Friday, December 1, 2017

The 2017–18 Concert Season for SFCA

This month San Francisco Choral Artists (SFCA), led by Artistic Director Magen Solomon, will launch its 2017–18 season. As in the past, this will consist of three characteristically diverse and artfully-constructed programs, each based on an overarching theme. This season performances will take place in two different venues.

The first and last programs will be presented in the usual location of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, located at 1111 O’Farrell Street, just west of the corner of Franklin Street. However, the second concert will take place at Congregation Sha’ar Zahav at 290 Dolores Street, on the southeast corner of 16th Street. All three concerts will take place on Sunday afternoons at 4 p.m. Specific dates and program content will be as follows:

December 17, A Rebel’s Christmas: Martin Luther’s Musical Reformation: This season the holiday program will focus on the impact of the Reformation on the composition of music for the church. The composers whose works will be performed will be Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, Hugo Distler, Jacobus Handl, Felix Mendelssohn, Michael Praetorius, Johann Hermann Schein, and Johann Gottfried Walther. The program will also include a performance of the winning work in the commissioning competition for composers under the age of 30, SFCA’s New Voices Project.

March 11, From Shtetl to Metropolis: Jewish Musical Diaspora: This is the concert that will take place in a synagogue, rather than a church; and it will involve a collaboration with the klezmer trio Veretski Pass. About a year ago Veretski Pass contributed to the seasonal programming in the Old First Concerts series at Old First Presbyterian Church. Vocalist Cookie Segelstein likes to describe their repertoire as follows: “This is not your grandmother’s klezmer. It is her grandmother’s klezmer.” More conventional approaches to Jewish music will be represented by such composers as Aaron Copland, George Gershwin, Kurt Weill, and Darius Milhaud. Composer-Not-in-Residence Sylke Zimpel will also contribute a composition.

June 10, More Pianos Than Bathtubs: America’s Music: Guest artists for this program will be two nationally acclaimed American music specialists, tenor Brian Thorsett and pianist Teresa McCollough. The program will include works by Stephen Foster, William Billings, Edward MacDowell, and Horatio Parker (teacher of Charles Ives). There will also be a healthy diversity of different genres of folk music.

Season subscriptions are priced at $75, with a discounted price of $67 for seniors aged 65 or older. Single tickets will be sold at the door for $33, $29 for seniors, and $15 for individuals aged 30 and under with valid identification. However, if single tickets are purchased in advance, the prices will be $28, $25, and $12.50, respectively. All online purchases are handled through Brown Paper Tickets. The hyperlinks on the above dates lead to the event pages for single ticket purchases for the respective concerts. However, all subscriptions are being handled through a single event page. After the purchase has been completed, SFCA will contact the subscriber to be given information about choice of venue.

No comments: