Bleckmann to Return to PIVOT Festival

Vocalist and composer Theo Bleckmann (from the SFP event page)

Following up on an overview of the return of the San Francisco Performances (SFP) PIVOT Festival about two months ago, it is now time to take a deeper diver into the content of each of the four programs to be offered. Now in its seventh year, the series will again consist of four different programs, this time with the overall theme of Ghost Stories. The first program, entitled Elegy, will present the return of vocalist and composer Theo Bleckmann, who made his SFP debut during the PIVOT Festival held at the end of January of 2020 (less than two months before the onset of lockdown conditions). Almost all of his selections were based on poems of Bertolt Brecht; and he was accompanied at the piano by Dan Tepfer, along with the members of the Telegraph Quartet.

This time he will perform with a jazz quartet led by pianist Shai Maestro. The other musicians will be John Hollenbeck on drums, Chris Tordini on bass, and Ben Monder on guitar. The title of the program is also the title of his ECM Records album, which was released at the end of January of 2017, on which Bleckmann was joined by the same quartet. The album was conceived as a meditation on death and transcendence, reflecting on Bleckmann’s mother, who had died at the age of 91.

Bleckmann took an eclectic approach to the songs recorded on this album. One thus encounters influences from both ancient Chinese texts and the cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach over the course of the entire program. In the latter case his song “Take My Life” was inspired by two of of those cantatas, the BWV 82 Ich habe genug (I have enough) and the BWV 56 Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen (I will gladly carry the cross-staff). However, as was evident during his SFP debut, Bleckmann has his own unique approaches to interpreting even the most familiar sources, including the musical comedy A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.

This program will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, October 20. The venue will be 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 venue is excellent for public transportation, since that corner has Muni bus stops for both north-south and east-west travel.

Ticket prices are $65 (premium Orchestra and front and center Dress Circle), $55 (remainder of Orchestra, all Side Boxes, and center rear Dress Circle), and $45 (remaining Dress Circle and Balcony); and they may be purchased through an SFP secure Web page. In addition, since this is the first concert of the series, subscriptions are still available to cover all four concerts. The respective prices are $240, $200, and $160. Single tickets can also be purchased at the door as available with a 50% discount for students and a 20% discount for seniors. Subscription 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. Single tickets may be purchased by calling 415-392-2545.