SFCCO Shifting to St. Mark’s Church

In about a month’s time, the San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra (SFCCO) will present the second of the two programs it has prepared for this year. (I seem to have missed any information about the first concert, entitled Shifting Grounds, which was held on June 6 at Old First Church.) Next month’s performance will take place closer to the Civic Center in St. Mark’s Church, which is located at 1111 O’Farrell Street.

Poster design for the concert being discussed

The title of the new program will be Portraits in Sound. There will be seven compositions in the program, all recent works and all with “visual” contexts. Composers and titles are as follows:

1. Hussein Al-Nasrawi, BABA
2. John Beeman, Jane Goodall: A Musical Portrait
3. Michael Cooke, Bassoon Concerto No. 1
4. Kyle Hovatter, Four Sandburg Poems
5. Michael Orlinsky, Down the Rabbit Hole
6. Michael Orlinsky, Genesis
7. Les Thaler, All Hallows’ Eve

All selections will be performed by SFCCO, conducted by John Kendall Bailey.

The performance will begin at 2 p.m. on Saturday, October 24. General admission will be $25 with a $20 rate for seniors and students. However, the Web page for ticket purchases also has an option for a “pay what you can” sliding scale. Additional donations to benefit the performers will also be available through that Web page.

With "friends" like these …

United States President Donald Trump meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the Korean Demilitarized Zone in Panmunjom, South Korea, on June 30, 2019 (photograph by Kevin Lamarque for Reuters)

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/30/trump-calls-kim-jong-un-a-friend-and-plays-down-n-koreas-nuclear-arsenal  

Jazz Chez Hanny to Begin October with Sextet

David Ambrosio playing his bass and drummer Russ Meissner

Some readers may recall that the summer of last year saw the return of the Dave Scott Quartet to Chez Hanny. Next month’s first performance in October will be led by two of the members of that quartet: drummer Russ Meissner and David Ambrosio on bass. They will provide rhythm for a front line of two wind players, saxophonist Loren Stillman and Matt Renzi, who plays tenor saxophone, oboe, and English horn. The rhythm section will be filled out by guitarist Nate Radley and Leonard Thompson on piano.

By now regular readers “know the drill” for these house concerts hosted by Frank Hanny. The show will begin at 4 p.m. on Sunday, October 11. Hanny’s house is located at 1300 Silver Avenue, and the performance takes place in the downstairs rumpus room. Admission will be $35 due to the larger ensemble; and checks will be accepted, as well as cash or Zelle. All of that money will go to the musicians. There will be two sets separated by a potluck break. As a result, all who plan to attend are encouraged to bring food and/or drink to share. Seating is first come, first served; and the doors will open at 3:30 p.m. Reservations are preferred and may be made by sending electronic mail to jazz@chezhanny.com.

The Bleeding Edge: 9/28/2026

Unless my search engine has not been behaving itself, there has not been a Bleeding Edge confined entirely to a busy weekend since this past May. However, this week has a fewer number of events; and Sunday will be the only day on which a choice will have to be made. It is probably also worth noting that none of this week’s performances were previously reported, as is often the case. That said, the roster of “brand new” programs is as follows:

Friday, October 2, 7 p.m., Medicine for Nightmares: The weekend will begin with the next Other Dimensions in Sound performance to be curated by “Boohaabian multi reed player extraordinaire David Boyce.” This will be a two-set program with Boyce deploying his reed instruments (augmented with special effects) in the second set. That will be a duo performance by RedFast Luck, whose other member is percussionist PC Munoz. The first set will also be a duo performed by Mystic Commandos. Saxophonist Jaroba will be joined by Alphastare commanding a modular synthesizer. Once again, many (if not most) readers already know the drill: the venue is located in the Mission at 3036 24th Street, between Treat Avenue and Harrison Street. As always, there is no charge for admission, presumably to encourage visitors to consider buying a book.

