Left Coast Festival About a Month Away

Floral icon for the On the Threshold of Dreamland program (from the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble events calendar)

Hopefully, there are readers that will recall that the Winter Wandering Festival, presented by the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, will begin at the end of next month. For those that do not recall, the hyperlink will serve as a memory aid; and the dates and time for the programs will be as follows:

• Friday, January, 31, 7:30 p.m.: Winterreise
• Saturday, February 1, 11:30 a.m.: A Dark Matter
• Saturday, February 1, 7:30 p.m.: On the Threshold of Dreamland
• Sunday, February 2, 4 p.m.: Franz Schubert and Luigi Nono

Tix is providing a Festival Pass for the entire series for $120 with a $60 rate for students. Single tickets will be available through the individual event pages. All four programs will take place at the Noe Valley Ministry, which is located in Noe Valley (of course) at 1021 Sanchez Street, just south of 23rd Street.

SFJAZZ: January, 2025

As of this writing, it appears that things will be quiet at the Joe Henderson Lab of the SFJAZZ Center for the first half of the New Year. However, it will resume activities with a weekend of free performances as compensation for the wait! For those that do not (yet?) know, the SFJAZZ Center is located at 201 Franklin Street, on the northwest corner of Fell Street, where the main entrance doors are located. Performance dates, times, and hyperlinks for purchasing tickets are as follows:

Friday, January 17, Saturday, January 18, and Sunday, January 19, 7 p.m.: These will be three concerts that celebrate Black music rooted in traditions such as gospel, blues, and jazz. The Dee Spencer Trio, led by pianist Spencer, will share the program will special guest vocalists Michelle Jacques and Clairdee. Other soloists will be drawn from the public; and, as of this writing, Spencer’s accompanists have not yet been named. Sadly, no further specifics are available at the present time; but the tickets for Saturday are almost sold out.

Thursday, January 23, 8:30 p.m.: The theme for this week will be Experimental Composers. It will begin with the Edward Simon Trio, whose leader is the SFJAZZ Collective Pianist. Unfortunately, the other two performers have not yet been identified. As of this writing, the second set is currently the only option.

Friday, January 24, 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.: Jamie Baum, is a flutist, composer, and bandleader. This will be her first performance at SFJAZZ with her working quartet. Once again, the other performers have not yet been identified.

Saturday, January 25, 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.: This will be a solo piano performance by Gloria Cheng. The title of her program will be ROOT PROGRESSIONS. She will play the results of commissions by Anthony Davis, Jon Jang, Linda May Han Oh, Arturo O’Farrill, and James Newton.

Sunday, January 26, 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.: Pianist Jeong Lim Yang will lead her trio in a performance of Zodiac Suite, which was composed by Mary Lou Williams in 1945. This trio arrangements was recorded on a Fresh Sound album in 2022 under the title Zodiac Suite: Reassured. Once again, information about the other members of the trio is not yet available.

Jazz singer Kat Edmonson (from the SFJAZZ event page for her performances this month)

Thursday, January 30, and Friday, January 31, 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.: The month will conclude with the first of two programs in a series entitled Music from the Movies. (The other two programs will begin the month of February.) Kat Edmonson is a vocalist that sings her own compositions. According to The New York Times, her genres include “jazz, cabaret and vintage cosmopolitanism pop.” The performances of her selections tend to interleave with humorous anecdotes, philosophical musings, and her love of film. As might be guessed, the program will interleave her own works with songs from familiar movie classics.

More “Noodling” from Sclavis-Moussay Duo

Louis Sclavis and Benjamin Moussay (© Stéphanie Griguer, courtesy of ECM records)

My last opportunity to write about a new ECM release was this past Saturday, when my “first contact” with Florian Weber’s Imaginary Cycle: Music for piano, brass ensemble and flute led to reflections on past encounters with “noodling” (basically meandering without any sense of direction) as the “cardinal sin” of composition. This morning brought me another new ECM offering, this time a duo performance by clarinetist Louis Sclavis with Benjamin Moussay at the piano. The album consists of nine tracks of original works, six by Moussay and three by Sclavis.

The advance material I received declared that all nine of these pieces drew “from a broad range of inspirations.” Those inspirations involved a rather extensive spectrum of sources, with the organ music of Olivier Messiaen rubbing shoulders with Jimmy Giuffre, one of the composers to contribute to the third stream genre that tried to merge the jazz and classical styles. Those who read my latest article about Andrew Hill probably already know that my opinion about third stream parallels an old joke about the monorail being an idea of the future whose time has passed; and that pretty much sums up my thoughts on the matter!

The title of the new Sclavis-Moussay album is Unfolding, but I am afraid it did not register much impact with me. There were few, if any, moments that could be taken as reflection on either Messiaen or Giuffre. For that matter, were I to take a “blind listening test,” I probably would not be able to distinguish the compositions by Moussay from those by Sclavis. Instead, there is an overall rhetoric of quietude, which, to be fair, may be just the right mood to soothe tensions after a stressful day of shopping for the holidays.

Indeed, this is the time of year when many of us could do with resorting to Alprazolam (better known under the brand name Xanax) while trying to get into the holiday spirit. Personally, I have better ways to cultivate that spirit. Readers that have followed this site over the course of the years know that I make it a point to attend the annual performance of George Frideric Handel’s HWV 56 oratorio (better known as Messiah); and this year I got my fun from Peaches Christ with the Holiday Gaiety program, both events involving the San Francisco Symphony performing in Davies Symphony Hall. Such offerings provided more than enough to soothe my tensions and raise my spirits, and I doubt that Unfolding will have anything to add to those spirits between now and my ringing in the New Year!

Noe Music to Begin New Year with Upbeat Piano

Aaron Diehl at his piano (courtesy of Noe Music)

The Noe Music Mainstage concert series will account for one of the first recitals in the new year. The recitalist will be pianist Aaron Diehl, and he has prepared a program entitled Stride & Ragtime. Through those two genres he will survey innovative compositions from the early twentieth century, which provided the seeds for the beginning of the Jazz Age in the 1920s. The program will include works by familiar (at least to me!) composers from that time, such as Scott Joplin (“Maple Leaf Rag”), Fats Waller (“Viper’s Drag”), and Eubie Blake (“Memories of You”). Other composers to be featured will be James P. Johnson, Jelly Roll Morton, and the less familiar Jesse Pickett.

This will be one of the series’ Sunday programs, beginning at 4 p.m. on January 12. As usual, the performance will take place in the Noe Valley Ministry at 1021 Sanchez Street, just south of 23rd Street. A Web page currently available for purchasing tickets. General admission is $45 with a special $60 rate for the limited first few rows. Students will be admitted for $15.

