Sunday, October 27, 2019

Choices for November 10, 2019

This month began with an enumeration of choices that will have to be made for Saturday, November 2. The choices will become even more abundant the following weekend; but this time they will focus on Sunday, November 10. Two of those options have already been taken into account on this site. However, they will be folded into the following list with appropriate hyperlinks:

2 p.m., Herbst Theatre: The Golden Gate Symphony Orchestra & Chorus will begin its 2019–2020 season with a fascinating pairing of two symphonies. The program will present the world premiere performance of Richard Aldag’s first symphony. Completed in 2014, this composition was cast as a single movement structured loosely around the traditional “sonata form.” The other symphony in the pair will be Ludwig van Beethoven’s Opus 125 (“Choral”) symphony in D minor. The ensemble’s chorus will be joined by five soloists, soprano Chelsea Hollow, mezzo Silvie Jensen, tenor William Wiggins, and basses Igor Vieira and Ryan Bradford. The conductor will be Music Director Urs Leonhard Steiner. In addition the program will open with Hector Berlioz’ Opus 9 overture “Le carnaval romain” (the Roman carnival). Composed as a stand-alone overture, Opus 9 is based on themes from Berlioz’ opera Benvenuto Cellini. The conductor for this selection will be German M. Gonzalez.

Herbst Theatre occupies the lower floors of the Veterans Building, located at 401 Van Ness Avenue on the southwest corner of McAllister Street. Readers (and other avid concert-goers) probably know by now that this is an excellent location for public transportation with bus lines whose routes are both east-west and north-south. Ticket prices will be $45 for the side Boxes, $35 for the Orchestra, $30 for the Dress Circle, and $25 for the Balcony. Tickets may be purchased online through a City Box Office event page, which includes a map of the Herbst seating plan with indication of where seats are available.

4 p.m., Old First Presbyterian Church: Old First Concerts (O1C) will present a program featuring the Arabic sources behind the Andalusian origins of flamenco music; specifics may be found in the November summary of O1C events.

4 p.m., ODC Theater: This is also the time for the PB&J program prepared by the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and the Juilliard415 period-instrument ensemble, specifics for which have already been reported.

5 p.m., Noe Valley Ministry: The fourth recital in the Liederabend (evening of songs) Series presented by LIEDER ALIVE! will explore the Spanish repertoire. The vocalist will be soprano Esther Rayo, accompanied at the pianist by Peter Grünberg. The program will feature Spanish-language songs by Fernando Obradors, Manuel de Falla, Xavier Montsalvatge, and Enrique Granados. However, two German-speaking composers will also be included. Erich Wolfgang Korngold will be represented by “Alt-spanisch” (old Spanish song), the third of the five songs in his Opus 38 collection. Finally, it would not be a Liederabend without at least one selection from Hugo Wolf’s Spanisches Liederbuch (Spanish songbook), even if all of the texts are in German (as is also the case for Korngold)!

The Noe Valley Ministry is located at 1021 Sanchez Street, between 23rd Street and Elizabeth Street. Single tickets for all concerts in this series are $75 for reserved seating and $35 for general admission and a $20 rate for students, seniors, and working artists. These may also be purchased in advance through Eventbrite. Tickets at the door will be $40.

7:30 p.m., Davies Symphony Hall: The San Francisco Symphony Great Performers Series will present a solo recital by pianist Chick Corea, who is as well-versed in the classical repertoire as he is in jazz. Indeed, the title of his program will be From Mozart to Monk, meaning that music by both Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Thelonious Monk will be on the program. Full details have not yet been announced, but expect that at least one original by Bill Evans will be included. It would probably also be appropriate to note that Robin D. G. Kelley’s comprehensive book Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original begins with an episode in which Monk is playing from a collection of pieces by Frédéric Chopin. Kelley never mentions which of those pieces Monk played, but it would be fun if Corea speculated on that question!

Tickets are being sold for between $110 and $30. 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. Flash must be enabled for purchasing tickets online. The Box Office is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, from noon to 6 p.m. on Saturday, and two hours prior to Sunday performances.

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