Saturday, October 3, 1 p.m., Project Artaud Theatre: More specifically, this performance will take place on the 3rd floor north stairwell of the venue, which is also located in the Mission at 401 Alabama Street. The building is making its studios available for the Crow’s Nest Fest. This will be another duo performing (in their words) a “burst of wurst as you float in a sea of narcotic noise.” Edward Schocker will perform on shō, which is the Japanese version of the Chinese sheng reed instrument. Somewhat more cryptic will be Suki O’Kane’s performance on “Jurassic pedals” with contact microphones.

An appropriate poster for Brutal Sound Effects Mini Pfist (from its BayImproviser Web page)

Sunday, October 4, 7 p.m., Dead End Vintage: The next performance of free improvisation at this vintage clothing store will be a generous one. It will feature a visit from Iceland by Sigtryggur Berg Sigmarsson, who works with both sound and visual images. There will be four other sets identified only by their names: Brutal Sound Effects Mini Pfist, Heartworm, KROB, and Wilderman. The venue is located at 3370 19th Street.

Sunday, October 4, 8 p.m., Bird & Beckett Books and Records: Clarinetist Ben Goldberg will lead a “joint” called Haymaker. Rhythm will be provided by David Ewell on bass and drummer Tim Bulkley, along with Matt Robidoux providing electronics. Admission will be a $20 cover charge at the door with a $10 student rate. Since the shop has limited space for a performance, reservations are advised and can be made by calling 415-586-3733. This is another familiar venue for readers, located at 653 Chenery Street, a short walk from the Glen Park station for both Muni and BART.

Sunday, October 4, 8 p.m., Bottom of the Hill: The program will present four diverse sets of rock. Acid Mothers Temple performs psychedelic rock, Magic Potion specializes in acid rock, The Green Door play alt rock, and the final set will be Krisa Cupcake, “spinning '60s and '70s international psych/rock.” It has been a while since I have written about this venue, which I had previously described as having “a reputation for being one of the noisiest venues in the city.”

Many readers probably know that the venue gets its name from being located at the foot of Potrero Hill at 1233 17th Street. However, prices have gone up, since I have not written about the venue since 2017! Admission is now $25 at the door. However, tickets purchased in advance will be $22; but there will be a service fee of $5.51.

Beethoven Haunts Verdi?

The first act of Giuseppe Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra concludes with an intense crowd scene. As usual, Verdi knows how to covey that intensity through his music. However, there is one particular motif in that turbulent music that always seized my attention. This is because it never fails to remind me of Ludwig van Beethoven.

More specifically, there is a very brief motif that may well have been inspired by the Presto movement in Beethoven’s Opus 130 string quartet in B-flat major. That is the shortest movement in the quartet, and it comes and goes like a flash of lightning. However, it is so distinctive that I have to wonder whether or not Verdi was as intrigued by it as I am and decided that, because it was so brief, he could “refresh” it in his score of Boccanegra. As the old joke goes, if you are going to steal a theme from another composer, then at least steal from the best!

Revisiting Verdi’s “Class Warfare” Opera

Early last week I was able to attend the first San Francisco Opera (SFO) performance of the season, which had been delayed due to a strike by the SFO Orchestra. The opera that was presented was Giuseppe Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra, and the headline for my account of that event was that it was “Bogged Down in Class Warfare.” This afternoon my wife and I returned to the War Memorial Opera House for a second encounter by virtue of our subscription tickets.

While my initial reaction had been on the negative side, I still felt that the production deserved a second encounter. The fact is that the narrative for the libretto is a highly convoluted one. To some extent, this is due to a setting in Genoa in the middle of the fourteenth century. Rather than dismiss the narrative as “class warfare,” it would probably be fairer to call it a study in class struggle.

As the SFO notes observe, authority in this time in Genoa was ruled by the patrician class. In contrast, the last name of the title character basically describes him as a buccaneer, which suggests that he lives by the rules that he makes for himself. As a result, he emerges as a hero of Genoa’s popular class; and, through their support, he achieves the office of doge through a “free and fair” election.