Disappointing Jazz from Temple University

Cover of the album being discussed (courtesy of DL Media)

This is the time of year when, because my inbox is not as filled as usual, I try to compensate for albums that, for some reason or another, “fell through the cracks” at the time of their release. This was the case with the Labyrinth album, which I first learned about at the end of April and, according to its Bandcamp Web page, was released the following May 17. The title track is a composition for big band, rhythm section, and orchestra composed by Billy Childs on a commission by trumpeter Terell Stafford, alto saxophonist Dick Oatts, and Temple University. The Temple University Studio Orchestra is conducted by José Luis Domínguez with solo performances by both Stafford and Oatts.

These resources also contribute to the third (and final) track on the album, “Rainforests,” composed by Bill Cunliffe. They are joined by four additional soloists, Tim Warfield on tenor saxophone, pianist Bruce Barth, Mike Boone on bass, and drummer Justin Faulkner. These two works frame the second track, “Red Braid,” composed by Banks Sapnar and performed by the Temple University Jazz Band led by Stafford.

This was an ambitious undertaking; and, because I spent many years of my life in Philadelphia (including an Assistant Professorship at the University of Pennsylvania), I was particularly curious, in part because (at least during my tenure) the Music Department at Penn showed little interest in jazz as a topic worthy of study. As a result, the mere fact that Temple had undertaken this event was more than enough to attract my attention. Unfortunately, that was about all that was achieved. While the performances themselves could not be faulted, I came away feeling that there was just too much “noodling” (the “cardinal sin” bestowed by my composition teacher) in the music itself. Put another way, there was no faulting the spirit behind the two performing ensembles; but there was not much strength in the “flesh” of what they were performing.

Perhaps an academic setting is not the best place for such a spirit to thrive.

The Bleeding Edge: 12/17/2024

This week will be just as busy on the Bleeding Edge as last week was. Once again, the “usual suspects” will be contributing. Whether or not this involves a mad dash to do as much as possible before the seasonal holidays take precedence above all else will be left to the reader to decide! Specifics are as follows:

Tuesday (today), December 17, Make-Out Room, 7 p.m.: This month’s installment of Jazz at the Make-Out Room will consist of three sets, each consisting roughly of 45 minutes in duration. The program will begin with the Dymaxion trio of Bruce Ackley, doubling between soprano saxophone and clarinet, bassist Pete Schmitt, and Dave Brandt on percussion. They will be followed by a duo set taken by Velox Humm, pairing Scott Amendola on drums with guitarist Lenny Gonzalez. The final set will be taken by another trio, Key West, led by saxophonist Brian Pedersen, performing with Jay Korber on drums and cellist Randylee Sutherland. As usual, the Make-Out Room is located in the Mission at 3225 22nd Street. Doors will open at 6 p.m. There is no cover charge, so donations will be accepted and appreciated.

Wednesday, December 18, Luggage Store Gallery, 8 p.m.: The Luggage Store Creative Music Series will present two one-hour sets. The opening set will be taken by the Inkwells Trio, led by guitarist Lorenzo Arreguin performing with Elijah Pontecorvo on bass and drummer Christian Arriola. Saxophonist Rent Romus will then lead his Lords of Outland combo in a program entitled Ghost Moon. The other members of the combo will be Philip Everett on electronics, drummer Anthony Flores, and Ray Scheaffer on bass. They will be joined by saxophonist Zae Tinaza making a “special guest” appearance. As regular readers probably know by now, LSG is located at 1007 Market Street, just off the corner of Sixth Street and across from the corner of Golden Gate Avenue and Taylor Street. Admission is on a sliding scale between $10 and $20.

Thursday, December 19, Adobe Books, 8 p.m.: The first set will be taken by Malikah Wang, who will be on a brief visit from Taiwan. One of her performances during this visit will be only five minutes in duration. Regardless of length, this will involve voice and electronics accompanied by tap-dance percussion. The other set will be a quartet of performers from both Oakland and San Francisco singing and improvising under the title Newcomer Can’t Swim. Adobe Books is located in the Mission at 3130 24th Street. Doors will open at 7:30 p.m., and a $10 donation will be requested to support the performers.

Friday, December 20, Medicine for Nightmares, 7 p.m.: As usual, reed player David Boyce will host the weekly Other Dimensions in Sound series. This week the “sonic sustenance and musical medicina” will be provided by a solo gig performed by Amplifier. The venue is located in the Mission at 3036 24th Street, between Treat Avenue and Harrison Street. As always, there is no charge for admission, presumably to encourage visitors to consider buying a book.

Poster design for the performance by the Chris Trinidad Trio (from the BayImprovisor Web page for this event)

Saturday, December 21, Bird & Beckett Books and Records, 7:30 p.m.: Playing bass guitar and synth bass, Chris Trinidad will lead a trio performing with pianist Bob Crawford and Isaac Schwartz on his drum kit. They will perform selections from his Iridium Records releases including Common Themes, Certain Times, and Chant Triptych II. For those that do not already know, the venue is located in Glen Park at 653 Chenery Street, a short walk from the Glen Park station that serves both BART and Muni. Admission will be a cover charge of $25, payable by Venmo or in cash. Given the limited space of the venue, reservations are necessary and can be made by calling 415-586-3733. The phone will be answered during regular store hours, which are between noon and 6 p.m. on Tuesday through Sunday. This performance will also be live-streamed through hyperlinks to Facebook and YouTube on the Bird & Beckett Web page while the show is in progress.

Saturday, December 21, The Lab, 7 p.m.: As was reported this past Friday, The Lab will conclude the year with SEASONS, a program inspired by the winter solstice.

Frank Hanny to Ring In New Year

Jazz pianist and composer Tim Chernikoff

There is still half a month to go; but, as of this writing, the very first performance of the new year likely to be of interest to readers will take place in the afternoon of New Year’s Day. Jazz Chez Hanny will launch 2025 with a performance by the Tim Chernikoff Trio. Pianist and composer Chernikoff has literally been “all over the map” (at least the map of the United States) in his music education and performances. This has resulted in an equally broad source of influences, which date back to Maurice Ravel and advance through Thelonious Monk and Ornette Coleman to Frank Zappa. His latest album, Pieces of Sanity, dates back to September of 2021; but his trio colleagues on that album will also join him in his visit to Chez Hanny. They are drummer Kenneth Salters and Jakob Dreyer on bass.

As has been the case throughout this year, Chez Hanny is located at 1300 Silver Avenue; and the performance takes place in the downstairs rumpus room. It will begin at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, January 1. Admission will be $25, payable by check or cash. All of that money will go to cover expenses. [added 12/16, 9:40 a.m.: Because Jazz Chez Hanny is now a 501(c)(3) public charity, the price of admission is now tax-deductible.] There will be two sets separated by a potluck break. As a result, all who plan to attend should bring food and/or drink to share. Seating is first come, first served, meaning that reservations are strongly recommended. They may be placed through an electronic mail address: jazz@chezhanny.com. Mail messages received after noon on the day of a performance are unlikely to be seen until after the show is over, and cancellations should be given at least 24 hours advance notice. Finally, volunteer efforts for cleaning up after the show and moving furniture to accommodate both players and listeners are always appreciated.

