the most attention. There is an affability in all four of the movements that departs from much of the tension that plays out in the other symphonies.

However, there is also a cerebral side to Opus 73. Brahms structured it around a motif that could not be simpler: a half-step down followed by a half-step back. That three-note motif begins the symphony, and it surfaces in each of the four movements with decidedly different settings. I have to confess that Brahms’ capacity to make more and more with less and less (thank you, Buckminster Fuller) has made this my favorite of the composer’s four symphonies. Rustioni’s account last night could not have been more absorbing, making me wonder whether Opus 73 might also be his favorite!

A Busy April for Pamela Z

Following up on her residence at Audium, Pamela Z can look forward to a busy April. This will involve not only her own performances but also performances of her works in other settings. There will be four of these events, each in a different setting as follows:

Pamela Z working with her electronic and digital gear

Thursday, April 2, 7:30 p.m., The Forum at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts: Pamela Z has cultivated a skilled talent for processing her vocal work through a diversity of electronic devices. She has developed a repertoire of experimental vocal techniques involving digital processing, looping, and the integration of prerecorded concrete sounds. These are the “building blocks” with which she will create her in-the-moment performance.

Saturday, April 11, 7:30 p.m., San Francisco Public Library, Main Branch: Z will both perform and host a performance entitled Sonic Illuminations. This will be one of several events taking place during the NIGHT OF IDEAS evening. Z will present not only her own music but also compositions by Amanda Chaudhary, Leyya Mona Tawil, and Héloïse Garry. The performance will take place in the Steve Silver Music Library on the fourth floor of the building.

Friday, April 17, 7:30 p.m., San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Cha Chi Ming Recital Hall: Ensemble for These Times will present a program entitled Women Crossing/Liminality. The ensemble commissioned Pamela Z, through which she composed “From.” This single-movement composition has been scored for violin, cello, found-object percussion, tape, voice, and electronics. Preceding composers on the program will include Leilehua Lanzilotti, Sofia Jem Ouyang, and Vivian Fung.

Thursday, April 30, through Sunday, May 3, Steindler Stage at Z Space: The title of the next production by inkBoat is Clouds from a Crumbling Giant: our wild shining days. This event will be directed by Shinichi Iova-Koga, but the performance will involve a generous number of collaborators. One of those collaborators will be Pamela Z!

Earplay: Bennett’s Second Reflection on Ives

Bruce Bennett, Margaret Halbig, Terrie Baune, Ellen Ruth Rose, Thalia Moore, and Tod Brody performing Bennett’s “answer” to Ives’ “Question” (screen shot from last night’s YouTube’s video feed of the Earplay recital)

Last night the Earplay chamber ensemble returned to the Noe Valley Ministry to present the second concert in its 41st season. Some readers may recall that the overall title of the season is Answering The Unanswered Question, inspired by Charles Ives’ enigmatic orchestral composition, “The Unanswered Question.” Bruce Bennett composed an arrangement of this music to begin last month’s concert, and last night saw a second arrangement. This one involved flute (Tod Brody), clarinet (Peter Josheff), violin (Terrie Baune), viola (Ellen Ruth Rose), cello (Thalia Moore), organ (Margaret Halbig), and synthesizer (Bennett).

In Bennett’s first arrangement, the question was posed by clarinet and answered by piano. Last night each of the instrumentalists had an opportunity to play the “question-asking” motif. This was an engaging way to introduce the ensemble to the audience, providing an overall context for the subsequent combinations of instruments in the following compositions. Those offerings were, as follows:

• “Searching the Way” by Hyo-shin Na: flute, clarinet violin, and cello
• “Haikus Notebook” by Benet Casablancas: flute (alternating with both alto and piccolo), clarinet (alternating with bass), violin, cello, and piano
• “Loki’s Lair” by Mark Winges: flute (alternating with alto), viola, and cello
• “The Wild Party” by Shuying Li: flute, clarinet, violin, viola, cello, piano, soprano (Chelsea Hollow), and conductor (Mary Chun)

This made for an impressive diversity of repertoire. Each of the composers found just the right duration to make sure that the listening experience would not overstay its welcome. Taken as a whole, the program was a throughly engaging journey through a wide variety of sonorities. The only real difficulty I encountered was that I was never able to make out any of the text that Hollow was singing. Since I livestreamed this performance from home, I have no idea whether the program book included the text by Joseph Moncure March.

Nevertheless, it was the music itself that mattered, and there was more than enough substantial listening to keep me occupied in this second “response” to the “Ives question.”

Dan Tepfer Returning to Noe Valley on March 22

Dan Tepfer (from the Noe Music Web page for his recital this month in Noe Valley)

Some readers may recall that, a little over a week ago, this site announced a solo performance by Dan Tepfer at the Noe Valley Ministry entitled Inventions/Reinventions at 8 p.m. on Saturday, March 21. This morning I learned that he will return to that venue the following afternoon. The title of his second program has a similar structure: Goldberg Variations/Variations.

Once again, he will use the music of Johann Sebastian Bach for his own “personal interpretations and spontaneous improvisations.” This time the Bach source will be the BWV 988 set of variations on an aria theme, usually known as the “Goldberg Variations.” Most likely he will provide “improvisational responses” to the “call” of both the theme and variations composed by Bach.

As of this writing, all reserved seats have been sold. However, general admission seating is still available for $45 for adults and $15 for students. A Web page is available for purchasing these tickets online. For those that do not already know, the Noe Valley Ministry is located at 1021 Sanchez Street in Noe Valley.

Spoleto Festival USA Launches Album Series

In the early summer of 1958, composer Gian Carlo Menotti launched the Festival dei Due Mondi (festival of the two worlds) in Spoleto, Italy. He is best known for the one-act Christmas opera Amahl and the Night Visitors, commissioned by the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) to be broadcast live on television on December 24, 1951. For the better part of my secondary school years, I would watch that performance annually. In 1977 Menotti launched a second festival in Charleston, South Carolina, naming it, appropriately, Spoleto Festival USA.

