Choices for June 8–9, 2019

The first weekend in next month will see a wide diversity of performing ensembles marking the end of their respective 2018–2019 seasons, along with one opening performance. Fortunately, the operative modifier there is “wide diversity.” This is likely to be a “something for everybody” weekend, when the only excuse for staying at home will probably be bad weather (such as what I am currently looking at through my window while writing this)! Specifics are as follows:

Saturday, June 8, 7:30 p.m., St. Mark’s Lutheran Church: Chanticleer will conclude its 2018–2019 season with a program entitled Sacred Ground. The program will survey the wide variety of compositions of sacred music from the sixteenth century to the recent past. Thus, it will begin with Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina’s “Tu es Petrus” setting of the Mass at one end and Paul Schoenfield’s set of four motets, which were co-commissioned by Chanticleer in 1995, at the other. The other composers will be closer (at least in temporal distance) to Palestrina than Schoenfield. They will include Hans Leo Hassler, Jacob Handl, Tomás Luis de Victoria, Francisco Guerrero, and John Dunstable. There will also be a variety of arrangements of traditional sources. These include one by Charles Wood on the English song “King Jesus Hath a Garden,” four by Alice Parker and Robert Shaw created for performances by the Robert Shaw Chorale, and one by former Chanticleer Music Director Joseph Jennings.

St. Mark’s is located at 1111 O’Farrell Street, just west of the corner of Franklin Street. Ticket prices will be $60 for Premiere seating, $50 for Preferred seating, and $20 for General Admission. All tickets are being sold online through a City Box Office event page.

Saturday, June 8, 7:30 p.m., Mission Dolores Basilica: The San Francisco Girls Chorus (SFGC) will conclude its 40th anniversary season with a program entitled From East to West. The program will feature two world premieres, one commissioned by SFGC and the other commissioned by Classical Movements for SFGC. The former will be the latest collaboration with Richard Danielpour, entitled “Three Parables.” Its performance will also mark the debut of harpist Bridget Kibbey. The other will be Reena Esmail’s “The Love of Thousands.” In addition, Mahsa Vahdat will make her debut performing a selection of songs based on texts by Rumi and Hafez. She will be joined by SFGC in arrangements of these songs by Norwegian composer Tord Gustavsen. The other composers whose works will be performed will be Eric Banks, Frank Ferko, and Sarah Kirkland Snider.

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. Ticket prices are $38 and $28. They may be purchased in advance online through a City Box Office event page.

Saturday, June 8, 8 p.m., San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM): The Bay Area Rainbow Symphony will conclude its season with its annual Pride Concert. The featured composer will be Shawn Kirchner, who will also be the piano soloist in a performance of his Brokeback Mountain Suite. This will be preceded by the Prelude to the opera Fritiofs saga by the Swedish composer Elfrida Andrée. The second half of the program will be devoted entirely to Hector Berlioz’ Opus 14, the programmatic symphony that he entitled “Symphonie fantastique.”

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 performance will take place in the Concert Hall. Ticket prices range from $35 to $10 depending on both location and special rates for seniors and students. Seats may be selected and purchased through a Tix event page.

Sunday, June 9, 2 p.m., War Memorial Opera House: As has already been announced on this site, San Francisco Opera will present the first performance of George Frideric Handel’s HWV 31 opera Orlando. The War Memorial Opera House is located at 301 Van Ness Avenue, on the northwest corner of Grove Street. Ticket prices range from $37 to $398. Remaining performances will all be at 7:30 p.m. on June 15, 18, 21, and 27. There is a single Web page for online purchase of tickets for all five of these dates.

Sunday, June 9, 3 p.m., SFCM: Stephen Paulson will conduct the Season Finale concert by Symphony Parnassus. The soloist will be trumpeter Mark J. Inouye, performing the trumpet concerto by Grace Mary Williams. The program will begin with the world premiere of a composition by Preben Antonsen entitled “Arthur Machen’s Childhood.” The second half of the program will be devoted entirely to Dmitri Shostakovich’s Opus 54 (sixth) symphony in B minor. Ticket prices will be $25 for general admission, $20 for seniors, and $10 for students and those under the age of 26 (with proof of identification). Online purchases are being handled by Brown Paper Tickets, but they may be purchased through a window embedded in the event page for this concert on the Symphony Parnassus Web site.

[added 5/30, 8:45 a.m.:

Sunday, June 9, 3 p.m., Davies Symphony Hall: The San Francisco Symphony (SFS) will conclude its annual series of Sunday afternoon recitals on the Ruffatti Concert Organ. The recitalist will be Christopher Houlihan, who came to my attention in 2012 when he planned a tour for performing the music of Louis Vierne. The second half of his program will feature compositions by two other leading French organists, Camille Saint-Saëns (a fantasy in E-flat major) and César Franck (the Opus 17 “Grande Pièce Symphonique” in F-sharp minor). The first half will be devoted entirely to German composers, beginning with Dieterich Buxtehude’s BuxWV prelude in G minor. This will be followed by Robert Schumann’s Opus 58, a set of four pieces for pedal piano or organ that he called simply “Sketches.” Houlihan will then conclude with Johann Sebastian Bach’s BWV 564 toccata, adagio, and fugue in C major. Ticket prices range from $30 to $40. They may be purchased online through the event page for this program on the SFS Web site, by calling 415-864-6000, or by visiting the Davies Box Office, whose entrance is on the south side of Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street.]

Sunday, June 9, 4 p.m., St. Mark’s Lutheran Church: San Francisco Choral Artists and its Artistic Director Magen Solomon will conclude the season with the annual SFCA+1 program. This year’s iteration will be a bit of an understatement, since there will be two musicians joining the ensemble, harpsichordist Jillon Stoppels Dupree and cellist Paul Hale. The former provided the inspiration for the program’s title, Castle, Court and Chamber: Harpsichords at Home. The program will interleave Baroque selections with music from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, along with more recent works by Composer-in-Residence Jean Ahn and Composer-Not-in-Residence Robinson McClellan.

Tickets purchased in advance will be $28 for general admission, $25 for seniors, and $12.50 for patrons under 30. Prices at the door will be $33, $29, and $15, respectively. Tickets may be purchased online through a Brown Paper Tickets event page.