Amartuvshin Enkhbat singing the title role of Simon Boccanegra (photograph by Cory Weaver, courtesy of SFO)

Thus, the “backbone” of the opera involves “political conflict” between the plebeian Boccanegra (baritone Amartuvshin Enkhbat) and the patrician Jacopo Fiesco (bass-baritone Christian Van Horn). Both of these men confront Amelia Grimaldi (soprano Toni Marie Palmertree), raised by a patrician family but believing herself to be an orphan. This is the “triangle” that drives the opera’s narrative, making for one of the better examples of Verdi’s talent for character development.

Sadly, the production conceived by Claus Guth and revived for this performance by Katherine M. Carter, tended to undermine the narrative, resulting in an overabundance of visual superfluity. The “lion’s share” of that overabundance that involved a seriously oversized meteor. During the first act, it was hanging from the ceiling. After the intermission, it had broken its way through that ceiling and was now hovering over the performers. It finally descends to the floor during the concluding episode of the second act. Perhaps Guth wanted to convey the message that the passage of time can either benefit or deprive; but, as far as I am concerned, in the rich context of all the other elements of the production, that meteor was nothing other than a distraction!

Personally, I would like to believe that, like myself, most of the audience gave that meteor a quiet chuckle and then resumed their attention to a challenging plot that ultimately arrives at a satisfying conclusion.

Elim Chan’s Three Concerts Prior to Directorship

Some readers may recall that next month will conclude with the first San Francisco Symphony (SFS) performance by conductor Elim Chan since her appointment as Music Director Designate earlier this year. This will be the first of three appearances on the Davies Symphony Hall podium. The other two will take place near the beginning and the middle of next year. Specifics for all three of the programs have been finalized as follows:

Thursday, October 29, Friday, October 30, Saturday, October 31, 7:30 p.m.: Violinist Renaud Capuçon will be the soloist in Felix Mendelssohn’s last concerto, his Opus 64 in E minor. Director Jenny Wong will lead the SFS Chorus in the first SFS performance of Arvo Pärt’s “Magnificat” setting. Also a first SFS performance will be the concluding selection, the “Doctor Atomic Symphony,” composed by John Adams based on music from his Doctor Atomic opera. The Chorus will also perform the opening selection, Johannes Brahms’ “Nänie.”

Conductor Elim Chan at the European première performance of “Swaddling Silk and Gossamer Rain” (from the YouTube video of that performance)

Thursday, January 14, 2 p.m., and Friday, January 15, and Saturday, January 16, 7:30 p.m.: I must confess to a personal feeling of pleasure for this program. I always look forward to an opportunity to listen to Edward Elgar’s Opus 36, “Variations on an Original Theme,” which is more popularly known as the “Enigma Variations.” I have had the good fortune not only to listen to this composition in concert performance but also to view the choreography created by Frederick Ashton for the music. The intermission will be preceded by another personal favorite, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s K. 364 in E-flat major, his “Sinfonia concertante” with solo parts for violin and viola, which will be performed by SFS members Alexander Barantschik and Jonathan Vinocour, respectively. The program will begin with Noriko Koide’s “Swaddling Silk and Gossamer Rain,” completed in 2022 and first performed in Europe in 2023 (with Chan conducting).

Friday, June 25, and Saturday, June 26, 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, June 27, 2 p.m.: Pianist Yefim Bronfman will return to Davies as soloist in a performance of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Opus 30, his third piano concerto, composed in the key of D minor. This will be complemented following the intermission with another Russian composer, Sergei Prokofiev. The selection will be his Opus 100, his fifth symphony composed in the key of B-flat major. The “overture” for the program will be “Sunlight Echoes,” composed by Augusta Read Thomas.

Thea Musgrave’s Venture into the 16th Century

Yesterday evening was my only opportunity to venture into the San Francisco Opera performance of Thea Musgrave’s account of the turbulent Elizabethan period, Mary, Queen of Scots. The narrative is set entirely in Scotland, leaving England and its Queen as little more than ghostly spirits. Musgrave wrote her own libretto, using, as a source, the play Moray by Peruvian author Amalia Elguera.

