Thursday, January 25, 2024

SFP: Plans for 2024 Gift Concert

Tickets are now available for the annual Gift Concert presented by San Francisco Performances (SFP). The “gift” is that subscribers and donors are given tickets at no charge. However, as was announced earlier this week, tickets for all others are now available for purchase at the price of $45.

Composite of photographs of Jonathan Swenson (photographer Matt Dine), Stephen Waarts (photographer Emma Wernig), and Juho Pohjonen (photographer J. Henry Fair) (from the SFP Web page for remaining tickets)

SFP frequently uses this occasion to introduce rising and in-demand artists to its audience. This year there will be three such artists, who have joined forces to form a piano trio. The pianist is Juho Pohjonen, performing with violinist Stephen Waarts and cellist Jonathan Swenson. This will be Pohjonen’s third SFP appearance. Both Waarts and Swenson will be making their SFP debuts.

The program will be framed by trios, both early works by their respective composers. The opening selection will be Dmitri Shostakovich’s Opus 8 (first) piano trio in C minor; and the second half of the program will be devoted entirely to the first of César Franck’s three Opus 1 trios, composed in the key of F-sharp minor. Between these two “bookends” will be two duo performances, both composed by Leoš Janáček. The first is the three-movement “Pohádka” (fairy tale), scored for cello and piano and completed in February of 1910. The second is the sonata for violin and piano composed around the time of the outset of World War I in 1914.

This concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 15. It will take place in Herbst Theatre, whose entrance is on the ground floor of the Veterans Building at 401 Van Ness Avenue, located on the southwest corner of McAllister Street. This venue is excellent for public transportation, since that corner has Muni bus stops for both north-south and east-west travel. As already observed, all available tickets are being sold for $45. They may be purchased through an SFP secure Web page. Single tickets may also be purchased by calling 415-392-2545.

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