This season the innovative PIVOT Series, launched by San Francisco Performances (SFP) in March of 2016, will again consist of four performances taking place at the end of the final full week of January. However, this year’s festival format will be organized around a common theme, given the title Vox Populi (voice of the people). Take as a whole, the performances will present artists and works with political observations and meanings, shining a light on the power of music as the voice of the people to underscore the urgency of our time. The festival will again take place in a single venue; but this season the venue will be Herbst Theatre, which is on the ground floor of the Veterans Building at 401 Van Ness Avenue on the southwest corner of McAllister Street. Program details are as follows:
Thursday, January 24, 7:30 p.m.: Israeli pianist Ran Dank will perform Frederic Rzewski’s set of 36 variations on the Chilean song “The People United Will Never Be Defeated.” This song, written by Sergio Ortega and Quilapayún, was popular among the followers of Salvador Allende. Allende was overthrown on September 11, 1973, replaced by a repressive junta led by the brutal General Augusto Pinochet (with more than a little help from the administration of President Richard Nixon); and Rzewski composed his variations two years later in September and October of 1975 in support of those Chileans who tried to resist Pinochet’s authority. Since that time the music has established itself in the piano repertoire alongside other major variations compositions, including Johann Sebastian Bach’s BWV 988 “Goldberg” variations, Ludwig van Beethoven’s Opus 120 “Diabelli” variations, and Johannes Brahms’s set of variations on Niccolò Paganini’s A minor caprice for solo violin.
Friday, January 25, 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. [updated 1/17, 12:10 p.m.: Tickets for the 9:30 performance have been taken off sale; those holding tickets will be combined with ticket-holders for the 7:30 show.]: Jazz singer Paula West will present a program consisting entirely of songs by Bob Dylan. As can be seen from the times, she will perform the program twice. Need we say more?
Saturday, January 26, 7:30 p.m.: Gabriel Kahane will perform his newest song cycle, 8980: Book of Travelers. The cycle is based on portraits of the people he encountered following the 2016 presidential election. The morning after the election he began an 8980-mile trip to see how people reacted in different parts of the country; and the texts of his songs are based on those reactions. Kahane will accompany his singing at the piano.
Sunday, January 27, 5 p.m.: The festival will conclude with a recital by bass-baritone Dashon Burton entitled Songs of Struggle and Redemption. The program will include arrangements of both spirituals and protest songs. However, it will also present compositions by George Frideric Handel, Hugo Wolf, Richard Beaudoin, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Francis Poulenc, and Ernest Charles.
Those wishing to attend all four events will be able to purchase a PIVOT Festival Pass for $140. These may be obtained online through a City Box Office event page or by calling the SFP Box Office at 415-392-2545, which is open for receiving calls between 9:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Single tickets are available for $40. These may also be purchased online from City Box Office, using the hyperlinks on the dates given above, or by calling SFP. (Note the separate hyperlinks for the two times of the West concert.) Single tickets will also be sold at the door.
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