Choices for March 1–3, 2019 (and beyond)

Fasten your seatbelts! February has hardly begun (threatening to come in with some very serious weather); and it is already time to take stock of the beginning of March. Not only will some heavy choices have to be made for the first weekend of that month; but also it will mark the writing of the first “and beyond” article for 2019, indicating that some of the events will constitute the beginning of longer series. The one thing that is likely to be true is that there will be enough diversity in what follows to ensure that all tastes will be satisfied. Having made that claim, let us consider the specifics:

[added 2/21, 9:15 a.m.:

Friday, March 1, 6 p.m., Community Music Center (CMC): The long weekend will begin with the third of this season’s series of four Concert with Conversation offerings. These events are produced in partnership with San Francisco Performances (SFP). The performer will be guitarist Pablo Sáinz Villegas. As will be seen below, this interactive community event will be followed by the the SFP guitar recital, which will take place the following evening.

The venue will be the CMC Concert Hall, which is located at 544 Capp Street, between Mission Street and South Van Ness Avenue and between 20th Street and 21st Street. There is no charge for admission, and the general public is invited. However, due to the popularity of these offerings, reservations are recommended. These are being handled through an Eventbrite event page.]

Friday, March 1, 6:30 p.m., Four Seasons Hotel: The earliest of the events will be the annual Winter Gala & Auction hosted by the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale (PBO). As usual the occasion will honor guest artists that have contributed to the PBO performances and repertoire. This year there will be two honorees, mezzo Anne Sofie von Otter and composer Caroline Shaw. The musical portion of the evening will feature compositions by both Shaw and George Frideric Handel with von Otter as one of two featured soloists, the other being countertenor Daniel Moody. Von Otter will sing Shaw’s “Red, Red Rose,” the first song in a cycle of three, which she commissioned jointly with PBO. Shaw will then sing her own “Winter Carol,” followed by Moody singing Rinaldo’s aria “Abbrucio, avvampo e fremo” from the second act of Handel’s HWV 7 opera Rinaldo.

The official sponsors of the Gala will again be Mark Perry and Melanie Peña. The dinner will be sponsored by Kay Sprinkel Grace, and the After Party will be jointly sponsored by David Low and Dominique Lahaussois.  As usual, Gala festivities will begin with a cocktail party and silent auction. Following the performance, an elegant sit-down dinner will be served. Then the dinner will be followed by the festive After Party featuring a premium Scotch tasting.

The main entrance to the Four Seasons is at 217 Stevenson Street, just below the southwest corner of Market Street and Third Street. There is also an entrance on the north side of Market Street between Third Street and Fourth Street. A Web page on the PBO Web site has been created with registration information. Basic admission is the $700 Benefactor rate with a VIP Guarantor rate of $900. There is also a special $300 ticket for those under the age of forty. Those unable to attend will will be able to purchase a $350 ticket that will sponsor a seat for a musician. It is also possible to register a table with seating for ten at both the Benefactor level ($7000) and the Guarantor level ($9000). Those who wish further information or to register by phone may call Andrea Sáenz at 415-252-1288, extension 300.

Friday, March 1, 7 p.m., Center for New Music (C4NM): Last May violist Kurt Rohde launched a ten-year project that he called Kurt Rohde’s Farewell Tour. This will consist of six recitals to be performed over the course of ten years, and the end of which he plans to retire from playing in performance. Each of the recitals will present new works commissioned by Rohde to provide a platform for the most gifted composers he feels are underrepresented and deserve a wider audience. This concert will be the second installment; and the composers to be showcased will be Richard Chowenhill, Peter Van Zandt Lane, Elainie Lillios, Sam Nichols, and Tina Tallon.

