Choices for March 8–10, 2024

Having just accounted for the busy weekend at the beginning of next month in this past Friday’s article, it is now time to acknowledge that the following weekend is likely to be just as busy. Once again, this account will also take notice when a series includes further events later in the month. As of this writing, it appears that these “extended” accounts will apply to two venues. Note, also, that this article will begin with the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM), even though the month’s schedule will begin on March 5 (which happens to be a day of back-to-back recitals at two different venues). Specifics are as follows:

Friday, March 8, and Saturday, March 9, 7:30 p.m., SFCM, Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall, 50 Oak Street: The SFCM Opera Department will present a fully-staged production of Missy Mazzoli’s one-act opera “Proving Up.” Royce Vavrek’s libretto is an adaptation of the short story of the same title by Karen Russell. This is an “American dream” narrative that examines the lives of homesteaders in Nebraska in the 1870s. The production will be directed by Elkhanah Pulitzer, and the conductor will be Steven Osgood. There will be no charge for admission. However, reservations are desirable and may be secured through hyperlinks for the Friday and Saturday performances. Neither of these performance will be live-streamed. There will be two other major events for the month of March as follows:

1. Saturday, March 30, 7:30 p.m., Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall: Mei-Ann Chen, Music Director of the Chicago Sinfonietta, will appear as Guest Conductor of the SFCM Orchestra. The program will follow the usual overture-concerto-symphony format with “something extra.” The program will begin with Ludwig van Beethoven’s Opus 62, his “Coriolan Overture.” The concerto soloist will be Parker Van Ostrand, winner of the SFCM Piano Concerto Competition. He will perform Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Opus 18 (second) piano concerto in C minor. The symphony will be Robert Schumann’s Opus 120 (fourth) symphony in D minor. The “extra” will be Unsuk Chin’s “Subito Con Forza,” which was conceived as a tribute to Beethoven and serves as a reflection on his Opus 62. Tickets may be reserved through the Web page for this event, which also includes a Livestream hyperlink.
2. Sunday, March 31, 7:30 p.m., Barbro Osher Recital Hall, 200 Van Ness Avenue: In honor of International Women’s Day, the students and faculty of the Technology and Applied Composition program will present a concert of music by women organized by and featuring the women and gender non-conforming people of SFCM. The performances will explore the intersection of music, visuals, and technology; but the program details have not yet been finalized. Tickets may be reserved through the Web page for this event, which also includes a Livestream hyperlink.

Saturday, March 9, 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, March 10, 2 p.m., Z Space, 450 Florida Street: The San Francisco Girls Chorus will perform Antonio Vivaldi’s oratorio “Juditha triumphans” (RV 644). They will be led by Music Director Valérie Sainte-Agathe. The performance will include stage direction by Céline Ricci and projection design by Peter Crompton and Frédéric Boulay. The Standard ticket price is $35 with a Student rate of $20 and a special Supporter rate of $50. Z Space has created separate Web pages for the Saturday and Sunday ticket purchases.

Saturday, March 9, 7:30 p.m., Red Poppy Art House, 2698 Folsom Street: For those with different tastes in vocal music, Ramana Vieira’s Contemporary Fado has been rescheduled. She will explore the music of Amalia Rodrigues, the legendary Fado artist from Portugal. Instrumental accompaniment will be provided by guitarist Jeff Furtado, David Parker on bass, and string player Vincent Tolliver, alternating among violin, viola, and Portuguese Mandolin. General admission will be $30 with a $25 rate for students and seniors. Only a limited number of tickets are currently available for purchase through the Eventbrite event page for this concert.

Saturday, March 9, 8 p.m., St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, 1111 O’Farrell Street: The title of the next Voices of Music concert will be Virtuoso Concertos. The virtuosos responsible for those concertos will be (as most readers will have guessed) Johann Sebastian Bach and Antonio Vivaldi. The featured soloists will include Augusta McKay Lodge (violin), Marc Schachman (oboe), Andrew Schwartz (bassoon), and Rachell Ellen Wong (violin). General admission will be $60 with a $55 rate for seniors and members of SFEMS, EMA, and ARS, and $5 for full-time students upon proof of identification. A Web page has been created for ticket purchases.

