Old First Concerts: May, 2019

The May schedule for Old First Concerts (O1C) appears to have been finalized. Those who receive calendar brochures in the mail from O1C need to be informed that the schedule as it appears on the Web site is not the same one that had been committed to physical print. As might be guessed, this site tries to keep up with Web-based information as the authoritative source and has the luxury of making updates online and notifying readers through the shadow page for this site on Facebook.

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 May:

Friday, May 3, 8 p.m.: Young cellist Eunghee Cho will still play as originally announced, but there will be a change in the other performers. He will perform as a member of the Mellon International Chamber Players, named after the Mellon Music Festival in Davis, California, which Cho founded and where he now serves as Artistic Director. He will be joined by violinist Stephanie Zyzak and pianist Roger Xia. The featured work on the program will be Antonín Dvořák’s Opus 90 (“Dumky”) trio in E minor. The program will begin with Pēteris Vasks’ “Castillo Interior.” In addition, Zyzak and Cho will perform the solo parts from the first movement of Johannes Brahms’ Opus 102 double concerto in A minor, with Xia providing accompaniment.

Sunday, May 5, 4 p.m.: The Ives Collective will present a program entitled All in the Family. The program will consist of two string sextets, the first by Frank Bridge and the second the Opus 36 (second) sextet by Johannes Brahms. The title of the program refers to the fact that three generations of Hershes will be performing, Stefan on violin, Paul on viola, and Alexander on cello. The remaining players will be spouses, siblings, or in-laws: Roberta Freier on violin, Susan Freier on viola, and Stephen Harrison on cello.

Friday, May 10, 8 p.m.: Pianist Jon Jang will lead a combo called the Jon Jangtet. His front line will consist of Hitomi Oba on tenor saxophone and Nick DePinna on trombone. Rhythm will be provided by Gary Brown on bass and Deszon X. Claiborne on percussion. There will also be a guest artist, poet/performer Genny Lim. The program will feature the world premiere of Jang’s “A Chinaman’s Chance, A Choy’s Chance!,” composed in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in the US built by Chinese immigrant workers. The program will also include “Yank Sing Work Song” and an arrangement of a selection from Shaoxing Opera, “The Butterly Lover’s Song.”

Friday, May 17, 8 p.m.: Pianists Sarah Cahill and Regina Myers will join forces to perform a concert of music mainly on the theme of social justice, as motivation and inspiration, including works by Elinor Armer (“Mirror, Mirror”), Ruby Fulton (“all night, all day”), Frederic Rzewski (“Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues”), Pauline Oliveros (“A New Indigo Peace”), Meredith Monk (“Ellis Island”) and Hanna Kendall (“Processional”). They will also perform the world premiere performance of Sharmi Basu’s “A Muted Body” and the West Coast premiere of Theresa Wong’s “She Dances Naked Under Palm Trees.”

Sunday, May 19, 4 p.m.: Pianist Jason Stoll will present a program entitled Delicious Delights, which will explore the flexible frontier between classical and jazz. He will perform two Chopin selections, the Opus 23 (first) ballade in G minor and the Opus 66 fantasia-impromptu. This will be preceded by the set of variations that Federico Mompou composed on a Chopin theme and followed by selections from the seven virtuoso études that Earl Wild composed based on songs by George Gershwin (which reflect Wild’s knowledge of the music of Franz Liszt). Gershwin himself will be represented by the solo piano version of “Rhapsody in Blue.” There will also be selections from Nikolai Kapustin’s jazzy Opus 40 collection of études and Andy Villemez’ “Fantasy on Themes from Rogers and Hammerstein’s Sound of Music.”

[updated 5/2, 2:05 p.m.: This concert has been postponed:

Friday, May 31, 8 p.m.: Pianist Audrey Vardanega will return to Old First. This time she will give a solo recital. She will begin with the three intermezzos that Johannes Brahms collected as his Opus 117. Brahms will then be coupled to Ludwig van Beethoven with a performance of the latter’s Opus 81a (“Les Adieux”) sonata in E-flat major.]