SFP to Begin New Year with Guitar Recital

Guitarist Miloš (photograph by Christoph Köstlin, courtesy of SFP)

San Francisco Performances (SFP) will begin the New Year with the next program in its Guitar Series. Most readers probably know by now that these events are shared with the Dynamite Guitars concert season presented by the Omni Foundation for the Performing Arts. The year will begin with a solo recital by Miloš Karadaglić (who performs under only his first name).

Miloš has prepared a program entitled The Arts and the Hours. While the works on the program span music history from the Baroque period to the twentieth century, only two of the composers are guitarists. Agustín Barrios will be represented by the “Andante Religioso” movement from his suite La Catedral, and the program will conclude with “Amor Fati” by contemporary composer Mathias Duplessy. On the other hand, most of the program will dwell on composers from the Baroque period, including (in order of appearance) Sylvius Leopold Weiss, Jean-Philippe Rameau, George Frideric Handel, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Domenico Scarlatti. The program will also include “Asturias,” originally composed as a piano prelude by Isaac Albéniz and Toru Takemitsu’s guitar arrangement of Harold Arlen’s “Over the Rainbow.”

This performance will begin, as usual, at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, January 25. Also as usual, the venue will be Herbst Theatre, which is located at 401 Van Ness Avenue, on the southwest corner of McAllister Street and directly across Van Ness from City Hall. SFP has created its own Web page for online ticket purchases. Tickets for the Boxes and Orchestra range between $60 and $70. The remaining tickets are in the Dress Circle and the Balcony, with prices between $50 and $70.

A Frustrating Encounter with Florian Weber

The good news about December is that things begin to quiet down, giving me a bit more liberty to take on recordings I might previously have had to dismiss for lack of time. However, when I venture into those “unknown regions” (as Walt Whitman described them), I have to accept that the trip may not always be worth the while. Such is the case when I had the opportunity to list to an ECM album, which had been released this past September at a time when I had more than enough on my plate. Today, I finally had the time to listen to that album without worrying about other commitments; but I am not sure it was worth the wait.

The title of the album is Imaginary Cycle: Music for piano, brass ensemble and flute, composed by Florian Weber. This is one of those releases that includes a booklet. It provides a generously informative essay by Friedrich Kunzmann. Sadly, I feel that I derived more from reading the essay than from listening to the music.

This may be due, at least in part, to my own educational experiences. I happened to be an undergraduate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at a time when the Music Department began to take on new faculty members willing to teach courses in harmony and theory at a time when past faculty members never ventured very far beyond “music appreciation.” Naturally, I devoured as many of those new courses as I could cram into my schedule; and my memories are still fond ones. What has remained stuck in my mind since that time, however, was one criticism that made me aware of the real challenge behind composing music that others might want to experience. The teacher described the “cardinal sin” of composition as “noodling;” and all of his pupils (myself) included labored over avoiding being accused of that sin!

Of course the teacher never reduced “noodling” to specific necessary and/or sufficient conditions. Basically, what we learned was, “You know it when you hear it.” Leaping now into the present, I realized that, in listening to Imaginary Cycle, I found myself encountering noodling again. This was more than a little disappointing, particularly since the instrumentation included one of the most seldom-performed instruments in the orchestral repertoire, the serpent. This is played by Michel Godard, who alternates with tuba.

Composer Florian Weber at the piano (photograph by Stefan Groß, courtesy of Crossover Media)

Composer Weber leads the performance from the piano, and the instrumentation is almost entirely brass. The tuba is joined by four euphoniums and four trombones, the last of which is a bass instrument. The one non-brass instrument is a flute. To borrow a joke from Peter Schickele, this is one of those cases in which looking and the instruments is probably more interesting than listening to them! Sadly, even with the opportunity to explore unconventional sonorities, Weber never gets behind noodling his way from one episode to the next. Perhaps Imaginary Cycle should have been left to the composer’s imagination. 

The Lab: January, 2025

It is not too soon to start making plans for next year. My own January calendar has already accumulated a generous number of commitments, even if most of them are “usual suspects.” Where my inbox is concerned, the first organization “out of the gate” to notify me of January events is The Lab, which can usually be counted on for “bleeding edge” events of interest.

For those not yet familiar with the venue, The Lab is located in the Mission at 2948 16th Street. This is particularly convenient for those using public transportation, since it is a short walk to the corner of 16th Street and Mission Street. Busses stop at that corner for both north-south and east-west travel, and downstairs there is a station for the BART line running under Mission Street. There will be three two-set concerts in January, all beginning at 8:30 p.m., and doors will open half an hour in advance. Specific information, including a hyperlink to the event page that provides both background material and hyperlinks for ticket purchases, is as follows:

Tuesday, January 21: Mary Ocher is based in Berlin and will be making her first visit to the United States in five years. She is a sound artist whose work pushes the boundaries between pop and avant-garde. She is also both a visual artist and a punk poet. Her performance will be structured around selections from her latest album, Your Guide To Revolution; and she describes the pieces as involving cumbia, post-punk, folk, field records, cosmic synth compositions, and deconstructed techno. The opening set will be taken by multi-instrumentalist Kashika Kollaikal, who performs as Flung. Her approach to experimental pop explores found sounds such as car horns, hand-punched music boxes, and the buzz of foil woven through piano strings.

Blevin Blectum performing in front of her video animations (from her event page for The Lab)

Saturday, January 25: Gregg Kowalsky will perform a single long-form work. He will draw upon material from his latest album, Eso Es, as well as his past two decades of composition involving minimalism, maximalism, and classical Indian music. Blevin Blectum (born Bevin Kelley) will perform a mash-up of tracks from her two most recent albums, OMNII and Multitudes of Venom. This will be presented in a setting of psychedelic video animations created by Alexander P Dupuis.

Thursday, January 30: This program will be co-presented by Arab.AMP, which will be beginning its 2025 season. It will consist of two sets directed by Leyya Mona Tawil. Strider is the duo of violist and composer Joanna Mattrey with artist Steve Long, who works with sound, language, and space. St Celfer is the performing name of john macdougall parker (lower-case intentional), who draws upon his American and Korean origins to improvise “future-folk compositions.”

