Cal Bach to “Visit” Seventeenth-Century Venice

St Mark’s Basilica in Venice, where the pigeons often outnumber the faithful (photograph by Ricardo André Frantz, from Wikimedia Commons, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license)

Towards the end of this month, the California Bach Society (Cal Bach) will continue its 50th Anniversary season with music from seventeenth-century Venice. The program will focus on Claudio Monteverdi, who served as maestro di cappella at St Mark’s Basilica, one of the major venues for seventeenth-century sacred music. Artistic Director Paul Flight will lead a performance of Monteverdi’s “Beatus vir” setting. The program will also include sacred music by two of Monteverdi’s disciples.

The better known of these is Francesco Cavalli. Much of Cavalli’s reputation came from the operas that he composed, but he was appointed maestro di cappella at St Mark’s in 1668. Cal Bach will sing his setting of the “Magnificat” text.

The other composer is Giovanni Rovetta, who served as maestro di cappella between Monteverdi and Cavalli. His contribution to the program will be a setting of “Dixit Dominus.” Flight will lead both the 30-voice Cal Bach choir and a Baroque instrumental ensemble, which will include Alexandra Opsahl and Steve Escher playing cornetti, violinists Carla Moore and Cynthia Black, cellist Rocio Lopez Sanchez, Jon Mendle on theorbo, and Yuko Tanaka, organ.

The San Francisco performance of this Venetian Vespers program will take place at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, located at 1111 O’Farrell Street, just west of its intersection with Franklin Street. The performance will begin at 8 p.m. on Friday, February 25. General admission will be $30 with a $25 discount for seniors and $10 admission students and those under 30. A Web page has been created to process all ticket sales, and the alternative will be to call 650-485-1097. Sales should be finalized at least 24 hours before the concert. Sales at the door will be only be available if COVID-19 restrictions allow. Doors will open at 7:30 p.m. All concert-goers must submit proof of vaccination, and masks must be worn at all times.