Sunset Music and Arts: January, 2023

As has previously been observed, Sunset Music and Arts organizes its season around the calendar year, rather than the usual convention of beginning in the fall and running through the end of the following summer. As a result, the Web page for the 2023 Season was recently announced; but, since there are several items at the very end of that page that are marked “TO BE SCHEDULED,” we can expect that this page will be updated as we advance through the new year. Meanwhile, it appears that three concerts have been finalized for the month of January. All of these will take place on a Saturday but at different times. Specifics are as follows:

January 14, 4 p.m.: Violinist Nato, born in Canada and now living in California, will partner with California-based pianist Jerry Kuderna to present a program devoted entirely to the three duo sonatas of Johannes Brahms: Opus 78 in G major, Opus 100 in A major, and Opus 108 in D minor.

January 21, 7:30 p.m.: Christopher Richardson, currently on the faculty of the Golden Key Piano School in Berkeley, has prepared a program of seven diverse and challenging works by six composers. The one composer represented by two works will be Frédéric Chopin with the Opus 61 “Polonaise-fantaisie” in A-flat major and the last (Opus 52) of the four ballades in the key of F minor. The other composers on the program will be Franz Liszt (“Après une lecture du Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata” from the second “year” of the Années de pèlerinage collection), Igor Stravinsky (the solo piano arrangement of three of the movements from the ballet score for “Petrushka”), Sergei Lyapunov (the tenth, “Lesghinka” in B minor, of the collection of twelve Transcendental Études, dedicated to Franz Liszt), Alexander Scriabin (the Opus 28 “Fantasie” in B minor), and William Hirtz (“Wizard of Oz Fantasy”).

January 28, 4 p.m.: The final concert of the month will be a performance by the Rosetta Trio, which brings clarinetist Clayton Luckadoo together with violinist Annemarie Schubert and pianist Connor Buckley. They have prepared a program entitled Tales of Love and Betrayal. The only work they will play as a trio will be Stravinsky’s arrangement of excerpts from the one-act theatrical work “L'Histoire du soldat.” The program will begin with duo performances of Buckley accompanying each of the other two musicians. Schubert will join him for Ludwig van Beethoven’s Opus 47 sonata for piano and violin in A major. Buckley will then accompany Luckadoo in “Rigoletto Fantasia Da Concerto,” composed by Luigi Bassi. Finally, before the Stravinsky selection, Buckley will give a solo performance of two of the eight compositions that Robert Schumann collected as his Opus 21 Novelletten: the first in F major and the last in F-sharp minor.

All performances will take place in the Sunset district at the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation, located at 1750 29th Avenue, about halfway between Moraga Street and Noriega Street. Ticket prices are $25 for general admission with a $20 rate for students and seniors. Because the demand tends to be high, advance purchase is highly advised. Tickets may be purchased online through Eventbrite. Each of the hyperlinks on the above dates leads to the event page for single ticket purchases. Further information may be obtained by calling 415-564-2324.