Golda Schultz to Debut as Recitalist with SFP

Soprano Golda Schultz (courtesy of San Francisco Performances)

Opera-goers may recall that South African soprano Golda Schulz made her debut in San Francisco when she sang the role of the angel Clara in the San Francisco Opera performance of Jake Heggie’s It’s a Wonderful Life at the conclusion of the 2018 fall season. Next month, when San Francisco Performances resumes its programming, Schulz will return to our city to make her recital debut. She will be the first vocalist in this season’s Art of Song series; and, for that occasion, she has prepared a program of songs all written by women composers from different periods of music history. She will be accompanied at the piano by Jonathan Ware.

The program will conclude with the first performance of a new work by Kathleen Tagg, which has not yet been given a title. The recital will begin in the nineteenth century with three songs by Clara Schumann. Two of these will be taken from her Opus 12 settings of three poems by Friedrich Rückert: “Liebst du um Schönheit” and “Warum willst du and're fragen.” (Not-so-fun fact: Clara’s husband Robert published these, under his own name, in the Opus 37 collection of songs.) The remaining song by Clara will be her unpublished setting of Heinrich Heine’s “Lorelei.”

A somewhat later nineteenth-century composer is Emilie Mayer. Schultz will sing her second setting of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s “Erlkönig.” She will also present two of the three songs in Mayer’s Opus 7 collection: “Wenn der Abendstern die Rosen” and “Du bist wie eine Blume.”

The early twentieth century will be represented by two songs by Nadia Boulanger. These will be the “Cantique Prière Elégie” and “La Mer est Plus Belle.” Some readers may recall that the second of these songs was included in Clairières, an album of songs by both Lili and Nadia Boulanger recorded by tenor Nicholas Phan. The remaining work on the program will be “Try Me, Good King: Last Words of the Wives of Henry VIII,” which Libby Larsen completed in 2000.

This concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, January 21. It will take place in Herbst Theatre, whose entrance is on the ground floor of the Veterans Building at 401 Van Ness Avenue, located on the southwest corner of McAllister Street. This venue is excellent for public transportation, since that corner has Muni bus stops for both north-south and east-west travel.

Ticket prices are $70 (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. As available, single tickets will be sold at the door with a 50% discount for students and a 20% discount for seniors. Single tickets may also be purchased by calling 415-392-2545.

Finally, because this is the first program of the series, subscriptions are still on sale for $275, $215, and $165. Subscriptions may also be purchased online in advance through a different SFP Web page. Orders may also be placed by calling the SFP subscriber hotline at 415-677-0325 (also different from the number for single tickets).