During the coming season San Francisco Performances (SFP) will offer the second round of its Hear Now and Then Series, which it initiated last October. The objective behind the programming for this series involves bringing together the distant past (which basically amounts to everything preceding the death of Johann Sebastian Bach in 1750) with the intensely present. That objective will be served through a diversity of soloists and ensembles, along with special attention given to Philip Glass, whose 80th birthday this past January 31 was honored in two of last season’s programs. This season there will be four events, all evening concerts beginning at 7:30 p.m., distributed across two different venues. Program details for each of these events have not yet been announced. due, in part, to that emphasis on diversity. The specific dates and their related performers are as follows:
Friday, October 12, St. Mark’s Lutheran Church: The season will begin with a program of Italian music from the seventeenth century. The performers will be the members of the early music vocal ensemble TENET, which is based in New York. Instrumental support will be provided by the Quicksilver ensemble led by violinist Robert Mealy. While details have not yet been announced, the program will pay special attention to Claudio Monteverdi, regarded by his contemporaries as one of the most adventurous composers of his time.
Saturday, October 27, Herbst Theatre: In what may be a coincidence of timing, TENET’s recital will be followed by a program that could have been called After Monteverdi. Violinist Daniel Hope has, for some time, offered programs under the rubric Daniel Hope and Friends. In this case his “friends” will be musicians skilled in the practices of the Baroque period. Hope will perform with Simos Papanas (violin), Nicola Mosca (cello), Emanuele Forni (lute), Naoki Kitaya (harpsichord), and Michael Metzler (percussion). The actual title of the program will be Air: a Baroque Journey. That “journey” will “visit” familiar composers, such George Frideric Handel and Antonio Vivaldi, as well as those likely to be encountered for the first time, such as Johann Paul von Westhoff.
Saturday, March 9, Herbst Theatre: Cellist Matt Haimovitz will be joined by pianist Vijay Iyer for a program that promises to be richly eclectic. This will be the most diverse program of the season, with Bach at one end of the historical span and Iyer’s recent compositions at the other. The geographical span also promises to be just as extensive, including music by both Zakir Hussein and Ravi Shankar. Given the backgrounds of both of these musicians, it is reasonable to assume that the spirit of jamming will be alive and well in all of the selections to be performed.
Wednesday, April 3, Herbst Theatre: The series will conclude with this season’s Glass offering. The performers will be the Third Coast Percussion quartet, whose members are David Skidmore, Robert Dillon, Peter Martin, and Sean Connors. They will present the Bay Area premiere of the first percussion quartet written by Glass. This was composed on a commission by Third Coast, which Glass accepted to feed his interest in new challenges. The remainder of the program will be announced at a later date.
The entrance to Herbst Theatre is on the ground floor of the Veterans Building, located on the southwest corner of Van Ness Avenue and McAllister Street. St. Mark’s Lutheran Church is located at 1111 O’Farrell Street, just west of the corner of Franklin Street. Subscriptions are now on sale for $250 for premium seating, $205, and $155. Subscriptions may be purchased online in advance through a City Box Office event page, which includes information about the locations associated with each of the price levels. Orders may also be placed by calling the SFP subscriber hotline at 415-677-0325, which is open for receiving calls between 9:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Single tickets are also now being sold by City Box Office. They may be purchased through the hyperlinks attached to each of the above dates.
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