SFP: Art of Song to Continue with Bryce-Davis

Readers probably know by now that, following a quiet December, San Francisco Performances will greet the New Year with a busy schedule of concerts. Having already accounted for Jonathan Biss’ first Echoes of Schubert recital and the entire PIVOT Series, it is now time to wrap up the month of January with one final offering. That event will be the second of the four programs presented in the Art of Song series.

Mezzo Raehann Bryce-Davis (photograph by Sam Eltosam, courtesy of San Francisco Performances)

That program will be a recital by 2015 Merola alumna mezzo Raehann Bryce-Davis. [updated 12/14, 4:10 p.m.: Her accompanist will be Jeanne-Minette Cilliers. (Some readers may recall that Cilliers was her accompanist when she presented a Merola Opera Program Virtual Recital Series program during the pandemic.)]

The most “traditional” selection on the program will be the collection of five songs by Richard Wagner that are commonly known as the Wesendonck Lieder. This selection will be complemented by songs from the early twentieth century by female composers. The program will begin with Amy Beach’s Opus 44 Three Browning Songs; and the other composers will be Margaret Bonds (“Birth”) and Florence Price (“The Crescent Moon”). There will also be works by two living female composers, Melissa Dunphy (“Come, My Tan Faced Children”) and Maria Thompson Corley (“The Beauty in My Blackness” and “I’m Not an Angry Black Woman”). The program will conclude with three of the movements of the cycle Fi Mi Love Have Lion Heart, composed by Peter Ashbourne and based on Jamaican folk songs.

This performance will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, January 27. 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 being sold for $65 for premium seating in the Orchestra, the Side Boxes, and the front and center of the Dress Circle, $55 for 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. They may be purchased through an SFP secure Web page or by calling 415-392-2545.