Choices for May 5–7, 2023

Next month will begin with another “busy weekend.” It will not be quite as busy as the one getting under way tomorrow, but it will still require making choices. Also, the first of the events will mark the beginning of the next month’s round of programming in the Old First Concerts (O1C) series, which will also be summarized. Specifics are as follows:

Friday, May 5, 8 p.m., Old First Presbyterian Church: O1C will begin the month with a performance by the Friction Quartet, whose members are violinists Otis Harriel and Kevin Rogers (sharing first chair), violist Mitso Floor, and cellist Doug Machiz. They will begin the program with two compositions by Caroline Shaw, “Blueprint” and “First Essay.” They will then share the remainder of the program with mezzo Melinda Martinez Becker. This will include two additional Shaw compositions: “Can’t Voi L’aube” and “Other Song.” These will be followed by three world premiere performances. The first of these will be “Canto Caló” by Nicolás Bell Benavides. The remaining selections will be arrangements by Becker of “Por Amor” by Gilberto Parra and “La Cigarra” by Raymundo Pérez y Soto. O1C events will continue to be “hybrid,” allowing both live streaming and seating in the Old First Presbyterian Church at 1751 Sacramento Street on the southwest corner of Van Ness Avenue. Seating will remain limited to 100 tickets, all being sold for $25 (no reduced rate for seniors or students). Tickets may be purchased through this concert’s event page. The remaining events of the month will be as follows with hyperlinks attached to the date and time of each the performances:

• Sunday, May 7, 3 p.m.: Old First will host the nineteenth annual Community Music Center (CMC) Juliet McComas Keyboard Marathon. This annual event provides CMC faculty performers with opportunities to explore the richness and range of the keyboard repertoire through a unique lens in both educational and highly entertaining concert programming. The title of the program will be Masterpieces from Folk Traditions with performances of compositions inspired by folk music from many cultures and regions of the world.
• Friday, May 12, 8 p.m.: Violinist Patrick Galvin will return to O1C, having made his last visit about a year ago. This time his accompanist will be pianist Connor Buckley. His program will encompass an extensive repertoire with Robert Schumann’s Opus 105 (first) violin sonata in A minor as the earliest selection and one of the Six Tasty Caprices by composer and violist Korine Fujiwara as the most recent.
• Monday, May 15, 7:30 p.m.: Old First will also host the next program in Earplay’s 38th season. This ensemble, which is dedicated to the performance and recording of new chamber music, is conducted by Mary Chun. The instrumentalists are Tod Brody on flute, Peter Josheff on clarinet, Terrie Baune on violin, Ellen Ruth Rose on viola, Thalia Moore on cello, and Brenda Tom on piano. The program will be framed by two world premiere performances of works not yet titled by Wyatt Cannon and Byron Au Young.
• Friday, May 19, 8 p.m.: New Arts Collaboration will present the latest performance by pianist Ting Luo.  She will perform works by Xuesi Xu, Dylan Findley, Sarah Wald and Cole Reyes alongside multimedia projections and electronic sounds. Furthermore, to commemorate the Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in May, the concert will feature works by Emily Koh and Juhi Bansal, as well as an improvisational piano piece with sounds programmed in Supercollider by Joo Woo Park. The concert will begin with the world premiere performance of “Sustain,” composed for piano and electronics by Aries Mond.
• Sunday, May 21, 4 p.m.: The final concert of the month will be a solo recital by lutenist Simone Vallerotonda. His program will survey the works of the French seventeenth-century lutenists. There will be no charge for admission, because the performance will be supported by the Italian Cultural Institute of San Francisco and CICIM (Comitato Nazionale Italiano Musica). Seating will be on a first-come-first-served basis; and this program will not be live-streamed.

Friday, May 5, 8 p.m., St. Mark’s Lutheran Church: The final concert of the California Bach Society’s 51st season will present two rarely performed choral works from the High Baroque period. The first of these will be a setting of the Christian hymn to Mary “Stabat Mater,” composed in 1727 by Agostino Steffani. The more familiar composer will be Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber with his setting of the Requiem text composed for five-part choir in 1692. St. Mark’s is located at 1111 O’Farrell Street, just west of its intersection with Franklin Street. Tickets will be sold at the door for $40 with a discount price of $35 for seniors. Students, and those under 30 can purchase tickets for $10. If purchased in advance, general admission will be $35; and the senior rate will be $30. A Web page has been created to process all online ticket sales, and the alternative will be to call 650-485-1097. Until further notice, concert-goers must submit proof of vaccination, including booster shots; and masks must be worn at all times.