Over the course of my life, I have known about these festivals in name only. I had written a term paper about Menotti in secondary school; but, by the time I began my freshman year (1963) at the Massachusetts Instutue of Technology, he had pretty much faded into a figure of the past, making Charleston an effort to revive attention. Nevertheless, the festival has outlived its founder, who died on February 1, 2007. While I knew about the festival from time to time by leafing through magazines, I never encountered any specifics about the music being performed.

Cover of the album being discussed (from its Amazon.com Web page)

A little over a month ago, I learned that Phenotypic Recordings would release a series of albums documenting performances at last year’s Spoleto Festival USA. The first of these albums will be released tomorrow with two more releases to follow in April and May, respectively. The title of tomorrow’s release is Live from Spoleto 2025: Orchestra. The Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra is conducted by Timothy Myers, and the concerto soloist is violinist Alexi Kenney.

The concerto is Jean Sibelius’ Opus 47 in D minor, first composed in 1904 and revised in 1905. The “overture” for the program is the world premiere recording of “Stellar,” composed by Nigerian-American Shawn Okpebholo. The “symphony” is the suite of music extracted from Richard Strauss’ opera Der Rosenkavalier. The origin of this suite is somewhat uncertain, but the Wikipedia page for the opera suggests that it was probably arranged by conductor Artur Rodziński, who first performed it with the New York Philharmonic in October of 1944.

“Stellar” is a vigorous burst of energy lasting less than three minutes. Sadly, it is the only track on the album that does not overstay its welcome. Mind you, the Rosenkavalier music was given a fair shake; but, for anyone that has experienced and enjoyed the entire opera, it does little more than revive pleasant memories. Similarly, there is no arguing with Kenney’s violin skills; but, under Myers’ baton, the performance comes across as just another visit to the Sibelius concerto.

Whether the April and May albums of chamber music performances from Spoleto will make a more lasting impression remains to be seen.

Cedille Records to Release Vinci Opera

Cover of the album being discussed (courtesy of Shuman Public Relations)

This coming Friday Cedille Records will release its second recording of a historically-informed performance of an opera from the seventeenth or eighteenth century. This will be a complete account of Artaserse, the final opera by Leonardo Vinci (not to be confused with the other Leonardo), composed in 1730. As was the case with the first release, the performance is by the Haymarket Opera Company, which has been presenting historically-informed operas and oratorios from those two centuries.

Thanks to Ars Minerva, I have already had two past encounters with Vinci’s music. The first of these was a cello concerto performed by American Bach Soloists, but more relevant to this article was my first encounter with a Vinci opera. That opera was Astianatte, which was performed by Ars Minerva in October of 2022, named after Astyanax, who was the son of Hector, the crown prince of Troy, and his wife, Princess Andromache.

The advance material for Artaserse describes the narrative of the opera as a “tale of royal intrigue, murder, secret love, and ruthless ambition.” In other words, it “covers all the bases” of Italian opera seria in the eighteenth century. The opera is in three acts, and the narrative unfolds a plot of conspiracy and murder that makes the entire four-opera cycle of Der Ring des Nibelungen seem like a walk in the park. As might be expected, this involves a generous number of characters in conflict, all of whom get to express their intentions through solo arias. Each of the acts fills a single CD, so the overall listening experience is not quite as demanding as most encounters with Richard Wagner.

I have no trouble confessing that none of the six vocalists in this opera were familiar to me. Nevertheless, my past experience with Vinci served me well, allowing me to follow all three acts with a basic sense of how the narrative was unfolding. Conductor Craig Trompeter knew how to keep things moving as each of the vocalists advanced the narrative within a “context” established by the Haymarket Opera Orchestra.

To be fair, however, I have to acknowledge the old saying that “this the sort of thing that people who like that sort of thing will like!” So it is that I began with a citation of my past experiences with Ars Minerva. Those experience prepared me for both the pace of the music and the twists and turns of the narrative. As one who likes “that sort of thing,” I came away with much more than a little sense of satisfaction!

SFP: Plans for 2026 Gift Concert

Yesterday afternoon San Francisco Performances (SFP) announced its annual Gift Concert. The “gift” is that subscribers and donors are entitled to tickets at no charge. However, one week from tomorrow, March 19, seating for the general public in the Orchestra and Boxes will be available at the price of $55. As usual, tickets may be purchased online through an SFP Web page or by calling 415-392-2545. Remaining tickets will be available at the door with a 50% discount for students and 20% off for seniors.

Catalyst Quartet members Karlos Rodriguez, Paul Laraia, Abi Fayette, and Karla Donehew Perez (photograph by Ricardo Quiñones, courtesy of SFP)

This year the program will present both vocal and chamber music. The vocalist will be mezzo Nikola Printz, who is no stranger to San Francisco. This past October she was one of the participants in Death by Aria, the Halloween-themed concert produced by pianist Ronny Michael Greenberg. The instrumentalists for the concert will be pianist Terrence Wilson and the members of the Catalyst Quartet: violinists Abi Fayette and Karla Donehew Perez, Paul Laraia on viola, and cellist Karlos Rodriguez.

Catalyst will begin the program with a performance of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Opus 5, given the title Fantasiestücke. Printz will then sing “Sorrow Song and Jubilee” by Libby Larsen. This will be followed by Noah Luna’s arrangement of “Goin’ Home,” a spiritual-like song using the principal theme from the Largo movement of Antonín Dvořák’s Opus 95 (ninth) symphony in E minor. Printz will conclude the program with a performance of Edward Elgar’s Opus 37, his Sea Pictures song cycle in an arrangement by Donald Fraser.

This concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 7. It will take place in Herbst Theatre, whose entrance is on the ground floor of the Veterans Building at 401 Van Ness Avenue, located on the southwest corner of McAllister Street. This venue is excellent for public transportation, since that corner has Muni bus stops for both north-south and east-west travel.

