Friday, July 15, 2022

The SFP 2022–2023 Art of Song Series

The final San Francisco Performances (SFP) subscription series that is distributed across the calendar year will not get under way until the beginning of next year, 2023. This will be the Art of Song series, which will consist of four performances. One of the programs will present an a cappella trio of three women. Each of the others will present a single vocalist, each performing in a different instrumental context. Once again, all of the events will take place at 7:30 p.m. on different days of the week.

The a cappella trio will perform in St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, which is located at 1111 O’Farrell Street, just west of the intersection with Franklin Street. The remaining three recitals be held in Herbst Theatre, on the ground floor of the Veterans Building at 401 Van Ness Avenue on the southwest corner of McAllister Street. All performances will begin at 7:30 p.m. The summary of dates and performers is as follows:

Thursday, January 12: This will be a performance of Dido Reimagined, a full-evening composition by Melinda Wagner, working with a libretto written by Stephanie Fleischmann. This may be taken as a “response” to the “call” of “Dido’s Lament,” the aria that concludes Henry Purcell’s opera Dido and Aeneas. According to Wagner, her composition focuses on “the emotional journey of a powerful woman who has, in spite of her strength of character, been broken by love. Through the lens of the seasons, Dido discovers, confronts, and ultimately makes peace with her fate and with her place in the world.” The vocal soloist in this performance will be soprano Dawn Upshaw. She will be accompanied by the members of the Brentano String Quartet, violinists Serena Canin and Mark Steinberg, violist Misha Amory, and cellist Nina Lee.

Thursday, April 20: The a cappella trio performing at St. Mark’s is the Norwegian Trio Mediæval, whose members are Linn Andreas Fuglseth, Anna Maria Friman, and Jorunn Lovise Husan. The title of their program is Lumen de Lumine (light of lights). It will begin with music associated with Notre-Dame de Paris from the medieval period. This will be followed by a selection of Scandinavian religious folksongs. They will then conclude with a set of works recently composed for their trio.

Friday, April 28:  The recitalist will be opera star J’Nai Bridges. However, she will be accompanied only by percussionist Ulysses Owens Jr. This will include pitched instruments in addition to the usual drum kit. This will allow Bridges to provide an informative account of five major French composers: Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Henri Duparc, Erik Satie, and Francis Poulenc. There will also be a set of compositions by Duke Ellington, as well as traditional spirituals and original works to be announced.

Wednesday, May 10: The final recitalist will be baritone Benjamin Appl, who apparently accompanies himself at the piano. He has not yet finalized his program. However, he will present selections by composers whose music has not been heard over the course of this series of recitals. They will include Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, Richard Strauss, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and Ralph Vaughan Williams.

Subscriptions are now on sale for $180 for premium seating in the Orchestra and the front and center of the Dress Circle, $150 for the Side Boxes, the center rear of the Dress Circle, and the remainder of the Orchestra, and $120 for the remainder of the Dress Circle and the Balcony in Herbst Theatre. Seating in St. Mark’s will be general admission, $60 for the main floor and $50 for the balcony. Subscriptions may be purchased online in advance through an SFP Web page. Orders may also be placed by calling the SFP subscriber hotline at 415-677-0325, which is open for receiving calls between 9:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Single tickets are also now on sale. The prices for St. Mark’s will be $65 for the main floor and $55 for the balcony. The ticket prices in Herbst will be $65, $55, and $45. All single tickets may be purchased by visiting the specific event pages. The above dates provide hyperlinks to the appropriate Web pages.

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