Saturday, May 6, 7:30 p.m., Episcopal Church of the Incarnation: Sunset Music and Arts has scheduled only two concerts for the month of May, so they will be dealt with separately on this site. The first of these will be a program of San Francisco premieres of six compositions by Davide Verotta. The composer has prepared the following itemization of the compositions and their performers:

1. Tsure: the Haruka Fujii Trio: Haruka Fujii, marimba, Beni Shinohara, violin, Ray Furuta, flute
2. Tsure Goes to the Beach: Haruka Fujii, marimba
3. Summoning in Vain: Sharon Wayne, guitar, Martha Rodriguez-Salazar, flute
4. Deep Blue, Vermillion, and Ivy Gold: Monika Gruber, violin, Davide Verotta, piano
5. Sulle Aridi Pendici: Martha Rodriguez-Salazar, flute, Jennifer Peringer, piano
6. String Quartet No. 10: Maki Ishii Sowash, violin, Michael Long, violin, Paul Ehrlich, viola, Victoria Ehrlich, cello)

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. Further information may be obtained by calling 415-564-2324. [added 5/1, 1:25 p.m.:

Saturday, May 6, 8 p.m., Center for New Music: New York pianist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Gabriel Zucker will present a new duo of drummer Aaron Edgcomb in which they will perform complex compositions with improvised soundscapes. For those that do not yet know, C4NM is located at 55 Taylor Street, half a block north of the Golden Gate Theater, which is where Golden Gate Avenue meets Market Street. Masks are still required for all in attendance, and those in the audience are required to show proof of vaccination. Furthermore, since those pandemic conditions still prevail, the audience capacity will be reduced; so purchasing tickets early through an Eventbrite event page is desirable. The remaining events of the month will be as follows with Eventbrite hyperlinks attached to the date and time of each the performances:

• Sunday May 7, 4 p.m.: This concert will marks the birth of the newly launched duo between Sarah Grace Graves and Eda Er, both singers and composers in the composition PhD program at the University of California at Berkeley, who each stumbled upon experimental music somewhat unexpectedly. [added 5/3, 12:10 p.m.:
• Friday, May 12, 8 p.m.: Sarah Grace Graves, Ron Heglin, and Ric Louchard will improvise delicate, emotive chamber music, filled with open spaces and some dense clusters.]
  
• Saturday, May 20, 7 p.m.: The final concert of the month will bring together two composers working with electronics: r beny and George Hurd. Each of them will perform a solo set of deeply emotional and personal ambient music. Both of them use electronic gear to create intricate and intensely human music, filled with towering walls of harmony, entrancing melody, and immersive visuals.]
  

Saturday, May 6, 8:30 p.m., The Lab: This will be the first of two concerts hosted by The Lab. The program has been prepared by guitarist and composer Bill Orcutt, who is based here in San Francisco. Last year saw the release of his album Music for Four Guitars. He will lead an all-electric guitar quartet in performances of the music from that album. The additional guitarists will be Wendy Eisenberg, Ava Mendoza, and Shane Parish. This live performance will combine intricate composition with no-holds-barred improvisation. The Lab is located in the Mission at 2948 16th Street. This is particularly good for those using public transportation, since that corner provides bus stops for both north-south and east-west travel as well as a BART station. Doors will open half an hour prior to when the performance will begin. General admission tickets are available for $25 and may be purchased online through a Withfriends Web page. Admission will be discounted or free for members. Students can purchase discounted tickets by sending electronic mail to thelabsf@thelab.org.

Sunday, May 7, 4 p.m., St. Mark’s Lutheran Church: American Bach Soloists will conclude its Discovery Series with a program entitled Harmonious Love. The program will consist of two narrative offerings. The first of these will be George Frideric Handel’s HWV 122 secular cantata Apollo e Dafne. This will be followed by Jean-Philippe Rameau’s one-act opera “Pygmalion.” The participating vocalists will be sopranos Mary Wilson, Amy Broadbent, and Morgan Balfour, tenor Matthew Hill, and bass-baritone Mischa Bouvier. Tickets are available through a Tix Web page. Ticket prices are $101, $77, $56, and $39, with wheelchair-accessible seats for $101 and $39.

Sunday, May 7, 8 p.m., The Lab: The second concert at The Lab is entitled The Shape of Minds to Come. The program will showcase the work of five artists, all of whom are taking experimental approaches to making music. Those artists are John Duncan, Schneider TM, Scot Jenerik, Chandra Shulka, and Thomas Dimuzio. General admission tickets are available for $20 and may be purchased online through a Withfriends Web page. Admission will again be discounted or free for members; and students can purchase discounted tickets by sending electronic mail to thelabsf@thelab.org.