SFS Programs for April, 2026

Next month the diversity in San Francisco Symphony (SFS) performances will extend beyond Davies Symphony Hall. Fortunately, all of the dates and times will have hyperlinks to facilitate ticket purchases. As usual, tickets may also be acquired at the Box Office, which is at the entrance to Davies on the south side of Grove Street, between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street.

Thursday, April 9, Friday, April 10, and Saturday, April 11, 7:30 p.m.: Canadian conductor Bernard Labadie will return to Davies. His last visit was in November of 2024, when he devoted his program entirely to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. He will return with a program featuring two major choral compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach. The program will begin with the BWV 249 Easter Oratorio and conclude with the BWV 243 setting of the Magnificat text in D major. The latter will be preceded by an “overture,” which was originally composed for the beginning of the BWV 29 cantata Wir danken dir, Gott. Both choral offerings will include the SFS Chorus, whose Director is Jenny Wong. The vocal soloists will be soprano Joélle Harvey, countertenor Hugh Cutting, tenor Andrew Haji, and baritone Joshua Hopkins.

Saturday, April 11, 2 p.m.: The first event that will depart from Davies will take place in the Visitacion Valley Branch of the San Francisco Public Library (SFPL). It will be an afternoon of chamber music performed by SFS musicians. Program details have not been finalized, and there will be no charge for admission.

Sunday, April 12, 2 p.m.: The venue for the second “remote” performance will be the Gunn Theater at the Legion of Honor. This is part of a series of performances to showcase the 1742 Guarneri del Gesù violin on loan to Alexander Barantschik and the San Francisco Symphony from the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Barantschik will perform with cellist Peter Wyrick and Anton Nel on piano. The program will be “framed” by Joseph Haydn and Franz Schubert. The Haydn trio will be Hoboken XV/18 in A major; and the Schubert selection will be his first piano trio, D. 898 in B-flat major. The other works on the program will be Cécile Chaminade’s Opus 89, her “Thème Varié” composed in the key of A major. This will be followed by Carl Czerny’s Opus 33, “La Ricordanza, Variazioni sopra un Tema di Rode,” inspired by the French violinist and composer Pierre Rode.

Sunday, April 12, 2 p.m.: At exactly the same time there will also be a chamber music performance in Davies. The second half of the program will present Johannes Brahms’ Opus 60, his third piano quartet in C minor. The first half will be decidedly different, beginning with Steve Reich’s “Music for Pieces of Wood,” followed by the octet composed by Jean Françaix. The remaining work will be selections from the Danish String Quartet ECM New Series album Last Leaf.

Wednesday, April 15, 7:30 p.m.: The next Shenson Spotlight Series concert will be a recital by violinist Nathan Amaral. This accompanist at the piano will be Sophiko Simsive. This program will be framed by two duo sonatas, beginning with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s K. 378 sonata in B-flat major and concluding with César Franck’s only violin sonata. The “middle” composer will be Francisco Mignone, represented by his second “Valsa de esquina” composition.

Friday, April 17, and Saturday, April 18, 7:30 p.m., and Sunday April 19, 2 p.m.: Simone Young will return to the Davies podium, and cellist Gautier Capuçon will return as concerto soloist. The concerto will be Camille Saint-Saëns’ Opus 33, his first cello concerto in A minor. The “overture” will be the first performance of “The Space Between Stars,” composed by Ella Macens. The second half of the program will serve as a “nod across the street” to the San Francisco Opera House. Young has prepared her own compilation of excerpts from Richard Wagner’s four-opera cycle, Der Ring des Nibelungen (the ring of the Nibelung).

Sunday, April 19, 7:30 p.m.: Violinist Joshua Bell will return to Davies. He has prepared a program of three sonatas: Franz Schubert’s D. 574 in A major, Edvard Grieg’s Opus 45 (his third) in C minor, and Sergei Prokofiev’s Opus 94b (his second) in D major. He will be accompanied at the piano by Shai Wosner.

Saturday, April 25, 2 p.m.: This will be another performance for SFPL. This one will take place at the Merced Branch. It will be another afternoon of chamber music performed by SFS musicians. Program details again have not been finalized, and there will be no charge for admission.

Pianist and conductor Yuja Wang (from the Web page for her SFS performance at the end of April)

Sunday, April 26, 7:30 p.m.: Pianist Yuja Wang will return to Davies. However, she will also serve as the Director of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. She will begin by leading the ensemble in a performance of Sergei Prokofiev’s first (“Classical”) symphony. She will then take to the keyboard while conducting a performance of a suite for piano and orchestra by Alexander Tsfasman. Following the intermission, she will return to Prokofiev with a performance of his Opus 16 (second) piano concerto in G minor.

Guitarist Teicholz Gives Faculty Artist Recital

Guitarist Marc Teicholz (from the Conservatory Web page for last night’s performance)

Yesterday evening I decided to check out the latest performance livestreamed from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. This was a Faculty Artist Series recital, the faculty member being guitarist Marc Teicholz. He shared the performance with pianist Eric Zivian.

Note that I did not used the verb “accompanied.” This was a program in which both Teicholz and Zivian gave solo performances. The music performed involved a coupling of Frédéric Chopin’s Opus 28 collection of 24 solo piano preludes accounting for all the major and minor keys with a similar collection composed by Sergio Assad for solo guitar entitled 24 Preludios Chopinianos. Zivian would play each of the preludes, and Teicholz would then play the Assad prelude in the same key. Assad’s account of the eighth of the preludes in F-sharp minor (Molto agitato) was basically a transcription of Chopin, while the other selections were more inventive, reflecting the mood rather than the exact notes.

It has been a while since I last found myself confronting what I had previously called “the flood of physical mannerisms that Zivian exhibits, presumably to convey his personal attachment to the music he is playing.” Sadly, yesterday evening those mannerisms were as abundant as ever. The good news was that Teicholz delivered guitar performances that were as engaging as they were disciplined. (The same can be said of Assad’s talents as a composer.)

