The busy weekend that concludes this month will be followed by a busy weekend that begins next month. This will involve a rather generous diversity of options. Specifics are as follows:
Friday, May 3, 7:30 p.m., Herbst Theatre: San Francisco Performances will conclude its 2023–24 season with a pair of multi-instrumentalists, both of whom are also vocalists. Pekka Kuusisto will alternate between violin and piano, while Gabriel Kahane will alternate his piano work with guitar playing. Any information about repertoire is being kept under wraps and most likely will be announced from the stage.
As most readers probably know by now, Herbst is 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 $70 for premium seating in the Orchestra, the Side Boxes, and the front and center of the Dress Circle, $60 for the center rear of the Dress Circle and the remainder of the Orchestra, and $50 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.
Friday, May 3, 8 p.m., The Lab: This will be the latest two-set performance to be presented at this venue. The Setting ensemble can best be described as a poly-instrumental trio. Nathan Bowles plays strings, keyboards, and percussion, as well as deploying his collection of tapes. Jaime Fennelly plays harmoniums of different sizes, synthesizers, and a piano zither. Finally, Joe Westerlund deploys a prodigious variety of percussion instruments. The second set will be a duo performance by local musicians Chuck Johnson and Cole Pulice. Johnson contributes an interest in alternate tuning systems, realized through both a pedal steel guitar and experimental electronics. Pulice is a saxophonist, who specializes in solo work and also engages in electroacoustic signal processing.
Admission will be $17 for tickets purchased in advance through the event page. Entry at the door will be $20. As usual, members are entitled to free or discounted admission. The Lab is located in the Mission at 2948 16th Street, a short walk east from the intersection with Mission Street, which serves BART and both north-south and east-west Muni buses. [added 4/27, 12:01 p.m.: Other performances taking place this month will be as follows:
- Thursday, May 9, 8 p.m.: This will be another two-set performance. claire rousay will showcase her latest album release. It is a collection of heart-rending, incisive pop songs that explore universal feelings with subtlety and remarkable vision. The second set will be taken by Maria BC, who is currently base in Oakland. She is classically trained; but she describes her current approach to performing as “filling out the sonic space.”
- Friday, May 10, 8 p.m.: The next two-set program will begin with a solo performance by sound artist FUJI||||||||||TA, who currently lives in Japan. His unique practice utilizes various natural phenomena that respond to his interest in wanting to hear unheard sounds and unknown sounds. Instead of playing a composed piece of music, he aims to go as far as possible towards his own unknown state of being, with an emphasis on observing the sound closely. The second set will be taken by the duo of Fred Frith and Sudhu Tewari, working with playing manually & electronically manipulated home-made instruments.
- Friday, May 17, 8 p.m.: The two works to be performed on this program will share the common theme of exploring sometimes-invisible articulations of landscape. Anna Friz’s “Salar: Adaptation” considers the audible sonic textures of desert field recordings alongside a electro-magnetic and radio signals. Her performance will include video created by Rodrigo Rios Zunino. The title of the second set, composed by Gretchen Jude, is entitled “Divide.” It will be a performance of graphic scores outlining the silhouettes of mountains from an artist residency in Montana, interpreted by John Bischoff, Kevin Corcoran, Suki O’Kane, and Shanna Sordahl, alongside’s Jude’s field recordings from the site.
- Saturday, May 18, 8 p.m.: In a departure from the usual format, this program will consist of three sets, all of which will be solo performances. Carlos Giffoni made the transition from noise guitar to electronic music. His latest album is Dream Walker, and his solo work will be accompanied by live visuals from Dub Lab’s Alex Pelly on analog video synthesis.Sholeh Asgary is an interdisciplinary sound artist who researches how the auditory characteristics of a location reveal its underlying conditions and our relationship to place. Finally, the set taken by RM Francis will work with computer-generated sound and language via recording, performance, and installation.
- Wednesday, May 29, 8 p.m.: The final program of the month will be performed by a band called the Natural Information Society. Joshua Abrams will lead a quartet performing on guimbri. The other players are Lisa Alvarado on harmonium, Mikel Patrick Avery on drums, and Jason Stein on bass clarinet.]
