According to my records, last season serious listeners did not have to worry about making hard choices until the long weekend of October 19–21. By now readers should know that the new season will be getting off to a busy start. That means that next month will present the first weekend of making those hard choices. As was the case last season, two of those choices will involve season-opening concerts; so this article will summarize the entirety of those seasons. Specifics are as follows:
Saturday, September 21, 7:30 p.m., Holy Innocents’ Episcopal Church: The Chamber Music Society of San Francisco (CMSSF) will begin its season with a program entitled Beethoven and the Avant-Garde. The CMSSF players are the members of a string quartet founded by violinists Natasha Makhijani and Jory Fankuchen, violist Clio Tilton, and cellist Samsun van Loon. Their program will present Ludwig van Beethoven’s final string quartet, Opus 135 in F major, in a context established by two adventurous composers, one from the end of the last century and one from the immediate present.
The earlier of those composers will be Alfred Schnittke, whose “Moz-Art à la Haydn” was originally composed for two violins and string ensemble in 1977; and it was performed with those resources by the New Century Chamber Orchestra in May of 2011. Schnittke’s witty reflection on the First Viennese School will be complemented by three works composed by Caroline Shaw. Two of them are string quartets, “Valencia” and selections from “Plan & Elevation: The Grounds of Dumbarton Oaks.” In addition, Tilton and van Loon will play the duo “Limestone & Felt.”
Holy Innocents’ Episcopal Church is located at 455 Fair Oaks Street. Ticket prices at the door will be $25 with a $15 rate for students and those under the age of eighteen. Tickets may be purchased at a discounted rate online in advance through an Eventbrite event page.
Saturday, September 21, 8 p.m., Z Space: Andy Meyerson, the percussionist in The Living Earth Show (TLES) duo, will present a solo recital of works exploring tension, resonance, ritual, and control. The title of his program will be Humble Servant, which is also the title of the composition by Adrian Knight found on the opening track of his album My Side of the Story. The program will also present a world premiere performance of a composition by Samuel Adams, who has been a long-time TLES collaborator. The remaining works on the program were also written for Meyerson by Sarah Hennies, Christopher Cerrone, and Amadeus Julian Regucera, respectively.
Z Space is located in NEMIZ (the NorthEast Mission Industrial Zone) at 450 Florida Street, between 17th Street and Mariposa Street. All tickets are being sold for $35. Z Space has created a Web page for online purchases.
Saturday, September 21, 8 p.m., St. Mark’s Lutheran Church: Clerestory will begin its 2019–2020 season with a program entitled War & Peace. Program details have not yet been announced, but the selections will recognize the historic anniversaries of both the Leo Tolstoy novel after which the concert has been named and the end of World War II. St. Mark’s is located at 1111 O’Farrell Street, just west of the corner of Franklin Street. Currently, only subscriptions for the entire season are on sale. The season will consist of three concerts, and the prices are $75 for general admission and $60 for seniors. A Web page has been created for online purchase. The remaining two concerts in the season will also take place at St. Mark’s. Dates and times are as follows:
- Sunday, February 2, 4 p.m.: The program for Suffragette will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution, given women the right to vote.
- Sunday, April 19, 4 p.m.: Into the West will present works by composers that have been inspired by the energy and majesty encountered west of the Mississippi River.
Presumably, the event page for War & Peace will have a hyperlink for purchasing single tickets closer to the date of the performance.
Sunday, September 22, 2 p.m., San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM): As has already been announced, this will be a Faculty Chamber Music Concert presented by cellist Bonnie Hampton. There will be no charge for admission, but reservations are strongly recommended. Details may be found in or through the article summarizing September activities at SFCM.
Sunday, September 22, 4 p.m., Church of the Advent of Christ the King: The San Francisco Early Music Society (SFEMS) will begin its 2019–20 concert season with a recital by the Costanoan Trio. This is the piano trio consisting of Cynthia Black on violin, Frédéric Rosselet on cello, and Derek Tam on fortepiano. They will present a program of piano trios by the four great composer-pianists of the late eighteenth century: Joseph Haydn (Hoboken XV/20 in B-flat major), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (K. 542 in E major), Muzio Clementi (Opus 22, Number 1, in D major), and Ludwig van Beethoven (Opus 1, Number 2, in G major).
The Church of the Advent of Christ the King is located at 261 Fell Street, between Franklin Street and Gough Street. The entry is diagonally across the street from the SFJAZZ Center. General admission is $50, with special rates for seniors ($45), SFEMS member ($42.50), and students ($15). Tickets may be purchased (with seat selection) online through the event page for this concert.
In addition, because this is the first concert of the season, two subscription options apply. The price for all five concerts in the season will be $212.50 for general admission and $187.50 for SFEMS members. In addition, those who purchase tickets for three or more concerts will be entitled to the mini-subscription rate. This is a 25% discount off the single-ticket price for SFEMS members and a 15% discount for all others.
All four of the remaining concerts will also take place at 4 p.m. on a Sunday afternoon. The February concert will be held at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, and all others will take place at the Church of the Advent. Dates and performers are as follows (with hyperlinks for purchasing tickets attached to the dates):
- November 24: Two new medieval music ensembles, Aquila and Tres Hermanicas, will join forces for this program. The repertoire will be shared between cantigas (medieval monophonic song often based on Galician-Portuguese lyrics) and Sephardic song. The program will also include storytelling and dance.
- January 12: Les Voix Humaines is a gamba ensemble based in Quebec. It is led by Susie Napper and Margaret Little. The program will be organized around a “deep dive” into one of the greatest compositions from the English baroque repertoire: Lachrimae, or Seaven Teares by John Dowland. This is a cycle of seven variations on the “Lachrimæ pavan” theme, which Dowland had composed as a lute solo.
- February 16: Musica Pacifica consists of Judith Linsenberg on recorders of different sizes, violinist Ingrid Matthews, cellist William Skeen, percussionist Peter Maund, and Charles Sherman on harpsichord. They will be joined by guest artist David Greenberg, whose baroque violin skills are complemented with a talent for Cape Breton fiddling. The program will thus alternate between playing for part pages and playing by ear.
- March 22: Violinist Rachel Barton Pine and harpsichordist Jory Vinikour will join forces for a program consisting entirely of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach. Last year they released an album of Bach’s sonatas for violin and keyboard accompaniment, and they will perform selections from that recording. Each of them will perform solo partitas written for their respective instruments.
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