The intermission took place at the halfway mark, following the first twelve couplings of preludes by the two composers. By that time I had had enough. There is only so much Zivian I can endure over the course of any recital program.

The Bleeding Edge: 3/9/2026

Poster for Pamela Z’s performance of Arbeitsklang

This week will be much busier than the last. Pamela Z will give another three performances of Arbeitsklang at Audium on March 12, 13, and 14; and tomorrow will be the rescheduled date for the “dialogue” between Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste and Evicshen at The Lab. There will also be six newly announced events at venues familiar to most readers as follows:

Wednesday, March 11, 11:30 p.m., Salesforce Park: The “Rooftop Jazz” series will continue with a performance by the Kasey Knudsen Trio. Knudsen leads on saxophone with rhythm provided by Sam Bevan on bass and drummer Eric Garland. There will be two one-hour sets and no charge for admission.

Thursday, March 12, 7 p.m. and 8:45 p.m., Mr. Tipple’s Jazz Club: This will be another performance led by Knudsen; her rhythm will be provided by John Wiitala on bass, drummer Akira Tana, and Rumi Abe on piano. For those that do not yet know about this venue, Mr. Tipple’s is located at 39 Fell Street, on the south side of the street between Van Ness Avenue and Polk Street.

Friday, March 13, 7 p.m., Medicine for Nightmares: This week David Boyce will host a visit from a trio that calls itself Sand Ghost. Saxophonist Nore Free leads, supplemented by special effects. Rhythm will be provided by Cassandra Firmin on drums and bassist Melissa Mohlenhoff. As always, the venue is located in the Mission at 3036 24th Street, between Treat Avenue and Harrison Street. There is no charge for admission, presumably to encourage visitors to consider buying a book.

Saturday, March 14, 12 noon, Center for New Music: This will be the monthly G|O|D|W|A|F|F|L|E|N|O|I|S|E|P|A|N|C|A|K|E|S event with the usual opportunity to enjoy vegan pancakes while listening to “bleeding edge” music. It appears that this month there will be five sets with “bleeding edge” eccentricities in the names as follows:

1. Forrest Friends (visiting from Seattle)
2. L X Rudis
3. An Electribe Called Quest (Heartworm and Vankman)
4. Birdspanker
5. Wiledeman

Admission will be $10 with a $6 rate for members and students. For those that do not yet know, the venue is located at 55 Taylor Street, just north of Market Street.

Saturday, March 14, 2 p.m., San Francisco Public Library, Golden Gate Valley Branch: This will be a two-set program. The first set will be performed by the Khachapuri Trio, whose members are clarinetist Beth Custer, David James on guitar, and cellist Jess Ivry. They will perform original compositions along with arrangements of music by composers including Chick Corea, Julius Hemphill, and Kurt Weill. The Lizard Point is the duo of Conor Devlin and Geoffrey Scott. They take their name from the opening track of the Brian Eno album Ambient 4: On Land. Library performances do not charge for admission. For those not familiar with the venue from past articles, it is located at 1801 Green Street in Pacific Heights.

Sunday, March 15, 7 p.m., Artists’ Television Access: The venue has described this event  as a presentation of “Jurassic electronics and hand-held projection.” Michael Wertz will create the results of “live” drawing, performing with collaborators Andy Cowitt, Michael Zelner and Nat Swope. Admission will be $7 or $10. The venue is located in the Mission at 992 Valencia Street.

Engaging Mahler From SFS Youth Orchestra

The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra on the stage of Davies Symphony Hall (from the Web page for yesterday’s performance)

Yesterday afternoon the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) Youth Orchestra presented the fourth of the five programs prepared for this season. The second half of the program was particularly ambitious, devoted entirely to Gustav Maher’s fourth symphony, composed in the key of G major. In many ways this may be his most “affable” symphony, with each of the four movements having its own upbeat rhetoric. The last of these brings in a soprano, singing a text from the Des Knaben Wunderhorn extolling the virtues of “the heavenly life.”

Conductor Radu Paponiu had clearly internalized the durational scope of each of the four movements, each of which has its own story to tell. Unfortunately, in the final movement Hannah Cho’s soprano voice was too weak to hold its own against Mahler’s rich instrumentation. Mind you, Mahler himself had scaled back his resources to accommodate the soprano line. However, Cho could not rise above the ensemble to say her piece. Whether this was a problem with her own vocal strength or Paponiu’s control of dynamic levels must be left as a choice to be made by the attentive listener!

The intensity of Mahler’s symphony was balanced at the beginning of the program by Jean Sibelius’ best-known tone poem, “Finlandia.” The relationship between conductor and ensemble could not have been better. The music is a panorama of changing dispositions, and Paponiu knew who to evoke each of the moods from his attentive ensemble. Jennifer Higdon’s “blue cathedral” tone poem had its own panorama, with an opening progression recalling Aaron Copland’s rhetoric. Nevertheless, it had little to offer the attentive listener other than its overall brevity.

Taken as a whole, the program fared well through the chemistry of Paponiu’s engagement with his ensemble, making the afternoon another engaging encounter with the “next generation” of orchestral musicians.

McGill to Conclude SFP Shenson Series

Anthony McGill with his clarinet (from his SFP Web page)

Readers may recall that The Shenson Great Artists and Ensembles Series presented by San Francisco Performances (SFP) will conclude at the beginning of next month. The program will be the last in the three duo performances in the series. Clarinetist Anthony McGill will be accompanied at the piano by Gloria Chen.

The recital will be structured into two halves, each associated with a different nationality. The first half will present three French composers, beginning with Claude Debussy’s “Première rhapsodie” and concluding with Camiile Saint-Saëns’ Opus 167 sonata in E-flat major for clarinet and piano. Between these “bookends” will be a performance of the last piece of chamber music composed by André Messager, the “Solo de concours” composed for clarinet and piano in 1899.