Heidi Stober in the title role of Mary, Queen of Scots with Christopher Sokolowski as Henry, Lord Darnley (photograph by Mathew Washburn, courtesy of San Francisco Opera)

I must confess that the narrative tends to bog down in the “complexities of authority” that prevailed over both Scotland and England during the sixteenth century. This is not so much an account of history as it is one of challenges over who is in charge. Mary may be a queen, but there are any number of men trying to take over. These include Mary’s own half-brother James Stewart, Earl of Moray; but authority emerges from other men, including James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, and Henry, Lord Darnley, who eventually becomes Mary’s husband.

Sadly, what emerges on the stage is a rather complicated history lesson set to music and cast in modern dress. After last night’s encounter, I could appreciate the tension in Musgrave’s music; but the narrative, as a whole, felt like too much of a slog. In many ways the debut conducting by Clelia Cafiero brought more attention to the “operatic experience” than any of the vocal work, even under the historically-informed directorship by Stewart Lang. After all, that Elizabethan period is one of the richest lodes in world history; but Musgrave’s opera (or, at least, its current production) never seemed to mine the value of that lode.

From the Green Room to Grace Cathedral

Gallery of the performers contributing to this year’s Death by Aria program

Once again, Halloween will be celebrated by the annual Death by Aria concert. Readers may recall that last year’s performance took place in the Veterans Building on Van Ness Avenue. This year will see a shift to a venue that is likely to be more conducive to a haunting evening. The performance will take place in Grace Cathedral, which will be fitted out to lend itself to spooky projections, which will be provided by Mark Johns. The space should also accommodate circus star Dwoira Galilea Scheffer and her aerial performance.

Instrumentalists will be oboist Christopher Oglesby, who is also a tenor vocalist, Valentin Kovalev on saxophone, and pianist Ronny Michael Greenberg, who will also will serve as Master of Ceremonies. The other vocalists will be soprano Charlotte Kelso and tenor Thomas Kinch. Opera selections will be from Georges Bizet’s Carmen, and Lady Macbeth’s performance in Giuseppe Verdi’s Macbeth. The repertoire will shift to the twentieth century with instrumental performances of “Libertango” and “La Muerte del Ángel,” compositions by Astor Piazzolla.

The performance will again begin at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, October 28. It will be preceded by a reception at 7 p.m. and followed by a party with the artists beginning at 9 p.m. The venue will be Grace Cathedral, which is located at 1100 California Street, located on the north side between Taylor Street and Jones Street. The entire event is expected to last three hours. Tickets are being sold through an Eventbrite Web page. General admission will be $125, and the price for young professionals under 30 will be $75.

CNN Does not Just Report the News

Now it is the news!

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/25/business/media/white-house-cnn-air-force-one-ban.html

SFS: 2026 All San Francisco Concert

Many readers probably know by now that the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) All San Francisco Concert provides a subsidized price for Bay Area nonprofit, social services, and grassroots organizations. This amounts to a “thank you” to the city and those citizens without which achievements, such as the construction of Davies Symphony Hall, would not have been possible. Put another way, this is an opportunity where music can tell the city to put politics aside for a couple of hours. As a reviewer, I have to say that I relish this gesture, because it always seems that the audience is genuinely attentive, making for an atmosphere far more conducive than the annual gala occasion!

That said, last night’s program had the same “framework” as the Thursday gala concert. Once again, the “overture” was John Adams’ “The Chairman Dances;” and the concluding “symphony” was Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s five-movement Opus 34, “Capriccio espagnol.” However, the “meat” in this “sandwich” was far more adventurous than yet another performance of Felix Mendelssohn’s Opus 64, his violin concerto in E minor, however engaging Hilary Hahn may have been at the gala. The intermission was followed by Gabriela Lena Frank’s mini-suite, Three Latin American Dances. While this was adventurous music, even more adventurous was the performance of a bassoon concerto concluding the first half of the program. The concerto was composed by Carl Maria von Weber in 1811, and the soloist was SFS Principal Bassoon Joshua Elmore.