Holiday Gaiety: The Music Still Holds its Own

Peaches Christ and Edwin Outwater (from the event page for last night’s performance)

One might say that Holiday Gaiety is the “adult entertainment” side of the eleven Holidays with the Symphony programs presented by the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) in Davies Symphony Hall. Conductor Edwin Outwater, who has become a familiar face in Davies since his debut in November of 2001, shared emcee duties with drag icon Peaches Christ. The SFS ensemble was relatively reduced but was joined by the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, directed by Jacob Stensberg, and two vocalists, mezzo Nikola Printz, probably familiar to most opera-goers in this town, and Alex Newell. However, most of the show involved Christ’s encounters with four other drag performers: Latrice Royal, Lady Camden, Kylie Minono, and Sister Roma.

It goes without saying that this was not your usual “concert-going evening” in Davies. However, Holiday Gaiety was launched by Outwater and Christ in 2017, and it has been going strong as a “Holiday Standard” ever since then. Mind you, there was no shortage of opportunities just to enjoy the music, beginning with Leroy Anderson’s “A Christmas Festival” serving as overture, a brief excerpt from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Opus 71 music for the ballet The Nutcracker, and the exquisite delivery of Adolphe Adam’s “O Holy Night” by Newell. However, the real show-stopper came from Printz, who delivered a spot-on account of “Casta diva,” from the first act of Vincenzo Bellini’s Norma while executing a seriously jaw-dropping trapeze act.

Mine is the generation whose motto, back in the Sixties, was “Let it all hang out.” We grew up thinking that the world was our oyster, and the Vietnam War provided a reality check we had not anticipated. I suppose that is why a song like “I Will Survive” became a hit tune. Holiday Gaiety reminded me of the spirit with which we did survive. Thus, in the midst of all the corny jokes and bad puns (“Women’s Underwear” sung to the tune of “Winter Wonderland”), I realized that my own “spirit of survival” was being delightfully refreshed.

The Lab Ends 2024 with Winter Solstice Program

The final performance of the year to be presented by The Lab will take place on the evening of the winter solstice, the day with the least amount of light from the sun. The main event will be inspired by seasonal changes, and it will be preceded by a single solo set. Specifics are as follows:

The opening set will be a solo voice performance by Danishta Rivero. If I have been keeping up with things assiduously, I can state that her last appearance took place this past September for the opening of the San Francisco Electronic Music Festival. She performed “Heretical Voicings,” using signal processing gear for real-time embellishment of her solo vocalizations. In all probability, she will continue to explore these techniques with the same technology when she visits The Lab.

Poster design for SEASONS (from the Web page for this event)

Rivero will be followed by Christopher Robin Duncan, who will present a series of works under the collective title SEASONS. The performance is structured around a five-pointed star with an individual player situated at each of the points of that star. Any specifics about what will be played at each of those points has not yet been revealed. Most likely, the entire event will be improvised. Duncan will perform with Chuck Johnson, Patrick Shelley, Zekarias Musele Thompson, and Josh Wismans.

For those unfamiliar with the venue, The Lab is located in the Mission at 2948 16th Street. This is particularly convenient for those using public transportation, since it is a short walk to the corner of 16th Street and Mission Street. Busses stop at that corner for both north-south and east-west travel, and downstairs there is a station for the BART line running under Mission Street.

Here in San Francisco, the earth’s poles will reach their maximum tilt away from the sun at 1 a.m. on Saturday, December 21. This performance will begin at 7 p.m. on that same Saturday and is expected to last until 11 p.m. Admission will be $17, and tickets may be purchased in advance from the Web page for this event.

PBO Presents Cantatas for Christmas

Conductor Ruben Valenzuela

Last night the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale (PBO) returned to Herbst Theatre for the next program to audition the next candidate for the position of Music Director. Ruben Valenzuela is currently based in San Diego, where he founded and currently serves as Artistic Director of Bach Collegium San Diego. The title of his program was A Bach Christmas, which was a bit of a misnomer since Johann Sebastian Bach was represented only by the two cantatas that framed the program, both composed for Advent, the BWV 62 Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland and BWV 147a, the “first edition” of Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben. The “inner” selections on the program were both by Bach’s contemporary (and rival for the joint position in Leipzig of Cantor for the Church of St. Thomas and Director of Music at Leipzig Churches) Christoph Graupner. These consisted of the GWV 1138/11 cantata Reiner Geist, lass doch mein Herz and the GWV 445 Overture in F major, a suite of eight movements.

Valenzuela led the entire program with a sure hand. He was particularly attentive to the balance between instruments and vocalists (both soloists and the Philharmonia Chorale). This was very much a “sacred” program, and Valenzuela knew how to convey the religious overtones through the expressiveness of the music and the clarity of the vocalists (solo and choral). Those contributing vocalists were soprano Jennifer Paulino, mezzo Mindy Ella Chu, tenors Michael Jones and Nicholas Phan, and bass-baritone Joel Chapman. (Chu, Jones, and Chapman are all members of the Chorale, whose Director is Valérie Sainte-Agathe.)

The program itself was both well-paced and well-balanced. The coupling of Bach with Graupner served as a reminder of the significance that Leipzig established and maintained as a “major hub” in both the composition and performance of music. In reviewing my archives, I confirmed than my encounters with Graupner have been few and far between, due almost entirely to programs presented by American Bach Soloists. I was clearly due for another “dose” of his music, and I found Valenzuela’s coupling of sacred and secular selections to be both informative and engaging. Both of those attributes established his chemistry with the full scope of PBO resources; and I, for one, would be happy to see him return to the podium.

Outsound Presents: December, 2024

Hopefully, most readers already know that this month’s SIMM (Static Illusion Methodical Madness) Series concert for Outsound Presents will be taking place this Sunday, December 15, in The Musicians Union Hall, since it was one of this week’s Bleeding Edge events. However, due to the “holiday spirit,” there will be only one other Outsound performance this month. This will be the next LSG (Luggage Store Gallery) New Music Series event. It will be an evening of two sets, each about an hour in duration.

Cover of the Lords of Outland album You can sleep when you're dead! (from its Amazon.com Web page)

The first set will be taken by the Inkwells Trio, whose members are guitarist Lorenzo Arreguin, Elijah Pontecorvo on bass, and drummer Christian Arriola. They will be followed by the Lords of Outland “Ghost Moon” quartet led by saxophonist Rent Romus, who will also venture into percussion. He will be joined by Philip Everett on electronics with rhythm provided by drummer Anthony Flores and Ray Scheaffer on bass. As regular readers probably know by now, LSG is located at 1007 Market Street, just off the corner of Sixth Street and across from the corner of Golden Gate Avenue and Taylor Street. Admission is on a sliding scale between $10 and $20.

Napolitano’s Third “Progressive” Brahms Release

It has been a little over a year since my last opportunity to write about the Italian pianist Pina Napolitano. I tend to follow her as faithfully as possible to keep up with the repertoire she has organized around the Second Viennese School composers Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg, and Anton Webern. My last encounter with her took place early in November of last year, not long after the release of the album Kammerkonzert: Music of Arnold Schoenberg. However, what has particularly interested me in her recordings is the series of releases entitled Brahms the Progressive, which has that late nineteenth-century composer “rubbing shoulders” with all three of those Second Viennese School composers.