The second half will present a coupling of Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms. The performance will begin with Fantasiestücke (fantasy pieces), Schumann’s Opus 73, a collection of three short pieces composed explicitly for clarinet and piano. This will be followed by Brahms’ take on the same instrumentation, the second of the two Opus 120 clarinet sonatas, both dedicated to the clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld.

The performance will take place in Herbst Theatre at 401 Van Ness Avenue, on the southwest corner of McAllister Street. Tickets are being sold for $85 for premium seating in the Orchestra and the front and center of the Dress Circle, $75 for the Side Boxes, the center rear of the Dress Circle, and the remainder of the Orchestra, and $65 for the remainder of the Dress Circle and the Balcony. As usual, SFP has created a Web page for purchasing tickets online.

An “All-American” Evening in Detroit

Yesterday evening my wife and I once again shared our dinner with a live-streamed performance by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO). The advance material I received described the program as a celebration of “a wide variety of American musical cultures.” That variety included multiple conductors. Three of the selections had “roots” in American spirituals. They were conducted by Alice McAllister Tillman, Artistic Director of the Brazeal Dennard Chorale, a vocal ensemble with two vocal soloists performing, tenor Darrius Washington and bass Brandon Hodges. Accompaniment by DSO was augmented by pianist Alvin Waddles.

The set was introduced with an instrumental fanfare, “Fanfare for Universal Hope” by James Lee III. However, it was the spirit behind the words that drew listener attention. Tillman’s command of the vocal work was consistently precise, but it was her capacity to modulate intensity that maintained that attention. The foundation for these performances may have been “traditional;” but, in the context of the currently global political climate, the music provided an almost comforting sustenance to get beyond governance that often feels as if it has been reduced to petty whims. Indeed, for all I know, those whims had been taken as Lee’s target for “universal hope.”

Carl Van Vechten’s photograph of William Grant Still restored by Adam Cuerden (available from the United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division, from Wikipedia Web page)

These opening selections amounted to an “overture in several movements.” They were followed by the usual “ingredients” of a concert program. The “concerto” for the program was “Troubled Water,” composed by Carlos Simon for trombone and orchestra; and the symphony that concluded the program had the title “Autochthonous.” This was the fourth of the five symphonies composed by William Grant Still.

I must confess that, in this performance, the concerto drew far more of my attention than the symphony did. One reason may have been that it began with a duo for trombone and piccolo. The second movement cited the spiritual “Steal Away,” given a throughly engaging solo violin performance. The final movement then explicitly evoked the concerto’s title by incorporating another spiritual, “Wade in the Water.” Each of these movements said what it had to say without straining the patience of the listener, while the Still symphony seemed to be so wrapped up in structural details that even the most attentive listener would grow tried prior to the conclusion.

March will End with Outsound SIMM Series

The Doctor Bob duo preparing medications for the end of this month

Readers may recall that this month came in like a lion with a two-set SIMM (Static Illusion Methodical Madness) Series program. It turns out that the lion will still be roaring at the end of this month, which will conclude with a second SIMM series program. This will be a single-set program featuring the return of Doctor Bob, the duo of Bob Marsh (voice and cello) and David Michalak, who will, once again, divide his attention among a lap steel guitar, a skatchbox, and a phantom harp.

They will be joined by a diverse sextet performing (for this occasion) as The Outpatients. The front line will include two saxophonists, Kersti Abrams on alto and Jeff Hobbs on tenor, alternating with both cornet and violin, along with trombonist Ron Heglin. Rhythm will be provided by Cindy Webster, alternating between singing saw and hurdy-gurdy, and drummer Andre Custodio on both goblet and wave drum.

As always, the SIMM Series performance will take place at the Musician’s Union Hall, which is located at 119 Ninth Street, just below Market Street. The performance will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, March 29. Admission will be on a sliding scale between $10 and $25.

Igudesman and Malkovich Take on Criticism

Violinist Aleksey Igudesman performing at the Theaterhaus Stuttgart in Germany (from his Wikimedia Commons Web page, photograph by Alexander Blum, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license)

Last night violinist Aleksey Igudesman returned to Davies Symphony Hall. His last appearance was almost exactly a decade ago, when he was performing in a duo with pianist Hyung-ki Joo. It would be fair to say that their mission was to explore the comic side of “serious” music.

His return to Davies was a much more extended offering. With violin in hand, he also conducted the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) for the performance of a comedy with music entitled The Music Critic. The only dramatic role in this offering was the title one, taken by John Malkovich.

The selections performed by SFS were relatively short in duration. Nevertheless, they covered a wide span of music history with a keyboard prelude by Johann Sebastian Bach (reworked as accompaniment for “Ave Maria”) at one end and a tango composed by Igudesman at the other. Most of the selections were “played straight;” but I have to confess that my sympathies were won over to Malkovich when Igudesman began conducting the first movement of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Opus 13, his first symphony in D minor. After only a few minutes, Malkovich shouted “Shut up!”

As the program progressed, I found myself wondering if Igudesman’s approach to criticism had been inspired by one of my favorite books. For those that have not yet already guessed, that book was the Lexicon of Musical Invective, written by Nicolas Slonimsky. This goes hand-in-hand with my equally favorite quotation by Johannes Brahms: “If there is anyone here whom I have not insulted, I beg his pardon.” Both Brahms and Slonimsky were clearly winking at their readers. Malkovich and Igudesman recognized those winks and took them as the ideal point of departure for last night’s performance.

That said, SFS did justice to most of the music, which was “played straight.” They were attentive to Igudesman’s leadership, and he knew how to maintain that attention. Thus, while there was no end of raucous humor, there were also quieter moments during which we could reflect on why listening to music can be such an enjoyable experience.

March to Conclude with Unique Chamber Music

Many readers probably know by now that two guitarists will share the final program of the month presented jointly by San Francisco Performances and the Omni Foundation for the Performing Arts. Guitarist JIJI made her San Francisco debut under those joint auspices, and she will return to San Francisco at the end of this month. This time she will share the program with her former teacher, Jason Vieaux.

