SFCMP to Launch New Season at The Lab

Next month the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players (SFCMP) will launch its 2022–23 season at a new venue. That location will be The Lab, and the plan is that it will serve as a home for smaller ensemble concerts. That will certainly apply for the first concert of the season, whose only performers will be violinist Susan Freier and cellist Stephen Harrison. They will present a program that had been scheduled for the 2021–22 season and had to be cancelled twice due to COVID and other issues.

The title of the program is Image and Memory. Three of the selections will be duo performances, two will be violin solos, and one will be a cello solo. Three of the pieces were composed during the twentieth century, and the other three were completed during the current century. Program specifics are as follows:

• Augusta Read Thomas: “Silent Moon” (duo, 2006)
• Gabriela Lena Frank: Suite Mestiza (violin solo, 2017)
• Sofia Gubaidulina: duo sonata entitled “Rejoice! Freue dich!” (1981)
• Libby Larsen: “Scudding” (cello solo, 1980)
• Julia Adolphe: “Smile Softly, Softly Smile” (violin solo, 2021)
• Erwin Schulhoff: duo (1925)

The performance will begin at 7 p.m. on Monday, October 10. General admission will be $35 with a $15 rate for students. Because this is the first concert of the season, it is still possible to purchase full-series subscriptions. As has already been reported, there is a single Web page for processing purchases of both the full series and its alternatives. Single tickets may be purchased through a City Box Office Web page. The Lab is located in the Mission at 2948 16th Street, a short walk from the corner of Mission Street, where there is a BART station and bus lines running along both Mission and 16th Streets. All attendees must be fully vaccinated to attend this event. Full vaccination is defined as completion of the two-dose regimen of Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or one dose of Johnson & Johnson vaccine administered two weeks or more in advance of the event, along with a vaccine booster.

In addition, this will be the first of two concerts that will take place in the museums and gallery spaces of San Francisco. For this occasion the exhibit will feature Dirge, a portfolio of works by the late Chinese painter Hung Liu. This was commissioned by SFCMP with the request that the content be centered around music. Doors will open at 6:45 p.m., allowing for viewing before the performance, during the intermission, and after the conclusion of the program.