Final SFP Guitar Recital to Include Sasha Cooke

Jason Vieaux and Sasha Cooke (from an SFP Web page)

Many readers probably know by now that JIJI’s performance this past Saturday was the only solo recital to be presented in this season’s San Francisco Performances (SFP) Guitar Series, as well as the third of only four solo recitals in the Dynamite Guitars series presented by the Omni Foundation for the Performing Arts. That said, the final SFP series offering will be a particularly special occasion. Guitarist Jason Vieaux will perform with mezzo Sasha Cooke, who is not only the one vocalist to participate in a guitar program but also well deserves the title of “Special Guest Artist.”

Where my own tastes are concerned, what will make this particularly “special” for me is Cooke’s decision to perform a set of four songs by Franz Schubert with guitar accompaniment. The fact is that I have been aware of this approach to singing Schubert since November of 2013, when bass-baritone Philippe Sly presented a one-hour recital of Schubert songs for an SFP “salon” at the Hotel Rex. That subsequently led to the release of an Analekta album on which the two of them gave an account of sixteen Schubert songs. Most recently, mezzo Nikola Printz included two Schubert songs in the Schwabacher Recital Series performance they gave almost exactly a year ago, accompanied by guitarist Jon Mendle.

Mind you, because this is the Guitar Series, the solo repertoire will not be overlooked. Vieaux will play Four Paths of Light, a suite for solo guitar composed by Pat Metheny in 2021. This suite was included on Metheny’s Road to the Sun album, with Vieux performing it.

This performance will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 8. The venue will be Herbst Theatre, on the ground floor of the Veterans Building at 401 Van Ness Avenue on the southwest corner of McAllister Street. Tickets are now on sale for $65 for premium seating in the Orchestra and the front and center of the Dress Circle, $55 for the Side Boxes, the center rear of the Dress Circle, and the remainder of the Orchestra, and $45 for the remainder of the Dress Circle and the Balcony. SFP has created a secure Web page for online purchases. Orders may also be placed by calling the SFP subscriber hotline at 415-677-0325, which is open for receiving calls between 9:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.