Choices for May 4–5, 2019

As the season begins to wind down, the days on which choices will have to be made are gradually fewer in number. Nevertheless, next month will begin with a weekend requiring such choices. Compared to the first weekend of this month, however, the choices will be fewer in number. The alternatives to consider are as follows:

Saturday, May 4, 2 p.m., Delancey Street Screening Room: Merce Cunningham was born on April 16, 1919, meaning that his 100th birthday took place this past Tuesday. To mark this occasion, Dance Film SF, the organization behind the San Francisco Dance Film Festival, will present an extended afternoon of special events in honor of the occasion. As might be guessed, two of those events will involve film screenings.

The first of these will be “Assemblage,” a 60-minute film based on footage captured throughout Ghirardelli Square. As early as 1964, Cunningham was creating “Event” pieces, which usually involved excerpts from dances he had created, presented in venues such as museums and gymnasiums. In all likelihood, the choreography for Ghirardelli Square was assembled in a similar manner; and the dancing was captured by the KQED film unit led by Richard Moore. The soundtrack was provided independently by John Cage. Moore’s film sources were then edited and enhanced with a wide diversity of special effects by Bill Yahraus. “Assemblage” was the result of the compilation of all of those creative activities.

The second film is the 87-minute documentary “If the Dancer Dances.” The subject is the reconstruction of Cunningham’s 1968 “Rainforest” for the Stephen Petronio Company. The time interval covered by the film runs from the very first rehearsals conducted by former members of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company up to a post-New York tour performance at Princeton University. The progress of the rehearsal is interleaved with footage of Cunningham rehearsing the dance with his own company and commentary provided by those who had given the premiere performance.

Each film screening will be followed by a discussion. There will also be a one-hour break between the two films during which there will be a reception and a birthday toast. By way of editorial comment, I would observe that, given how different Cunningham’s approach to dance was, reversing the order of this films would have benefitted those encountering his work for the first time (which was actually the case for the dancers in Petronio’s ensemble). “If the Dancer Dances” provides a wealth of context that would enable a more informed viewing of “Assemblage” than that experienced by those who saw the film when it was first screened.

The Delancey Street Screening Room is located at 600 Embarcadero. Tickets for the entire event are $25 with a student rate of $20. Those wishing to see only one of the films may do so for $15, $13 for students. (The screening of “If the Dancer Dances” will begin at 5:30 p.m.) An Eventbrite event page has been created with all options for purchasing tickets online.

[added 4/29, 10:45 a.m.:

Saturday, May 4, 2:30 p.m., Castro Theatre: As announced on The Bleeding Edge for this week, the Club Foot Gamelan will provide music for the screening of the silent film Goona Goona.]

Saturday, May 4, 4 p.m., Calvary Presbyterian Church: The San Francisco Bach Choir, directed by Magen Solomon, will conclude its 2018–2019 season with a program named after the contributing composers, Wolfgang, Marianna, and John. “Wolfgang” is, of course, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who will be represented by his K. 626 setting of the Requiem Mass text in the version completed after the composer’s death by his student Franz Xaver Süssmayr. “John” is Bach’s youngest son, Johann Christian, who moved to London when he was 27 years old, where he was known as “John Bach.” His share of the program will be his C major setting of the Magnificat canticle. The least familiar of the names will be that of Marianna Martines, who lived in Vienna at the same time as Mozart and often played keyboard duets with him. Since she is the least familiar of the three composers, two of her works will be performed. Her setting of the “Dixit Dominus” Psalm will be followed by the soprano aria “Pensa a serbarmi, o cara.” The soprano will be Rita Lilly, joined in the other selections by mezzo Heidi Waterman, tenor Kyle Stegall, and baritone Nikolas Nackley. Instrumental accompaniment will be provided by the Jubilate Baroque Orchestra.

Tickets purchased in advance will be $30 for general admission and $25 for seniors age 62 or older. These constitute a savings of $5 off of the price paid at the door. Patrons under 30 and students with identification will be admitted for $10 and youth under the age of nineteen will be admitted for free. Tickets may be purchased online through a Brown Paper Tickets event page. This page also includes an option to donate $25 to purchase a seat for a singing senior.

[added 4/29, 10:50 a.m.:

Saturday, May 4, 7:30 p.m., Episcopal Church of the Incarnation: Sunset Music and Arts will present the Argentine Tango performance by Cuarteto Puentes.] 

Saturday, May 4, 8 p.m., St. Teresa of Avila Catholic Church: The San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra will be giving the first concert in its 2019 season. The title of the program will be Under Deconstruction. As usual, the programming will be devoted primarily to showcasing new works for orchestra by Bay Area composers. As the title suggests, most of the selections will involve deconstruction and reconstruction of the source material of others.

St. Teresa of Avila Catholic Church is located at 1490 19th Street, between Connecticut Street and Texas Street in Potrero Hill. Tickets will be sold only at the door. General admission is $25 with a sliding scale available for students and seniors. Further information is available by calling 628-400-2144.

Sunday, May 5, 4 p.m., St. Mark’s Lutheran Church: This past October American Bach Soloists (ABS) launched its 30th Season with a program that featured two of Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Brandenburg” concertos, BWV 1046 in F major and BWV 1048 in G major. The season will conclude with the remaining four concertos in the collection that Bach presented to Margrave Christian Ludwig of Brandenburg-Schwedt: BWV 1047 in F major, BWV 1049 in G major, BWV 1050 in D major, and BWV 1051 in B-flat major. This will require the participation of many soloists. Those soloists will include John Thiessen (trumpet), Sandra Miller (flute), Stephen Bard (oboe), Aldo Abreu (recorder), Corey Jamason (harpsichord), violinists Tatiana Chulochnikova, Carla Moore, and Jude Ziliak, and violists Clio Tilton and Ramón Negrón Pérez. The program will conclude with an E minor concerto for recorder and flute by Georg Philipp Telemann and a concerto for four violins by Antonio Vivaldi.

St. Mark’s is located at 1111 O’Farrell Street, just west of the corner of Franklin Street. Ticket prices are $89, $69, $52, and $35. They may be purchased online through an event page on the ABS Web site.

[added 4/29, 10:55 a.m.:

Sunday, May 5, 4:30 p.m., Bird & Beckett Books and Records: As announced on The Bleeding Edge for this week, wind player Heikki Koskinen will join the Steve Heckman Duo for the program will be which way west?]

Sunday, May 5, 5:30 p.m., Brava Theater Center: This will be the final concert to be presented as part of the Music of the Banned project. The first public performance in the project took place at the Red Poppy Art House in August of 2017 as part of the Mission Arts Performance Project, and the Poppy will host the last of those performances. However, due to the significance of the occasion, the concert will take place at a larger venue. The concert will last about three hours and will consist of four sets presenting music from Kurdistan, Iran, Venezuela, and Sudan, respectively. The lobby will provide two contrasting visual art exhibitions by Iranian female artists, M. Nouri and Samaneh Salehi. The exhibition will open at 5:30 p.m., and the doors to the theatre will open at 6:30 p.m. The performance will begin at 7 p.m.

The Brava Theater Center is located at 2781 24th Street at the corner of York Street. Tickets for reserved seats in the Orchestra are being sold for $35. However, tickets are also available for $45, which include support for the Poppy. Reserved seats in the Mezzanine are being sold for $30 with a $25 rate for students and seniors. Tickets may be purchased online through an event page on the Brava Theater Center Web site.

[added 4/29, 10:55 a.m.:

Sunday, May 5, 7:30 p.m., Canessa Gallery: As announced on The Bleeding Edge for this week, there will be another Composers in Performance Series concert.]