One Found Sound will Conclude its 2016–2017 Season Next Month

It feels much too soon; but next month will begin with the conclusion of the 2016–2017 season of One Found Sound, the last of the three concerts planned for the group’s fourth season. The ensemble has come a long way since its founding in 2013 by five graduates of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and it continues to distinguish itself as a democratically run orchestra that rehearses and performs exclusively without a conductor. While not all compositions lend themselves readily to such an approach to rehearsal and performance, One Found Sound has had no difficulty identifying (through collective decision-making) and preparing repertoire for performance. Programming thus ranges from intimate chamber music, such as Leoš Janáček’s wind sextet “Youth,” to a full-scale performance of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Opus 56 “triple” concerto in C major.

That breadth of scope will be on display at next month’s concert. The program will begin with an introduction and allegro coupling that Maurice Ravel scored as a septet, formed by augmenting a string quartet with parts for harp, flute, and clarinet. The members of the quartet have not yet been announced; but the harpist will be Meredith Clark, joined by wind players Sasha Launer (flute) and Jeannie Psomas (clarinet). The other two works on the program involve arrangements for a chamber orchestra. The first of these is the first of the three suites that Ottorino Respighi called Ancient Airs and Dances (whose instrumentation includes both harp and harpsichord). The program will then conclude with Petite Suite, which Claude Debussy original composed for four hands on a single piano keyboard. However, the score was transcribed for a chamber orchestra (again including a harp) by Henri Büsser; and that is the version that One Found Sound will play. (Both of these arrangements augment the string section with generous writing for wind and brass instruments.)

This performance will begin at 8 p.m. on Friday, February 3. The venue will be Heron Arts, located in SoMa at 7 Heron Street on the block between 7th Street and 8th Street (and shown in the photograph above). General admission tickets are being sold for $20 with a $45 VIP rate for reserved seating that includes an invitation to an OFS open rehearsal. Tickets may be purchased online in advance through an Eventbrite event page.