SFP to Launch 2021–2022 Season with New Series

A little less that two weeks ago San Francisco Performances (SFP) announced the programs it has planned to present during the 2021–2022 season. As in the past, the season will be partitioned into series, each of which will consist of between three and five concerts. The series that will present the very first concert of the season will be a new one, entitled Uncovered.

This new series will be curated by the Catalyst Quartet, a string quartet whose members are violinists Karla Donehew and Abi Fayette, violist Paul Laraia, and cellist Karlos Rodriguez. The series was conceived to bring to a broader audience works from the African American tradition of chamber music, presenting the work of composers whom history has overlooked due to their race or gender. Each of the four programs in the series will feature a guest artist, and commentary prior to each performance will be presented by bass-baritone Dashon Burton.

Subscriptions to the entire series will go on sale tomorrow, Monday, June 28. Single tickets will not be available until Monday, September 13. The Uncovered Series will consist of four concerts, all taking place at 7:30 p.m. in Herbst Theatre. The entrance to Herbst is the main entrance to the Veterans Building at 401 Van Ness Avenue, located on the southwest corner of McAllister Street. The venue is excellent for public transportation, since that corner has Muni bus stops for both north-south and east-west travel. The specific dates and their related performers are as follows:

Thursday, October 2: The guest artist will be pianist Stewart Goodyear, who will join Catalyst for a performance of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Opus 1 piano quintet in G minor. Regular readers may recall that Catalyst has also launched an UNCOVERED recording project with Azica Records. This past February this site discussed the first volume of that series, devoted entirely to Coleridge-Taylor and including a performance of the Opus 1 quintet with Goodyear. Catalyst will also perform Coleridge-Taylor’s Opus 5, five pieces for string quartet identified as Fantasiestücke (fantasy pieces), another selection included on the Azica album. The program will begin with the first (“Lyric”) string quartet composed by George Walker.

Thursday, November 11: The guest artist will be clarinetist Anthony McGill. He, too, will collaborate with Catalyst to perform the third and final selection on the Coleridge-Taylor Azica album, the Opus 10 quintet in F-sharp minor. The program will begin with Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson’s first (“Calvary”) string quartet, followed by Florence Price’s Five Folksongs in Counterpoint.

Friday, February 11: In addition to providing an introduction, Burton will serve not only guest artist but also contributing composer. He will perform a collection of Price’s art songs, and he has arranged the accompaniment to be provided by Catalyst. That vocal offering will be followed by a performance of Price’s second quartet in A minor. The program will begin with two of the string quartets collected by the Chevalier de Saint-Georges for his Opus 1 publication, the fourth in C minor and the sixth in D major. The remaining work on the program will be William Grant Still’s “Lyric Quartette,” which he composed in 1960.

Thursday, April 7: The final guest artist will be pianist Michele Cann. The program will be devoted entirely to music by Price. Cann will join Catalyst for two quintets, the first in E minor and the second in A minor. The program will begin with Price’s first quartet in G major and include another “contrapuntal collection,” this one entitled Four Negro Folksongs in Counterpoint.

Subscriptions will go on sale tomorrow for $240 for premium seating in the Orchestra and the front and center of the Dress Circle, $200 for the Side Boxes, the center rear of the Dress Circle, and the remainder of the Orchestra, and $160 for the remainder of the Dress Circle and the Balcony. Orders may be placed by calling the SFP subscriber hotline at 415-677-0325, which is open for receiving calls between 9:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. The SFP home page will be updated with a hyperlink for purchasing subscriptions online. When single tickets go on sale, the Web site will be further updated.