SFP Chamber Series to Continue with Calidore

Calidore String Quartet members Estelle Choi, Jeffrey Myers, Jeremy Berry, and Ryan Meehan (courtesy of San Francisco Performances)

As was previously reported, San Francisco Performances (SFP) will present the first concert in its Chamber Series on October 18 and the beginning of what has emerged as a busy weekend. That series will continue the following Monday, leaving chamber music enthusiasts will little time to catch their collective breath. The second program will present the Calidore String Quartet, which made its SFP debut this past January, sharing the stage with pianist Inon Barnatan. The members of this ensemble are violinists Jeffrey Myers and Ryan Meehan, violist Jeremy Berry, and cellist Estelle Choi.

This month’s program will be framed by two of the particularly adventurous undertakings by “First Viennese School” composers. The opening selection with be Joseph Haydn’s Hoboken III/32 quartet in C major, the second of the Opus 20 collection of six quartets often known as the “Sun” quartets. The second half of the program will be devoted entirely to Ludwig van Beethoven. The Opus 130 quartet in B-flat major will be followed by the Opus 133 “Große Fuge,” also in B-flat major and originally composed as the final movement of Opus 130.

The Haydn quartet will be followed by three compositions that Caroline Shaw called “essays,” each with its own descriptive title and all of which were given their first performances by Calidore. The first of these, entitled “Nimrod,” was commissioned by Coretet and premiered on November 6, 2016. Calidore premiered the other two, entitled “Echo” and “Ruby,” at a Proms concert on July 16, 2018. Both pieces were commissioned jointly by the BBC (which organizes the Proms series) and Chamber Music Northwest.

This concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, October 21. The venue will be Herbst Theatre, whose entrance is the main entrance to the Veterans Building at 401 Van Ness Avenue, located on the southwest corner of McAllister Street. Ticket prices will be $70 for premium seating, $55, and $45. Tickets may be purchased in advance online through a City Box Office event page.