Music in the Mishkan 2018 to Offer Two Concerts

Plans for the nineteenth season of the Music in the Mishkan chamber music series have been announced by Music Director and violinist Randall Weiss. Once again Sharon Bernstein, Cantor of the synagogue where these concerts are performed, will be featured as a guest artist. Those who have followed this series know that Bernstein’s extensive interest in the repertoire of Yiddish song is both scholarly and musically expressive. Also, Weiss will continue his interest in seldom-heard composers by presenting a piece by one of the prisoners at the Theresienstadt concentration camp, Robert Dauber, who died at Dachau after having been transferred there. Program details are as follows:

March 4: The Dauber selection will be that composer’s only surviving work, a serenade for violin and piano. It will be both preceded and followed by major works from the piano quartet repertoire. The program will open with Johannes Brahms’ Opus 26 in A major and conclude with Gabriel Fauré’s Opus 15 in C minor.

April 22: Once again Bernstein will accompany herself at the piano for the program’s middle selection. She has entitled this portion of the program Doubly Suppressed, Doubly Forgotten. Brahms will again open the program, this time with his Opus 100 violin sonata in A major. Bernstein’s segment will be followed by one of Dmitri Shostakovich’s most explicit (and poignant) ventures into Yiddishkeit, his Opus 67 piano trio in E minor.

Cantor Sharon Bernstein (from the Congregation Sha’ar Zahav Web site)

Both of these concerts will take place on a Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m. The performance venue is Congregation Sha’ar Zahav. This is located at 290 Dolores Street at the northwest corner of 16th Street. Tickets for the general public are $25, but members of Congregation Sha’ar Zahav will be admitted for $20. There is also a discounted rate for the two-concert series of $45 for general admission and $35 for members of the congregation. Tickets may be purchased in advance through a Constant Contact Web page, which processes payment through PayPal. A wine and cheese reception will follow the performance.