Center for New Music: April, 2022

Once again things seem to be quieting down at the Center for New Music (C4NM). As of this writing, the Events page lists only two concerts in April, taking place, respectively, on the first Sunday and first Friday of that month. It goes without saying that this list may grow; and, to be fair, any changes are likely to show up on that Events page before they appear on this site!

For those that do not already know, C4NM is located at 55 Taylor Street, half a block north of the Golden Gate Theater, which is where Golden Gate Avenue meets Market Street. All tickets may be processed in advance through that aforementioned Events page. Masks are still required for all in attendance, and those in the audience are required to be fully vaccinated. Furthermore, since those pandemic conditions still prevail, the audience capacity will be reduced; so purchasing tickets early is desirable. Specifics are as follows with hyperlinks for the respective event pages, each of which has a “Buy Tickets Online” hyperlink to the appropriate Eventbrite event page:

Sunday, April 3, 7:30 p.m.: Guitarist Aaron Larget-Caplan will return to C4NM with a new solo concert entitled Inward Expanse. He will perform both acoustic solos and music for guitar and electronics. He conceived his program to explore one’s position in daily life from mystical, scientific, and cerebral perspectives. The program will include “Steps and Leaps,” composed by Tom Flaherty to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the moon landing. On a more pessimistic note, Lainie Fefferman’s “Carousel” reflects the confusion and worry brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Composer Lou Bunk may not have have intended his “Being and Becoming” to be “about” phenomenology; but the idea of composing an exploration of a single note can be traced back to a thought experiment first documented by Edmund Husserl in The Phenomenology of Internal Time-Consciousness, based on lectures he delivered between 1893 and 1917. Inward Expanse will be the “blanket title” of a selection of six acoustic solos written for Larget-Caplan’s New Lullaby Project. The contributing composers will be Antonio Celso Ribeiro, Brian Schober, Laurie Spiegel, Anthony Green, Štěpán Rak, and Ken Ueno. Finally, Larget-Caplan will perform his own arrangement of John Cage’s solo piano composition “Dream.”

Friday, April 8, 7:30 p.m.: This will be the debut performance of the Stolen Time ensemble. This is a local ensemble, whose Artistic Director is Bryan Lin. The group’s title is intended to evoke the radical, revolutionary act of reclamation that is artistic creation in modern life. The performers are Jessie Nucho on flutes, Andrew Friedman on clarinets, Jamael Smith on bassoon, Timothy Sherren on guitars, Mika Nakamura on percussion, Yunyi Ji on keyboards, Samuel Weiser on violin, and Justine Preston on viola. The program will begin with Missy Mazzoli’s “Still Life,” followed by Christopher Cerrone’s “Double Happiness,” which was originally written for The Living Earth Show. Coral Douglas’ “line, ray, point” was written on a commission by Stolen Time. It will precede the concluding selection, Lin’s reimagining of the classic Miles Davis album In a Silent Way.

[added 3/31. 3:35 p.m.:

Saturday, April 9, 8 p.m.: The next showcase of new works written by members of the Bay Area Chapter of the NACUSA (National Association of the Composers of the United States of America), usually referred to as NACUSAsf, will be entitled In Just—Spring. The program will present both instrumental and vocal chamber music as follows:

• John Bilotta, “Scattering Poems,” scored for oboe, clarinet, and bassoon
• Allan Crossman, “Streaming Audio,” scored for flute and viola
• Mary Fineman, “Three Songs,” sung by the composer accompanying herself at piano
• Greg A. Steinke, “Santa Fe Trail Echoes,” cello solo
• Sheli Nan, “Father’s Poor Excuses,” scored for baritone and piano, an excerpt from the song cycle SAGA of the 21st Century Girl
• Karl Schmidt, “At the County Fair,” scored for violin, clarinet, and piano

Unlike previous performances, this one will not be streamed.]

[added 4/18, 11:10 a.m.:

Saturday, April 23, 8 p.m.: The objective of The Opus Project is to present an entire program structured around a single catalog number. That is usually the published opus number, but there are notable exceptions, such as the catalog numbers for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Franz Schubert. Nineteen composers will be represented on a program organized around the number 94. The performance will involve five pianists, two of whom will also perform as vocalists. There will also be three other instrumentalists playing horn, trumpet, and tenor saxophone.

Friday, April 29, 7:59 p.m.: The title of this program is Night of Solos, Duos and a Quartet of Creative Music. As the title suggests, there will be three sets. The opening set will be a solo performance by the highly adventurous violinist Gabby Fluke-Mogul, who will be visiting from New York. The duo set will be performed by Las Sucias, whose members are Danishta Rivero and Alexandra Buschman. The final set will be a quartet improvisation with Fluke-Mogul joining Jean Carla Rodea, Gerald Cleaver, and Moe Staiano.

Saturday, April 30, 5 p.m.: The month will conclude with a performance by Non Tactus. The performers are Lenny Gonzalez, Rich Graff, and Robert Nance; and they have organized their program around the newly installed Meyer Sound System at C4NM. Using this technology, the artists will engage in a concert-length dialogue; alternating pieces one at a time until culminating in a mutual sharing of the sonic expanse.]