Friday, May 3, 8 p.m., Old First Presbyterian Church: The Duo Halo musicians are saxophonist Andrew Harrison and Jason Lo on piano. They will present a program entitled (appropriately enough) Imaginary Folksongs for Saxophone and Piano. The title of the program is taken from the title of the opening selection by Stephen Lias. It will also include approaches to Negro spirituals by Florence Price (as arranged by Harrison) and “Rhapsody on Japanese Folksongs” by Ryota Ishikawa. The other composers on the program will be Lori Laitman (“Journey”) and Jennifer Jolley (“Lilac Tears”).
As will be seen below, this will be the first of two weekend events presented by Old First Concerts. These offerings will continue to be “hybrid,” allowing both live streaming and seating in Old First Presbyterian Church at 1751 Sacramento Street on the southeast corner of Van Ness Avenue. The hyperlink for live streaming will be found on the event page.
Saturday, May 4, 3 p.m., Presidio Theatre: The major work on the next program by the New Century Chamber Orchestra, led by Music Director Daniel Hope, will be Leonard Bernstein’s “Serenade after Plato’s ‘Symposium.’” The guest soloist will be pianist Awadagin Pratt, who will begin the program with Jessie Montgomery’s “Rounds,” scored for piano and string orchestra. The other selections on the program will be David Diamond’s “Rounds,” scored only for strings, and Florence Price’s “Adoration” in Paul Bateman’s arrangement for violin and strings. As might be guessed, the Presidio Theatre is located in the Presidio at 99 Moraga Avenue. Ticket prices are $70, $55, and $30. City Box Office has created a Web page for selecting and purchasing seats.
Saturday, May 4, 7:30 p.m., Incarnation Episcopal Church: Sunset Music and Arts will begin the month with the San Francisco Girls Chorus Level III and Soloist Intensive Program. As is usually the case, this will be a diverse program covering a wide breadth of music history. At one end there will be the “Witches Scene” from Henry Purcell’s opera Dido and Aeneas. At the other will be offerings by much more recent composers, such as Caroline Shaw and Jeff Newberry. The Director is Terry Alvord, and accompaniment will be provided by pianists Chelsey Mok and Christopher Hewitt. The church is located in the Sunset at 1750 29th Avenue. General admission is $25 with a $20 rate for students and seniors. Tickets may be purchased online through an Eventbrite Web page. There will also be two more events taking place in this concert series, both on the same date, one week from today, as follows:
- Saturday, May 11, 3 p.m.: This will be the annual San Francisco Youth Chorus Holiday Concert. Program specifics have not yet been provided. All tickets are based on donations with a suggested amount between $15 and $35 per family. Payment will be accepted at the door.
- Saturday, May 11, 7:30 p.m.: The final recital of the month will be performed by Brazzissimo. This is a ten-piece brass chamber music ensemble consisting of four trumpets (of different sizes), four trombones (including a euphonium), one French horn, and one tuba. The program will include works explicitly composed for these resources, as well as arrangements of classical, jazz, Latin, and contemporary compositions. Ticket prices are the same as those for May 4, and they may be purchased through their own Eventbrite Web page.
Saturday, May 4, 8 p.m., Lakeside Presbyterian Church: The title of the next program to be presented by the San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra is Celestial Voyages. The overall theme for the program has been described as “musical narratives about life, death, and the cosmic ballet between the celestial and the terrestrial.” The program will conclude with the Requiem composed by Michael Orlinsky, setting texts in Latin, English, and French. The program will begin with Mark Alburger’s King David Suite. This will be followed by “International Wonders” by Hussein Al-Nasrawi, James Cook’s “Chamber Overture,” and “Sun & Moon: Eclipse Variation,” Michael Cook’s “response” to the “call” of the recent solar eclipse.