C4NM is located at 55 Taylor Street, about half a block north of the Golden Gate Theater, where Golden Gate Avenue meets Market Street. General admission for this concert will be $15 with a $10 rate for C4NM members. Tickets may be purchased in advance through a Vendini event page. Remaining events for the month are as follows with hyperlinks to their respective Vendini event pages: [added 2/14, 12:40 p.m.:

• Friday, March 8, 7:30 p.m.: The March installment in the Latitudes series curated by Blaine Todd. Will consist of two sets of improvisations. Gabriel Mindel Saloman, known widely for his work in the seminal noise band Yellow Swans, will present his ongoing investigations into music of the liberated body, combining field recordings with sampled piano and percussion sounds and electric guitar drone. The other set will be taken by composer and instrument-builder Ashley Bellouin, joined by guitarist Ben Bracken. General admission for this concert will be $15 with a $10 rate for C4NM members.]
• Saturday, March 9, 8 p.m.: Pianist Scott R. Looney will return to C4NM to present another evening of adventurous compositions and improvisations. This time he will lead a jazz trio, joined by Lisa Mezzacappa on bass and Kjell Nordeson on percussion. General admission for this concert will be $15 with a $10 rate for C4NM members.
• Sunday, March 10, 5 p.m.: Zwischenspiel is the piano duo of Rachel Breen and Kelsey Walsh, both Bay Area natives, who have found a new home in Germany (Breen in Hannover and Walsh in Berlin). They will give both solo and duo performances paired with photography and videography. The program will include a selection of Philip Glass’ solo études and David Lang’s “Orpheus Over and Under.” General admission for this concert will be $15 with a $10 rate for C4NM members and students.
• Friday, March 15, 7:30 p.m.: Guitarist David Tanenbaum will present a program of new music for classical guitar in solo and ensemble. He will play world premiere performances of compositions by Belinda Reynolds and Ben Verdery. Other composers on the program will include Tan Dun, Arthur Kampela, and Omid Zoufonoun. The other performers will be John Vidovic, Yifan Zhang Amir-Hosein, Sheibani, and the student members of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Guitar Ensemble. General admission for this concert will be $15 with a $10 rate for C4NM members. [added 2/13, 9 a.m.:
• Wednesday, March 20, 6 p.m.: Anna Wolfe-Pauly will lead a workshop on the Deep Listening practices of Pauline Oliveros. This will focus on the performance side of Oliveros’ work, but those unfamiliar with those activities are likely to find the event an informative listening experiences. There will be no charge for attendance but an advance RSVP will be required, hence the hyperlink on the date and time.] [added 2/20, 10:50 a.m.:
• Saturday, March 23, 8 p.m.: Chris Brown will curate the first in a series of concerts called Electronic Improvisations. He will perform live electronics with his own gear in duets with Soo Yeon Lyuh, playing amplified haegeum, and with James Fei playing his own analog electronic equipment. General admission for this concert will be $15 with a $10 rate for C4NM members and students.] [added 2/16, 10:20 a.m.:
• Sunday, March 24, 2 p.m.: Pianist Clare Longendyke will be making her first visit to the Bay Area. She will mark the occasion by performing works of music by living composers who have made San Francisco their home. Those composers will be Vivian Fung, Brent Miller, Mason Bates, Elinor Armer, and Michael Gilbertson. General admission for this concert will be $15 with a $10 rate for C4NM members and students.] [added 2/11, 3 p.m.:
• Thursday, March 28, 8 p.m.: This will be the first program in a series of concerts organized by Bard Music West called Bard Music West Plays. Games and Revolutions will provide a platform for the music and inspirations of two innovative composers with Bay Area ties: Danny Clay and Gabriella Smith. The Clay compositions will be “Toy Piano Music” and “Playbook,” performed by Allegra Chapman on toy piano and piano, respectively. The toy piano will also be featured it two other compositions, “Carousel” by Phyllis Chen and “Mirabella,” a tarantella by Stephen Montague. The Smith compositions will be her string quartet entitled “Carrot Revolution” and “Anthozoa,” scored for violin, cello, piano, and percussion. The string quartet players will be violinists Zenas Hsu and Mélanie Clapiès, violist Jerssica Change, and cellist Laura Gaynon. The percussionist will be Mika Nakamura. General admission for this concert will be $15 with a $10 rate for C4NM members and $5 for students.]
• Friday, March 29, 7:30 p.m.: The Friction Quartet of violinists Otis Harriel and Kevin Rogers, violist Taija Warbelow, and cellist Doug Machiz to present their first Friction Commissioning Initiative concert. They will give premiere performances of “Two Hearts” by Sarang Kim and “El Correcaminos” (the roadrunner) by Nick Benavides. The program will also include Geoffrey Gordon’s “ABACISCUS.” General admission for this concert will be $15 with a $10 rate for C4NM members.

