Diverse Options for May 17

This past Saturday I wrote about how there would be overlapping events on that last Saturday of this month. It turns out that, at least at the time of this writing, there will be three notable events taking place this coming Sunday. The good news is that none of them will overlap, although I suspect that few, if any, readers will be prepared to scramble from one venue to another. Nevertheless, the offerings are as impressive as they are diverse; so planning for the day is likely to require at least some cogitation. In “order of appearance,” the events are as follows:

1:30 p.m., Gunn Theater, Legion of Honor: The third of the four operas to be presented in this year’s Pocket Opera season will be Gaetano Donizetti’s Don Pasquale. Unlike the other operas in the season, this will be given only one performance. The title character is a misanthrope, trying to prevent his nephew Ernesto from marrying the love of his life, Norina. As might be expected, the happy couple will prevail by the end of the opera’s single 90-minute act. Tickets may be purchased through a Web page at prices from $45 to $89 including fees. They may also be arranged by calling 415-972-8934 on weekdays between noon and 4 p.m.

5 p.m., First Baptist Church: The title of the next program to be presented by the San Francisco Civic Music Association is entitled Adoration. This is taken from the title of a composition by Florence Price, which will be the final work on the program. The program will also begin with two Price compositions: “Deserted Garden” and “A Gay Moment,” one of the movements in Thumbnail Sketches of a Day in the Life of a Washerwoman. The earlier works on the program will be Georg Philipp Telemann’s TWV 51:G9 viola concerto in G major with Lisa Ponton as soloist and Joseph Haydn’s Hoboken III:34 string quartet in D major (the fourth of the six Opus 20 “Sun” quartets). There will be no charge for admission, and tickets may be obtained through the RSVP hyperlink on the Web page for this performance. The venue is located at 22 Waller Street.

Conductor Radu Paponiu (from the Web page for the performance being described)

7:30 p.m., Davies Symphony Hall: The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra will present its final concert of the season, led, as usual, by Wattis Foundation Music Director Radu Paponiu. The program will begin with “Scherzo for Orchestra,” composed by Dylan Hall, who is one of the members of the ensemble. The remainder of the program will present two contrasting symphonies: Ludwig van Beethoven’s Opus 21, his first in the key of C major, and Dmitri Shostakovich’s Opus 47, his fifth in D minor. A Web page has  been created to facilitate seats, showing the prices for each of the seating options, as well as the number of seats available. As most readers probably already know, the venue is in the Civic Center at 201 Van Ness Avenue.