Sunset Music and Arts to Showcase the Young

The BASOTI phoenix rises (from the BASOTI home page)

Yesterday this site announced that Sunset Music and Arts would introduce a new concert series focused on young artists. This has been labeled the 2018 Community Series and much of it will involve a collaborative relationship with the Bay Area Summer Opera Theater Institute (BASOTI). Founded by Sylvia Anderson, this was a highly imaginative summer training program that I was following with great enthusiasm until it dropped off of my radar following the summer of 2013. I was therefore delighted to learn that BASOTI had resurfaced with its Phoenix Recital Symposium, which began this past October and will offer a series of five recitals during the first six months of 2018.

Each recital will consist of a diverse collection of arias by composers spanning much of the breadth of the history of vocal music. Sunset Music and Arts will host all five of these recitals at the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation, located at 1750 29th Avenue, about halfway between Moraga Street and Noriega Street. Ticket prices for all concerts will be only $10; and, as was the case with the Chamber/Ensemble Series concerts summarized yesterday, tickets may be purchased online through Eventbrite. All concerts will begin at 7:30 p.m. Program specifics have not yet been announced, but a list of composers has been provided for each of the five dates. Those dates, each hyperlinked to its respective Eventbrite page, are as follows:

1. Friday, January 19: Bach, Beethoven, Vivaldi, Mozart, Donizetti, Verdi, Mendelssohn, Wagner, and others including French and American composers
2. Saturday, April 14: Mozart, Gounod, Massenet, Mascagni, Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Barber, and Copland
3. Sunday, April 29: Mozart, Offenbach, Weber, Saint-Saëns, Wagner
4. Friday, June 8: Mozart, Verdi, Ponchielli, Wagner, Richard Strauss, Berg, Schumann, and Johann Strauss
5. Sunday, June 10: Puccini, Massenet, Menotti, and other favorites

Piano accompanists will be Charles Calhoun, Margaret Halbig, and Alex Katsman; and, as he has done since the inception of BASOTI, Matthias Kuntzsch will serve as Music Director.

In addition, there will be two free recitals in September, each featuring a promising young soloist. The first of these will present soprano Gayatri Venkatesan at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, September 1. The accompanist for this concert has not yet been announced, but an Eventbrite Web page has been created for securing reservations. The second recital will feature violinist Ajay Mallya accompanied by pianist Dmitriy Cogan; and it will take place at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, September 8. (A reservation Web page has not yet been created for this concert.) Program details have not been announced for either of these events, both of which will also take place at the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation. While both of these performances are free, donations will be requested.