[added 2/22, 10:30 a.m.:

Friday, March 1, 7:30 p.m., Red Poppy Art House: Jazz vocals by Danielle Wetz have been added to the article summarizing the Red Poppy schedule.]

[added 2/2, 8:30 a.m.:

Friday, March 1,  8 p.m., St. Mark's Lutheran Church: For the third program in 2018–2019 season of the California Bach Society, Artistic Director Paul Flight has prepared a program devoted entirely to Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Opus 37, his All-Night Vigil. St. Mark’s is located at 1111 O’Farrell Street, just west of the corner of Franklin Street. Tickets are on sale for $30, $25 (seniors), and $10 (those under the age of 30), respectively. A Brown Paper Tickets event page has been created for all online purchase.]


Saturday, March 2, 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., SFJAZZ Center: Activities at the Joe Henderson Lab will begin the month with a series called Leading Women II. The first offering will be a Dance Floor Show. However, the first concert will be by the Lisa Mezzacappa Six, led by Mezzacappa on bass. The group will perform the suite that Mezzacappa composed based on the Cosmicomics stories by Italo Calvino. (Readers may recall that Mezzacappa developed this suite during a four-concert residency at Bird & Beckett Books & Records last year. The other members of the sextet are Aaron Bennet (tenor saxophone), John Finkbeiner (guitar), Mark Clifford (vibraphone), Tim Perkis (electronics), and Jordan Glenn (drums).

As can be seen above, the sextet will give two performances. Tickets for both concerts will be sold for $25, and there is a single event page for online purchase. The SFJAZZ Center is located at 201 Franklin Street, on the northwest corner of Fell Street. Remaining Henderson Lab concerts for the month of November, with hyperlinks to their respective event pages, are as follows:

