Choices for January 26–28, 2018

Yesterday I had my first evidence with just how busy the remainder of this season is likely to be. On Friday I had put up a list of choices that would have to be made during the weekend of January 19–21. By 7 a.m. the next morning, I had been confronted with the first item I had to add to that list! Thus, while it looks as if the following weekend is going to be just as busy, I should probably put up the alternatives currently at my disposal, knowing full well that the list will have to be augmented, thus requiring me to rely on my “Facebook shadow Page” to put out the word about such updates. Furthermore, I need to remind readers that I have already accounted for events taking place on both Friday and Saturday, since those will be the final performances of the PIVOT Festival. That said, here are my efforts to provide a satisfactory account of what else will be happening over that very busy weekend:

Friday, January 26, and Saturday, January 27, 8 p.m., Z Space: The Paul Dresher Ensemble has announced an evening of two world premieres that will involve two different composers and two different ensembles. The Paul Dresher Electro-Acoustic Band will present the premiere of “Beyond C,” an improvised concerto by Ned Rothenberg. As might be guessed, “Beyond C” was inspired by “In C,” now regarded as an iconic instance of structured improvisation composed by Terry Riley. These will be followed by selections from the 24 preludes and fugues that Dennis Aman composed during his 2016 Dresher Ensemble Artists Residency. Aman wrote all of these pieces for invented instruments; and the selections will be performed by the two members of The Living Earth Show, electric guitarist Travis Andrews and percussionist Andy Meyerson.

Z Space is located in NEMIZ (the NorthEast Mission Industrial Zone) at 450 Florida Street. Ticket prices are $22 for general admission and $14 for students, children, and seniors. Z Space has set up separate event pages for purchasing tickets to the Friday and Saturday performances.

Saturday, January 27, 4 p.m., St. Mark’s Lutheran Church: The New Esterházy Quartet will continue their eleventh season of programs based on the early history of string quartet performance with a concert entitled Paris, 1822: The Baillot Quartet. The ensemble consists of violinists Lisa Weiss and Kati Kyme (who share leadership responsibilities), violist Anthony Martin, and cellist William Skeen; and the title of the program refers to the first chamber music group of professional musicians in France. The program will begin with Joseph Haydn’s Hoboken III/76 quartet in D minor, the second of the six Opus 76 set of quartets, known as the “Fifths” quartet. (Opus 76 was Haydn’s last complete set of quartets.) The Haydn quartet will be followed by the work of his best known student, the fifth (in A major) of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Opus 18 quartets, also a set of six. The next selection will be the Andante movement from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s K. 464 quartet in A major. The program will conclude with a selection from another set of six quartets, the last (in A major) that Luigi Boccherini collected in his Opus 32. These specific pieces were chosen because, prior to the formation of the Baillot Quartet, they were all unknown in France.

St. Mark’s is located at 1111 O’Farrell Street, just west of the corner of Franklin Street. General admission is $30. Seniors, the disabled, and members of the San Francisco Early Music Society will be admitted for $25; and there is a $10 rate for students with valid identification. A Brown Paper Tickets Web page has been set up for all ticket purchases.

Saturday, January 27, 7:30 p.m., San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM): The ZOFO four-hands-on-one-keyboard duo of Eva-Maria Zimmermann and Keisuke Nakagoshi will perform the world premiere of their latest commissioning project, ZOFOMOMA. This involved commissioning fifteen new compositions, each of which was inspired by a recent painting, which will be projected while the music is performed. In addition, with an unabashed nod to Modest Mussorgsky, these pieces will be presented in a continuous performance, linked by a new “Promenade” theme that Nakagoshi has composed for the occasion. The entire performance is expected to last 75 minutes; and a ZOFOMOMA Web page has been created, which lists all of the contributing composers and the names and nationalities of artists that inspired their respective pieces.

SFCM is located at 50 Oak Street. This is on the block between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street, a short walk from the Van Ness Muni station. The performance will take place in the Sol Joseph Recital Hall. There will be no charge for admission, and reservations will not be required.

Saturday, January 27, 8 p.m., The Lab: This will be a celebration of the 40th season of the Rova saxophone quartet, whose members are Larry Ochs, Jon Raskin, Bruce Ackley, and Steve Adams. The title of the program will be Rova Plus One; and, over the course of two sets, Rova will perform three pieces, each of which involves the participation of another performer. Two of those pieces will be played in the first set. “Slowville” is a structured improvisation created by Ochs for which Dohee Lee will prepare choreography to supplement her vocalizing. This will be followed by Steve Adams’ “Luau Axe Quiz,” which will require electronics provided by Wobbly. The second set will consist of the projection of ACVilla’s film No Distractions. To accompany this film ACVilla has prepared a visual score that will be played by Rova in three simultaneous movements.