The program will be an extensively diverse one. At one end there will be contributions by two composers from the Baroque period, Johann Sebastian Bach and Domenico Scarlatti. BWV 998 is in three movements: Prelude, Fugue, and Allegro. It was written for lute or harpsichord but has found its way into the guitar repertoire. The most recent work to be performed will be the San Francisco premiere of “Four Paths of Light,” which Pat Metheny composed by Vieaux.

The performance will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 28. It will take place in the Taube Atrium Theatre, which is located on the top floor of the Veterans Building in the War Memorial complex (more specifically, the building on the southwest corner of McAllister Street). All tickets are being sold for $70, and a Web page has been created for purchases.

Myriad Trio members Demarre McGill, Julie Smith Phillips, and Che-Yen Chen (from the Groupmuse Web page for their performance)

At that same time on the same date, Chamber Music San Francisco will present a performance of the Myriad Trio. This is a somewhat unconventional ensemble, whose members are flutist Demarre McGill, Che-Yen Chen on viola, and harpist Julie Smith Phillips. They created their ensemble in order to perform Claude Debussy’s “Sonate en Trio.”

This performance will begin exactly at the same time on exactly the same date. However, the venue will be the Presidio Theatre, which is, literally, “on the other side of town!” The street address in 99 Moraga Avenue. Groupmuse has created a Web page for purchasing tickets. The price of admission will be $20 with a four-dollar discount for Supermusers.

Violinist Perlman Returns to Davies to Lead SFS

Itzhak Perlman with his violin (from the SFS Web page for last night’s program)

Last night violinist Itzhak Perlman returned to Davies Symphony Hall for the third consecutive season. However, while he may well have been the most popular recitalist in the last two Great Performers Series seasons, last night he assumed the podium of the San Francisco Symphony. In his role as conductor, he led the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) in performances of Johannes Brahms’ Opus 80 “Academic Festival Overture” before the intermission and Antonín Dvořák’s Opus 88 (eighth) symphony in G major in the second half of the program. On the other hand, he began the evening with Johann Sebastian Bach’s BWV 1041 violin concerto in A minor, conducting while playing the solo violin part. In other words, a modest offering of music from the early eighteenth century gave way to a major journey through the late nineteenth.

The Brahms-Dvořák connection is an interesting one. The latter was an early success in Prague but did not receive broader attention until winning a prize at the Austrian State Competition, where Brahms was one of the members of the jury. It was through that “Brahms connection” that Fritz Simrock became Dvořák’s publisher. It was therefore interesting to see that the Brahms and Dvořák selections were composed at both ends of the same decade. The overture was composed in 1880 and the symphony in 1889.

Both works were given thoroughly engaging accounts under Perlman’s baton. His chemistry with the ensemble could not have been better. The same can be said for the beginning of the program, where he doubled as both soloist and leader. The selection was Johann Sebastian Bach’s BWV 1041, his first violin concerto composed in the key of A minor. This was performed with a reduced string ensemble, taking a “historically appropriate” approach. The instruments were, of course, more “contemporary;” but the way in which they were deployed under Perlman’s leadership made for an engaging account, regardless of any historical issues!

As always, the audience gave Perlman a generous reception for his return to San Francisco; and, given the overall quality of the full evening’s performance, they had every right to do so!

Overlapping Groupmuses Coming on March 14

It was bound to happen sooner rather than later. One week from Saturday will see two recitals beginning at the same time in the afternoon. The distance between the venues will be such that one will not be able to listen to the first half of one program and then move over for the second half of the other! Tickets will be available for both of the events through Groupmuse. One will be at the Presidio Theatre, and the other will be a “house concert” in the Mission. Both performances will begin at 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 14.

The Presidio event will be the next performance by the New Century Chamber Orchestra, led by Music Director and Concertmaster Daniel Hope. Hope will also be the soloist in the performance of the Opus 5, Number 2, violin concerto in A major by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges. There will also be two works composed on New Century commissions, “Overture” by Jake Heggie, which will begin the program (of course) and Nathaniel Stookey’s “Bubble Chamber,” commissioned in honor of Gordon Getty. The program will conclude with the one work likely to be familiar to most listeners, the “Souvenir de Florence” string sextet in D minor composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. For those that do not yet know, the Presidio Theatre is located in the Presidio (of course) at 99 Moraga Avenue.

One of the rooms in the Ashram Mansion of the Yoga Society of San Francisco

The second event will be hosted by the Yoga Society of San Francisco, and information about the venue is more limited than usual. Violinist Vanness Yu will give a duo performance with Phoebe Wu at the piano. The scope of the entire program is a little less than two centuries.

The earliest work on the program will be the BWV 1003 sonata for violin solo in A minor, one of the six works collected under the title Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin. The most recent could not be more different, the “Love Theme” that Ennio Morricone composed for the film Cinema Paradisio. Yu’s solo performance will be followed by Wu playing the first of the three Intermezzi composed for solo piano by Johannes Brahms. As might be guessed, the program will also include Ludwig van Beethoven with the performance of his Opus 47, the ninth “Kreutzer” sonata composed in 1803.

The entire program will be framed by music from the early twentieth century. The opening selection will be Antonín Dvořák’s “Songs my Mother Taught Me,” composed for voice and piano and arranged for violin and piano in 1914 by Fritz Kreisler. The program will conclude with what is probably Manuel Ponce’s best-known song, “Estrellita,” which Jascha Heifetz arranged for violin and piano in 1912. Igor Frolov’s “Fantasy on Themes from Gershwin's Porgy and Bess” will be situated between the Brahms and Beethoven selections.

SFSU to Host BlackBox Ensemble

Musicians of the BlackBox Ensemble (courtesy of the Morrison Chamber Music Center)

Some readers may know that my last preview for an event taking place at San Francisco State University (SFSU) appeared this past October. However, the latest announcement of an event appeared in my Inbox late yesterday afternoon. It was described as “a special evening performance” by the BlackBox Ensemble, which is based in New York City with a repertoire that is, for the most part, contemporary.

