SFCM Highlights: February, 2023

The final highlighted event in the fall season presented by the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) took place this past December 10 with an end-of-year performance by the SFCM Orchestra led by special guest conductor, Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser. The hiatus between fall and spring performances will fill the holiday period for the rest of this month, followed by students getting “back up to speed” in January. In other words highlighted events will not resume until the beginning of February.

As during the fall semester, the Performance Calendar Web page will provide the most up-to-date information about the many concerts and recitals that will be presented to the general public. Each of the dates below will include a hyperlink to the appropriate event page, which, in turn, will include a hyperlink for purchasing tickets. If the performance will be live-streamed, there will also be a hyperlink for viewing through a Vimeo Web page. As was the case in the fall, this site will focus on key highlights; and those seeking more thorough information can consult the Performance Calendar.

Sunday, February 5, 7:30 p.m., SFJAZZ Joe Henderson Lab, 201 Franklin Street: This will be the next “side-by-side” concert in which the students in the Roots, Jazz, and American Music Department (RJAM) will perform with the members of the SFJAZZ Collective. The participating Collective members will be Warren Wolf, David Sanchez, Edward Simon, and Matt Brewer. Additional participants in this particular performance will include Joshua Redman, Julian Lage, Chad Lefkowitz-Brown, and Matt Wilson.

Tuesday, February 7, 7:30 p.m., Barbro Osher Recital Hall, 200 Van Ness Avenue: The first Chamber Music Tuesday of the spring term will feature a guest artist, violinist Wonhee Bae, first violinist of the Esmé Quartet. She will lead both faculty and students in a performance of the last of Ludwig van Beethoven’s six Opus 18 string quartets, composed in the key of B-flat major. She will be accompanied by Piano Faculty member Julio Elizalde for Franz Schubert’s D. 934 fantasy in C minor. The program will conclude with Bedřich Smetana’s Opus 15 (first) piano trio, with Bae performing with students William Laney (cello) and Helen Yuchen Wu (piano). D. 934 includes a set of variations on Franz Schubert’s D. 741 song, “Sei mir gegrüßt,” which will be sung by baritone Faculty member Matthew Worth, who will also be accompanied by Elizalde.

Saturday, February 11, 7:30 p.m., Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall, 50 Oak Street: Edwin Outwater will lead the SFCM Orchestra, whose program will begin with the world premiere performance of the Emerging Black Composers Project winner Sumi Tonooka. (The title of the composition has not yet been finalized.) Soprano Taylor See will be the soloist in a performance of Samuel Barber’s “Knoxville: Summer of 1915.” Following the intermission, the program will conclude with Béla Bartók’s “Concerto for Orchestra.”

Sunday, February 12, 2 p.m., Barbro Osher Recital Hall, 200 Van Ness Avenue: Corey Jamason and Elisabeth Reed, Co-Directors of the SFCM Baroque Ensemble, will present the winners of the 2022–2023 Baroque Ensemble Concerto Competition. Three of the performers of cellists: Kyle Stachnik playing the first of John Garth’s Opus 1 collection of cello concertos, Octavio Mujica playing the sixth of Joseph Bodin de Boismortier’s Opus 26 set of cello concertos, and Hasan Abualhaj playing Antonio Vivaldi’s RV 407 concerto in D minor. The program will also include Johann Sebastian Bach’s BWV 1052 harpsichord in D minor, performed by Yunji Ji, and Antonio Vivaldi’s RV 523 concerto for two violins in A minor, performed by Annemarie Schubert and Eliana Estrada.

Wednesday, February 15, 7:30 p.m., Sol Joseph Recital Hall, 50 Oak Street: Nicole Paiement will lead the New Music Ensemble in an eclectic program of works by living composers. The program will begin with “Gardens,” the opening movement of Cool Grey City, a suite by SFCM alumnus Nick Benavides. This will be followed by an adagio movement by Sarah Wald, “Shangui” by Yangfan Xu, and “Rages, Wages” by Jason Hainsworth.

Thursday, February 16, and Friday, February 17, 7:30 p.m., Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall, 50 Oak Street: SFCM Opera and Musical Theatre will present two performances of the Broadway musical adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women.

Thursday, February 23, 7:30 p.m., Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall, 50 Oak Street: SFCM brass students will present a side-by-side performance with Canadian Brass. Most of the selections on the program will be arrangements for brass resources. However, there will also be original compositions by Samuel Scheidt and Caleb Hudson.