Old First Concerts: January, 2023

It is not too early to think about making plans for the Old First Concerts (O1C) offerings that will be presented next month. Those that have been following the latest news know that we are still dealing with COVID recovery conditions. As a result, O1C will continue to allow both live streaming and seating in the Old First Presbyterian Church at 1751 Sacramento Street on the southwest corner of Van Ness Avenue. General admission tickets will be sold for $25 with reduced rates for seniors ($20) and students ($5). The suggested donation for those viewing the live stream is $20. Hyperlinks to the event pages (which include hyperlinks for streaming) will be attached to the date and time of the performances as follows:

Friday, January 6, 8 p.m.: Sarah Cahill will ring in the New Year with a solo piano recital. Three of the works on the program will be premiere performances. The most recent of these will be the third book in a collection by Arlene Sierra entitled Birds and Insects. There will also be a belated premiere of “Humanitas,” composed by the late Frederic Rzewski in honor of Terry Riley. The remaining premiere offering will be selections from Robert Pollock’s Enneagram. The remaining selections on the program will be Peter Garland’s “Walk in Beauty,” originally composed for Aki Takahashi, Elena Firsova’s “Hymn to Spring,” and Rebecca Saunders’ “shadow.”

Friday, January 20, 8 p.m.: Pianist Chelsea Randall is currently curating American Mavericks, a performance and commissioning project dedicated to Black American composers from the twentieth and current centuries. She will present the West Coast premiere of “The Forest,” completed in 2013 by Chloe Clarke Smith, an alumna of the Boston Conservatory. Pulitzer Prize-winner George Walker will be represented by a suite of five pieces entitled Guido’s Hand. Other composers to be represented on the program will be Dorothy Rudd Moore, Jonathan Bailey Holland, Joyce Solomon Moorman, and Regina Harris Baiocchi.

Monday, January 23, 7:30 p.m.: O1C will continue to host the season programs presented by the Earplay new music chamber ensemble. The title of this month’s program is Mirages, and pianist Keisuke Nakagoshi will appear as special guest artist. The title of the program is also the title of a composition by Carla Magnan, which will conclude the performance. It will be preceded by three world premiere offerings, “Tounen” by Hendel Almetus, “Katakana” by Linda Bouchard, and the song cycle Songs of Majnūn Leyla by Richard Aldag.

Sunday, January 29, 7 p.m.: Following up on their recital this past September, the Ives Collective, managed by cellist Stephen Harrison and Susan Freier, who plays both violin and viola, will return to O1C. The first half of the program will be a “Fanny and Felix” coupling of compositions by the Mendelssohn siblings. Fanny will be represented by her 1834 string quartet in E-flat major. This will be followed by the Adagio movement from Felix’ Opus 80 string quartet in F minor. Freier and Harrison will be joined by violinist Kay Stern and violist Clio Tilton. Pianist Elizabeth Schumann will then join the group for two quintet performances, Florence Price’s A minor piano quintet  and the G minor quintet by Max Bruch.