Two Adventurous Summaries for November, 2019

Yes, it is not too early to start figuring out how to plan your time for next month! There are two November schedules that will get under way during the first weekend of the month. One is for the Center for New Music (C4NM), which never fails to present programs as diverse as they are adventurous. Where next month is concerned, however, the same can be said about the Old First Concerts (O1C) series. Pride of place will go to O1C, because its November schedule begins on Friday evening.

All O1C events take place at the Old First Presbyterian Church, located at 1751 Sacramento Street on the southeast corner of Van Ness Avenue. If purchased in advance online from an O1C event page, general admission will be $23 with a discounted rate of $18 for seniors aged 65 or older. Hyperlinks for online purchase through specific event pages will be attached to the date-and-time information given below. Tickets for full-time students showing valid identification will be $5; and children aged twelve and under will be admitted for free. There is also a discount available for those parking at the Old First Parking Garage at 1725 Sacramento Street, just up the street from the church. Here are the specifics for the month of November:

• Friday, November 1, 8 p.m.: This will be the latest program presented under the auspices of the Helia Music Collective, co-founded by composers Julie Barwick and Emma Logan. The Collective focuses on providing opportunities for music composed by American women to be performed. For this occasion the performance will be a solo violin recital by Robert Simonds. Much of the program will be devoted to how source material from both folk music and the Renaissance and Baroque periods is influencing some of today’s most dynamic composers, including Missy Mazzoli, Cindy Cox, Patricia Van Ness, TJ Cole, Molly Joyce, Elizabeth Kennedy Bayer, Alexis Bacon.
• Sunday, November 3, 4 p.m.: Pianist Utsav Lal will give a solo recital. He has been called the “Raga Pianist,” because his performances synthesize influences from the Western classical tradition, jazz, and North Indian music. He has not announced a program, suggesting that this performance will be improvised.
• Friday, November 8, 8 p.m.: Quinteto La Moderna is a Bay Area ensemble whose members are Tregar Otton on violin, Miguelito Martinez and John Calloway on flute, Steve Senft-Herrera on bass, and Michael Spiro on percussion. They specialize in a Cuban music style known as “Charanga.” However, their repertoire also includes the related danzón genre, as well as more popular styles, such as the cha-cha-chá.
• Sunday, November 10, 4 p.m.: Ali Paris will return with his qanun almost exactly a year after his last visit to O1C. He will again be joined by Gabriel Navia on guitar and Josh Mellinger on percussion. The program will be based on the Andalusian origins of flamenco music with Arabic sources. Other guest musicians, yet to be named, will participate, along with flamenco dancers.
• Friday, November 15, 8 p.m.: This will be another return visit, this time by the Circadian String Quartet, whose members are violinists Monika Gruber and David Ryther, violist Omid Assadi, and cellist David Wishnia. The title of the program will be Communitas: Coming together to face chaos, and two of the selections will be newly commissioned works for string quartet and santour, the Persian hammered dulcimer. The composers of these new pieces are Hamid Taghavi and Amin Assadi, and the santour will be played Taghavi. The program will also include Sahba Aminikia’s “One Day; Tehran” and two of Reza Vali’s “Calligraphy” compositions, as well as Ryther’s “Chiaroscuros.”

C4NM is located at 55 Taylor Street, half a block north of the Golden Gate Theater, which is where Golden Gate Avenue meets Market Street. All tickets may be purchased in advance through a Vendini event page. Hyperlinks to the appropriate Web pages will again be attached to each of the dates in the following summary:

• [updated 10/9, 12:50 p.m.: Friday, November 1, 7 p.m.: The event planned by Mike Tamburo has now been added to the C4NM Calendar.]
  
• Saturday, November 2, 7:30 p.m.: Rise Up, Take Flight will be a solo piano recital by Kathleen Supové curated by Dan Becker. There will be world premiere performances of Becker’s “Road Trip Snapshots” and Belinda Reynolds “Steps” and California premieres of the remaining three works on the program. These will be “A Face In The Crowd” by Randall Woolf, Supové’s “Summon,” and “Douglass-Blues” by John King. The last two have been composed for speaking pianist, the latter using a speech given by Frederick Douglass on a slave’s perspective of the Fourth of July holiday. The charge will be $15 for general admission and $10 for C4NM members and students. [added 10/18, 1:15 p.m.
• Sunday, November 3, 7:30 p.m.: This will be the final performance by the 2019 Ensemble-in-Residence, duo B. vs. vIDEO sAVant. This is an improvising intermedia ensemble that brings the duo B. instrumentalists (Jason Levis on drums and Lesa Mezzacappa on bass) together with Charles Woodman, who creates real-time video improvisations. Their performance will be preceded by the screening of works by filmmaker Dominic Angerame, after which the multimedia improvisations will begin. The charge will be $10 for general admission and $10 for C4NM and Cinematheque members.] [added 10/9, 11:20 a.m.:
• Monday, November 4, 7:30 p.m.: Ensemble PHASE is a quintet of musicians all experimenting on Korean instruments with the intention of creating and performing new repertoires. The performers themselves are Kilyoung Chae, Minseop Song, Jeongmin Park, Jeonghyeon Joo, and Nayeong Park. Their program will include new works from their 2018–2019 season. The charge will be $15 for general admission and $10 for C4NM members and students.] [added 10/18, 1:25 p.m.:
• Tuesday, November 5, 8 p.m.: The Founders’ Series will present The Marrow. This is a quintet that brings together Arabic Maqam and Persian Dastgah with western improvisation. The group is is led by oud player Gordon Grdina. The other members are Mark Feldman on violin, Hank Roberts on cello, Mark Helias on bass, and Hamin Honari on tombak and daf. The charge will be $15 for general admission and $10 for C4NM members and students.] [added 10/24, 5:25 p.m.:
• Wednesday, November 6, 8 p.m.: PGLRG is the new name for the large ensemble led by saxophonist Phillip Greenlief to perform his compositions. These are usually his map scores. The evening will include simultaneous performance of multiple trio compositions and a performance of his latest map score based on the city of Saint Petersburg. The charge will be $15 for general admission and $10 for C4NM members and students.]  [added 10/9, 12:55 p.m.:
• Friday, November 8, 8 p.m.: The next Latitudes program to be curated by Blaine Todd will be a two-set evening of sounds from unconventional sources. Joshua Hammer works with “found sounds,” drawing upon a battery of consumer-grade electronics. The set by Kaori Suzuki will feature modified melodica and oscillators. The charge will be $15 for general admission and $10 for C4NM members and students.]
  