• Sunday, March 3, 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.: The Leading Women II series will conclude with a performance by the Cosa Nostra Strings entitled Blowin’ In The Wind: Music Of The 1960s. The group is a quintet whose “leading woman” is violinist Shaina Evoniuk. The other members that she leads are all men: Keith Lawrence on viola, Lewis Pazner on cello, Adam Theis on both trombone and bass, and Aaron Kierbel on percussion. The repertoire covers the diverse range of Sixties music, from the rock of the British Invasion to the Bay Area’s folk movement, Motown, free jazz, contemporary classical music, and global trends from Latin America, Jamaica, and Cuba. Tickets are being sold for $20.
• Thursday, March 14, 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.: South African guitar virtuoso Derek Gripper will lead off a series entitled Strings Around the World. He will play his specially built eight-string acoustic guitar with changeable fretboards. This allows him to play his own transcriptions of music by West Africa’s greatest masters of the 21-string kora, particularly Mali’s Toumani Diabaté and Ballaké Sissoko. Tickets are being sold for $30.
• Saturday, March 16, 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.: Germán López is the global ambassador for music of the Canary Islands, playing the five-string Spanish timple, which, like the guitar, has frets. He will perform selections from his new album, Canela y Limón. He will be joined by guitarist Antonio Toledo. Tickets are being sold for $25.
• Sunday, March 17, 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.: Guitarist Jerry Lockwood is the son of composer Larry Lockwood and the grandson of the legendary Cantor Jacob Konigsberg. He also sings and will be joined by vocalist Jewlia Eisenberg, founder of Charming Hostess. The two of them will present their project, Book of J, which, as The New Yorker puts it, “encompasses Yiddish songs, Piedmont blues, and queer politics.” Tickets are being sold for $25.
• Thursday, March 21, 8:30 p.m.: The Sing, Sing, Sing II series will begin with the next Hotplate concert. The album to be covered will be Elis & Tom a duo album featuring Elis Regina and Antônio Carlos Jobim. The vocalist will be Moscow-born Masha Campagne, currently based in the Bay Area. Tickets are being sold for $20.
• Friday, March 22, 7 p.m and 8:30 p.m.: Another take of Latin vocal music will be provided by Argentine singer and composer Sofía Rei; tickets are being sold for $30.
• Saturday, March 23, 7 p.m., and 8:30 p.m: Sandy Cressman is another Bay Area vocalist specializing in Brazilian music. She will perform songs from her latest album, Entre Amigos. Accompaniment will be provided by Homenagem Brasileira, a quartet whose members are Jeff Cressman on trombone, Jasnam Daya Singh on piano, David Belove on bass, and Phil Hawkins on drums. Tickets are being sold for $25.
• Sunday, March 24, 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.: Chilean vocalist Pascuala Ilabaca will make her SFJAZZ debut with music from her latest recording El Mito de la Pergola. She leads her band Fauna while also playing accordion, piano, and hand drums. Her repertoire includes both jazz and folk music based in Chile. Tickets are being sold for $25.
• Thursday, March 28, and Friday, March 29, 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.: The final series of the month is entitled Campy & Cool. The first offering will present Davina & The Vagabonds in a program entitled Boogie and Blues. The group is led by vocalist Davina Lozier, who alternates between piano and ukulele. Two of her “vagabonds” are also vocalists, trumpeter Zack Lozier and trombonist Steve Rogness. Rhythm is provided by Andrew Foreman on bass and George Marich on drums. Tickets are being sold for $30.
• Saturday, March 30, 7 p.m. and 9 p.m., and Sunday, March 31, 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.: The second half of the Campy & Cool series will present cabaret crooner Ethan Lipton. His group is called Ethan Lipton & His Orchestra; but the “orchestra’ consists entirely of Vito Dieterle on tenor saxophone with rhythm provided by Eben Levy on guitar and Ian Riggs on bass. This is a group that does not take itself seriously, and we are all probably the better for it. As Time Out New York put it, “Ethan Lipton is to lounge lizardry what Peter Sellers’s Inspector Clouseau is to policing, presenting his singular, funny-miserable take on life via jazzy, brass-festooned songs.” Tickets are being sold for $30.

Saturday, March 2, 7:30 p.m., San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM): The first Faculty Artist Series concert of the month will present the next performance by the SFCM Quartet-in-Residence, the Telegraph Quartet. As those who have seen this group perform should know by now, violinists Eric Chin and Joseph Maile alternate in occupying first chair. The other members of the group are violist Pei-Ling Lin and cellist Jeremiah Shaw. They will begin their program with Mieczysław Weinberg’s Opus 35 (sixth) quartet in E minor, which was a high point of the San Francisco Performance recital they gave in December. The major part of the program, however, will be devoted to Beethoven’s Opus 130 quartet in B-flat major, playing the Opus 133 “Große Fuge,” as the final movement (as it was originally intended).

