Saturday, May 26, 2018

Choices for June 16, 2018

Those planning to attend the performances of the first cycle of Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelung (the ring of the Nibelung) by the San Francisco Opera next month will probably be seeking out “something completely different” for Saturday, June 16, the date that separates Siegfried from Götterdämmerung. My own plan is for a radical shift into Collaborations in Flamenco at the Red Poppy Art House. However, as of this writing, there are two alternatives for those wishing to take refuge in a more recital-like setting with a more casual twist:

[added 6/8, 2 p.m.:

3 p.m., Noe Valley Ministry: The San Francisco Civic Music Association will present its next afternoon of free chamber music. Participating performers have not yet been announced. However, the three selections on the program definitely deserve attention. The program will begin with a rare opportunity to listen to the music of Rebecca Clarke, her “Dumka” for piano, violin, and cello. This will be followed by late chamber music by Gabriel Fauré, his Opus 120 piano trio in D minor. The final selection will be Johannes Brahms' Opus 100 (second) violin sonata in A major.

The Noe Valley Ministry is located at 3021 Sanchez Strteet. Admission is free. Registration is appreciated but not required. Those who wish may register through an Eventbrite event page. Seating is limited and available on a first-come first-served basis. Donations are gratefully accepted, with a $10 donation suggested for each person.]

[added 6/3, 8:30 a.m.:

7 p.m., Red Poppy Art House: The already-announced Collaborations in Flamenco, which will be given two separate performances over the course of the evening.

7:30 p.m., St. Mark’s Lutheran Church: The title of the next program prepared by the International Orange Chorale of San Francisco (IOCSF), the only ensemble to have named itself after the color of the Golden Gate Bridge, is Pilgrimage and Passage: Songs of Yearning. The featured work will be “Santiago,” the fourth and final movement of the cycle Paths of Miracles by Joby Talbot. The cycle is a reflection on the Peregrinatio Compostellana (“pilgrimage of Compostela”), better known as the Camino de Santiago, whose Latin name reflects following the Milky Way. The program will also include a reprise of “Dream Triptych,” written by 2017 Composer-in-Residence Elliott Encarnación and first performed this past December. Other composers whose works will be performed will be by Eric Banks, Eriks Esenvalds, J. David Moore, Einojuhani Rautavaara, and Nicholas Weininger. St. Mark’s is located at 1111 O’Farrell Street, just west of the corner of Franklin Street. Admission is free, but donations are always welcome.]

8 p.m., Community Music Center (CMC): The CMC Concert Hall will host the next installment in Paul Dab’s Fête Concerts series, whose program are structured around birthday parties. On this occasion the honoree will be Igor Stravinsky, who was born on June 17, 1882, making this an early celebration of his 136th birthday. Pianist Dab will be joined by violinist Abigail Shiman, soprano Anne Hepburn Smith, and clarinetist Sarah Bonomo. (Both Dab and Shiman are CMC faculty members.)

The major work on the program will be Stravinsky’s condensed version of the music originally written for “L’Histoire du soldat” (the soldier’s tale) scored for piano, violin, and clarinet. Smith will narrate a text by Douglas Penick that similarly scales down the original narrative by Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz. As a vocalist Smith will perform both Three Japanese Lyrics and “The Owl and the Pussycat.” Bonomo will play the set of three short pieces that Stravinsky wrote for solo clarinet, and Dab will perform the four solo piano études. Dab will also accompany Shiman in a performance of Suite italienne, selections from his score for the ballet “Pulcinella,” in an arrangement created in collaboration with Samuel Dushkin. Finally, the Fête Concerts tradition will continue with an arrangement of “Happy Birthday” in the style of the honored composer; and that arrangement has been prepared by local composer Joseph Colombo. As always, the celebration will also include wind, cheese, dessert, and the obligatory party hats.

CMC is located in the Mission at 544 Capp Street, between Mission Street and South Van Ness Avenue and between 20th Street and 21st Street. There will be a pre-concert reception beginning at 7:30 p.m. There will be no charge for admission.

8 p.m., Monument: Monument, which has hosted many of the One Found Sound concerts, will host an album release recital by Jonah Sirota, former violist of the Chiara String Quartet. The event will be presented in partnership with Classical Revolution SF, and the album will be STRONG SAD, Sirota’s debut solo album. The album consists of eight new elegies for viola, each by a different composer: Sirota himself, the improvisation duo Mondegreen (whose members are Sirota and Kurt Knecht), and Paola Prestini, Nico Muhly, Valgeir Sigur∂sson, Robert Sirota, A.J. McCaffrey, and Rodney Lister. The concert will also include a performance by the Classical Revolution String Quartet, whose members are violinists Matthew Szemela and Anthony Blea, violist Charith Premawardhana, and cellist Lewis Patzner.

Monument is located in SoMa at 140 9th Street. Admission will be $20. Tickets may be purchased in advance online from an Eventbrite event page.

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