The Lab is located in the Mission at 2948 16th Street. This is a short walk from the corner of Mission Street. This is particularly good for those using public transportation, since that corner provides bus stops for both north-south and east-west travel as well as a BART station.

Admission will be $15, and members of The Lab will be admitted for free. Advance registration is strongly advised. Separate Web pages have been created for members and the general public. Doors will open at 7:30 p.m., half an hour before the performance is scheduled to begin. Events at The Lab tend to attract a large turnout, so early arrival is almost always highly recommended.

Saturday, January 27, 8 p.m., Herbst Theatre: Artistic Partner Daniel Hope will return to lead the New Century Chamber Orchestra in a Mozart Birthday Celebration program. Hope will serve as soloist in a performance of Mozart’s K. 216 (third) violin concerto in G major. In addition Menahem Pressler will appear as guest soloist in a performance of the K. 488 piano concerto in A major. The ensemble will begin the program with the K. 201 symphony in A major followed by the K. 546 coupling of adagio and fugue movements in C minor.

Herbst Theatre is located at 401 Van Ness Avenue on the southwest corner of McAllister Street. Ticket prices will be $29, $49, and $61. Tickets may be purchased in advance online from a City Box Office event page.

In addition there will be the usual Open Rehearsal held in the Kanbar Performing Arts Center at 44 Page Street, a short walk from the Muni Van Ness station. This will take place at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, January 24. All tickets are $15. These may also be purchased in advance online from a City Box Office event page.

[added 1/17, 2:45 p.m.:

Sunday, January 28, 3 p.m., Taube Atrium Theatre: The next Symphony Parnassus program will present two concertos whose respective soloists are sisters. Ten-year-old Staria Breshears will play the Hoboken VIIb/1 cello concerto in C major by Joseph Haydn; and her eight-year-old sister Valery will take the solo in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's K. 216 (third) violin concerto in G major. The second half of the program will be devoted to Ludwig van Beethoven's Opus 93 (eighth) symphony in F major. Maestro Stephen Paulson will conduct.

Ticket prices are $25 for adults, $20 for seniors, and $10 for students and those under the age of 26. Tickets may be purchased in advance online from a Brown Paper Tickets event page. The Diane and Tad Taube Atrium Theater is located on the fourth floor of the Veterans Building at 401 Van Ness Avenue on the southwest corner of McAllister Street.]
 

Sunday, January 28, 7:30 p.m., and Monday, January 29, 8 p.m., Davies Symphony Hall: As was announced earlier this month, the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) has severed all ties with Charles Dutoit. As a result, the London-based Royal Philharmonic Orchestra will still visit Davies as part of the SFS Great Performers Series; but details about substitute conductor(s) are not yet available. What is known for now is that there will be no change in the soloists performing at these two concerts. The soloist on January 28 will be cellist Gautier Capuçon performing Joseph Haydn’s Hoboken VIIb/1 concerto in C major. The second half of the program will be devoted to Igor Stravinsky’s score for the “Firebird” ballet; and the evening will begin with Henri Büsser’s orchestral arrangement of Claude Debussy’s Petite Suite. On January 29 the soloist will be Jean-Yves Thibaudet in a performance of Franz Liszt’s second piano concerto. The second half of the program will again present a Stravinsky ballet score, this time for “Petrushka.” The opening selection will be Ottorino Respighi’s “Fountains of Rome” tone poem.

Davies Symphony Hall is located at 201 Van Ness Avenue and fills an entire city block. The other boundaries are Grove Street (north), Hayes Street (south), and Franklin Street (west). The main entrance (which is also the entrance to the Box Office) is on Grove Street, roughly halfway down the block. Concert tickets for both January 28 are priced between $35 and $105, while those for January 29 are priced between $35 and $99. Tickets may be purchased in advance online by following the hyperlinks on those two dates to the respective Web pages on the SFS Web site. Tickets may also be purchased by visiting the Box Office or calling 415-864-6000.

Sunday, January 28, 7:30 p.m., SFCM: Centennial celebrations continue with a Faculty Centennial Concert. The program will present chamber music compositions by Elinor Armer, Shinji Eshima, David Garner, and the late Conrad Susa. Eshima will also play bass in the performance of his “Bariolage” for cello and bass. Percussionists Jack Van Geem and Jacob Nissly will join forces to perform Susa’s Ragtime Duets. The SFCM Baroque Ensemble will present Armer’s “Leonardo’s Riddle;” and additional performers will be announced at a later date. This will be a free concert for which reservations will not be required.