As we get closer to Thanksgiving Day weekend, the need to make choices begins to abate. Thus, the number of choices for the third weekend of this month is significantly less than that of its predecessor. However, even if those choices are few in numbers, enquiring minds deserve to know about them! Here is the current state of play:
Friday, November 18, 7:30 p.m., San Francisco Conservatory of Music: During the height of lockdown conditions in the fall of 2020, the Telegraph Quartet of Eric Chin and Joseph Maile sharing the first violin chair and joined by violist Pei-Ling Lin and cellist Jeremiah Shaw shifted their attention to cyberspace. They launched an online video project called TeleLab, whose mission was to enable “lay persons” to acquire some understanding of “what makes the music tick” without drowning in a flood of technical jargon. Sadly, I did not learn about this effort until the second installment in this series, which was uploaded to Facebook on July 17, 2021. The composition presented for that installment was the first movement of Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Opus 34 (third) quartet.
Now that concerts are once again taking place in the presence of audiences, the TeleLab experience will open up, being presented before an audience and live-streamed before the video account is archived. The first composition to be examined in this new setting will be Arnold Schoenberg’s Opus 7 (first) string quartet in D minor. To say that this is a tough nut to crack would be the height of understatement.
The quartet consists of a single movement, whose duration tends to exceed 45 minutes. While the music is episodic, it took many listening experiences with a recording and my first encounter with a performance before I could begin to get my head around just what those episodes were! The goal of TeleLab will be to provide listeners with a clearer sense of how the music is structured prior to giving a performance of the quartet in its entirety.
This performance will take place in the Sol Joseph Recital Hall, which is located at 50 Oak Street. There will be no charge for admission. However, reservations are recommended; and a Web page has been created that will accept up to ten such reservations. There will also be a Vimeo Web page for the livestream of the performance.
Friday, November 18, 8 p.m., Herbst Theatre: Nicholas McGegan, now Music Director Laureate, will return to the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra to present a program entitled The Surprises of Love. This will be his 1000th performance with the ensemble. The program will be devoted entirely to dance music from the French baroque. The title is also the title of an opéra-ballet by Jean-Philippe Rameau, which will be the major offering on the program. The remainder of the program will be devoted to two of Rameau’s contemporaries, André Campra and François Francoeur. The program will last approximately 100 minutes with one intermission.
Herbst Theatre is located at 401 Van Ness Avenue on the southwest corner of McAllister Street. Ticket prices are $32, $53, $75, $108, and $130. Tickets may be purchased online through a City Box Office Web page.
That Web page also includes the following statement for dealing with pandemic conditions:
Beginning February 1, 2022 and until further notice, PBO is requiring proof of FDA or WHO authorized vaccination AND proof of a COVID-19 booster shot administered at least two weeks prior to attendance at any PBO event. Patrons must present a vaccination card, a clear photo of the card, or a Digital COVID-19 Vaccine Record at their time of entry. This applies to all patrons ages 12 and up at all of our venues across the Bay Area, as well as PBO staff and musicians.
Audience members under the age of 12 must show either proof of vaccination (a two-dose vaccine or J&J vaccine, completed at least two weeks before the concert) or a negative COVID-19 PCR test taken within 48 hours of the event. Unfortunately, guests under the age of 5 are not permitted at PBO events right now.
All patrons are required to wear a well-fitted mask at all performances. Gaiters, scarves, and masks with valves are not permitted. Masks must be worn at all times unless actively drinking water in the lobby area.
PBO has also created a more detailed Web page, which was last updated this past October 4.
Saturday, November 19, 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, November 20, 4 p.m., ODC B. Way Theater: Some readers may recall that the Volti a cappella choir resumed performing before an audience this past June. The ensemble will open its 2022–2023 season with a double bill of world premieres by Caroline Shaw and Pamela Z. The Shaw composition is entitled “Ochre,” which the composer describes as an exploration of “how we consider and care for the ground beneath our feet, the Earth, ourselves, our histories, and our sense of the scale of our lives in the context of geological history. It is also about color, and the sensation of music as color or as a complex concoction of materials that we perceive as a kind of color.” Z’s selection will be “Ink,” which was originally designed for Web-based performance and premiered in that form on April 24, 2021. The work will now be given its in-person premiere. The entire program will be led by guest conductor Valérie Saint-Agathe, Artistic Director of the San Francisco Girls Chorus.
The ODC B. Way Theater is located at 3153 17th Street on the northwest corner of Shotwell Street. Ticket prices are between $19 and $59. ODC has created a single Web page with hyperlinks for purchasing tickets to both performances.
Saturday, November 19, 7:30 p.m., Herbst Theatre: Finally, as was announced on this site this past Saturday, the second of the four debut recitals to be presented by San Francisco Performances before the end of this calendar year will be the Shenson Piano Series program performed by pianists Adam Tendler and Jenny Lin to celebrate Philip Glass’ 85th birthday.
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