SFCMP to Conclude Season with 4-Concert Weekend

Pauline Oliveros and Steven Schick (courtesy of SFCMP)

As was announced at the beginning of the season, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players (SFCMP) will conclude its 2017–18 season with a series of four concerts over the course of a single weekend. These concerts will celebrate two landmark occasions: the 85th anniversary of the birth of composer Pauline Oliveros and the conclusion of Steven Schick’s tenure as SFCMP’s Artistic Director. Presented as part of the at the CROSSROADS series, the offerings for each of the concerts will be as follows:

Concert #1: The featured work will be the world premiere of “Cold mountains, one belt, heartbreak green,” composed by Carolyn Chen for bass flute, violin, cello, and percussion under an SFCMP commission. The program will also present two “legacy” compositions, Galina Ustvolskaya’s “grand” duet for piano and cello (composed in 1957) and Luciano Berio’s 1964 Folk Songs collection. There will also be a performance of Xavier Beteta’s “La Catedrale Abandonata,” composed in 2015.

Concert #2: Oliveros will be honored with a performance of “The Witness,” a one-hour composition created in 1980. The program will also include world-premiere performances of three pieces inspired by Oliveros, all written by Bay Area composers under the age of 30. These will be Danny Clay’s “Playbook,” John Ivers’ “Bellow, Cycle,” and Nathan Chamberlain’s “Dawn Chorus.”

Concert #3: Schick will give a solo recital at which he will perform the world premiere of a new work by Celeste Oram. Other percussion pieces will include Vinko Globokar’s “?Corporel” and Iannis Xenakis’ “Psappha.” He will also perform selections from Kurt Schwitters’ four-movement “Ursonate.”

Concert #4: The final offerings will be a performance of Morton Feldman’s 90-minute “Crippled Symmetry,” scored for flute, percussion, and keyboardist alternating between piano and celesta.

The first two concerts will take place on Friday, March 23, followed by the second two on Saturday, March 24. On both evenings the first concert will begin at 7 p.m. followed by the second at 9 p.m. All events will take place in Z Space, located in NEMIZ (NorthEast Mission Industrial Zone) at 450 Florida Street. All of these events will be free to those who subscribed to the full season, and members will be entitled to a 20% discount. Tickets for a single concert will be $25 with a $14 rate for students. Tickets for any two concerts will be $40 with a $24 rate for students. A pass for the entire weekend will be $65 with at $38 rate for students.

That pass will also include a Farewell Reception and Toast to honor Schick. If purchased separately, a ticket for the reception will be $25. That reception will take place prior to Schick’s recital on Saturday, beginning at 5:30 p.m. The first concert on Friday will be preceded by the final How Music is Made event of the season. There will be an open rehearsal of Chen’s composition at 5:30 p.m., and Schick will engage in conversation with Chen for half an hour beginning at 6 p.m. There will be no charge for either of these events. Z Space has created a single event page for all advance purchase of tickets online.