Friday, August 23, 2024

Left Coast Chamber Plans for 2024/25 Season

The 32nd season of the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble (LCCE) will be more than a little different from its predecessors. There will be an opening concert in the fall and a concluding concert in the spring. Between these events, however, there will be a Winter Wandering Festival. In San Francisco this will consist of four different programs  over the course of the three-day weekend running from the end of the January to the beginning of February. All of this has been summarized on a single Web page by Artistic Director Matilda Hofman, and that Web page also includes hyperlinks for all the options for purchasing tickets.

By way of disclaimer, it is fair to note that Berkeley will host one additional event at the First Church of Christ, Scientist. This will consist of improvisatory works by Raven Chacon (“Echo Contest”) and Danny Clay (“Nearly”), both of which will be structured around the venue’s spatial qualities. There will be no charge for admission to this performance, and the audience will be limited to twenty members. Those interested in crossing the Bay can account for reservations through a Tix Web page. The four programs that will take place in San Francisco are as follows:

Friday, January 31, 7:30 p.m.: The Festival begins with a program devoted entirely to Franz Schubert’s D. 911 song cycle Winterreise, sung by tenor Kyle Stegall accompanied at the keyboard by Eric Zivian.

Saturday, February 1, 11:30 a.m.: The title of this program is A Dark Matter, which is also the title of a work by Gilad Cohen, which was the 2023 Composition Contest Winner. This will be the final piece on the program; and it will be “reflected” by the opening selection, a new work by Addie Camsuzou, whose title has not yet been announced. Between these two “bookends” there will be three compositions: “Conversations a trois” by Luna Alcalay, Jessie Cox’ “Afronaut,” and “Equinox” by Tōru Takemitsu.

Saturday, February 1, 7:30 p.m.: The Volti vocal ensemble will join LCCE for a program entitled On the Threshold of Dreamland. There will be two world premiere performances. Todd Kitchen’s “Soprasymmetry IV” was commissioned by the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition at Brigham Young University. The other new work has not been given a title, but LJ White created it on a joint commission by both Volti and LCCE. Volti will also contribute to selection of folk song arrangements by Benjamin Britten. The other works on the program will be Laurie San Martin’s “Witches” and “Without Words” by Huang Ruo.

Sunday, February 2, 4 p.m.: The conclusion of the Festival will, appropriately enough, present two works written at the end of the lives of their respective composers. The more familiar of these will be Franz Schubert’s D. 956 quintet for strings in C major. It will be preceded by Luigi Nono’s “‘Hay que caminar’ soñando,” scored for two violins.

The venue for all four of these programs will be the Noe Valley Ministry, which is located in Noe Valley (of course) at 1021 Sanchez Street, just south of 23rd Street. The price of a pass for the full Festival will be $120. A full-season subscription will be $180 with a $60 rate for students. The fall and spring concerts will take place at the same venue. Specifics for those two events are as follows:

Saturday, November 2, 7:30 p.m.: The major work on this program will be a performance of Arnold Schoenberg’s Opus 21 melodrama “Pierrot lunaire.” There will also be a performance of the 2022 Composition Contest Winner, “Five Haiku,” by Tomàs Peire-Serrate. This will be coupled with Maria Schneider’s Carlos Drummond de Andrade Stories.

Design for the conclusion of the LCCE season (from the Web page for Spring Contrasts)

Monday, June 9, 7:30 p.m.: This program, entitled Spring Contrasts, will showcase the contrasting timbres of violin (Liana Bérubé), clarinet (Jeff Anderle), and piano (Allegra Chapman). The most familiar work to be performed will be Béla Bartók’s “Contrasts,” whose clarinet part was first performed by Benny Goodman (who also commissioned the work). The other works on the program will be “Processional” by Hannah Kendall, Mel Bonis’ Opus 59, “Suite en Trio,” “Unquiet Waters” by Kevin Day, and Roberto Sierra’s “Recordando una melodía olvidada.”

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