At the end of last month, Don Scott Carpenter, Executive Director of American Bach Soloists (ABS), shared plans to resume performances. Those plans include reviving the annual Summer Festival at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the return of the annual Sparkle fundraising gala, three performances of George Frideric Handel’s HWV 56 oratorio Messiah at Grace Cathedral, the return of A Baroque New Year’s Eve at the Opera, and the resumption of the annual three-concert Connoisseur Series. It is important to emphasize that all these plans are currently tentative. However Connoisseur Series subscribers have already received invitations to renew, and the current hope is that tickets will be on sale to everyone as of this coming Friday, June 18. The Academy, whose students perform during the Summer Festival, will not return until the summer of 2022. Programming for this summer’s Festival will be as follows: [added 6/18, 5:45 p.m.: Times added and one date corrected:
Sunday, August 1, 4 p.m.: Triples Alley will be a program of concertos for three violins by Johann Sebastian Bach (BWV 1064R in D major), Georg Philipp Telemann (TWV 53:F1 in F major), and Antonio Vivaldi (RV 551 in F major); there will then be a “grand finale” of Vivaldi’s RV 580 concerto for four violins in B minor, the tenth of concertos in his Opus 3 (L’estro Armonico) collection (as well as the “source” for Bach’s BWV 1065 concerto in A minor for four harpsichords).
Tuesday, August 3, 7 p.m.: Transformation [title updated 7/5, 9:25 a.m.] will present arrangements of Bach’s music by Sergei Rachmaninoff, Eugène Ysaÿe, and Franz Liszt. Treatments of the Preludio movement, which opens the BWV 1006.1 solo violin partita in E major, will be by Rachmaninoff and Ysaÿe. The Liszt offering will be a set of variations on the opening motif of the BWV 12 cantata “Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen” (weeping, lamenting, worrying, fearing). The Bach sources will be performed prior to the programming of the arrangements.
Thursday, August 5, 7 p.m.: The Devil’s Trill will be a program of bravura compositions. The program takes its name from a violin sonata by Giuseppe Tartini in G minor. The program will also feature compositions in a similar vein by Bach, his son Carl Philipp Emanuel, and George Frideric Handel.
Saturday, August 6, 7 p.m.: Bach & His World will survey composers whose works influenced Bach. Those composers will include Johann Heinrich Schmelzer, Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, Dietrich Buxtehude, and Telemann. [updated 7/5, 9:15 a.m.: Pachelbel replaced by Telemann.] The Bach selections will be the BWV 1019 violin sonata in G major, the BWV 1029 sonata for viola da gamba in G minor, and the BWV 1056 harpsichord concerto in F minor.
Sunday, August 8, 7 p.m.: The Festival will conclude with The Garden of Harmony, an abundant program of musical reflections on the harmony of nature, with particular attention to birds and other animals.] [added 6/18, 5:45 p.m.:
Tickets are now on sale for all of the above events. The performances will be held in Herbst Theatre, which is located on the southwest corner of Van Ness Avenue and McAllister Street. Tickets will be sold for prices between $25 and $89. There will also be a VIP Section, whose tickets will cost $150. All seats will be reserved, and masks must be worn at all times. A single Web page has been created for purchasing all tickets to all of the concerts.]
In addition Artistic Director Jeffrey Thomas will give a three-part lecture series entitled “All About That Bach” scheduled as follows:
- Monday, August 2: Bach Past & Future
- Wednesday, August 4: Instrumental Music
- Friday, August 6: Cantatas, Oratorios, and Passions
The date of Sunday, September 26 has been set for the Sparkle 2021 Fundraising Gala. Once again this will be held at the James Leary Flood Mansion, located in Pacific Heights at 2222 Broadway. Further details have not yet been announced.
The annual Messiah performances have been scheduled for Wednesday, December 15, Thursday, December 16, and Friday, December 17 at 7:30 p.m. in Grace Cathedral, located at the top of Nob Hill at 1100 California Street, between Taylor Street and Jones Street; but soloists have not yet been announced.
Similarly, both performers and programming for the Baroque New Year’s Eve at the Opera concert have not yet been finalized.
On the other hand, plans for the Connoisseur Series, which will run from January through May on Sunday afternoons at 4 p.m., have been set as follows:
January 23: Sweet Harmony will feature chamber music by Bach and Handel, beginning with the BWV 234 Mass setting in A major.
March 27: Passion & Joy will be the annual concert of music for the Easter season with compositions by Bach, Buxtehude, Pachelbel, and Johann Theile.
May 1: Pious & Profane will present both sacred and secular music by composers active in Venice, including Giovanni Gabrieli, his former assistant Claudio Monteverdi, Biagio Marini, Giovanni Legrenzi, and Isabella Leonarda.
As they say, “Watch this space for further developments!”
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