In the past two volumes, the composer that received the most attention was Webern. Indeed, in the second volume Webern’s Opus 24 three-movement “Concerto for Nine Instruments” joins the piano with flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, trumpet, trombone, violin, and viola. This serves as a “warm-up” for Brahms’ Opus 83, his second piano concerto in B-flat major. The contrast could not be greater, but one might argue that the note-by-note impressions of Webern prepare the ear for the rich diversity of phrases in Opus 83.

The first volume, on the other hand, suggests an overall structure of “boxes within boxes.” It both begins and ends with two late collections by Brahms, the Opus 118 and Opus 119 Klavierstücke compositions. Opus 118 is followed by two short Webern pieces, while Opus 119 is preceded by his brief “Klavierstück – Im Tempo eines Menuetts” and the Opus 27 “Variations.” These, in turn, enclose the “core” of the album, Alban Berg’s Opus 1, a single-movement solo piano sonata.

Pina Napolitano at her keyboard performing with violinist Franco Mezzena (photograph by Tommaso Tuzj, courtesy of Odradek Records)

Having performed both solo and with orchestra, Napolitano has devoted her third album to duo performances with violinist Franco Mezzena. Brahms now accounts for his two late violin sonatas, Opus 100 in A major and Opus 108 in D minor. These are separated by Schoenberg’s first appearance in this project, his Opus 47 “Phantasy for violin with piano accompaniment.” He also introduces the album with a 1928 sonata fragment. This is only about four and one-half minutes long, which is also roughly the duration of the concluding selection, Webern’s Opus 7 set of four pieces, each somewhat longer than a single minute.

Personally, I was particularly glad that Napolitano finally brought Schoenberg into her fold, so to speak. After all, “Brahms the progressive” was the title of an essay that Schoenberg wrote. It began as a radio talk that he gave in 1933. He then revised that script in to the essay that now can be found in Style and Idea, a collection of fifteen essays edited and translated by Dika Newlin. The essay version of “Brahms the progressive” was completed in 1947. With such a rich background, I can only wonder with no shortage of anticipation where the concept of “Brahms the progressive” will next lead Napolitano.

Friction Quartet to Present Second SF Recital

Friction Quartet members Otis Harriel, Mitso Floor, Doug Machiz, and Kevin Rogers

I apologize for this being a last-minute announcement; but, to be fair, I received notification only yesterday! Program details have been finalized for the second program to be performed in San Francisco for the current season by the Friction Quartet. The recital will be curated by Doug Machiz, the quartet’s cellist, who will be performing with violinists Otis Harriel and Kevin Rogers with Mitso Floor on viola. The title of the program will be Collections; and, as I have been informed, it will present “three colorful, creative and monumental collections that defy classification.

The first of these is likely to be familiar to many readers, the Book of Alleged Dances by John Adams. This will be followed by Canções da America, a compilation of sources of South American folk music arranged for string quartet by Clarice Assad. The final selection, Family Group with Aliens, was composed by Piers Hellawell on a Friction commission. This is basically a “nested” suite in which each successive movement is a miniaturized version of the opening movement.

The program will begin at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow, December 12, in the Noe Valley Ministry at 1021 Sanchez Street, just south of 23rd Street; and a Web page has been created for purchasing tickets.

The Bleeding Edge: 12/10/2024

I seem to have spoken too soon last week in saying that things would be getting quiet on the Bleeding Edge. This will be a decidedly busy week with most of the “usual suspects” contributing. The only venue that has already been reported is the Center for New Music, whose final concert of the year will be taking place this Saturday with the latest installation of The Opus Project. What remains will be another around of “‘usual suspects’ in one way or another” as follows:

Wednesday, December 11, Luggage Store Gallery (LSG), 8 p.m.: The next installment in the Luggage Store Creative Music Series will be a three-set evening with several familiar faces. Josh Allen will open with a solo saxophone set. He will be followed by a duo performance by Ed Lloyd on bass and Eli McDonald working with synthesizers. The final set will be taken by the Evidence Trio, whose members are Kersti Abrams alternating among saxophones and flutes, Andrew Joron on theremin, and Michael Wilcox playing electric bass. As regular readers probably know by now, LSG is located at 1007 Market Street, just off the corner of Sixth Street and across from the corner of Golden Gate Avenue and Taylor Street. Admission is on a sliding scale between $10 and $20.

Thursday, December 12, Peacock Lounge, 8 p.m.: This will be the usual three-hour show consisting of four sets. Matt Ingalls will present a solo set of reeds and circuits. Adult Math will also be a solo set, this time by Miles Stegall. Foot SOS is the trio of Theresa Currie, Dianne Lynn and Angela Roberts inspired by the three sisters of mythology known as The Fates. The remaining set will be taken by the percussion duo of Jay Korber and John Diaz with Korber adding other instruments and electronics to the mix.

The Peacock Lounge is located in the Lower Haight at 552 Haight Street. Doors will open at 7:45 p.m. to enable the first set to begin at 8 p.m. sharp. Admission will be between $5 and $15, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

Friday, December 13, Medicine for Nightmares, 7 p.m.: This week’s Other Dimensions in Sound program will present “serious sonic sustenance” provided by The Lost Shapes (and that is the only information provided about the event). As always, the venue is located in the Mission at 3036 24th Street, between Treat Avenue and Harrison Street. There is no charge for admission, presumably to encourage visitors to consider buying a book.

Friday, December 13, Gray Area Art and Technology, 8 p.m.: Danish composer ML Buch will perform music from her second full-length album, Suntub. The tracks consist of layered vocals accompanied by open tunings on a 7-string Stratocaster, slide and fretless tablet guitars, and deep-sampled virtual guitars. The venue is located in the Mission at 2665 Mission Street.

Myra Melford, Ben Goldberg, Ben Davis, and Jordan Glenn as individuals and in ensemble (from their Bird & Beckett event page)

Saturday, December 14, Bird & Beckett Books and Records, 7:30 p.m.: MURMUR GARDEN is the quartet of clarinetist Ben Goldberg, Myra Melford on piano, cellist Ben Davis, and Jordan Glenn on percussion. For those that do not already know, the venue is located in Glen Park at 653 Chenery Street, a short walk from the Glen Park station that serves both BART and Muni. Admission will be a cover charge of $25, payable by Venmo or in cash. Given the limited space of the venue, reservations are necessary and can be made by calling 415-586-3733. The phone will be answered during regular store hours, which are between noon and 6 p.m. on Tuesday through Sunday. This performance will also be live-streamed through a hyperlink on the Bird & Beckett Web page while the show is in progress.

