San Francisco Concerts Honoring Holocaust Violins

Readers whose interests (unlike my own) reach beyond the city limits of San Francisco probably know by now about Violins of Hope. This is an extended project presented by Music at Kohl Mansion, which will last for about two months, from mid-January to mid-March. Kohl Mansion is located on the Peninsula in the city of Burlingame in San Mateo County. It is a 63-room brick Tudor-style mansion on 40 acres of land. The Music at Kohl Mansion concert series has been inviting visitors to the building to enjoy chamber music recitals since it was launched in 1983.

Violins of Hope is the name of a priceless collection of recovered and meticulously restored instruments from the Holocaust era, including instruments that were played by prisoner-musicians in the ghettos and labor/death camps. To date 86 of these instruments have been recovered, 50 of which will be hosted by Music at Kohl Mansion. Hosting will involve coordinating the efforts of forty-two organizations showcasing these iconic instruments in multiple public events including symphonic, chamber, and klezmer concerts, exhibitions, film screenings, community forums and lectures, interfaith dialogues, student/teacher workshops, and ecumenical services. This includes the commissioning of Intonations: Songs from the Violins of Hope, the latest joint project of composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer, which will be given its world premiere at Kohl Mansion next month on January 19.

Only four concerts in this project will be performed in San Francisco. As might be expected, one of these will be the San Francisco premiere of Intonations. Another will be the San Francisco installment of a series of concerts entitled Along the Trade Route. This will provide a musical exploration of how shared melodies from over the centuries transcend political and national boundaries. The remaining two concerts are actually hosted through other concert series, the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) Chamber Music Concert Series and the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony, respectively. Specifics are as follows:

Thursday, February 6, 6 p.m., San Francisco Public Library (SFPL): The Along the Trade Route concert will be hosted by the Main Branch of SFPL. The program will be presented by four violinists, each exploring the music of a different culture: Cookie Segelstein (klezmer), Emmanuel During (Middle Eastern), Darcy Noonan (Celtic), and Suzy Thompson (Americana). The performance will take place downstairs in the Koret Auditorium. The SFPL Main Library is located at 100 Larkin Street, on the northeast corner of Grove Street on the Civic Center Plaza. As in the past, there will be no charge for admission. Those wishing further information from SFPL are invited to call 415-557-4277.

[added 2/8, 8:50 a.m.:

Saturday, February 15, 1 p.m., Community Music Center (CMC): Yesterday CMC announced another event in this series. It will be a two-part demonstration combining discussion and music. Avshalom Weinstein, whose father Amnon (shown in the photograph in yesterday’s article about the Along the Trade Route concert) founded the Violins of Hope project to restore violins from the Holocaust era, will discuss the techniques involved in restoration. The members of the Ariel Quartet will then perform selections from the concert they will perform the following evening for Music at Kohl Mansion. The specifics have not been announced. Most likely they will present one or more movements from Franz Schubert’s D. 810 (“Death and the Maiden”) string quartet in D minor and/or Dmitri Shostakovich's Opus 110 (eighth) quartet in C minor.

This event will take place at the CMC Concert Hall, which is located at 544 Capp Street, between Mission Street and South Van Ness Avenue and between 20th Street and 21st Street. All events are free and open to the general public. However, seating will be first come, first served; and advance reservation is no longer available.]

Friday, February 21, 7:30 p.m., Grace Cathedral: Grace will provide the venue for the San Francisco premiere of Intonations. The vocalist will be mezzo Nikola Printz, and Rebecca Jackson will be the violin soloist. They will be joined by a string quartet consisting of members of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra. That ensemble will also perform Franz Schubert’s D. 703, the single movement Quartettsatz in C minor, and Felix Mendelssohn’s Opus 80 (sixth) quartet in F minor.

Grace Cathedral is located at the top of Nob Hill at 1100 California Street, between Taylor Street and Jones Street. Ticket prices range between $15 and $60. Tickets may be purchased online from an Eventbrite event page.

Sunday, February 23, 2 p.m., Davies Symphony Hall: This installment of chamber music by SFS musicians will highlight the music of two Czech composers, both of whom were actively involved in cultural life in Theresienstadt concentration camp, Gideon Klein and Hans Krása. Neither of them survived World War II. Klein subsequently died at Fürstengrube, a coal-mining labor camp, and Krása was one of the many victims of Auschwitz. The music of these two composers will be framed by Malcolm Arnold’s Suite Bourgeoise and Johannes Brahms’ Opus 40 trio in E-flat major for horn, violin, and piano.

The ticket price for all seats is $40. Tickets may be purchased online through an event page on the SFS Web site. Tickets may also be purchased 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 online ticket purchases. 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.

Saturday, February 29, 8 p.m., San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM): This will be a “violin-based” program, which will feature “Interplay,” scored for three violins and orchestra. The composer is Chris Brubeck, son of Dave Brubeck, for whom he played bass in his father’s jazz quartet. Brubeck’s composition will be the “concerto” selection in a program whose overture will be the one composed by Ethel Smyth for The Boatswain’s Mate and whose symphony will be Mendelssohn’s Opus 56 (“Scottish”) symphony in A minor. The program will be presented by the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony (BARS), led by Music Director Dawn Harms. Harms will also be one of the three violinists in the performance of “Interplay,” joined by Kay Stern and Robin Mayforth.

SFCM is located at 50 Oak Street, between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street, a short walk from the Muni Van Ness station. Ticket prices range from $10 to $35. They may be purchased online through a Web page created for BARS by Tix.