Yesterday afternoon the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale (PBO) launched its Web site for the 2023/24 season. The season in San Francisco will consist of five programs, all of which will take place in Herbst Theatre, located at 401 Van Ness Avenue on the southwest corner of McAllister Street. Specifics, in order of the date of performance, are as follows:
Thursday, October 19: The core of this program, which is entitled Garden of Good and Evil, is the West Coast premiere of Ancestor a diptych that explores the creation story in two movements, each by a different composer. The first movement, entitled “The Forms,” is by Errollyn Wallen CBE (Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire); and it will be followed by “The Golden Measure,” composed by Tarik O’Regan, currently the PBO Composer-in-Residence. Ancestor will be flanked on either side by a selection of compositions by George Frideric Handel, including two of his Opus 6 concerti grossi (HWV 322 in A minor and HWV 325 in B-flat major), along with vocal excerpts from two operas (Giulio Cesare and Admeto) and the Judas Maccabaeus oratorio. The vocalist will be countertenor Tim Mead. The program will begin with the overture to the Orlando opera. Music Director Richard Egarr will conduct.
Wednesday, November 29, and Thursday, November 30: This program will be devoted entirely to a full-length performance of Wallen’s opera Dido’s Ghost. The staging of this work will be directed by Frederic Wake-Walker. There will be four characters in the narrative, Dido (soprano Nicole Heaston), Aeneas (bass-baritone Matthew Brook), Belinda (soprano Nardus Williams), and the sorceress (mezzo Allison Cook). John Butt will conduct the PBO, and the Chorale will be prepared by Valérie Sainte-Agathe.
Thursday, December 7: Six Centuries of Christmas will include the world premiere performance of a commissioned work by Roderick Williams, whose title has not yet been assigned. The earliest composer on the program will be John Taverner, who was active in England during the sixteenth century. He should not be confused with John Tavener, who sustained serious illnesses prior to his death on 2013; and his “The Lamb” will be included on the program. Egarr will conduct the Philharmonia Baroque Chamber Players, and the Chorale will again be prepared by Sainte-Agathe.
Thursday, February 1: The Double Espresso program will salute Johann Sebastian Bach for the music that was performed when he would meet up with his friends for jam sessions at Gottfried Zimmermann’s coffee house in Leipzig. Egarr will conduct from the harpsichord and will be joined by harpsichordist Alexandra Nepomnyashchaya to account for the three concertos for two harpsichords that Bach composed: BWV 1060 in C minor, BWV 1061 in C major, and BWV 1062 in C minor. (BWV 1062 is actually an arrangement of the more familiar BWV 1043 concerto for two violins in D minor.) Each of these concertos will be paired with a composition by Georg Philipp Telemann, two of which are also concertos and the last of which is his “Alster” overture.
Thursday, April 11: The final program of the season will be Romantic Radiance, the annual venture into the nineteenth century. The program will begin with Felix Mendelssohn’s Opus 64 concerto for violin in E minor, which may well claim to be the most familiar violin concerto in the classical repertoire. That familiarity will be contrasted after the intermission with a performance of Robert Schumann’s Opus 148 setting of the Requiem text. The performance will include four vocal soloists, one in each of the usual vocal ranges: soprano Rowan Pierce, mezzo Hongni Wu, tenor Joshua Blue, and bass-baritone Ashley Riches. Egarr will conduct, and the Chorale will again be prepared by Sainte-Agathe.
All performances will begin at 7:30 pm. (which may require some adjustment by long-time subscribers used to showing up at 8 p.m.). There are a variety of subscription options for both the full season and those not wishing to attend all five of these concerts. A single Web page has been created for all of the subscription options. Those purchasing tickets to individual concerts can follow the hyperlinks on the above dates to City Box Office Web pages. Further information may be obtained by calling Patron Services at 415-295-1900, which is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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