Old First Concerts: January, 2019

After two months of folding events in the Old First Concerts (O1C) series into “busy weekend (and beyond)” summaries, this site can recognize the new year by examining forthcoming O1C events without worrying about choosing among conflicting options! All O1C events take place at the Old First Presbyterian Church, 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. Hyperlinks for online purchase through specific event pages will be attached to the date-and-time information given below. 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. Here are the specifics for the month of January:

Sunday, January 6, 4 p.m.: The Circadian String Quartet, whose members are violinists David Ryther and Monika Gruber, violist Omid Assadi, and cellist David Wishnia, will return to Old First with a program entitled Songs of Death and Rebirth. As might be guessed, the program will feature a performance of Franz Schubert’s D. 810 quartet in D minor, known as “Death and the Maiden” because the second movement is a set of variations on a theme from Schubert’s D. 531 song “Der Tod und das Mädchen,” a setting of a poem by Matthias Claudius. The relationship between death and rebirth, on the other hand, will be found in Dmitri Shostakovich’s Opus 73 (third) quartet in F major. These two pieces will be linked by one of Ryther’s own compositions, his “Chiaroscuro II,” which is inspired by the poetry of Rumi.

Sunday, January 13, 4 p.m.: This will be a program devoted entirely to the music of Julius Eastman. The program was prepared by pianist and composer Luciano Chessa, and it will be co-presented with support from the Italian Cultural Institute, the San Francisco Cinematheque, and the Ross McKee Foundation. Eastman, who was both gay and black, was a prominent member of the New York avant-garde during the second half of the twentieth century; but he died homeless and alone in a hospital in Buffalo, New York in 1990. The Village Voice did not report his death until eight months later. The program will present five of Eastman’s compositions presented by six performers. They will include pianists Sarah Cahill, Regina Myers, Chris Brown, and Chessa himself, who will also serve as narrator in the performance of “Hail Mary.” All four pianists will join forces to play “Crazy Nigger.” The other performers will be baritone Kevin Baum and bass Richard Mix.

[updated 1/22, 3:20 p.m.: The January 25 concert has been postponed until September 6.

Friday, January 25, 8 p.m.: Soprano Vanessa Langer will bring her Firesong trio to Old First, joined by pianist Allegra Chapman and flutist Elizabeth Talbert. There will also be a guest appearance by composer David Coll, who will also participate as sound artist. The title of the program will be The Refuse Project; and it will feature the world premiere of Coll’s “Refuse Collection.” Coll will also be on the program as the composer of “Position, Influence.” The program will also include Takashi Yoshimatsu’s Digital Bird Suite, George Crumb’s “Apparition,” and selections from Olivier Messiaen’s Harawi song cycle.]

Sunday, January 27, 4 p.m.: The final program of the month will present the Ives Collective, whose core members are its Artistic Co-Directors Susan Freier (viola) and Stephen Harrison (cello). For this concert they will be joined by violinist Kay Stern and pianist Elizabeth Schumann. The featured work will be the world premiere of a prelude and fugue for string trio by Kamyar Mohajer. This will be complemented by two of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s string trio arrangements of preludes and fugues from The Well-Tempered Clavier by Johann Sebastian Bach. The program will conclude with the entire ensemble playing Robert Schumann’s Opus 46 piano quartet in E-flat major.