The SFCM building is located at 50 Oak Street, between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street, a short walk from the Van Ness Muni Station. The recital will take place in the Concert Hall. Readers are encouraged to consult the Performance Calendar Web page at the SFCM Web site for the most up-to-date information about this and any of the other concerts taking place during the month of March. Unless stated otherwise, all concerts are free. Nevertheless, reservations are recommended; and, where necessary, a hyperlink to a Google Forms Web page will be attached to the date-and-time information, as it is above for the Telegraph Quartet. Here is a chronological listing of the remaining events in the month that are likely to be of interest to serious and attentive listeners:

• Sunday, March 3, 2 p.m., Recital Hall: Violist Jonathan Vinocour will give a Faculty Artist Series recital entitled Paris as Musical Mecca at the turn of the 20th century. The program will include Claude Debussy’s sonata flute, harp, and viola and Joaquín Turina “Scène Andalouse.” Remaining selections will be by César Franck and George Enescu. Vinocour will be joined by harpist Douglas Rioth and pianist Keisuke Nakagoshi. All other performers will be SFCM Chamber Music students.
• Saturday, March 9, 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, March 10, 2 p.m., Concert Hall: The Historical Performance students will present a concert version of Handel’s HWV 18 opera Tamerlano. [added 3/6, 2:55 p.m.:
• Monday, March 11, 6:30 p.m., Recital Hall: Carolyn Tillstrom, tuba student of Jeffrey Anderson, will give a recital. The first half will be devoted to two arrangements, the first of the vocal part in Gustav Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (songs of a wayfarer) and the second of the horn part in Johannes Brahms’ Opus 40 trio in E-flat major. The other works on the program will be a ballade by Jan Krzywicki and the Opus 30 sextet in E-flat major by Oskar Böhme to be played by an ensemble that calls itself the Boomy Sextet. No reservations will be required for this free performance.]
• Monday, March 11, 7:30 p.m., Concert Hall: Soprano Deborah Voigt will give the next Faculty Artist Series recital. Program details have not yet been provided. However, her accompanist will be pianist Steven Bailey. [added 3/6, 3:15 p.m.:
• Thursday, March 14, 6:30 p.m., Osher Salon: Erica MacLeod will present an evening of music that she has composed during her two years at SFCM as a student of Mason Bates. Three of the four selections will be vocal: a set of three songs about love for four-part a cappella chorus, three songs for mezzo and string quartet, and a song cycle for soprano and piano. The program will conclude with a solo cello suite. No reservations will be required for this free performance. 
• Saturday, March 16, 8 p.m., Recital Hall: David Garner’s composition student Brennan Stokes will present a program of his recent compositions. This time there will be only one vocal selection, two scenes from a longer dramatic work entitled “Forsaken.” The instrumental selections will be two duos, one for a pair of clarinets and the other for violin and cello, and a string trio for violin, cello, and bass. No reservations will be required for this free performance.
• Sunday, March 17, 11 a.m., multiple venues: This will be the tenth year of the annual Hot Air Music Festival, a student-organized new music marathon that focuses on world premieres and collaborations by young composers and performers. The program will be organized into four non-overlapping sessions over the course of the day. The opening session, Heating Up, will be held in the Recital Hall from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Digital Progression will take place in the Osher Salon, running from 1:45 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. Sounds of Old will begin in the Recital Hall at 4:30 p.m. and run through 7 p.m. Finally, Reich and Friends will begin in the Concert Hall at 8 p.m. and run through 10 p.m. A complete account of all the music to be played and all the performers that will be playing them can be found on the Facebook Events Web page prepared by the organizers (but not, alas, on the SFCM Performance Calendar Web site). No reservations will be required for these free performances.]
  