I must confess to a soft spot for Weber, thanks to the music he composed for clarinet, which I came to know during my secondary school years. Elmore’s command of the concerto could not have been better, Of the four works on the program, this was the one that kept me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end! While much of the rhetoric was playful, the overall journey was as informative as it was adventurous. These days Weber is better known for his operas, but his instrumental compositions deserve more attention than they generally receive.

Where Frank is concerned, I have been writing about her since my Examiner days in 2012. That was when I was spending much of my time at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, but I also remember encountering her work through Old First Concerts. This year she finally won the Pulitzer Prize for Music, and she definitely deserved it! As might be expected, her suite was much appreciated by the percussion section; and, from my vantage point, I could enjoy the visual experience as much as the musical one.

Conductor Giancarlo Guerrero (from the SFS Web page for last night’s concert)

Revisiting the “framework” was just as engaging. Where Adams is concerned, one is always discovering coy details that had previously been overlooked. At the other end of the program, “Capriccio espagnol” was just plain fun. Once again, Giancarlo Guerrero was conducting; and his enthusiasm had not waned since his gala performance. This is music that dates all the way back to my childhood, but I never seem to tire of it!

Alchemist Quintet Coming to Bird & Beckett

Alchemist Quintet members John Kiskaddon, Michele Walther, Michael Gold, and Ted Burik (possibly from their performance at Mr. Tipple’s Jazz Club in May of 2024)

According to my archives, the last time I wrote about the Alchemist Quintet was at the end of last year. That was shortly after the release of their Ghost Radio CD. At that time I described the quintet at “somewhat unconventional, primarily due to the presence of violinist Michele Walther on the front line. Since then, there has been a change in personnel. There is still a saxophonist on the front line; but Michael Gold has replaced Doug Pet. Like Pet, Gold will play both tenor and soprano instruments. The rhythm section, on the other hand, remains the same: John Kiskaddon on piano, bassist Ted Burik, and Greg German on drums.

The combo will perform at Bird & Beckett Books and Records. Those familiar with Bleeding Edge articles probably know by now that the bookstore is located at 653 Chenery Street, a short walk from the Glen Park station for both Muni and BART. This will be a single-set performance, taking place one week from today on Friday, October 2. Things will begin at 7:30 p.m. and last for about two hours. What may be different from the Bleeding Edge performances is that admission will be a cover charge of $25 with a $10 fee for students.

Satoko Fujii Orchestra in Nagoya

I am beginning to think that anyone interested in seriously following the work of jazz pianist Satoko Fujii should prepare to be a world traveler. My last encounter with one of her albums was at the end of last month with the release of Second Attempt. That title may have reflected that this was the second album of performances by the Satoko Fujii Orchestra Berlin. This month requires me to shift attention to the Satoko Fujii Orchestra Nagoya. Unless I am mistaken, my last encounter with Fujii in Nagoya was a little less than three months ago, which was when I wrote about her 2018 four-movement suite Imagine Meeting You HereI, which was performed collectively by the Satoko Fujii Orchestras in Kobe, Nagoya, and Tokyo.

Cover of the album being discussed (from the CDJapan Web page for the album)

The title of the new album is Korekara; and, as the CDJapan Web site describes the album, it is “the fourth installment in Satoko Fujii’s large-ensemble series.” The suite was composed on a commission by Rojiura no Matahari, a restaurant in Nagoya celebrating its twentieth anniversary. It would not surprise me to learn that the customers at this restaurant are made of sterner stuff than I am. My personal opinion (for what it is worth) is that Korekara demands attentive listener. That involves being able to “parse” the jacket information, giving the durations of the four movements, as well as the diversity of sonorities coming from both soloists and the full ensemble. Put another way, any seriously attentive listener would probably find the presence of food (not to mention waiters) a distraction!

