LCCE to Explore French Repertoire

LCCE performers Jerome Simas, Anna Presler, Tanya Tomkins, and Eric Zivian (photograph by Bonnie Rae Mills, from the event page for this concert)

The title of the third program to be presented in the 2019–2020 season of the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble (LCCE) is French Sublime. The major French composition on the program will be Olivier Messiaen’s “Quatuor pour la fin du temps” (quartet for the end of time). The concert itself will take place on the fifth anniversary (to the day) of the last LCCE performance in San Francisco of this composition, which has come to be recognized as one of the most significant works of the twentieth century. The piece was composed while Messiaen was imprisoned in Stalag VIII-A, a World War II Nazi prisoner-of-war camp in Görlitz, Germany (which is now the Polish city of Zgorzelec). Messiaen showed early sketches to fellow prisoner and clarinetist Henri Akoka; and the finished product would emerge as a quartet for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano. As was the case in 2015, the clarinetist will be Jerome Simas. He will be joined by Anna Presler on violin, Tanya Tomkins on cello, and Eric Zivian on piano.

The Messiaen selection will be preceded by two earlier French compositions. The first of these will be a nocturne for violin and piano by Lili Boulanger. This will be followed by Claude Debussy’s first clarinet rhapsody. The one work by a composer that is not French will be the world premiere of “One Wing,” which is Kurt Rohde’s reflection on the influences of Messiaen and his unconventional quartet.

The San Francisco performance of this program will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, February 3. The venue will be the Recital Hall of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, located at 50 Oak Street, between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street and a short walk from the Van Ness Muni Station. Single tickets will be sold at the door for $35 for general admission and $18 for those under the age of 35. Tickets may be purchased in advance online through a Tix Web page.