• Saturday, November 9, 3 p.m.: The Left Coast Chamber Ensemble will be participating in the Wunsch New Music Festival. This program will preview the music they have prepared for their contribution. The composers will be Melinda Wagner, Mei-Fang Lin, Jennifer Higdon, Kurt Rohde, Sheila Silver, and Christopher Stark. There will be no charge for admission to this performance. [added 10/17, 10:20 a.m.:
• Thursday, November 14, 7:30 p.m.: C4NM will host the final performance in this year’s Soundwave Festival 9. Christo Oropeza will guest curate a program entiled Nochtlaca: Todos, todos, todos. The featured artist will be drag queen vocalist San Cha accompanied by Guillermo Galindo’s home-made instruments, all constructured from objects found along the border with Mexico. In addition drag queen Persia will create a special set of performances to accompany San Cha and Guillermo’s work. The charge will be $20 for general admission and $15 for tickets purchased in advance and C4NM members.] [added 11/8, 3 p.m.:
• Friday, November 15, 7 p.m.: Global Art Bridges, a collaborative project uniting various musical and artistic traditions of the world, will give its debut performance. The group was launched by Leo Iogansen and Sasha Burdin this past spring. The concert will feature the world premieres of “Sleeping Waters” and “Calling,” both of which were specifically written for the Global Art Bridges ensemble by its founders. The program will also include compositions created by other members of the ensemble. The charge will be $15 for general admission and $10 for C4NM members and students.]
  
• Saturday, November 16, 3 p.m.: The Wooden Fish Ensemble will return to C4NM showcasing new compositions for Hyo-Shin Na for both solo piano and solo koto. There will also be selected folk songs from both Japan and Korea performed on both Asian instruments and piano. The charge will be $20 for general admission and $10 for C4NM members.
• Sunday, November 17, 7 p.m.: Chris Brown will curate a two-set program. The first set will be the latest program prepared by the sfSoundGroup. The second set will feature installation artist Davy Summer. He has designed Synthbees, which are handheld sound-makers that react to movement, touch, heat, light, color, and other sounds. His performance will involve an ensemble of these devices. The charge will be $15 for general admission and $10 for C4NM members and students. [added 10/25, 12:30 p.m.:
• Tuesday, November 19, 8 p.m.: This will be an evening of audio-visual improvisations. Bill Hsu will return to C4NM for his latest work in real-time animated image synthesis. He will perform alongside Gino Robair, working with electronic gear, and Birgit Ulher, whose instruments are trumpet, radio, speaker, and objects. Ulher and Robair had recorded two CD of their duo performances, and Hsu has performed with them in the past. The charge will be $20 for general admission and $10 for C4NM members.]
• Friday, November 22, 7:30 p.m.: Pianist Nicholas Phillips will give a solo concert entitled #45miniatures. By his own admission, Phillips says that the project originated as a sarcastic late-night post on Facebook involving miniatures for solo piano, each related in some way or another to the 45th President of the United States of America, Donald Trump. More than 50 composers agreed to participate, and Phillips will review their efforts at this concert. The charge will be $15 for general admission and $10 for C4NM members and students.
• Saturday, November 23, 7:30 p.m.: Glenda Bates will curate a concert by the electronic trio FutureJazz. E. Doctor Smith plays a Zendrum EXP, adding sampled sounds to the mix. Peter McKibben plays guitar, supplemented with looping technology, alternating with synthesizer. Laura Austin Wiley supplements her flute performance with effects devices. The charge will be $15 for general admission and $10 for C4NM members and students.
• Sunday, November 24, 3 p.m.: Gloria Justen and Greg Habiby will present a program entitled Resonating Bodies. Over the course of the afternoon they will work with sources of resonating sounds such as strings, drums, and electronic processing for capturing and transforming loops. The charge will be $15 for general admission and $10 for C4NM members and students.