Sunday, December 15, The Musicians Union Hall, 7:30 p.m.: This will be this month’s SIMM (Static Illusion Methodical Madness) Series concert for Outsound Presents. Pianist and composer-improviser Ric Louchard will led a quartet, whose other members will be Joshua Marshall on tenor saxophone, bassist Lisa Mezzacappa, and Glenn again on drums.These concerts take place at the Musicians Union, located in SoMa at 116 9th Street. Admission is on a sliding scale between $10 and $25.

Plans for Next Full-Length Post:ballet Production

Banner design for the new Post:ballet production (from its Web page)

Readers may recall that, since the beginning of this season, Post:ballet has been including “progress reports” on the creation of Magma, the company’s latest full-length production choreographed by Associate Artistic Director Moscelyne ParkeHarrison, working with original music by dj.ari.b. The work was inspired by the myth of Cassandra, the daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy. The god Apollo granted her the power to see the future; but, when she defied him, he then cursed his gift by arranging that no one would believe any of her predictions.

The performance will take place at the Midway in a space consisting of six rooms. Upon entry, members of the audience will be at liberty to choose which rooms they visit and in what order. (“For the record,” as they say, this is not a “new idea.” When my wife and I were living in Los Angeles, we went to a production entitled Tamara, based on the Polish painter Tamara de Lempicka, whose work is currently on exhibit at the Legion of Honor through February 9. The show was set in a mansion with a few basic rules involving walking around from one room to another. They included an “intermission break,” during which members of the audience could share their experiences.) Taken as a whole, Magma will be a synthesis of choreography, text, music, lights, and projections.

Following an invitation-only dress rehearsal, there will be four performances at 8 p.m. on Thursday, January 23, Friday, January 24, and Saturday, January 25, and 6 p.m. on Sunday, January 26. The Friday and Saturday shows will be followed by a “Post:party” with guest DJs, special performances, and more. Further details about the parties will be announced soon. The venue is located at 900 Marin Street, which is one block south of Cesar Chavez Street. It is just east of the Third Street trolley stop. The event has its own Web page, along with a separate Web page for ordering tickets.

New Omni Video Goes “Into the Woods”

Not too long ago, this morning saw the release of the latest video produced by OMNI on-Location. Less than five minutes in duration, it presents a performance of “Whispers,” jointly composed by the two members of the Duo Imbesi Zangarà, Carmelo Imbesi and Carmen Zangarà. Those that have followed these videos probably know that many of them have been recorded in religious settings, such as churches and cathedrals. “Whispers,” on the other hand, is located in the pine forest of the Siena village in Falcone, which is located in the Messina Province of Sicily.

Carmen Zangarà and Carmelo Imbesi performing in the pine forest they visited (screen shot from the video being discussed)

As can be seen above, Zangarà and Imbesi are performing in the heart of that forest. As a result, the overall experience is one that must interleave the music itself with the visual impressions of the space in which it is being performed. Indeed, the video was conceived in such a way that one is never aware of any gear for audio capture. All that matters is the setting itself and the capacity of the music to reflect on that setting. Nevertheless, the composers do not want the listener to reflect too intently, which is why the music itself is distilled into a brief duration.

In that respect, my only misgiving is that the text provided on the YouTube Web page seems to be saying more than the attentive listener will be inclined to manage. To warp the words of the poet T. S. Eliot, the listener-viewer is best off simply accepting the combination of sound and sight as a “surface structure,” rather than dwelling on the question of “What is it?” Instead, I would prefer to make repeat visits to this video from time to time and simply let it get “under my skin!”

SFS “Snapshot” Artists for the New Year

Those that paid at least moderate attention to the brochure released by the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) for its 2024–24 season known that it identified three of the visiting artists with “Snapshot” profiles. Since all of them will be visiting Davies Symphony Hall during the coming new year, this seems like a good time to recognize who they are and what they will be doing when they visit. All of them will perform at subscription concerts, and one of them will also make a recital appearance. In “order of appearance,” these visitors are as follows:

January 9–11: As was observed in yesterday’s account of January performances, violinist Ray Chen will be the soloist in the performance of Samuel Barber’s only violin concerto. He made his SFS debut as soloist for the Chinese New Year concert at the end of January of 2011. He performed Ludwig van Beethoven’s Opus 40, the G major (first) “Romance” for violin and orchestra. He then followed up with Pablo de Sarasate’s “Zigeunerweisen” (Gypsy Airs). He has a social media presence on the Internet with self-produced videos, which combine comedy, education, and music. These may be viewed through his YouTube home page.

January 16, 18, and 19, and March 2: Also observed yesterday will be the visit by pianist Vikingur Ólafsson for the second program of the month. He will be the soloist for the world premiere performance of John Adams’ piano concerto, “After the Fall,” which was composed on an SFS commission. He will then return in March for a duo piano recital with Yuja Wang. The program will be a diverse one with a traditional account of Franz Schubert’s D. 940 fantasia in F minor and Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Opus 45 “Symphonic Dances.” On the more adventurous side, they will play Thomas Adès arrangement of Conlon Nancarrow’s sixth “study,” made with a hand-punched piano roll. Other composers on the program will include John Cage, Luciano Berio, and Arvo Pärt. Ólafsson made his SFS debut in June of 2022 as the soloist in the performance of John Adams’ “Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes?”

Conductor Dalia Stasevska (photograph by Veikko Kähkönen, from an SF Classical Voice article from January 22, 2024)

May 15–17: The final “Snapshot” artist will be a conductor, Dalia Stasevska. She will lead SFS in the world premiere performance of “Before we Fall,” a cello concerto by Anna Thorvaldsdottir, composed on an SFS commission. The cellist will be Johannes Moser. This concerto will be followed by the only other work on the program, Jean Sibelius’ Opus 82, his fifth symphony in E-flat major. Stasevska made her SFS debut at the end of April of last year with an all-Sibelius program: the Opus 47 violin concerto in D minor with soloist Joshua Bell and the second symphony in D major (Opus 43).

More Virtuoso Concertos from Voices of Music

Henry Purcell (portrait from the studio of John Closterman, probably around the end of the seventeenth century, from Wikimedia Commons, public domain)

Some readers may recall that Voices of Music (VoM) concluded its 2023–2024 concert season with a program whose full title was Virtuoso Concertos: Music of Vivaldi, Bach & Telemann. Last night in the Taube Atrium Theatre, VoM continued that theme with the same title and a new subtitle: Music of Purcell, Telemann, Vivaldi & Uccellini. Ironically, some of these selections subsequently found their way into new settings in the twentieth century; and, for that matter the opening “Bergamasca” by Marco Uccellini was arranged by Director David Tayler for four violins. (This was decidedly more intimate than the full-orchestra arrangement composed by Ottorino Respighi for the second of this three Ancient Airs and Dances suites.) The other source that found its way to the twentieth century was Henry Purcell’s “Rondeau” movement from his incidental music for Aphra Behn’s play Abdelazer, which became the theme for Benjamin Britten’s The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra.

