Month to Conclude with Two “Showcase” Programs

Alexander String Quartet players Zakarias Grafilo, Sandy Wilson, Paul Yarbrough, and Frederick Lifsitz (from their Facebook event page)

The last day of January will provide two opportunities to experience emerging talents. The genres associated with these events will be about as different as one could imagine. Since the timing will make it difficult to attend both of them, hopefully taste preferences will resolve how individual readers decide to make their respective choices.

The first of these concerts will be the last program announced thus far in the Salon Series presented by San Francisco Performances (SFP). The featured performers for this event will be the members of the Alexander String Quartet (violinists Zakarias Grafilo and Frederick Lifsitz, violist Paul Yarbrough, and cellist Sandy Wilson), familiar faces to those who attend these Salon events regularly. However, the title of this program will be String Quartets. The use of the plural indicates that the Alexander players will use the occasion to introduce the Meraki Quartet, an ensemble of students at the Crowden School in Berkeley, which the Alexander musicians have been mentoring. Program details have not yet been announced, so we do not yet know if there will be any octet playing or just quartet perspectives from two different generations.

This concert will begin at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, January 31. Salon events last for about an hour, usually concluding with time for a Q&A with the audience. As usual, the venue will be the Hotel Rex, located at 562 Sutter Street, between Powell Street and Mason Street. All tickets are being sold for $25 and may be purchased in advance online from a City Box Office event page. Any additional information may be obtained by calling SFP at 415-392-2545.

Around the time that this event concludes, the second performance will be getting under way at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM). This will also involve a relationship between students and mentors featuring the inaugural class in the Roots, Jazz, and American Music bachelor’s degree program, which SFCM is offering in partnership with SFJAZZ. The concert will be a side-by-side performance in which SFCM students will play along with the members of the SFJAZZ Collective.

This concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, January 31. SFCM is located at 50 Oak Street, between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street, a short walk from the Van Ness Muni station. There will be no charge for admission, and reservations will not be required.