An Abundance of Choices for December 7

It is almost always the case that things get really busy between Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. As a result, readers will not be surprised that hard choices will have to be made in selecting performances to attend during the month of December. In fact, the first really hard choices will be during the very first weekend of the month, with particular attention to Saturday, December 7. The good news is that the lion’s share of that list has been accounted for in previous articles on this site. Those events are as follows:

• Saturday, December 7, and Sunday, December 8, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.: This will be the first weekend of performances of Nutcracker by San Francisco Ballet.
• Saturday, December 7, 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., and Sunday, December 8, 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.: These will be the four performances by Huntertones at the SFJAZZ Center.
• Saturday, December 7, 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, December 8, 2 p.m.: These will be the last two of the four performances of Ghost Quartet, presented by New Performance Traditions.
• Saturday, December 7, 7:30 p.m.: This will be the final performance of Messiah by the San Francisco Symphony.
• Saturday, December 7, 7:30 p.m.: Old First Concerts will begin holiday season programming with a performance by the Young Women’s Chorus of San Francisco.
• Saturday, December 7, 7:30 p.m.: Voices of Music will present a program of concertos by Arcangelo Corelli, Giovanni Battista Sammartini, and Antonio Vivaldi, each of which will feature a different soloist.
• Saturday, December 7, 7:30 p.m.: This month’s only program to be presented by DYNAMITE GUITARS will be the return solo recital by Polish virtuoso guitarist Mateusz Kowalski.

That list is almost thorough enough to account for December 7. However, over the course of this month, I have learned about two additional events, which I was encountering for the first time. Those are as follows:

Saturday, December 7, 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, December 8, 4 p.m., Calvary Presbyterian Church: This will be the 35th year of Candlelight Christmas concerts presented by the San Francisco Bach Choir. Instrumental accompaniment will include the Velocity Handbell Quartet. There will also be a traditional-with-a-twist Boar's Head procession. Each of the above dates has its own event page, which provides the scale of prices of admission, and a hyperlink for both purchasing tickets and making donations. For those that do not yet know, the church is located in the Fillmore at 2515 Fillmore Street on the northwest corner of Jackson Street.

Pianist Nabeel Abboud Ashkar

Saturday, December 7, 7:30 p.m., Congregation Emanu-El: Some readers may already know that this venue has a concert series. Its next event may appeal to those seeking an alternative to performances celebrating Christmas. The full title of the program to be presented is POLYPHONY: Bridging the Divide Between Israeli Arabs and Jews Through Music. It will be a concert by Israeli Arab Nabeel Abboud Ashkar, who was inspired by the West-East Divan Orchestra founded by Daniel Barenboim. Ashkar is a pianist, and he will perform with six instrumentalists. The venue is located at Two Lake Street on the northwest corner of Arguello Boulevard, just south of the Presidio of San Francisco. All tickets may be purchased through an Eventbrite event page.