Padmore-Lewis Duo to Return to SFP

Mark Padmore and Paul Lewis (courtesy of San Francisco Performances)

Next month San Francisco Performances (SFP) will continue its The Art of Song Series with the one of the four concerts that will honor the liederabend tradition. It will also feature the return of a duo that was a high point in the Vocal Series of the 2015–2016 series. English tenor Mark Padmore will return for his fifth SFP performance, accompanied again by pianist Paul Lewis, who has performed for SFP not only as an accompanist but also as a soloist. They have prepared a program that will present three of the leading composers in the German/Austrian art song tradition with a slight departure in that tradition for one of those composers.

That composer will be Robert Schumann. They have prepared a performance of his Opus 48 Dichterliebe (poet’s love) song cycle that will include two songs not originally contained in the work’s initial 1844 publication. This will be presented as the second half of the program. The first half will begin with five songs by Johannes Brahms selected from his Opus 71, Opus 85, and Opus 96 collections. This will be followed by the songs in Gustav Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder collection.

This recital will take place at 7 p.m on Sunday, January 13. Tickets are on sale for $70 for premium seating in the Orchestra and the front of the Dress Circle, $55 for the remainder of the Orchestra, the remainder of the center Dress Circle, and the Boxes, and $45 for remaining seats in the Dress Circle and the Balcony. Tickets may be purchased online in advance through a City Box Office event page.