Most listeners probably felt themselves on more familiar ground with the selections by Georg Philipp Telemann and Antonio Vivaldi, even if the specific selections were “first encounters.” The former was represented by the TWV 51:G9 viola concerto in G major with soloist Manami Mizumoto. This followed the “common practice” four-movement structure: Large, Allegro, Andante, Presto. The viola is all too often dismissed as a “secondary” instrument, but Mizumoto’s delivery was consistently engaging. The full ensemble then concluded the program with the La Bizarre, the TWV 55:G2 orchestral suite in five movements.

The Vivaldi selections were, of course, concertos. Violinist Isabelle Seula Lee concluded the first half of the program with the RV 211 concerto in D major. During the second half of the program, Director Hanneke van Proosdij was the recorder soloist for the RV 433 concerto given the programmatic title “”La Tempesta di Mare.” Yes, Vivaldi composed more concertos than most listeners would care to enumerate; so both of these offerings were probably “first contact” experiences for much of the audience. Nevertheless, they were both given freshly energetic accounts, dismissing any concerns that too much Vivaldi was “more of the same!”

SFS: January 2025 Programming

The New Year will get off to the stimulating start in Davies Symphony Hall. There will be four Orchestral Series concerts, each led by a different conductor, one of whom will be making a debut appearance. There will also be the next Chamber Series recital with an engaging reflection on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Specifics are as follows, ordered by date with hyperlinks to the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) event pages:

Visiting conductor James Gaffigan (from the event page for this performance)

Thursday, January 9, Friday, January 10, and Saturday, January 11, 7:30 p.m.: Conductor James Gaffigan will return for the first concert of the month. His soloist will be violinist Ray Chen performing Samuel Barber’s only violin concerto. The “overture” for the program will be Missy Mazzoli’s “Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres),” which will be given its first SFS performances. The program will conclude with Sergei Prokofiev’s Opus 100 (fifth) symphony in B-flat major.

Thursday, January 16, and Saturday, January 18, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, January 19, 2 p.m.: The SFS Chorus, directed by Jenny Wong, will make its first appearance in the new year. They will be joined by the San Francisco Girls Chorus, whose Artistic Director is Valérie Sainte-Agathe, along with three vocal soloists, soprano Susanna Phillips, tenor Arnold Livingston Geis, and baritone Will Liverman. Both tenor and baritone will be making their Orchestral Series debuts. This full ensemble will perform Carl Orff’s cantata Carmina burana, a twentieth-century reflection on medieval times. The first half of the program will see the world premiere performance of John Adams’ piano concerto, “After the Fall,” with concerto soloist Vikingur Ólafsson, composed on an SFS commission. The “overture” for this program will be Charles Ives’ “The Unanswered Question.” David Robinson will conduct.

Friday, January 24, and Saturday, January 25, 7:30 p.m.: Mark Elder will make his Orchestral Series debut on the Davies podium. The program will feature two overtures by Hector Berlioz, which happen to have consecutive opus numbers: “Les francs-juges” (Opus 3) and “Le roi Lear” (Opus 4). (Don’t let the numbers fool you: Opus 3 was composed in 1826, while Opus 4 was comped in 183. Berlioz was, of course, quite active between those two years!) Claude Debussy’s “Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune” will “intervene” between those two selections. The second half of the program will begin with Richard Strauss’ Opus 30, his tone poem “Also sprach Zarathustra.” The program will then conclude with an “exclamation point,” Adams’ “Short Ride in a Fast Machine.”

Sunday, January 26, 2 p.m.: Thirteen musicians will contribute to an impressively diverse Chamber Music program. It will be framed by two quintets. The opening selection will be a quintet for oboe and strings composed by Arnold Bax in 1919. It will finish with Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Opus 10, his clarinet quintet. The first half of the program will conclude with the “Fantaisie,” composed for violin and harp by Camille Saint-Saëns, and the intermission will be followed by two early (1929) pieces by Benjamin Britten, which were not given their first performances 2003, quite some time after his death (and after the release of his “complete works” collection).

Thursday, January 30, 2 p.m., and Friday, January 31, and Saturday, February 1, 7:30 p.m.: After recovering from his hospitalization last year, Herbert Blomstedt will return at the end of January. His program will consist of two symphonies, one from either end of the nineteenth century. The first half will be devoted to Franz Schubert’s D. 485 (fifth) symphony in B-flat major, which was composed in 1816. The second half will be Johannes Brahms’ Opus 68 (first) symphony in C minor, which began with sketches in 1854 but was not completed until 1876.

All programs will take place in Davies Symphony Hall, which is located at 201 Van Ness Avenue and fills an entire city block. The other boundaries are Grove Street (north), Hayes Street (south), and Franklin Street (west). The main entrance (which is also the entrance to the Box Office) is on Grove Street, roughly halfway down the block. Each of the above hyperlinks will provide concert ticket prices for the respective programs. Tickets may be purchased online or by calling 415-503-5351. In addition, the Box Office in the Davies lobby is open for selling tickets.

HWV 56 Returns to Davies for the Holidays

Conductor Stephen Stubbs (photograph by Miranda Loud, courtesy of SFS)

Last night saw the annual return of a San Francisco Symphony (SFS) holiday ritual in Davies Symphony Hall. This was, as many readers can guess, the first of two performances of George Frideric Handel’s HWV 56 oratorio, better known by its title, Messiah. This year’s conductor was Stephen Stubbs, making his debut appearance with the ensemble. In addition, all four of the vocal soloists were also making Orchestra Series Debut performances: Amanda Forsythe (soprano), John Holiday (countertenor), Aaron Sheehan (tenor), and Douglas Williams (baritone). As usual, the Director for the SFS Chorus was Jenny Wong.

From a musical point of view, this could not be a better offering, tarnished only by the excessively garish gown that Forsythe sported. Like many conductors in the past Stubbs had a harpsichord at his disposal at the podium. However, he seldom used it; and, unless I am mistaken, that was only for the “But who may abide” aria. Sadly, the program gave no credit listing for the keyboardist who alternated between harpsichord and organ for the entire evening.

More important was Stubbs’ consistently conscientious approach to dynamics. This included a judicious selection of how many string players would be deployed for each of the oratorio episodes. The result was more conducive to establishing an overall flow to a seriously long narrative that facilitated the ability of the attentive listener to “go with the flow.” As a result, even the most seasoned listener in the audience (who had probably lost count of the number of Messiah performances experienced) could easily appreciate the freshness of Stubbs’ interpretation.

