SFCM to Present Alumni Song Recital

Readers may recall that, a little over a month ago, this site announced the first performances of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) Orchestra and the New Music Ensemble as the “highlights” for this month. However, yesterday morning I learned of a program in the Alumni Recital series that will take place this coming Friday. More specifically, the program will be performed by the husband-and-wife couple of pianist Brian Fitzsousa and soprano Carolyn Bacon, both of whom are alumni. (“For the record,” as they say, Bacon’s range extends beyond the usual soprano boundaries.)

They have prepared an impressively eclectic program of songs by American composers. These will be arranged in five sets as follows:

1. Charles Strouse (1928), Stephen Schwartz, (1948) Rags: “Blame it on a Summer Night” 
2. David Conte (1955), Anne Sexton (1928) Sexton Songs: “Her Kind” 
3. Kurt Weill (1900), Langston Hughes (1901) Street Scene: “Lonely House” 
4. Conte, Sexton Songs: “Riding the Elevator into the Sky”
*** 
5. Aaron Copland (1900), Emily Dickinson (1830) Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson: “The world feels dusty”
6. Copland, Dickinson Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson: “Heart, we will forget him”
7. Carmel Dean, Edna St. Vincent Milay (1892) Renascence: “Time Does Not Bring Relief”
8. Copland, Dickinson Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson: “When they come back”
9. Dean, Millay Renascence: “Elegy”
***
10. Tom Cippulo (1956), Lisel Mueller (1924) Of a Certain Age: Magnolia
11. Brian Fitzsousa (1992), William Butler Yeats (1865) “The Lake Isle of Innisfree”
12. Ned Rorem (1923), Paul Goodman (1911) “The Lordly Hudson”
13. Adam Guettel (1964) Myths and Hymns: “Migaratory V”
***
14. William Bolcom (1938), Arnold Weinstein (1940) Cabaret Songs: “Waitin”
15. Stephen Sondheim (1930) Company: “Someone is Waiting”
16. John Bucchino (1952) “Sweet Dreams”
***
17. Marc Blitzstein (1905) Juno: “I Wish it So”
18. Ricky Ian Gordon (1956), Dickinson “Will There Really Be a Morning”
19. Guettel The Light in the Piazza: “The Light in the Piazza”

This performance will be held in the Barbro Osher Recital Hall on the top floor of the SFCM Bowes Center at 200 Van Ness Avenue, on the southeast corner of Hayes Street. It will begin at 7:30 p.m. on this coming Friday, September 15. According to the event page, there will be no livestream. Those planning to attend should make reservations through the hyperlink on that page. There will be no charge for admission.