According to that Web site, the album will be released exactly one week from today. However, CDJapan is currently processing orders; and the Web page is kind enough to provide a price in United States dollars as well as one in Japanese yen. There is also a calculator for finding out the shipping charge, as well as one hyperlink to “Check Shipping Method Availability” and another for “Payment Methods & Timing.” My guess is that delivery will also require patience; but, as far as I am concerned, it will be worth the wait!

San Francisco Symphony Gala Concert

Yesterday evening saw the first “official” concert performance in the new season of the San Francisco Symphony (SFS). (This was preceded by the concert led by David Afkham one week earlier.) The program was a somewhat abbreviated one, since, as many readers know, the opening night gala involves many more events than the concert itself. However, if the performance was a bit short on duration, conductor Giancarlo Guerrero made sure it was a memorable one.

 

Hilary Hahn as violin soloist for the performance of Mendelssohn’s Opus 64 violin concerto with Concertmaster Alexander Barantschik on the left and, on the right, Giancarlo Guerero conducting from the podium (photograph by Drew Alitzer Photography, courtesy of SFS)

In spite of the brevity, he still prepared a program with the overture-concerto-symphony framework. The second of these selections was, indeed, a concerto and a particularly familiar one at that. Hilary Hahn was the soloist in the performance of Felix Mendelssohn’s Opus 64, his violin concerto in E minor. The “overture” was “The Chairman Dances,” described by composer John Adams as an “out-take” from his opera Nixon in China. The concluding “symphony” was Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s five-movement Opus 34, “Capriccio espagnol.”

Whatever the festivities of the evening may have been, Guerrero definitely prepared a program for the attentive listener. The same could be said for soloist Hahn, who made her SFS debut when she was a Shenson Young Artist in October of 1999 and was last seen in Davies Symphony Hall when she performed Ludwig van Beethoven’s Opus 61 violin concerto in D major under the baton of then Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen. Her approach to Mendelssohn was straightforward but expressive, and the audience could not have been more enthusiastic. She took that enthusiasm as an invitation for an encore. While it was not announced, I am almost certain that it was the concluding Gigue movement from Johann Sebastian Bach’s BWV 1006.1, the third of his solo violin partitas, composed in the key of E major.

I have discovered that, each time I return to an Adams performance, I discover something new. That was definitely the case with “The Chairman Dances;” and the discovery was a bit more unexpected than usual. It turned out that, roughly in the middle of the composition, Adams decided to have the timpani play in unison with the tuba (not the sort of duo one might expect). I have always appreciated Adams most for his wit, and he probably had a chuckle of his own when he penned these measures into his manuscript!

In the final selection I must confess that, for all of Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Russian spirit,” the “Spanish rhetoric” in his Opus 34 could not have been more convincing. Mind you, a Spanish composer might have gone for a bit more transparency in the instrumentation; but the attentive listener is quickly drawn into a drive with which the movements flow from one to the next. Guerrero knew exactly how to capture this spirit, and the audience could not have been more enthusiastic with the results. Personally, I have to wonder if the composer himself had a bit of fun as the movements from this “mini-suite” flowed from the ink of his pen!

As far as the audience was concerned, that enthusiasm probably contributed to working up an appetite for what would follow!

Nicholas Phan to Launch SFP Art of Song Series

Composer Shawn Okpebholo (photograph by Gregory Schreck, from an WEKU Web page from May 28, 2024, for an interview with the composer)

In a little less than a month’s time, San Francisco Performances (SFP) will begin its Art of Song series with a recital by tenor Nicholas Phan, accompanied at the piano by Myra Huang. They have prepared a program entitled Fellow Citizens. The program will feature the latest song cycle by Shawn Okpebholo, The Beautiful.  Phan and Huang gave this composition its world premiere performance this past summer at Tanglewood. This will be the newest work on the program, performed along with four other Okpebholo compositions. The earliest works on the program will be three songs by Franz Schubert. They will be performed in chronological order as follows: “Der Wanderer” (D. 649), “Pilgerweise” (D. 789), and “Der Wanderer an den Mond” (D. 870). Between these “bookends” will be a diversity of songs about home.

