Marc-André Hamelin at the keyboard (photograph by Sim Connety-Clarke, courtesy of SFP)
The 45th Season Favorites subscription series presented by San Francisco Performances (SFP) will continue at the beginning of next month. Readers may recall that there are four programs in this series, two of which will be solo recitals. Next month will see the first of those recitals, performed by pianist Marc-André Hamelin, who made his SFP debut in December of 2003. This will be his fifteenth appearance, the last having been in July of 2021, which was structured around very early and very late compositions by Ludwig van Beethoven.
There will be no Beethoven in next month’s program. However, Hamelin will begin with music by Beethoven’s teacher, Joseph Haydn. He will play the Hoboken XVI/37 sonata in D major, the third of the five Opus 30 compositions. Haydn will then get to rub shoulders with three far more recent composers, each with his own unique approach to making music: Frank Zappa, Stefan Wolpe, and John Oswald.
The second half will be shared by two major Russian composers of the twentieth century. The first of these will be Nikolai Medtner, represented by the first of his Opus 31 compositions, an improvisation in B-flat minor, followed by the third of the Opus 38 pieces, given the title “Danza festiva.” The program will then conclude with two works by Sergei Rachmaninoff, the fifth of the nine Opus 39 études, given the collective title Études-Tableaux. This one is in E-flat minor with the tempo “Appassionato.” Hamelin will then conclude the program with a complete account of Rachmaninoff’s second piano sonata, his Opus 36 in the 1931 version.
This performance will begin on Saturday, February 8, at 7:30 p.m. in Herbst Theatre, located at 401 Van Ness Avenue on the southwest corner of McAllister Street. Ticket prices are $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); and they may be purchased through an SFP secure Web page. Single tickets may also be purchased by calling 415-392-2545.