• Monday, March 18, 7:30 p.m., Concert Hall: Scott Foglesong, Chair of Music Theory and Musicianship, will present his annual piano recital as part of the Faculty Artist Series. Program specifics have not yet been announced. However, the program will include music by Johann Sebastian Bach, Joseph Haydn, and Johannes Brahms.
• Friday, March 22, 7:30 p.m., Recital Hall: Cellist Norman Fischer will conclude his Artist Residency by giving a recital with SFCM faculty and students. The highlight of the program will be Weinberg’s Opus 18 piano quintet. Fischer will be joined by violinists Samuel Weiser and Maria van der Sloot, violist Dimitri Murrath, and pianist Heemin Park. He will also be joined by violinist Ian Swensen for the two opening selections. Jung-eun Kim will be pianist for a performance of Haydn’s Hoboken XV/9 piano trio in A major, followed by Antonín Dvořák’s Opus 23 (first) piano quartet, performed with violist Alexandra Simpson and pianist Cynthia Sun. [added 3/6, 3:20 p.m.:
• Wednesday, March 27, 7 p.m., Recital Hall: Cameron Denby, a student of Jack Van Geem, will present his graduate marimba recital. His program will feature a suite composed by Jimmy Ka Hei Chan. He will also perform arrangements of music by Maurice Ravel and Astor Piazzola, as well as other compositions not yet announced. No reservations will be required for this free performance.]

Saturday, March 2, 7:30 p.m., Episcopal Church of the Incarnation: This will be the first program in the Instrumental series to be presented by Sunset Music and Arts. “Technically speaking” the series began on January 25 with Argentinian pianist Pablo Estigarribia; but he was also part of the Jazz/World Music Series. The first “exclusively Instrumental” recital will be given by organist Angela Kraft Cross. Program specifics have not yet been announced. The remaining recitals will be as follows:

• Saturday, March 16, 7:30 p.m.: Duo Papillon is the name of the four-hand pairing of Barbara Ruzicka and Kumiko Uyeda; program specifics have not yet been announced.
• Saturday, March 30, 7:30 p.m.: Clare Longendyke will give a solo piano recital. She will begin with the second of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Opus 2 sonata in the key of A major. She will then advance to the twentieth century to perform selected movements from Maurice Ravel’s Miroirs collection and Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Opus 42, which he titled “Variations on a theme of Corelli,” not realizing that the theme predated Arcangelo Corelli! She will conclude the recital with “Cineshape 4,” completed by Amy Williams in 2015.
• Saturday, April 27, 7:30 p.m.: Cristobal Selamé will give a solo guitar recital; program specifics have not yet been announced.
• Saturday, May 18, 7:30 p.m.: Robyn Carmichael has prepared a piano recital organized around the title Peers, Friends, Rivals: FOUR ROMANTIC MASTERS. The program will feature Frédéric Chopin’s Opus 58 sonata in B minor and the Tarantella movement from Franz Liszt’s Venezia e Napoli, a supplement to the second (Italian) year in the Années de pèlerinage collection. The other featured composers will be Robert Schumann and Felix Mendelssohn.
• Saturday, June 1, 7:30 p.m.: Pianist Sandro Russo will also feature the music of Liszt and Chopin, giving another performance of Chopin’s Opus 58 and coupling it with Liszt’s single-movement B minor sonata.
• Friday, June 14, 7 p.m.: David Jaronowski will present the second organ recital of the season; and, like the first, program specifics have not yet been announced.
• Saturday, July 13, 7:30 p.m.: This will be the other recital already announced as part of the Jazz/World Music Series.
• Saturday, August 24, 7:30 p.m.: The second duo performance of the season will be given by pianists Arianna Körting and Robin Giesbrecht; program specifics have not yet been announced.
• Saturday, September 28, 7:30 p.m.: Mark Valenti will give the next solo piano recital, for which he has not yet provided program specifics.
• Saturday, October 19, 7:30 p.m.: Susan Ellinger will also give a solo piano recital, for which program specifics have not yet been provided.
• Saturday, November 2, 7:30 p.m.: The final recital will be performed by Laura Farré Rozada, who is both a pianist and a mathematician. She has written essays on music and mathematics and the piano repertoire of the twentieth century. Her program will be based on her first solo album, The French Reverie, consisting primarily of twentieth-century compositions. However, she will also present a piece written for her in 2016 by Joel Järventausta, who was born in 1995.