Saturday, March 9, 8:30 p.m., The Lab, 2948, 16th Street: The Lab will begin what is shaping up to be a busy month with one of its usual two-set programs. One of the sets will be entitled Liminal Lines. This will be a live embodied electronic music performance by Viola Yip, whose body movements will control a self-made wearable instrument. The other set, Shades of Edge, will bring visual artist Olivia Ting together with Aine Nakamura, who performs her own compositions. Doors will open half an hour in advance. Tickets can be purchased in advance for $17 through the above hyperlink. Admission at the door will be $18. As usual, members will enjoy the benefit of free or discounted admission. Other events for this month will be as follows, with hyperlinks for ticket purchases attached to the dates:

• Tuesday, March 12, 8:30 p.m.: This will be a three-set program. Egyptian vocalist and sound artist Nadah El Shazly will give a solo performance. BINT is based in Brooklyn; and her repertoire involves a palette of dissonance, distortion, long-form drones, sampling and noise to access corresponding emotional states. The remaining set will be taken by Camellia Boutros, who is a Palestinian-Lebanese American composer and multi-instrumentalist based in San Francisco.
• Friday, March 15, and Saturday, March 16, 8:30 p.m.: This program will present live renditions based on the reimagining of two works that Robert Ashely created when he was Director of the Center for Contemporary Music at Mills College: “Automatic Writing” and “Vidas Perfectas.”
• Saturday, March 23, 8:30 p.m.: Clarinetist Katie Porter will visit from Brooklyn to showcase progress on her current projects.
• Thursday, March 28, 8:30 p.m.:  The next two-set program will feature international offerings. Hatis Noit is a Japanese vocal performer inspired by Gagku, opera, Bulgarian and Gregorian chant, and vocalists from both pop and avant-garde genres. The other set will be taken by composer Sheherazaad, who blends a folk-pop synthesis with soundscapes taken from South Asia.
• Saturday, March 30, 8:30 p.m.: The month will conclude with another two-set program. KMRU is the performing name of Joseph Kamaru, born in Nairobi and currently based in Berlin. His genre is ambient experimental music. Amma Ateria is a local composer and sound artist, who is interest in neurological responses to the sounds she creates. [added 2/12, 7:20 a.m.:
  

Sunday, March 10, 3 p.m., Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness Avenue: Chamber Music San Francisco will present a solo piano recital by Rafał Blechacz, his first appearance since the COVID pandemic. The second half of his program will be devoted entirely to Frédéric Chopin. The program will begin with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, followed by Claude Debussy and Karol Szymanowski. Ticket prices range from $45 to $70. They may be purchased through a City Box Office event page.]

Sunday, March 10, 4 p.m., Congregation Am Tikvah, 625 Brotherhood Way: Details for the program A Lily Among Thorns have not yet been finalized. However, the next performance by San Francisco Choral Artists, led by Artistic Director Magen Solomon, will see the return of the Veretski Pass Klezmer trio. The selections will draw upon sacred and secular Jewish texts on love and courtship. General admission will be $35 with $30 rates for seniors and those under the age of 30. A Web page has been created with instructions for the online purchase of tickets, as well as a map of the vicinity of the venue. [added 2/17, 3:25 p.m.: 

Sunday, March 10, 4 p.m., St. Mark's Lutheran Church, 1111 O'Farrell Street: This year’s annual “seasonal” concert by American Bach Soloists will be a performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s BWV 245 St John Passion. This oratorio based on the New Testament will last approximately two and one-half hours. The New Testament passages will be sung by the “Evangelista” tenor, Gregório Taniguchi, with bass-baritone Mischa Bouvier singing the “Christus” texts. There will also be four vocal soloists in each of the four registers: soprano Julie Bosworth, mezzo Ágnes Vojtkó, tenor Steven Brennfleck, and baritone Jesse Blumberg. The American Bach Soloists & Cantorei will account for the instrumentalists and the chorus. The conductor will be Artistic Director Jeffrey Thomas. Tickets will be sold at the door for $44, $61m $82m and $106. However, they may also be purchased online at discounted prices of $39, $56, $77, and $101.] [added 3/4, 9:50 a.m.:

Sunday, March 10, 4 p.m., Old First Presbyterian Church: As was announced for the beginning of this month, Old First Concerts will present its Centuries of Innovation in Celebration of International Women’s Day program.]

Sunday, March 10, 7:30 p.m., Davies Symphony Hall, MTT Way: This will be the next SF Symphony Brass program. Brad Hogarth will conduct members of the San Francisco Symphony (SFS), most of whom are in the brass section. One of those performers, Timothy Higgins, will also be highlighted as a composer. The program will conclude with his “Concert Music for Brass, Percussion, and Timpani.” As may be expected, many of the selections will be the result of arrangements; but the contributing works by Magnus Lindberg, Maurice Duruflé, and Shulamit Ran, were all composed for brass instruments. Ticket prices range from $25 to $109. They may be purchased through the event page for this program on the SFS Web site.