The performance will take place at Lakeside Presbyterian Church. This is located at 201 Eucalyptus Drive on the southwest corner of 19th Avenue in Merced Manor. General admission will be on a sliding scale with $25 as the preferred amount. [added 4/25, 11:35 a.m.; updated from one week earlier:
Sunday, May 5, 10 a.m., YouTube: The next Omni On-Location video will be available for viewing. The location will be Dortmund, Germany; and the guitarist will be Tomasz Zawierucha. The program will consist of only four selections, two of which are arrangements of piano music. Specifics are as follows:
- Isaac Albeniz' Opus 202, “Mallorca,” arranged for guitar by Zawierucha
- Francisco Tárrega’s arrangement of Frédéric Chopin’s “Raindrop” prelude (Opus 28, Number 15)
- The mazurka composed by Alexandre Tansman
- “Invocacíon y Danza” by Joaquín Rodrigo
Sunday, May 5, 4 p.m., Mission Dolores Basilica: The Golden Gate Men’s Chorus (GGMC) will join forces with the Peninsula Women’s Chorus (PWC) for a performance of Giacomo Puccini’s setting of the full Mass text, although it tends to be known under the title “Messa di Gloria.” By way of an introduction, PWC will perform three pieces on their own: “Noche de Liuvia” by Sid Robinovitch, Alice Parker’s arrangement of “How Can I Keep From Singing,” and the world premiere performance of “Night into Dawn” by Teresa Wong.
Mission Dolores Basilica is located in the Mission at 3321 16th Street on the southwest corner of Dolores Street. Ticket prices are $30 for general admission, $50 for premium seating, and $15 for students, payable only at the door. Tickets may be purchased online through a Web page on the GGMC Online Store.
Sunday, May 5, 4 p.m., Old First Presbyterian Church: The Ives Collective will make its next regular visit to Old First Concerts. Founding members Susan Freier (violin and viola) and Stephen Harrison (cello) will be joined by violinist Fritz Gearhart, violists Clio Tilton and Evan Buttemer, and Gwendolyn Mok on piano. The program will begin with a quartet composed by Germaine Tailleferre, followed by a piano quartet in G major by nineteenth-century composer Emilie Mayer. The concluding selection will be Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s K. 515 string quintet in C major. Once again, those unable to attend will be able to benefit from the hyperlink for live streaming to be found on the event page. There will be two more Old First Concerts events during the month of May as follows:
- Sunday, May 19, 4 p.m.: Harpist Kaitlin Miller will give a solo recital co-presented with the Bay Area Chapter of the American Harp Society. Program specifics have not yet been announced. However, this program will be available for live streaming through the event page.
- Monday, May 20, 7:30 p.m.: The Earplay ensemble will return to present a program entitled New Conversations. It will begin with a new work for instrumental sextet and voice composed by Erin Gee on a commission by the Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard University. The program will conclude with another work, recently completed and scored for flute, clarinet, violin, viola, cello, and piano by Byron Au Yong. There will also be two duo selections: Sami Self’s “Syriac Fugato,” scored for violin and viola, and George Walker’s “Perimeters” for clarinet and piano. This program will also be available for live streaming through the event page; however, during my last viewing, I found that the pre-concert talk (which usually begins at 6:45 p.m.) was not available for streaming.
Sunday, May 5, 5 p.m., Noe Valley Ministry: The twelfth annual Liederabend season will conclude with a performance by mezzo Kindra Scharich. Piano accompaniment will be provided by Jeffrey LaDeur, and they will be joined by cellist Jennifer Culp. Ten different composers will contribute to the program. The earliest of these will be Franz Schubert (“Auf dem Strom,” D. 943) , and the most recent will be Leonard Bernstein (“Dream with me,” from the musical Peter Pan).
As usual, the performance will begin at 5 p.m., and doors will open at 4:30 p.m. The Noe Valley Ministry is located at 1021 Sanchez Street, between 23rd Street and Elizabeth Street. Single tickets for all concerts are $80 for reserved seating, $40 for general admission and a $25 discounted rate for students, seniors, and working artists. These may be purchased in advance through Eventbrite. [added 4/29, 12:30 p.m.:
Sunday, May 5, 8 p.m., Episcopal Church of St John the Evangelist: This will be a performance by the Lantskap Logic Trio, which will celebrate two recent releases on the Clean Feed label. The members of the trio are Evelyn Davis, Fred Frith, Phillip Greenlief, performing on pipe organ (hence the need for performing in a church), guitar and woodwinds. Those particularly interested in Greenlief may know by now that he plans to leave the Bay Area, so this may be one of the last opportunities to experience his approaches to performance. The church is located at 1661 15th Street, a short walk from the corner of 16th Street and Mission Street. Admission will be $20.]
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