All performances will take place in the Sunset district at the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation, located at 1750 29th Avenue, about halfway between Moraga Street and Noriega Street. Ticket prices are $20 for general admission with a $15 rate for students and seniors. Because the demand tends to be high, advance purchase is highly advised. Tickets may be purchased online through Eventbrite. As observed above, subscriptions are not being sold; but each of the hyperlinks on the above dates leads to the event page for single ticket purchases. Further information may be obtained by calling 415-564-2324.

Saturday, March 2, 7:30 p.m., Herbst Theatre: The San Francisco Performances Guitar Series will conclude with a recital by Pablo Sáinz Villegas. He has prepared a program that will serve as a tribute to Andrés Segovia in celebration of the 125th anniversary of his birth. Segovia left a rich catalog of recorded performances of an extensive and diverse repertoire. The program for the evening will be inspired by that repertoire.

The entrance to Herbst is the main entrance to the Veterans Building at 401 Van Ness Avenue, located on the southwest corner of McAllister Street. Ticket prices will be $60, $50, and $40. Tickets may be purchased in advance online through a City Box Office event page.

[added 2/22, 10:30 a.m.:

Saturday, March 2, 7:30 p.m., Red Poppy Art House: Water Feature jazz concert has been added to the article summarizing the Red Poppy schedule.]

Sunday, March 3, 2 p.m., Legion of Honor: March will also mark the beginning of the 2019 season of Pocket Opera. For those unfamiliar with the organization, Pocket Opera presents audience-friendly performances in intimate and inviting theaters, creating a form of operatic expression not easily duplicated elsewhere. Libretto texts are translated into lyrical, concise English; and recitatives are often replaced with wry and witty narrations that facilitate negotiating plot twists and turns. The first opera of the season will be Gaetano Donizetti’s L'elisir d'amore (the elixir of love). Dates and operas for the rest of the San Francisco season are as follows:

• March 31: The Two Widows. Bedřich Smetana
• May 5: La rondine, Giacomo Puccini
• June 9: The Tales of Hoffmann, Jacques Offenbach

San Francisco performances take place in the Gunn Theater at the Legion of Honor, beginning at 2 p.m. on Sunday afternoons. The Legion of Honor is located in Lincoln Park. It is approached by following 34th Street north of Clement Street (which is the southern boundary of the park). General admission is $50 with a discounted rate of $45 for seniors. Tickets will be sold at the door beginning at 1:30 p.m. Tickets are also available at the presale rate of $49 for general admission and $44 for seniors. Subscriptions to all four operas are available for $180. Ticket purchases may be arranged by calling the box office at 415-972-8934.

Sunday, March 3, 2 p.m., Davies Symphony Hall: Christian Reif will conduct the next concert to be given by the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) Youth Orchestra. Full details have not yet been released. However, the focus of the program will be on French composers. They will include Claude Debussy with his Iberia suite and the second suite for the play L’Arlésienne composed by Georges Bizet. There will also be vocal selections performed by the current members of the Adler Fellowship Program of the San Francisco Opera.

Ticket prices are $55 for reserved seats in the Loge and Side Boxes and $20 for general admission. All tickets may be purchased online through an event page on the SFS Web site, by calling 415-864-6000, or by visiting the Box Office in Davies Symphony Hall, whose entrance is on the south side of Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street. Hyperlinks to the appropriate Web pages will be attached to the specific dates given below. The Box Office is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, from noon to 6 p.m. on Saturday, and two hours before the beginning of the concert on Sunday.

Sunday, March 3, 4 p.m., Old First Presbyterian Church: The month of March will begin for the Old First Concerts Series (O1C) with the annual Chopin Birthday Concert, co-presented with the San Francisco Chapter of the Chopin Foundation. As might be guessed, every year the occasion is celebrated by a solo piano recital. This year the recitalist will be Kevin Kenner. Program details have not yet been announced.