This was a performance that was definitely “one for the books;” hopefully, Stubbs will return to Davies to present us with more of his repertoire.

Old First Concerts: January, 2025

The year may not yet be over, but plans for the next one are already in the works. Yesterday, I received my first notification from Old First Concerts. There will be only two concerts in January, and one has not yet been finalized. Nevertheless, the date and time information are sufficient for those that like to make their plans in advance.

It will continue to be the case that events will remain “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. However, there will be more variation in ticket prices than usual. Those interested in attending should consult the event pages (which include hyperlinks for streaming) for specific price information. At present a hyperlink is only available for the second concert of the month, but information about the first is likely to interest many readers:

Sunday, January 5, 2 p.m.: This will be the next piano recital by Sarah Cahill, who has not yet provided any further details. [added 9:55 a.m.: Cahill has now provided me with those details. Her program will be devoted to compositions by James Cleghorn, who was Music Librarian for the San Francisco Public Library. Her program will include his earliest composition, a set of variations, and his final work a Tarantella entitled “Fear and Trembling” from his treatise entitled Ludus Arbitralis.) Cleghorn’s son Peter will be attending the performance.]

Samantha Cho playing Debussy at Old First in January of 2021 (from the Old First Concerts Web page for her coming recital)

Friday, January 17, 8 p.m.: This will be another piano recital, this time by Samantha Cho, who is currently on the faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Full details have not yet provided, the program will have a “past and present” structure. The “past” will be represented by two significantly contrasting composers: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Claude Debussy. Serving somewhat as a “bridge” to the “immediate present” will be the Japanese composer Tōru Takemitsu, who died in February of 1996. The contemporary composers will be Jean Ahn and Monika Chew, who is based in Oakland and will be contributing music for its world premiere.

Omni at the Cappella Maggiore in Treviso

The latest Midweek Melodies video produced by OMNI on-Location was released yesterday morning. However, my work obligations were such that I was only able to view it after my early lunch this morning. The guitarist for this video was Marco De Biasi, whose work as a musician has had to contend with focal dystonia since 2000. However, he has been able to overcome the difficulties associated with this malady through his focus on the performance of music; and, on this new video, that focus led him through all three movements of La Catedral, the three-movement suite by Agustín Barrios.

Marco De Biasi on the altar of the Cappella Maggiore in Trevio (screen shot from the video being discussed)

The titles of the three movements are as follows:

1. Preludio Saudade
2. Andante Religioso
3. Allegro Solemne

From a personal point of view, I think that this is the first time I encountered this music in a religious setting. The performance took place in the Chiesa della Mattarella of the Cappella Maggiore in the Italian city of Trevio. While, for the most part, the camera focused on De Biasi’s command of intricate fingerwork, the “grand finale” showed him in the midst of the church’s highly elaborate altar setting, as can be seen above.

The resulting experience was that one could easily appreciate both the auditory stimuli of the guitar technique and the visual scope of the music’s setting.

American Bach Announces Baroque New Year

Banner for the program being discussed, showing the interior of Herbst Theatre with photographs of vocalists Maya Kherani and countertenor Eric Jurenas (from the Web page for the performance being discussed)

As in the past, American Bach will celebrate the new year with a program entitled A Baroque New Year’s Eve at the Opera. Jeffrey Thomas will lead the American Bach Soloists in excerpts from operas by (in alphabetical order) Carl Heinrich Graun, George Frideric Handel, and Jean-Philippe Rameau. The excerpts will consist of overtures, arias, and duets. As was the case last year, the vocalists will be soprano Maya Kherani and countertenor Eric Jurenas. The operas to be represented by the three composers will be as follows:

• Graun: Cesare e Cleopatra
• Handel: Riccardo primo, Partenope, Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno, Flavio, Rinaldo, Ariodante, and Giulio Cesare
• Rameau: Naïs, Platée, and Les indes galantes

Once again, the performance begin at 4 p.m. in Herbst Theatre, which is entered on the ground floor of the Veterans Building of the San Francisco War Memorial at 401 Van Ness Avenue on the southwest corner of McAllister Street. Jeffrey Thomas will conduct, and the run time will be two hours. This will include one intermission during which champagne, wine, and specialty cocktails will be provided downstairs in the Horn Bar & Lounge. Ticket prices range between $30 and $132. A City Box Office event page has been created with a “popup link” for further information and a hyperlink for purchasing tickets, which provides a diagram showing where seats are currently available.

Wadada Leo Smith and Amina Claudine Myers

Screenshot of Wadada Leo Smith and Amina Claudine Myers at their Roulette performance (from the YouTube video of the event)

Yesterday evening I had my dinner while watching a livestream broadcast, now available for viewing on YouTube, from the Roulette Intermedium in Brooklyn, New York. The performance was by the duo of trumpeter/composer Wadada Leo Smith with Amina Claudine Myers on piano. The program consisted of five pieces they had selected from their duo album, which was released this past May: Central Park’s Mosaics of Reservoir, Lake, Paths and Garden.

The prevailing rhetoric was one of quietude. Those familiar with the venue know that Central Park, situated in the middle of Manhattan, is a very large space, which tends to allow for a generous diversity of activities, some of which (as we know from the music of Charles Ives) can be quite raucous. On the other hand, the Mosaics movements all amounted to “reflections in quietude” on the space itself. Both of the performers seemed to be playing from sheet music, suggesting that each movement was through-composed with little, if any, opportunities for improvisation. In that respect, each movement was conceived as a journey through composed details that would evoke the variety of aspects of the physical space.

From a personal point of view, I have to say that, at a time when media seem to be attacking me with “noises of folly” from all sides, I could appreciate how Smith and Myers could deliver a calming account of the different aspects of quietude that Central Park can afford when we are disposed to recognize them.

OFS Announces Annual Holiday Celebration

Poster for this year’s Holiday Pop Rox, showing Jesse Barrett in the upper-left photograph (courtesy of One Found Sound)

One week from today will see the twelfth annual Holiday Pop Rox program to be presented by One Found Sound (OFS). As in the past, this year’s “Drag + Orchestra + Sing Along Holiday Spectacular” will be hosted by oboist and vocalist Jesse Barrett. The evening will be structured around a parody mash-up of A Christmas Carol and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, embellished with classical arrangements of familiar holiday pop songs. As usual, Visual Director Max Savage will contribute to the event, creating an experience that will interact with the audience as part of the show.

This year the event will also include a food drive supporting the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank. In addition, the venue will be a new one: Saint Joseph’s Arts Society, which is located in SoMa at 1401 Howard Street, on the northwest corner of Tenth Street. The program will last about three hours, beginning at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, December 11. VIP reserved seating will be $60, with $30 for general admission standing room. Members of the Saint Joseph’s Arts Foundation will be admitted at no charge. Reservations may be arranged through an RSVP Web page.