This performance will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 22. The venue will be Herbst Theatre, which is located in the heart of the Civic Center at 401 Van Ness Avenue on the southwest corner of McAllister Street. Ticket prices are $75, $65, and $55; and a Web page has been created for online purchases. Because this is the first program, there is also a Web page for purchasing tickets for all three of the recitals in the series.

Noe Music to Host Unconventional Trio

Cellist Mike Block in a duo performance with Yacouba Sissoko playing his kora

At the beginning of next month, Noe Music will host two performances performed by an “international” trio. The one familiar instrument in this group will be the cello played by Mike Block. However, since he has been a member of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silkroad Ensemble since 2005, he is used to instrumentalists unlikely to be found in the concert hall. One of them will be percussionist Idrissa Koné, who probably commands more members of the percussion familiar than are likely to be found in Davies Symphony Hall! The “front line” will be taken by Yacouba Sissoko. He plays the kora; and, according to the Britannica Web page, this is a “traditional West African stringed instrument.”

The trio will give two performances in Noe Valley, the first of which will be free. As was reported at the end of last month, this event will place at 5 p.m. on Friday evening, October 2, in the Noe Valley Town Square, which is located at 3861 24th Street. That block is situated between Vicksburg Street and Sanchez Street.

The second performance will take place at the Noe Valley Ministry. It will begin at 4 p.m. on Sunday, October 4, like other events in the Noe Music series. Those familiar with the series probably already know that the venue is located at 1021 Sanchez Street, between 23rd Street and Elizabeth Street.

Giuseppe Verdi Bogged Down in Class Warfare

In the wake of the San Francisco Opera (SFO) Orchestra strike at the beginning of this month, performances in the War Memorial Opera House finally got under way yesterday evening with the first (which should have been the fourth) performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra. SFO first performed this opera on November 1, 1941, which was a West Coast premiere. Since that time, there have been six previous productions, the most recent having been in 2008. That was when Donald Runnicles conducted the Orchestra, and the Director was Elijah Moshinsky.

A confrontation between Fiesco (left) and Boccanegra (right) with a boulder threatening to fall through the ceiling

I wrote about that last production under the title “A Tragedy of Republic,” because the foundation of the narrative is one of antagonism. The antagonists are the title character (baritone Amartuvshin Enkhbat) and the nobleman Jacopo Fiesco (bass-baritone Christian Van Horn). The tension is based on class, since Boccanegra is plebeian. It begins when Boccanegra falls in love with Fiesco’s granddaughter Maria (soprano Eleonora Buratto), who is also known as Amelia Grimaldi. (Fiesco is also known as Andrea Grimaldi.)

Ultimately, the plot is one of conspiracy and identity. (After her treatment of Richard Wagner’s Ring cycle, Anna Russell would have had a field day in trying to take on the narrative of Simon Boccanegra!) I must confess that, after the intermission, I began just to listen to the music and put aside any thoughts about who was doing what to whom. For the most part, I enjoyed the clarity of the vocalists and, as always, the firm command of conductor Eun Sun Kim in the orchestra pit.

That said, I plan to give the opera a second try this coming Sunday afternoon; and I am hoping that I shall be better prepared for the complexities of who is doing what to whom!

Getting the Jump on Christmas Music

The “Nativity” cover for the Pastorales de Noel album (courtesy of PIAS)

It seems as if celebrating the spirit of Christmas through music gets earlier and earlier by the year. This year, “first out of the gate” seems to be a harmonia mundi album of performances by Les Arts Florissants entitled Pastorales de Noel. It will be released this coming Friday; but, as many readers will probably expect, Amazon.com has already created a Web page for processing pre-orders.

