from the SFS event page for Cooke’s first SFS appearance this season
Readers may recall that plans for the current season of the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) included season-long residencies for three “distinguished visitors.” The first of those visitors will be mezzo Sasha Cooke, who will be one of two featured soloists during the first subscription concert to be given this month. Her other major appearance will take place at the end of May. She will give a Great Performers Series recital in which she will be joined by a string quartet of SFS musicians. Specifics for both of these concerts are as follows:
January 9–12: Cooke will be joined by baritone Ryan McKinny to give the world premiere performance of Mediations on Rilke, a song cycle composed by Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT). The cycle sets six poems by Rainer Maria Rilke, five of which are for voice and orchestra. The penultimate song requires a duo performance by both the mezzo and the bass-baritone. Cooke will also sing Gustav Mahler’s settings of four of the folk poems collected in the Des Knaben Wunderhorn (the youth’s magic horn) anthology: “Rheinlegendchen” (little Rhine legend), “Das irdische Leben” (the earthly life), “Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen” (where the fair trumpets sound), and “Urlicht” (primeval light). These Germanic offerings will be framed by two French selections. MTT will begin the program with the overture to Hector Berlioz’ Opus 23 opera Benvenuto Cellini, and he will conclude with Maurice Ravel’s “La Valse.”
This concert will be given four performances taking place at 8 p.m. on Thursday, January 9, Friday, January 10, and Saturday, January 11, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday, January 12. The Inside Music talk will be given by Laura Prichard one hour prior to each concert. Ticket prices range from $20 to $165, and an event page has been created for online purchase. They 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. KDFC’s Rik Malone’s podcast about “La Valse” will be posted to the Program Note Podcasts Web page prior to the first performance of this program. In addition the event page includes sound clips from previous SFS performance of that composition. Flash must be enabled for both streamed content and 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.
May 31: The title of Cooke’s Great Performers Series recital will be A Love Song to San Francisco. She has prepared a program that will reflect on the roughly one-decade journey of her performances with MTT and SFS. Her piano accompanist will be Julian Drake, and the program will feature Ernest Chausson’s Opus 37 “Chanson perpétuelle” (perpetual song). This was originally composed for voice and orchestra; but Chausson subsequently wrote a version for soprano, piano, and string quartet. For this performance the quartet will consist entirely of SFS musicians, violinists Nadya Tichman and Chen Zhao, violist Jonathan Vinocour, and cellist Amos Yang. The program will also include more Mahler, this time drawing upon his setting of poems by Friedrich Rückert. The other composers featured on the program will be Berlioz, Robert Schumann, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Claude Debussy. This performance will begin at 7:30 p.m. Ticket prices range from $30 to $95. They may be purchased online through the event page for this concert.
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