Friday, December 17, 2021

Music In the Mishkan Announces 22nd Season

Readers may recall that violinist Randall Weiss, Music Director of the Music in the Mishkan series, launched that series’ 21st season on February 9, 2019. This was followed, a little less than a month later, by the second concert on March 1. Sadly, the final concert, scheduled for April 26, had to be cancelled due to lockdown conditions imposed in response to the need to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

Two years on, Weiss and his regularly appearing colleagues, all performing under the collective name The Bridge Players, are ready to launch the series’ 22nd season. As in the past, both Weiss and pianist Marilyn Thomson will perform at all three of the concerts in the series. That means that, over the course of the season, there will be both familiar and new faces participating in the recitals. Program details are as follows:

January 16: Last year, while working under pandemic conditions, Brian S. Wilson composed a piano trio entitled “Alchunun ben Mordechai.” This will be the central work on the first program of the season, framed by two nineteenth-century “standards.” The program will begin with Robert Schumann’s Opus 63 (first) piano trio in D minor and conclude with Felix Mendelssohn’s Opus 49 piano trio, also in D minor. The cellist that will join Weiss and Thompson will be Michael Graham.

March 20: The major work on this program will be the final selection, Johannes Brahms’ Opus 25 (first) piano quartet in G minor. Weiss and Thompson will be joined by violist Patricia Whaley and cellist Victoria Ehrlich. The program will begin with Arthur Foote’s Opus 65 (first) piano trio in B-flat major. This will be followed by a performance of George Gershwin’s three piano preludes.

May 1: The final program will also conclude with a piano quartet. This one will be Gabriel Fauré’s Opus 15 (first) quartet in C minor. For this program the violist will be Natalia Vershilova, joined by cellist Matthew Linamen. The program will begin with Alexander Krein’s “Elegy,” which will be followed by the first of Ludwig van Beethoven’s two Opus 70 piano trios, this one composed in the key of D minor.

All three of these concerts will take place on a Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m. As in the past, the venue will be Congregation Sha’ar Zahav, located at 290 Dolores Street at the northwest corner of 16th Street. Tickets for the general public are $25, but members of Congregation Sha’ar Zahav will be admitted for $20. There is also a discounted rate for the three-concert series of $65 for general admission and $50 for members of the congregation. Tickets may be purchased in advance with a credit card by calling Congregation Sha’ar Zahav at 415-861-6932. They may also be acquired online through a Web page, which supports online purchase of both single tickets and subscriptions. This Web page also allows for additional donations to Sha'ar Zahav.

All attendees must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Those planning to attend can send a digital image of their vaccination record to vaccination@shaarsahav.org. They can also show either a printed copy or an image on a cell phone at the door. There will be no physical tickets, only a record of the names of those attending the performance. All attendees must be masked while in the building. Those who do not wish to visit Sha’ar Zahav will also have the option of viewing the performance on Zoom. As part of the process of purchasing tickets, they may request that a Zoom link will be provided prior to the event.

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