Center for New Music: April 2024

Almost all of the performances to be presented at the Center for New Music (C4NM) this month will take place on weekends. (As of this writing, there appears to be only one exception.) Activity seems to be ramping up, which is likely to be a good thing for adventurous listeners! For those that do not yet know, the Center is located at 55 Taylor Street, half a block north of the Golden Gate Theater, which is where Golden Gate Avenue meets Market Street. Each of the dates will be hyperlinked to an Eventbrite event page through which tickets may be purchased as follows:

Friday, April 12, 8 p.m.: This will be an evening of three short sets, all of which involve electronics. Amanda Chaudhary’s set will probably be limited to configurations analog gear (if my past experiences of her work may be invoked). Zachary Watkins’ set will combine use electronics as an extension of his guitar work. The final set will be the duo of Thea Farhadian and Silvia Matheus, each of whom will have her own set of electronic gear. Farhadian will also bring her violin into the mix.  As usual, general admission will be $15, with the reduced $10 rate for students and C4NM members.

Saturday, April 13, 8 p.m.: This will be the latest performance to be presented by the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the National Association of Composers/USA (NACUSAsf). The title of the program will be, appropriately enough, Nonetheless Spring Returns. The contributing composers will be Mikado Endo, Alden Jenks, Jeff Dunn & Madaline Puccioni, John Bilotta, Davide Verotta, Greg A. Steinke, James W. Cook, and Alex Shapira. Featured guest artists will include violinist Monika Gruber, Frank Johnson on piano, clarinetist Stephen Zielinski, and tenor Frank Johnson.

Friday, April 19, 7:30 p.m.: David Michalak will present the first of what promises to be a series of projections of silent films with “live” musical accompaniment. His first installment will feature two of those films, the brief (ten minute) psychological study entitled “Not Quite Right” and the one-hour “Face of a Stranger.” The soundtrack for “Not Quite Right” was composed by J. A. Deane and will be performed by saxophonists Michalak and Bruce Ackley. The screening of “Face of a Stranger” will include a newly recorded score composed and performed by pianist Thollem McDonas. The program will begin with ten minutes of selected shorts by George Méliès, again with accompaniment by Ackley and Michalak.

Saturday, April 20, noon: This will be the latest monthly installment of G|O|D|W|A|F|F|L|E|N|O|I|S|E|P|A|N|C|A|K|E|S. This offers the usual opportunity to enjoy vegan pancakes will listening to “bleeding edge” music. As usual, general admission will be $10 with a $6 rate for members and students. Music programming is scheduled to conclude by 2 p.m. The contributing performers and composers will be Swinging Chandeliers (LAFMS), Fognozzle, Lime Rickey International, and Doom Legs.

Thursday, April 25, 7:30 p.m.: This will be a performance by the Nathan Clevenger Trio. Clevenger is both a guitarist and a pianist, as well as the composer for the group. The other members of the trio are Jordan Glenn on percussion and Cory Wright on reeds. They will be joined by saxophonist Philip Greenlief and accordionist Marié Abe.

Friday, April 26, 8 p.m.: Concetta Abbate will give a solo performance entitled Sound and Memory, which will showcase her latest works for solo violin and voice.

Saturday, April 27, 7:30 p.m.: This will be the latest installment in The Opus Project. The opus number for this particular will be four. The composer’s listed on the event page are Mark Alburger, Nadia Boulanger, Aaron Copland, Charles Gounod, Marie Herrington, Paul Hindemith, Maurice Ravel, and Pablo de Sarasate. Without trying to rain on this parade, I feel it worth noting that not all of these composers used opus numbers. For example, my guess is that Ravel’s selection will be based on the “M” number from the catalog compiled by Marcel Mamat! (In that case the number was attached to his earliest composition for voice and piano.)