LCCE to Present Musical Storytelling

Storyteller Susan Strauss, composer Chris Castro, and violist Phyllis Kamrin (from the LCCE event page for the concert being previewed)

[added 3/7, 3:05 p.m.:

LCCE has decided to cancel its performance of Fairytale Pieces this coming Monday, March 9. Those with tickets have the following options:

1. Treat the ticket as a tax-deductible gift.
2. Exchange the ticket for one for the following concert, Living in Color, whose San Francisco performance will take place on Monday, June 1.
3. Return the ticket for a refund.

Those in need of assistance can call LCCE at 415-617-5223 or send electronic mail to the Box Office.]

The title of the fourth program to be presented in the 2019–2020 season of the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble (LCCE) is Fairytale Pieces. Of the three pieces on the program, one will be a world premiere and another was composed on an LCCE commission. The world premiere composition was written by Carl Schimmel, entitled “Ladle Rat Rotten Hut.”

This piece was inspired by Howard L. Chace’s book Anguish Languish, now out of print but available from Amazon.com at collector’s-item prices. The book is a hysterically funny study in phonemics. Except for the Introduction, it consists entirely of strings of words that make sense only when read aloud. With that as background, readers should be able to mine the semantics from the title of Schimmel’s piece, described by Chase as a “ladle furry starry toiling udder warts—warts welcher altar girdle deferent firmer once inner regional virgin.” The narration of this text will be delivered by Nikki Einfeld.

The LCCE commission was for a pair of short pieces by Chris Castro, “Coyote Goes to the Sky” and “Birds of Fortune.” They were premiered about a year ago, when LCCE was ensemble-in-residence at the Doug Adams Gallery of the Graduate Theological Union’s Center for Arts and Religion. For these pieces, based on Native American tales, guest performer Susan Strauss will serve as storyteller. The program will begin with Robert Schumann’s Opus 113, a collection of four short pieces scored for viola (Phyllis Kamrin) and piano (Allegra Chapman, appearing as guest performer).

The San Francisco performance of this program will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, March 9. 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.