The Old First Presbyterian Church is 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. 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. The remaining concerts for March, with hyperlinks to their respective event pages for ticket purchases, are as follows:

• Friday, March 15, 8 p.m.: Duo Violão Brasil consists of guitarists Rogério Souza and Edinho Gerber. They will present a program entitled História do choro, examining the full scope of one of the most characteristically Brazilian musical forms. Percussionist Ami Molinelli will join the duo as special guest artist.
• Sunday, March 24, 4 p.m.: Another annual event is the concert showcasing some of the most talented young musicians in Northern California, all playing the music of Bach; no ticket discounts will be offered for this concert.
• Friday, March 29, 8 p.m.: The Mobius Trio consists of guitarists Robert Nance, Mason Fish, and Matthew Holmes-Linder. Since their formation, the group has pursued adventurous paths to expanding the guitar repertoire. For their return visit to O1C, they will present a program consisting entirely of world premieres. Two of these will be by composers Ryan Brown and Ian Dicke, respectively. The other will be a joint effort by all three members of the trio, and it will include multimedia enhancements.
• Sunday, March 31, 4 p.m.: The pianist Serene will present a program consisting entirely of ambitious undertakings. She will begin with the third, fourth, and fifth sonatas by Alexander Scriabin. This will be followed by György Ligeti’s thirteenth piano étude, to which he gave the title “L’escalier du Diable” (the devil’s staircase). The will also play the solo piano version of Maurice Ravel’s “La valse” and conclude with Liszt’s B minor sonata.

Sunday, March 3, 4 p.m., SFCM: Finally, there is one other “single” event. This will be the next concert to be given by the San Francisco Girls Chorus (SFGC), led by Artistic Director Valérie Sainte-Agathe. The title of the program will be Modern Masters, and it will feature the world premiere of “Rags of Time,” composed for SFGC by Fred Frith. Almost the entire program will present other recent compositions by the likes of Lisa Bielawa, David Lang, Steve Reich, John Zorn, and Kaija Saariaho. Indeed, the oldest work on the program will be the Magnificat setting by Ralph Vaughan Williams. The performance will take place in the Concert Hall. Ticket prices are $38 and $28. They may be purchased in advance online through a City Box Office event page.

[added 2/10, 9 a.m.:

Sunday, March 3, 4 p.m., Mission Dolores Basilica: The Notes for Nourishment Concert Series will present a free performance by the Levoná Ensemble. Those who follow activities at the Red Poppy Art House may be familiar with this group. It combines flamenco, Arab, Jewish, and other musical traditions and weaves them together with stories, both ancient and new. The vocalists are Faisal Zedan and Asaf Ophir. Ophir doubles on woodwinds, while Zedan shares percussion work with Josh Mellinger. The flamenco element is provided by guitarist David McLean. While there will be no charge for admission, donations will be collected for RAINN, a national organization that supports victims of sexual abuse. Mission Dolores Basilica is located on the southwest corner of Dolores Street and 16th Street. For those planning to drive, free parking will be available in the schoolyard, whose entrance is off of Church Street.] 

[added 2/25,

Sunday, March 3, 7 p.m., Episcopal Church of the Incarnation: As has already been announced, the next Chamber Music series concert presented by Sunset Music and Arts will offer a recital by Trio 180.]


[added 2/20, 11 a.m.:

Sunday, March 3, 7:30 p.m., Musicians Union Hall: The next SIMM (Static Illusion Methodical Madness) Series concert of adventurously composed music to be hosted by Outsound Presents will consist of two sets. The first will be present the Scott R. Looney Trio, led by Looney performing on both piano and hyperpiano. Rhythm will be provided by Lisa Mezzacappa on bass and percussionist Kjell Nordeson. They will be followed by the Strikethru trio, whose members are Kip Kipperman on bass, Isaac Otto on saxophone, and Kim Nucci on electronics. The Musicians Union Hall is located at 116 9th Street, near the corner of Mission Street. Admission will be on a sliding scale between $10 and $20.]