The program will present works by five composers, the first four of which are “alive and active.” Brittany Green will contribute two opening selections: “Maps” and “shift.unravel.BREAK.” The other three are Cole Reyes (“Shadowstains”), Jessie Cox (“Quantity”), and James Diaz (“mil cuartos blancos en linea recta”). The program will conclude with two works by Julius Eastman, who died in 1990: “Buddha” and “Joy Boy.”

This will be the latest event presented by the Morrison Chamber Music Center, supported by the College of Liberal & Creative Arts. As usual, the performance will take place at Knuth Hall, which is in the Creative Arts Building on the SFSU campus, north of Holloway Avenue and to the west of 19th Avenue (which is accessible to public transportation). There will be no charge for admission. However, tickets are recommended, and a Web page has been created for acquiring them. The performance will begin at 7 p.m. on Monday, March 9.

Choose Your Groupmuse Night Out!

Readers may recall that this coming Sunday will be a day of “competing” Groupmuse events. It turns out that, two weeks later, there will be another such competition. On Saturday, March 21, there will be two overlapping events; but they will take place in different parts of the city. In other words, one will not be able to go from one to the other during intermission! Each of the events will begin at a different time with specifics as follows (with hyperlinks to the Groupmuse pages):

7:30 p.m.: San Francisco Philharmonic will present an overture-symphony program without the intervening concerto. The overture will be Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s “Romeo and Juliet,” based on the play by William Shakespeare. The symphony will be Johannes Brahms Opus 98, the last of his four symphonies, composed in the key of E minor. “Supermusers” will be entitled to the $13.50 admission rate, rather than the $17 charge for all others. Ticket sales will close on March 19 at 7:30 p.m. The performance will take place in Herbst Theatre, located at 401 Van Ness Avenue on the southwest corner of McAllister Street.

Dan Tepfer (from the Groupmuse Web page for his recital this month in Noe Valley)

8 p.m.: Pianist Dan Tepfer will present a solo performance entitled Inventions/Reinventions. According to his Groupmuse page, he will use the keyboard inventions by Johann Sebastian Bach for his own “personal interpretations and spontaneous improvisations.” “Supermusers” will be entitled to the $16 admission rate, rather than the $20 charge for all others. Ticket sales will close on March 20 at 8 p.m. The performance will take place in the Noe Valley Ministry, located at 1021 Sanchez Street in Noe Valley.

The Bleeding Edge: 3/2/2026

This week will see only two new events to report. Most of the second half of the week will be devoted to the performance of Pamela Z’s Arbeitsklang at Audium. The other previously reported event will be Saturday’s performance by Jeremy Tousaint-Baptiste and Evicshen at The Lab on Saturday evening. That leaves only two new events to announce, the second of which will be familiar to most readers. Both will take place at familiar venues as follows:

Thursday, March 5, 5 p.m., Yerba Buena Center for the Arts: Krys Bobrowski and Karen Stackpole will join forces for a performance of diverse sonorities. Featured will be a one-of-a-kind instrument called the Gliss Glass. This involves water-filled vessels; but, unlike a glass harmonica, the performer can create continuously sliding pitches. This is because Bobrowski can shift water levels while playing. Stackpole will add to the performance with resonant gongs. For those that do not already know, the venue is located at 701 Mission Street. As can be seen above, the galleries will open at 5 p.m., but the performance will not begin until 7 p.m. in Gallery 2.

David Boyce, Chris Trinidad, and Francis Wong (from the BayImproviser Web page for their performance this week)

Friday, March 6, 7 p.m., Medicine for Nightmares: This week curator David Boyce will host a performance by Red Fast Triple Luck. This is a non-standard quartet led by David Boyce on reeds and special effects. He will be joined on the front line by another reed player, Francis Wong. Rhythm will be provided by guitarist Chris Trinidad and a diversity of percussion, including boom stick and intergalactic hook rug, performed by PC Munoz. As always, the venue is located in the Mission at 3036 24th Street, between Treat Avenue and Harrison Street. There is no charge for admission, presumably to encourage visitors to consider buying a book.

Tiffany Poon’s Third CMSF Recital in Herbst

Tiffany Poon on the cover of her Nature album (from the Amazon.com Web page)

Yesterday afternoon pianist Tiffany Poon returned to Herbst Theatre for her third appearance as a Chamber Music San Francisco (CMSF) recitalist. Some readers may recall my disappointment with her last performance two years ago, which I described as “a very long program that offered absolutely nothing to satisfy any seriously attentive listener.” The second half of the new program was devoted to the recent release of her Nature album, while the first half was dominated by Frédéric Chopin’s Opus 35 sonata in B-flat minor, his second sonata given the title “Funeral March.”

This was definitely an improvement over her last visit, when she performed the full cycle of Chopin’s Opus 28, his set of 24 preludes in all major and minor keys. Over the course of the four movements of Opus 35, she delivered a firm grasp on intensity without devolving into banging. The second half of the program accounted for about half of the tracks on the Nature album. These were presented in roughly chronological order.

She began in the Baroque period with one of the keyboard compositions by François Couperin, “Les fauvétes plaintive” (the mournful warblers), coupled with a similar setting by Jean-Philippe Rameau, “Les tendres plaintes” (tender complaints) from the RCT 3 suite in D major in the Pièces de Clavecin collection. The program then leapt forward about a little less than two centuries with selections by Gabriel Fauré, Camille Saint-Saëns, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, and Lili Boulanger.

Fauré’s first barcarolle, Opus 26 in A minor, was impeded by a heavy damper pedal. This was particularly frustrating, since the theme was carried by the left hand. Saint-Saëns was represented by “Le cygne” (the swan), the best-known movement from The Carnival of the Animals, arranged for solo piano by Lucien Garban. This was followed by Debussy’s first “Arabesque” composition, with a middle section that was overly rushed. Poon found herself on sounder ground with Maurice Ravel, beginning with “Jeux d’eau” and followed by the second and third of the Miroirs compositions. Boulanger’s “D’un jardin clair” concluded the program, followed by an encore performance of Franz Liszt’s “Liebestraum No. 3” in A-flat major.

