Next month promises to a busy one, particularly since two organizations will be overlapping twice over the course of that month. One of them, The Lab, has been covered on this site for many years, while the other, Zephyr Symphony is still in its early stages. Where the performance of music is concerned, The Lab will be busier than usual. Zephyr will be more modest, but it will account for two of the three programs remaining in its current season. For reader convenience, the events will be listed in chronological order:
Saturday, March 7, 6 p.m., The Lab: This will be a “dialogue” between two different artists with the shared goal of reframing sound as “both a tool for subverting power and a site of collective possibility.” Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste will repurpose Long Range Acoustic Device technology, which was designed to be used by military and police forces for crowd control. Evicshen will contribute to the performance with his own self-built instruments.
Tickets are now available through the Web page for this event. Those attending will be free to pay what they wish. For those that do not yet know, the venue is located in the Mission at 2948 16th Street, a short walk from the 16th Street Muni station.
Saturday, March 7, 7:30 p.m., St. Mark’s Lutheran Church: Following up on the performance of the “Christmas portion” of George Frideric Handel’s HWV 56 oratorio Messiah, Zephyr Symphony will again be joined by the Zephyr Chorus for the performance of Felix Mendelssohn’s oratorio Elijah. The “title role” will be sung by baritone Andrew Thomas Pardini. The other vocal soloists will be soprano Mary-Hollis Hundley, contralto Leandra Ramm, and tenor Elliot James-Ginn Encarnácion.
A Web page has been created for seat selection. Ticket prices range from $26.06 to $67.76. There is a color-coded map on the Web page showing which seats are available at which prices. Most readers probably know by now that St. Mark’s Lutheran Church is located at 1111 O’Farrell Street, just west of the corner of Franklin Street. Doors to the lobby will open half an hour before the beginning of the performance.
Gwenifer Raymond with her guitar (from the Web page for her performance at The Lab)
Friday, March 20, 8 p.m., The Lab: Guitarist Gwenifer Raymond is based in Brighton (the one “on the other side of the pond”). She will present a full-evening performance entitled Last Night I Heard the Dog Star Bark. According to her Web page, she “has drawn international acclaim for her repurposing of Mississippi blues and John Fahey’s intricate Americana to embody her roots in rural South Wales and her interests in folk horror and the avant garde, inventing a new form dubbed Welsh Primitive.” (This reminds me of “Anything Can Happen Day” from the days of the Mickey Mouse Club!)
Tickets may be purchased in advance for $23 through the Web page for this event. Payment at the door will be $25. Members will be entitled to free or discounted admission.
Saturday, March 21, 7:30 p.m., St. Mark’s Lutheran Church: The final work on this Zephyr program will be “Après Moi, le Déluge,” a concerto composed by Luna Pearl Woolf for cello and a cappella chorus. This will be complemented by Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “Mass in G minor,” scored for a double choir with four soloists. The Mass setting will be preceded by a Magnificat setting by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina scored for two four-part choirs. Each half of the program will begin with a shorter composition. “Hail, Gladdening Light” by Charles Wood is also scored for a double choir. The second half will begin with a setting of Emma Lazarus’ sonnet engraved at the base of the Statue of Liberty, “The New Colossus,” composed by Saunder Choi.
Saturday, March 21, 8:30 p.m., The Lab: A Danger to Ourselves is the title of the latest album by Lucrecia Dalt. She is a sound artist, whose album includes guitarist David Sylvian and vocalists Juana Molina, Camille Mandoki, and Eliana Joy. Instrumentation is provided by bassist Cyrus Campbell and Chris Jones on saxophone. The second set will also reflect on a recent album, The Patterns Lost to Air, composed and performed by Marielle V. Jakobsons.
Tickets may be purchased in advance for $27 through the Web page for this event. Payment at the door will be $29. Members will be entitled to free or discounted admission.
Saturday, March 28, 8:30 p.m., The Lab: This will also be a two-set program. Moin is a trio that began as a duo. Tom Halstead and Joe Andrews created soundscapes with rapid percussion and interjections of haunted synthesizer. The trio was formed when they were joined by drummer Valentina Magaletti. The second set will be a solo performance by Ava Mendoza, who writes her own songs, which she sings with her own guitar accompaniment.
Tickets may be purchased in advance for $27 through the Web page for this event. Payment at the door will be $29. Members will be entitled to free or discounted admission.
