Gerhaher to Launch SFP Art of Song Series

Baritone Christian Gerhaher (from his SFP event page)

Next month The Art of Song Series presented by San Francisco Performances (SFP) will begin with a recital by German baritone Christian Gerhaher. Gerhaher will be accompanied by pianist Gerold Huber. The two of them made their San Francisco debut with SFP in September of 2014, presenting a program described in the program book as one of “poems by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe set to music by Franz Schubert and Wolfgang Rihm.” They returned in December of 2016 with a program consisting entirely of music by Gustav Mahler.

Their third SFP recital will again be an all-Mahler program. It will include the entire Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (songs of a wayfarer), which was originally composed for medium voice and piano. That version seems to have been completed in 1885 but then considerably revised the following year. Mahler would not begin to orchestrate the piano part until the early 1890s. The program will also include settings of poems from the Des Knaben Wunderhorn (the youth’s magic horn) collection of German folk poetry, again composed originally for piano accompaniment, as well as selections from the Kindertotenlieder (songs on the death of children) collection of settings of poems by Friedrich Rückert. This last composition was originally composed for voice and orchestra, completed in 1904; but a vocal score (with piano accompaniment) was first published in 1905.

This recital will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 22. The venue will be Herbst Theatre, located on the southwest corner of Van Ness Avenue and McAllister Street. Ticket prices are $70, $55, and $45. Tickets may be purchased in advance online from a City Box Office event page, which includes a seating plan with information about availability in the different sections of Herbst.

Because this is the first program in The Art of Song series, subscriptions are still on sale for $235 for premium seating, $190, and $160. Subscriptions may be purchased online in advance through a separate City Box Office event page, which also includes information about the locations associated with each of the price levels. Orders may also be placed by calling the SFP subscriber hotline at 415-677-0325, which is open for receiving calls between 9:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.