Sunset Music and Arts: March, 2022

With the second half of the concert season about to begin, there is a good chance that many readers have already filled in many (most?) of their calendar slots. Fortunately, program specifics for the March schedule for Sunset Music and Arts all seem to have been settled. Here are the details for dates, times, and performers:

Saturday, March 5, 7:30 p.m.: Stars Aligned Siblings is a string quartet whose four members are (you guessed it) siblings. Their respective ages are 8, 11, 13, and 14. Their program will consist of two four-movement quartets. The opening selection will be the last of the six string quartets that Ludwig van Beethoven collected as his Opus 18, written in the key of B-flat major. The intermission will then be followed by Alexander Borodin’s second quartet in D major.

Saturday, March 12, 7:30 p.m.: This will be a somewhat unconventional recital by the husband-and-wife duo of guitarist John Olson and vocalist Gioia De Cari. They probably met at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, since both of them did graduate studies there. Olson holds a doctoral degree in Biology, and De Cari holds a Master of Science degree in Mathematics. Their repertoire reflects De Cari’s expertise as a theater artist. The program will begin with David Leisner’s Eve’s Diary, a cycle of six songs based on texts from the short story of the same title by Mark Twain. The program will conclude with three of the five songs from musicals that Clarice Assad arranged under the title Intimate Theatre Songs. That will be preceded by Benjamin Verdery’s cycle What God Looks Like: Three Stories. The one “non-narrative” offering will be João Luiz’ arrangements of three songs by Antônio Carlos Jobim.

Sunday, March 13, 7 p.m.: Pianist Janis Mercer and violinist Daniel Lewin prepared a program to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the death of Anton Webern in 2020. The date of that anniversary was September 15, meaning that the program had to be postponed, since they planned to recruit several other performers to account for a full program of Webern’s music. Mercer will perform five of the compositions published with opus numbers, each involving different partners: the Opus 4 setting of five songs setting poems by Stefan George (soprano Heidi Moss), the four Opus 7 pieces for violin and piano (Lewin), the three Opus 11 “little” pieces for cello and piano (Robert Howard),  the Opus 22 quartet (Lewin, clarinetist Karen Wells, and saxophonist Dave Henderson), and the Opus 27 solo piano variations. Mercer will also play the unpublished movement for solo piano, which was probably composed around 1906; and she will accompany soprano Caroline Jou Armitage in a performance of the five songs setting poems by Richard Dehmel. Lewin will lead a string quartet, whose other members are violinist Dan Flanagan, violist Jacob Hansen Joseph, and cellist Thalia Moore, in a performance of Webern’s unpublished 1905 quartet. Back in 2020 Mercer had planned, also, to present short works taken from The Kinderstück Project, music composed using the twelve-tone row taken from Webern’s 1924 “Kinderstück.” Five of those works will be included in the program, written by former students from the Community Music Center: Brian Belét, Pablo Furman, Jim McManus, Martha Stoddard, and Donivan Johnson.

[updated 3/14, 12:45 p.m.: The following event has been cancelled:

Saturday, March 19, 7:30 p.m.: Tenor Adam Flowers has prepared a program entitled The Mixtape Project: Live in Concert. The idea is to present “live” performances of repertoire associated with major recordings from the past. The program will have three sections, each with its own title. Viva, Di Stefano will survey the legacy of opera tenor Giuseppe Di Stefano. This will be followed by Chansons Pour Deux Vagabonds, a survey of French popular songs from the twentieth century. Finally, Sinatra’s Cole Porter will revisit the tracks of Frank Sinatra’s Cole Porter album for Capitol. Flowers will be accompanied by pianist Paul McWilliams and guitarist Sharon Wayne.

It will be replaced by the following program (with its own URL):

Saturday, March 19, 7:30 p.m.: Pianist Julieta Iglesias will present a solo recital devoted entirely to the music of Astor Piazzolla. This will include the four short pieces that have been collected in a cycle entitled The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires. Most likely all eighteen works on the program are piano arrangements of works that Piazzolla composed for his own tango combo. Most likely Iglesias these arrangements, although the final selection includes a cadenza that she has credited to Pablo Estigarribia.]

Saturday, March 26, 7:30 p.m.: Soprano Gayatri Venkatesan has prepared a program of both art song and operatic solos. The art song composers will be Claude Debussy, Reynaldo Hahn, Richard Hundley, and Johann Strauss II. Strauss will also open the program with a selection from his Die Fledermaus. The other operatic composers will be Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini, and Douglas Moore. Venkatesan works as a Financial Analyst at Google; and she is far from the only musician to make ends meet by virtue of such a “day job.” In fact, there are enough instrumentalists on the Google payroll to form an orchestra; and The Googler Orchestra gave its first performance in the summer of 2016. The ensemble will also play several orchestral selections.

All performances will take place in the Sunset district at the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation, located at 1750 29th Avenue, about halfway between Moraga Street and Noriega Street. Ticket prices are $25 for general admission with a $20 rate for students and seniors. Because the demand tends to be high, advance purchase is highly advised. Tickets may be purchased online through Eventbrite. Each of the hyperlinks on the above dates leads to the event page for single ticket purchases. Further information may be obtained by calling 415-564-2324.

Finally, because we are still under pandemic conditions, all health and safety guidelines provided by the City and County of San Francisco must be honored. That means that a face covering is required for admission to all concerts, and it must be worn at all times. Face masks must completely cover the nose and mouth and have ear loops or similar to hold in place. Gaiters and bandanas are not acceptable.

In addition, proof of vaccination will be required for admittance. This may be provided with either a paper copy or a digital image. Sunset has created a Health and Safety Web page with a self-assessment based on ten easily answered questions. Those entering the building will implicitly acknowledge that they have answered “no” to all ten questions. Anyone that has answered “yes” to a question will be asked to return for another concert or offered a refund for paid tickets.