Monday, January 29, 2018

The Bleeding Edge: 1/29/2018

This seems to be a week in which a “loose end” of a last-minute announcement did not find my way to my “busy weekend” article. Nevertheless, there are three items that have already been given heads-up accounts:
  • February 2: On Playing Glass, the first of two events to be presented by San Francisco Performances in honor of composer Philip Glass’ 80th birthday
  • February 2: the preview for the Hot Air Music Festival being hosted by the Center for New Music (C4NM)
  • February 5: the opening concert of Earplay’s 33rd season
Specifics for the remaining events are as follows:

Thursday, February 1, 8 p.m., Luggage Store Gallery (LSG): This week’s LSG Creative Music Series concert will offer two sets with a heavy emphasis on electronics. The first set will consist of solo electronic noise pieces by A.C. Way performing as Thoabath. This will be followed by an Ami Sandoz performance by Ben Robinson. He explores new approaches to the violin and live performances, exploring the domain where the analog and the digital coexist, often colliding. LSG is located at 1007 Market Street, across from the corner of Golden Gate Avenue and Taylor Street; and admission is on a sliding scale between $8 and $15.

Friday, February 2, 8 p.m., Old First Presbyterian Church: The title of the next Friday evening concert to be presented by Old First Concerts (O1C) will be Piano, Clarinet, and Strings Attached. The featured clarinetist will be Lawrence London, who will be playing his own “Starry Nights, Doggy Days.” Two different pianists will contribute, Arkadi Serper and Marilyn Thompson; and the strings will be a quartet led by Victor Romasevich, joined by Michael Jones on second violin, Stephen Levintow on viola, and Jill Brindel on cello. Most of the program will be devoted to compositions by Iosif Andriasov, with whom Romasevich studied both violin and viola. As has been the case in past concerts that Romasevich has arranged, there will also be a selection by Andriasov’s son Arshak. The other composers to be featured on the program will be Sergei Taneyev and Aram Khachaturian.

The Old First Presbyterian Church is located at 1751 Sacramento Street on the southeast corner of Van Ness Avenue. If purchased in advance online from an O1C event page, general admission will be $23 with a discounted rate of $18 for seniors aged 65 or older. Tickets for full-time students showing valid identification will be $5; and children aged twelve and under will be admitted for free. There is also a discount available for those parking at the Old First Parking Garage at 1725 Sacramento Street, just up the street from the church.

Saturday, February 3, 8:30 p.m., The Lab: While the performance of “Atlas” on February 24 has already been announced, the beginning of this month will see a visit from electronic music pioneer Bob Ostertag. Ostertag has been playing keyboard-less synthesizers since the mid-Seventies; and, when necessarily, he has designed and implemented his own instruments for performance purposes.

Bob Ostertag with a configuration of equipment made by Ed Buchla (courtesy of The Lab)

For his visit to The Lab, Ostertag will present both solo pieces and duos with his long-time collaborator Fred Frith, who has his own track record for working with electric guitar and other electronic gear.

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 $20, and members of The Lab will be admitted for $12. Advance registration is strongly advised. Separate Web pages have been created for members and the general public. Doors will open at 8 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.

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