SFP: Brownlee will be Next Art of Song Vocalist

Tenor Lawrence Brownlee (photograph by Zakiyah Caldwell Burroughs, courtesy of San Francisco Performances)

This month will conclude with the third of the four Art of Song programs prepared by San Francisco Performances (SFP). The recital will feature the return of tenor Lawrence Brownlee, whose last SFP recital was the last in the four programs entitled Summer Music Sessions 2021, which took place in July of that year. Those that regularly attend San Francisco Opera may recall his 2016 debut in Gaetano Donizetti’s Don Pasquale. For this coming recital he will be accompanied at the piano by Kevin Miller.

In preparing his program, Brownlee took a “pairing” approach to the four most prominent opera composers of the nineteenth century: Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti, Vincenzo Bellini, and Giuseppe Verdi. Each of these composers will be represented by an opera aria preceded by an art song. In “order of appearance” these selections will be as follows:

• Verdi: “Ad una stella” followed by “La donna è mobile” from Rigoletto
• Donizetti: “Me voglio fa’na casa” followed by “Allegro io son” from Rita
• Rossini: “La lontanza” followed by “D’ogni più sacro impegno” from L’occasione fa il ladro
• Bellini: “La ricordanza” followed by “Nel furor delle tempeste” from Il pirata

The program will begin with a selection of six songs by the twentieth century Austrian composer Joseph Marx. However, much of the first half of the program will be devoted to selections from Brownlee’s Rising album composed by Jasmine Barnes, Brandon Spencer, Damien Sneed, Shawn Okpebholo, and Joel Thompson. The first half of the program will also include “Vocalise III” by Carlos Simon.

This performance will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 29. The venue will be Herbst Theatre, on the first two floors of the Veterans Building at 401 Van Ness Avenue on the southwest corner of McAllister Street. Tickets are being sold for $75 for premium seating in the Orchestra, the Side Boxes, and the front and center of the Dress Circle, $65 for the center rear of the Dress Circle and the remainder of the Orchestra, and $55 for the remainder of the Dress Circle and the Balcony. They may be purchased through an SFP secure Web page or by calling 415-392-2545.