Old First Concerts: July, 2024

Once again, three performances have been scheduled for next month. These will continue to be “hybrid” offerings, allowing both live streaming and seating in Old First Presbyterian Church at 1751 Sacramento Street on the southeast corner of Van Ness Avenue. Hyperlinks to the event pages, which include information about ticket prices, continue to be attached to the date and time of the performances in the following specifics:

Friday, July 5, 8 p.m.: Soprano Jill Morgan Brenner will present a program of settings of German texts. She will focus on the “two Richards” of the vocal repertoire. She will begin with Richard Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder, settings of five poems by Mathilde Wesendonck for female voice and piano. This will be followed by Richard Strauss’ Four Last Songs, which were originally composed for soprano and orchestra. The program will also include a selection of songs from both ends of the nineteen century, the earlier by Franz Schubert and the later by Alma Mahler. These latter offerings were probably composed prior to her marriage to Gustav Mahler, but he assisted in preparing her works for publication. Brenner will be accompanied at the piano by Alex Katsman.

Pianist AnnaLotte Smith

Sunday, July 7, 4 p.m.: Pianist AnnaLotte Smith has prepared a program entitled Songs My Mother Taught Me. She describes her selections as “rich storytelling;” and her repertoire extends from the late nineteenth century to the present day. The earliest work on the program will be Johannes Brahms’ Opus 117 set of three intermezzi. Claude Debussy will be represented by “Reflets dans l’eau” (reflections in the water), the first of the three pieces in his first Images volume. In a similar vein, she will play the fourth (E minor) composition in Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Opus 16 Moments musicaux. The more recent composers on the program will include Sofia Gubaidulina (her finger-busting “Chaconne,” which will begin the program), Reena Esmail (“Rang de Basant”), and Monica Chew (“Ice Calf”).

Sunday, July 28, 4 p.m.: Le Due Muse will present a program entitled NEOCLASSICAL! This duo consists of Bay Area cellist Sarah Hong performing with Japanese pianist Makiko Ooka. The program will be presented roughly in chronological order. It will open with Maurice Ravel, beginning with one of his earliest efforts, a single movement sonata (originally for violin and piano), which was composed in 1897 but only published posthumously. This will be coupled with the 1907 “Vocalise-étude en forme de habanera,” originally composed for deep voice and piano. The Ravel selections will be followed by Frank Bridge’s H. 125 duo sonata. The final sonata on the program will be Benjamin Britten’s Opus 65, composed in the key of C major for Mstislav Rostropovich. The duo will then conclude the program with arrangements of selected songs by Britten.