Readers may recall that this season marked the return of “busy weekend” articles as performance schedules returned to normal in the wake of the COVID pandemic. Indeed, this past November saw two of those articles accounting for two successive weekends. The end of this month will mark the first busy weekend of the New Year, and it will account for an impressive diversity of options. Specifics are as follows:
Friday, April 28, 1 p.m., Cadillac Hotel: Once again, the weekend will begin early on Friday afternoon with this month’s Concerts at the Cadillac program. Following up on last month’s performance by the Primavera Latin Jazz Band, this month will shift to another lively genre with a performance by The Mangroves Zydeco Band. This group is a quartet with Max Lopez on accordion, Aaron Hammerman alternating between piano and guitar, Cairo McCockran on drums, and Dave Eagle on washboard (just so you know its zydeco). As usual, the piano will be the Patricia Walkup Memorial Piano that graces the lobby space.
The Cadillac Hotel is located at 380 Eddy Street, on the northeast corner of Leavenworth Street. For those attending for the first time, the piano is a meticulously restored 1884 Model D Steinway concert grand, whose original soundboard is still intact. All Concerts at the Cadillac events are presented without charge. The purpose of the series is to provide high-quality music to the residents of the hotel and the Tenderloin District; but all are invited to visit the venue that calls itself “The House of Welcome Since 1907.”
[added 4/24, 9:45 a.m.:
Friday, April 28, 7 p.m., Medicine for Nightmares Bookstore & Gallery: David Boyce’s multi-reed performance cited on this week’s Bleeding Edge calendar.
Saturday, April 29, 1 p.m., San Francisco Public Library: Sextet led by guitarist and composer David James cited on this week’s Bleeding Edge calendar.]
Friday, April 28, 7:30 p.m., Herbst Theatre: The third of the four programs in the San Francisco Performances Art of Song series will feature mezzo J’Nai Bridges. She has partnered with percussionist Ulysses Owens Jr. to prepare a program entitled Notes on Hope. The program will be divided into three parts. “Divine Hope” will couple two traditional spirituals with three tunes by Duke Ellington. “The Crux of Hope” will begin with the jazz of Geri Allen, followed by songs by Henri Duparc and Erik Satie, and concluding with pop tunes by Louiguy (“La Vie en Rose”) and Valdemar Henrique (“Boi Bumba”). “Hope Fulfilled” will conclude the program, beginning with two songs by Florence Price, “Adoration” and “Hold Fast to Dreams.” The program will conclude with an André Previn “reflection” on Ellington entitled “It’s Good to Have You Near Again.”
Bridges and Owens will be accompanied by the Notes on Hope ensemble, a quartet whose members are Reuben Rogers on bass, Ted Rosenthal on piano, Carol Robbins on harp, and Jalen Baker on percussion. The entrance to Herbst is on the ground floor of the Veterans Building at 401 Van Ness Avenue, located on the southwest corner of McAllister Street. This venue is excellent for public transportation, since that corner has Muni bus stops for both north-south and east-west travel. All tickets are being sold 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, and they may be purchased through an SFP secure Web page. As available, single tickets will be sold at the door with a 50% discount for students and a 20% discount for seniors. Single tickets may also be purchased by calling 415-392-2545.
Friday, April 28, 7:30 p.m., Taube Atrium Theater: At exactly the same time and in the same building, the San Francisco Opera (SFO) and Taube Philanthropies will present a program entitled Rise Up And Resist: A Commemorative Concert on the 80th Anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Like Notes on Hope, this will be a performance involving a variety of genres. The classical genre will include a nocturne by Frédéric Chopin, one of the movements from the Mythes suite by Karol Szymanowski, and both art songs and chamber music by Mieczysław Weinberg. There will also be a performance of the “Ode to Joy” from Ludwig van Beethoven’s Opus 125 (ninth) symphony in D minor, which will be sung in Yiddish. Other vocal performances will include the Yiddish “Hymn of the Partisans,” popular Yiddish songs, and the Hebrew sacred song “Ani Ma’amin.” The performers will include SFO Adler Fellows, members of the SFO Orchestra, and four pianists.
General admission will be $36. Tickets may be purchased in advance online through an event page on the SFO Web site. Note that it is possible to select the option of Wheelchair Accessible seats using the “Select Zone” pulldown menu. The duration of the performance will be approximately one hour with no intermission.
Saturday, April 29, and Sunday, April 30, Bayview Opera House: The Left Coast Chamber Ensemble will present world premiere performances of two chamber operas over the course of the weekend. The first of these will be Kurt Rohde’s “4:30 Movie,” whose instrumental score will be extended with electronics and video. The libretto explores the relationship between two sisters, one of whom has died from cancer, while the other remains and remembers. The program will also include the ciaconna movement that concludes Johann Sebastian Bach’s BWV 1004 partita for solo violin, Sarah Hennies’ “Psalm I,” and two additional compositions by Rhode, “Sonic Tunic” and “credo petrified.” The Saturday performance will begin at 5 p.m., and the Sunday performance will begin at 2 p.m.