Taken as a whole, that seriously attentive listener did not have to contend with “absolutely nothing.” Nevertheless, the performance, taken as a whole, was an uneven one. Poon clearly wanted her audience to appreciate Boulanger; and, as far as I am concerned, she succeeded. Similarly, her approach to playing Rameau with a contemporary instrument could not have been more engaging; and, as was already observed, Ravel was a high point in her program. Taken as a whole, the program may have been uneven; but the assets were still worthy of attentive listening.

Next BARS Concert will be in About 3 Weeks

The next program in the current Bay Area Rainbow Symphony (BARS) season will also be the first concert to be programmed by Music Director Robert Mollicone. Some readers may recall that Mollicone shared the podium with Eun Sun Kim for the Pride Concert performance by the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, which took place at the end of June of last year. The title of Mollicone’s BARS program will be We’ll Always Have Paris.

Not surprisingly, the program will conclude with George Gershwin’s “An American in Paris.” This American “tone poem” will be complemented by a similar offering by Lily Boulanger, whose was born in Paris. The title of her composition will be “D’un matin de printemps” (on a spring morning). Each of these compositions will be preceded by a work with its own “French connection.” The overture for the program will be the one that Gioachino Rossini composed for his opera William Tell, which premiered in Paris. Gershwin, on the other hand, will be coupled with Benjamin Britten. Like Gershwin, Britten is not French; but his song cycle Les Illuminations sets texts by the French poet Arthur Rimbaud.

The performance of this program will take place on Saturday, March 21, at 7:30 p.m. The venue will be the SFCM Concert Hall at 50 Oak Street, a short walk from the Van Ness Muni station. BARS has created its own Web page for processing ticket sales.Ticket prices range between $43.50 and $12. The Web page includes a chart showing which seats are available at what prices.

Assad Farewell Tour Comes to Herbst Theatre

Sérgio Assad performing in Brazil in 2012 (photograph by Leonardo Beraido, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license)

Last night Herbst Theatre hosted the latest program of classical guitar duos performed by Brazilian brothers Sérgio and Odair Assad. This was also the latest offering in the Dynamite Guitars concert season, presented by the Omni Foundation for the Performing Arts. I first encountered Sérgio when he was teaching at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Listening to both him and David Tanenbaum led to my interest in attending as many guitar recitals as my schedule would allow.

Three of the works on the program were composed by Sérgio. The first half of the evening concluded with One Week in Rio, a suite in seven (of course) movements beginning with Monday. In the second half there was a shorter three-movement suite entitled Dyens en trois temps. This was composed for classical guitarist Roland Dyens, who died in 2016. His name appears in each of the movements:

1. Roland au nord
2. La chanson et Roland
3. Roland au sud

Those familiar with very early literature will recognize the second movement as a nod to the Song of Roland, an eleventh-century French epic, which may be the oldest surviving work of French literature. One may describe the suite as a journey from north to south with an epic battle between the extremes. Assad concluded the program with “Tahhiyya li ossoulina,” an homage to his family life, which began in Lebanon and moved to Brazil by way of Portugal.

The program also included two of Assad’s contemporaries, Paulo Bellinati and Egberto Gismonti. The remainder of the program offered twentieth-century composers, the most familiar being Heitor Villa-Lobos and Astor Piazzolla. Each of them began the second and first halves of the program, respectively. The remaining two composers on the program were less familiar to me: Américo Jacomino and Radamés Gnattali. The encore wrapped up the evening with both of the brothers playing on a single instrument.

This program was prepared for the Assad’s North American farewell tour. It marks the conclusion of a 60-year career. I appreciate every opportunity I have had to listen to them, and it is hard to avoid disappointment that this was my final encounter.

LCCE to Join Forces with Volti Next Month

Composer Shawn Okpebholo (from the Gallery Web page on his Web site)

Those that have been following the 47th season of Volti probably know by now that the choral ensemble will share the stage in the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble (LCCE) next month. The program will begin with the world premiere of “Babel,” composed by Chris Castro for narrator and instrumental ensemble. The narrator will be storyteller Susan Strauss. This will be followed by selections from Robert Schumann’s Opus 12 Fantasiestücke and Mark Winges’ “Seasons Falling Through the Clouds.” LCCE will then conclude the program with Shawn Okpebholo’s “Fractured Water.”

The performance will take place at the Noe Valley Ministry, which is located in Noe Valley at 1021 Sanchez Street. The performance will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, March 20. LCCE has created a Tix Web page for online purchase. Standard admission will be $40 with a discounted $15 rate for students. Those affiliated with Arts Access can purchase tickets for $5.

Bach-Archiv Leipzig Authenticates 2 New Works

The 75th anniversary of the Leipzig Bach Archive was celebrated with the addition of two recently authenticated keyboard works. That means that two entries have been added to the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (Bach works catalog). Both of these are chaconnes, the first in the key of D minor (BWV 1178) and the second in the key of G minor (BWV 1179).

Benjamin Alard at the harpsichord recording music for his The Couperin Family album

This amounts to less than fifteen minutes of new music, so it is unlikely that there will be a major overhaul of any of the current “complete works” collections. However, harmonia mundi will release two digital tracks this coming Friday. These will be performances by Benjamin Alard on two different instruments. He recorded BWV 1178 with a two-manual harpsichord made by Émile Jobin in 2017, using Antoine Vater’s instrument, made in Paris in 1732, as his model. BWV 1179, on the other hand, is performed on “assembled clavichords;” and, to be perfectly honest, I am not quite sure what that means!

As of this writing, I have not found a Web page that is taking advance orders for this new release. Given the brevity of the content, availability will probably be limited to downloads. Release is currently scheduled for this coming Friday, March 6.