Most readers probably know that the Old First Concerts (O1C) schedule for this month was very modest. Fortunately, things will pick up next month. The annual December performance by Kitka had to be rescheduled due to an outbreak of COVID within the ensemble, and the ensemble will be part of next month’s programming. There will also be two chamber ensembles that will give two performances: the Circadian String Quartet (CSQ) with pianist Amy Zanrosso and the Sixth Station Trio.
O1C offerings will continue to be “hybrid,” allowing both live streaming and seating in Old First Presbyterian Church at 1751 Sacramento Street on the southeast corner of Van Ness Avenue. All tickets will still be sold for $25 (no reduced rate for seniors or students). Hyperlinks to the event pages (which include hyperlinks for streaming) continue to be attached to the date and time of the performances, as above. Specifics are as follows:
Saturday, February 3, 8 p.m.: The members of CSQ are violinists Monika Gruber and David Ryther, violist Omid Assadi, and David Wishnia on cello. The title of their first program will be Motherland. It will begin with Antonín Dvořák’s Opus 81 quintet in A major with Zanrosso at the piano. Like many of Dvořák’s compositions, this quintet was influenced by Czech folk sources. Similarly, many of the early works of Igor Stravinsky drew upon Russian sources; and, for the second half of the program, Ryther has prepared a transcription for piano, strings, and percussion of the suite that Stravinsky extracted from the score for the two-scene ballet “The Firebird.”
Sunday, February 4, 4 p.m.: The title of the second CSQ program will be The Personal and the Political. Those nouns refer, respectively, to Robert Schumann and Dmitri Shostakovich. The former will be represented by his Opus 44 quintet in E-flat major. Shostakovich, on the other hand, had to deal with a roller-coaster relationship with Joseph Stalin. However, in 1941 his Opus 57 quintet in G minor was awarded the Stalin Prize, an award he would later receive in 1942, 1946, 1950, and 1952.
Monday, February 5, 7:30 p.m.: Earplay concluded its 2023 season this past May in Old First. They will begin this year’s season with a program entitled The Poetry of Physics. That title probably refers most explicitly to Kaija Saariaho’s 2014 piano trio, given the title “Light and Matter.” Also relevant would be Ines Thiebaut’s “panta rhei,” which is Greek (from Heraclitus) for “everything flows.” That proposition is realized as a dialogue between piano and electronic sounds. The remaining works on the program will all be premiere performances. The program will begin with the world premiere of Miguel Chuaqui’s “Ad Hoc,” which was composed on an Earplay commission. There will also be West Coast premieres of a string trio by Suzanne Sorkin and Yotam Haber’s “Estro Poetico-armonico II.”
Sunday, February 11, 4 p.m.: This will be the rescheduled performance by the nine women of Kitka of their annual Wintersongs program.
Sunday, February 18, 4 p.m.: The Duo Chiaroscuro musicians are mezzo Tristana Ferreyra-Rantalaiho and pianist Johanna Tarcson. The title of their program is Love and Dreams, and it was conceived to explore the play of light and shadow in art and music. Program details have not yet been provided. However, the composers to be represented will be Franz Schubert, Lili Boulanger, Ernest Chausson, Henri Duparc, Emile Paladilhe, Claude Debussy, Peter Lieberson, Carlos Guastavino and Alberto Ginastera.
The Sixth Station Trio of Anju Goto, Federico Strand Ramirez, and Katelyn Tan (from their O1C event page)
Friday, February 23, 8 p.m., and Sunday, February 25, 4 p.m.: These two performances will mark the debut of the Sixth Station Trio, a piano trio whose members are violinist Anju Goto, Federico Strand Ramirez on cello, and pianist Katelyn Tan. They have prepared an arrangement of the score that Joe Hisaishi composed for Studio Ghibli’s film Howl’s Moving Castle. As can be seen from the dates, that arrangement will be given two performances.
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