The second opera is “Tenderhooks” by Anthony R. Green. The libretto is a satirical account of how housemates Nora and Sebastian cope with enforced isolation during the pandemic. This program will also begin with one of Hennies’ compositions, “Everything Else.” The Saturday performance will begin at 7 p.m., and the Sunday performance will begin at 4 p.m.
Tickets for both operas will be $50 for general admission with a $20 rate for students if purchased in advance. Prices at the door will be $60 and $25, respectively. Advance prices for single tickets will be $35 and $10, and the charge at the door will be $38 and $15. A Web page has been created for purchasing tickets online.
Saturday, April 29, 7 p.m., and Sunday, April 30, Calvary Presbyterian Church: The San Francisco Choral Society (SFCS) will present the world premiere of the chamber orchestra version of Stacy Garrop’s three-part oratorio Terra Nostra, which was originally co-commissions by SFCS and the Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir (PEBCC). The program will also include Morten Lauridsen’s “Lux Aeterna.” The vocal soloists will be soprano Jennifer Paulino, alto Betany Coffland, tenor Michael Jankosky, and bass Nikolas Nacklay. The organist will be Christopher Keady; and Artistic Director Robert Geary will lead SFCS, PEBCC, and the San Francisco Youth Chorus.
Ticket prices for both performances are $35 for general admission, $40 for preferred reserved, and $50 for premium reserved. City Box Office has created a Web page for all ticket purchases. In addition, a digital ticket may be purchased for $35 a live-stream of the Sunday afternoon performance. Those tickets may be purchased through the same Web page.
Saturday, April 29, 7:30 p.m., St. Mark’s Lutheran Church: The Dynamite Guitars series presented by the Omni Foundation for the Performing Arts will conclude with a solo recital by guitarist Ana Vidovic. The first half of her program will begin with arrangements of two compositions by Bach: the BWV 1013 partita for solo flute in A minor and the BWV 998 lute composition consisting of “Prelude,” “Fugue,” and “Allegro” movements. Vidovic will then perform a solo account of Joaquín Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez.” The second half will feature Mauro Giuliani’s Opus 150, entitled “Gran Sonata Eroica.” This will be preceded by a three-movement sonatina by Federico Moreno Torroba and Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Opus 85, “Capriccio diabolico,” given the subtitle “Homage to Paganini.” The program will conclude with three short pieces by Astor Piazzolla.
St. Mark’s is located at 1111 O’Farrell Street, just west of Franklin Street. The eastbound Geary Bus (number 38) stops within a block of the church after it leaves Geary Boulevard to proceed along O’Farrell. There are also nearby stops for buses on Van Ness Avenue. All tickets are being sold for $60 and may be purchased online through a City Box Office event page.
[added 4/24, 10 a.m.:
Saturday, April 29, 7:30 p.m., Center for New Music: The Alaya Project cited on the Center for New Music calendar. ]
Saturday, April 29, 8 p.m., Herbst Theatre: For the penultimate program in its 2013 season, Chamber Music San Francisco will present the Bay Area debut of the Arod Quartet. Those that know Lord of the Rings better than I do will recognize the name of Legolas’ horse, which translates into “swift.” “Swift” will definitely be the order of the day for a program of quartets by Joseph Haydn, Felix Mendelssohn, and Franz Schubert. Ticket prices are $25, $35, and $48. City Box Office has created a Web page for all ticket purchases.
Sunday, April 30, 2 p.m., Legion of Honor Museum: The second opera in the Pocket Opera 2023 Season will be Benjamin Britten’s Albert Herring, which probably presents the composer at his most raucous. The Music Director will be David Drummond, and the staging will be by General Director Nicholas A. Garcia. The title role will be sung by tenor Sam Faustine. The performance will take place in the Gunn Theatre on the lower level of the Museum. General admission is $75 with a $69 rate for seniors and $30 for those age 30 and younger. A Web page has been created for online purchase, but the $30 tickets may be purchased only by mail or phone.
[added 4/24, 10 a.m.:
Sunday, April 30, 4 p.m., Old First Presbyterian Church: The Quinteto Latino performance in the Old First Concerts series.]
[added 4/24, 9:50 a.m.:
Sunday, April 30, 8 p.m., Bird & Beckett Books and Records: Jazz by Ben Goldberg and Sheldon Brown cited on this week’s Bleeding Edge calendar.]
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