The SFP 2021–2022 Guitar Series

The second of the two series that San Francisco Performances (SFP) will launch during the month of February (and the last of the eight series being presented by SFP) will be the Guitar Series. As in the past, these concerts will be presented in association with the OMNI Foundation for the Performing Arts. During the 40th Anniversary Season (2019–2020), this series got off to an early start, which meant that four of the six concerts took place before the cancellation of all public performances, events, and gatherings at the San Francisco War Memorial & Performing Arts Center due to COVID-19.

The first of these, the British Invasion program that William Kanengiser, a member of the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, prepared with the members of the Alexander String Quartet, was performed this past Friday as part of the current Summer Music Sessions 2021 programming. The second was a solo recital by David Russell, who was the first of the three guitarists to prepare programs for the Front Row Travels series of streamed videos presented by SFP. In other words SFP has done well in compensating for the guitar performances that had been cancelled under pandemic conditions.

The 2021–2022 season will consist of only five performances, only two of which will be solo recitals. One of the programs will present the “physical” debut of an ensemble that contributed to the streamed PIVOT series of three concerts, presented by the SFP Front Row Web site this past April. All of the events will take place at 7:30 p.m. on different days of the week. One performance will all take place at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, located at 1111 O’Farrell Street, just west of the corner of Franklin Street. All others will take place at Herbst Theatre, whose entrance is the main entrance to the Veterans Building at 401 Van Ness Avenue, located on the southwest corner of McAllister Street. The specific dates and their related performers are as follows:

Saturday, February 12, Herbst Theatre: The Dublin Guitar Quartet lists their members in alphabetical order: Brian Bolger, Pat Brunnock, Chien Buggle, and Tomas O’Durcain. They have built up a repertoire of both new works and original arrangements. One of their more interesting approaches to arrangement involves the études that Philip Glass composed for solo piano, eleven of which will be included on their program. Equally interesting is their attention to the music of György Ligeti. They were given permission to transcribe the six bagatelles that Ligeti extracted from his solo piano composition Musica ricercata and arranged for wind quintet. Their SFP program will include two subsequent transcriptions made from songs that Ligeti composed. Kanengiser is also included in their repertoire; and they will perform “Gongon,” which, presumably, was originally composed for the Los Angeles Guitar Quintet.

Thursday, March 24, Herbst Theatre: The ensemble featured in last April’s streamed PIVOT series was George Hinchliffe’s Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. They tend to favor pop selections and have prepared arrangements of songs by the likes of Tom Waits, Kate Bush, and David Bowie. However, they usually give similar treatment to classical favorites as well. Program details for this date have not yet been announced.

Saturday, March 26, St. Mark’s Lutheran Church: The first solo recital will be given by Laura Snowden. She was the first guitarist to graduate from England’s prestigious Menuhin School. (Her recommendations for admission included The Rolling Stones.) Her program will present her own compositions as well as those by Cuban guitarist Leo Brouwer.

Saturday, April 2, Herbst Theatre: Russell will return to performing a live solo recital for an SFO audience, but he has not yet announced his program.

Friday, April 8, Herbst Theatre: The guitar quartet known as The Romeros (Celin, Pepe, Celino and Lito) will be celebrating its 60th anniversary. Program details have not yet been finalized. However, the program will feature selections from the repertoire of Spanish songs; and, for those performances, they will be joined by mezzo Isabel Leonard.

Subscriptions are now on sale for seating in Herbst Theatre. The prices are $250 for premium seating in the Orchestra and the front and center of the Dress Circle, $205 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. Subscriptions may be purchased online in advance through an SFP Web page.

Tickets in St. Mark’s will be general admission, $55 for the main floor and $40 for the balcony. These need to be ordered separately, but they are included on the same Web page, which will allow selections for both Herbst and St. Mark’s to be placed in a single order. Orders may also 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. When single tickets go on sale, they may be purchased by visiting the specific event pages. The above dates provide hyperlinks to the appropriate Web pages.