SFP: Plans for 2025 PIVOT Festival

The four Sandbox Percussion players (photograph by Kjell van Sice, courtesy of SFP)

January will once again be the month of the PIVOT Festival presented by San Francisco Performances (SFP). This will be the tenth season; and, once again, it will be curated by Gabriel Kahane, who will also perform as both pianist and vocalist. As in the past, the Festival will consist of three programs, the first and last of which will feature the Sandbox Percussion quartet of Ian Rosenbaum, Jonny Allen, Terry Sweeney, and Victor Caccese. The second program will also feature a quartet, this time of brass players Riley Mulherkar and Chloe Rowlands on trumpet and Andy Clausen and Addison May-Saxon on trombone, who perform under the name The Westerlies.

As in the past, the Festival will consist of three programs, all beginning at 7:30 p.m., as follows:

1. Wednesday, January 29: This will be a full-evening performance of 26 Little Deaths, composed by Carla Kihlstedt. The music was inspired by Edward Gorey’s book, The Gashlycrumb Tinies. The performers will be pianist Sarah Cahill, the members of the Del Sol Quartet (violinists Hyeyung Sol Yoon and Benjamin Kreith, Charlton Lee on viola, and cellist Kathryn Bates), and Sandbox Percussion.
2. Thursday, January 30: The program has not been finalized; but The Westerlies will showcase new interpretations from the songbook of folk singer Haley Heynderickx, who will perform with them.
3. Friday, January 31: This will be another evening-length composition, this time of Seven Pillars by Andy Akiho, which will be performed by Sandbox Percussion.

As in the past, these performances will take place in Herbst Theatre, whose entrance is the main entrance to the Veterans Building at 401 Van Ness Avenue, located on the southwest corner of McAllister Street. The venue is excellent for public transportation, since that corner has Muni bus stops for both north-south and east-west travel. Tickets for each performance may be purchased through the above hyperlinks attached to the dates. Ticket prices are $65, $55, and $45. There is also a Web page for a subscription to the entire series with prices of $180, $150, and $120.