Old First Concerts: July 2020

As of this writing, the solo recitals planned for the month of June by Old First Concerts (O1C) have been going ahead; but not quite as planned. Hopes for limited admission to Old First Church and the sale of tickets had to be abandoned. However, the first three of the June concerts have been presented through live streaming; and the plan to present the last concert of the month, a shakuhachi recital by Cornelius Boots, is still “on the books.” All concerts have been streamed live through YouTube; and, for the most part, technical glitches have been kept to a minimum. As a result, these live-stream concerts will continue next month with three planned concerts:

Friday, July 17, 8 p.m.: San Francisco violinist Patrick Galvin will present the next solo recital. His program will feature the world premiere of a composition by Stefan Cwik. The remainder of the program will be devoted to solo violin sonatas by Johann Sebastian Bach and Eugène Ysaÿe. Both of  these composers wrote six such solo sonatas. As of this writing, Galvin has not yet announced which among these alternatives he will perform.

[updated 7/11, 5:15 a.m.: The following event has been rescheduled for next year:

Friday, July 24, 8 p.m.: The first ensemble offering following the shutdown of live performances this past March will present the L’arc Trio, making its O1C debut. The members of the trio are violinist Maria van der Sloot, cellist Christine Lee, and pianist Jung-eun Kim. They met as students in the postgraduate chamber music program at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. They came together as a trio in 2018 and made their debut at the Berkeley Piano Club in January of 2019. Their program will also present a world premiere, composed on a commission by Vivian Fung. The remainder of the program will be devoted to two trios by Ludwig van Beethoven, the first, in the key of E-flat major, of the three trios in the Opus 1 collection, and the Opus 97 (“Archduke”) trio inB-flat major.]

Sunday, July 26, 4 p.m.: The month will conclude with a solo piano recital by Paula Dreyer. She will devote the entire concert to a performance of the music on her album Central Star. The album has not yet been released, and funds for the release are currently being raised through a Kickstarter campaign. All of the tracks on the album grew out of Dreyer asking herself the question “How do we process change in an ever changing world?”

As far as the return to Old First Church as a concert venue is concerned, O1C Director Matthew Wolka is currently tracking plans for churches to start admitting people to their respective sanctuaries. As of this writing, July 15 is a tentative date for such a reopening. If that is the case, then this may be the first step towards performances taking place in the presence of an audience, even if the audience is a sparse one. As a result, the Web pages for the last two recitals still include hyperlinks for purchasing tickets. Whether or not audiences will be admitted to these events, it is likely that all three of these recitals will be given live streaming through YouTube, with hyperlinks to the appropriate pages given on the event pages (to which the above dates have been hyperlinked).

In the event that audience admission will be allowed for any of these events, the Old First Presbyterian Church is 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. 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.