Choose Your Chamber Music on March 5

Next month will begin with two chamber music recitals taking place on the same date at the same time. Furthermore, the two venues will be separated by a short walk. One of them will present a piano quintet and the other a piano trio. Specifics are as follows:

The first event will be presented by San Francisco Performances (SFP), which had originally scheduled two “back-to-back” recitals for this past November 14 and 15. The first was a solo piano performance by Stephen Hough with a program by the Castalian Quartet on the following evening. Next month Hough will join forces with the Quartet, and the second half of the program will be devoted entirely to Johannes Brahms’ Opus 34 quintet in F minor. The Castalian will perform during the first half, but their second selection will be Hough’s first string quartet! This will be preceded by Joseph Haydn’s Hoboken III/36 in A major, the last of the six Opus 20 quartets, which concludes with a fugue based on three subjects.

Violist Ruth Gibson is still on maternity leave, so she still will be replaced by Natalie Loughran. On the other hand, first violinist Sini Simonen has returned from her maternity leave and is performing again. She will be joined by Daniel Roberts on violin and Steffan Morris on cello.

The performance will begin on Tuesday, March 5, at 7:30 p.m., in Herbst Theatre, located at 401 Van Ness Avenue on the southwest corner of McAllister Street. Ticket prices are $80 (premium Orchestra and front and center Dress Circle), $70 (remainder of Orchestra, all Side Boxes, and center rear Dress Circle), and $60 (remaining Dress Circle and Balcony); and they may be purchased through an SFP secure Web page. As available, single tickets will be sold at the door with a 50% discount for students and a 20% discount for seniors. Single tickets may also be purchased by calling 415-392-2545.

March 5 will also be Chamber Music Tuesday at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. The program will feature three notable members of the faculty, cellist Jennifer Culp, Julio Elizalde on piano, and violinist Simon James. It will consist of only two selections, César Franck’s only piano quintet, composed in the key of F minor (FWV 7), and Gabriel Fauré’s Opus 15, the first of his two piano quartets, composed in the key of C minor. The three faculty members will be joined by students, who have not yet been finalized.

This performance will also begin on Tuesday, March 5, at 7:30 p.m. The venue will be the Barbro Osher Recital Hall, located on the top floor of 200 Van Ness Avenue. There will be no charge for admission. However, the Performance Calendar includes a Web page will includes a hyperlink for making free-of-charge reservations and another hyperlink for live-stream viewing.