This is a two-CD release of six compositions, all vocal in a diversity of combinations. Accompaniment is provided by instruments associated with music from the late seventeenth century. There are six compositions distributed roughly equally across the two CDs and a rich diversity of vocal soloists. The ensemble is Les Arts Florissants directed by William Christie. This combines the full extent of vocal ranges (including countertenor) with accompaniment by period instruments including winds, strings, and organ. For the most part, the vocal sources reflect on the Nativity, but there is also a Magnificat with instrumental accompaniment for countertenor, tenor, and bass.

The entire album is devoted to a single composer, Marc-Antoine Charpentier, who flourished for much of the last quarter of the seventeenth century. (He died in 1704.) As an atheist, my approach to music associated with the Nativity is an abstract one. Nevertheless, there is an engaging diversity in how Charpentier finds just the right ways to associate instrumentation with text. Unless my ears are playing tricks on me, all of the vocal compositions are sung one-to-a-part; and often the individual qualities of the singers blend engagingly with the individual qualities of the instrumental resources.

Charpentier should not be a stranger to at least some readers. Both American Bach Soloists and the California Bach Society have included them in their respective repertoires. Where recordings are concerned, Jordi Savall led a performance of Charpentier’s setting of the Te Deum hymn for an Alla Vox album. I have not followed Christie as closely as I have tried to keep up with Savall, but I still enjoy Christie’s Monteverdi album (the entirety of Claudio Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione de Poppea), which dates back a little over seven years ago!

SF Philharmonic Announces “Season of Titans”

Tchaikovsky and Mahler “face off” on the San Francisco Philharmonic poster for the first concert of its season of “Titans” (from the Groupmuse Web page for this performance)

Early next month will mark the beginning of the new season of the San Francisco Philharmonic. The overall title is Season of Titans, and the first program will live up to that name … literally. The second half of the program will be devoted entirely to Gustav Mahler’s first symphony, composed in the key of D major. The title of this article is a reflection on the following sentence from the Wikipedia page for this composition: “For the 1893 Hamburg and 1894 Weimar performances, Mahler gave the piece the title Titan after the novel by Jean Paul, although Mahler specified that the piece was not in any way ‘about’ the book; the nickname is often used today, but properly only applies to those two versions.” That said, those familiar with the last of the four movements of this symphony will probably agree that the prevailing rhetoric is “titanic!”

The first half of the program will also present a single composition. This will be Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Opus 49, best known as the “1812 Overture.” (The original title was “The Year 1812, Solemn Overture.”) This was the year in which the Russian army prevailed of Napoleon’s French invasion. The opposition is reflected in the music, which begins with the music of the Eastern Orthodox “Troparion of the Holy Cross.” The French national anthem, “La Marseillaise,” “invades” the orchestra; and Russia responds to battle with selections of Russian folk music. The French finally retreat, and the overture concludes with a rousing performance of “God Save the Tsar.”

Taken as a whole, the duration of the program will be approximately 90 minutes. It will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, October 3. The performance will take place in Herbst Theatre, which is located in the Veterans Building on the southwest corner of Van Ness Avenue and McAllister Street. This will be a Groupmuse Night Out performance, and tickets will be sold for $22 through the Groupmuse Web page. (“Supermusers” will be able to purchase tickets for $17.) As of this writing, a generous number of tickets are available.

The Bleeding Edge: 9/21/2026

This continues to be a busy month. Fortunately, a generous number of the events have already been reported. In “order of appearance,” those events are as follows:

1. The 25th Annual San Francisco Electronic Music Festival at 8 p.m. on Thursday, September 24, Friday, September 25, and Saturday, September 26
2. The five Metamorphosis compositions by Philip Glass performed by pianist Patrick Anderson, also on Saturday, September 26 but at 6:15 p.m.
3. Saxophonist Kasey Knudsen leading a jazz sextet for a Jazz Chez Hanny concert on Sunday, September 27, with door opening at 3:30 p.m.
4. The Atom String Quartet of violinists are Dawid Lubowicz and Mateusz Smoczyński, performing with Michał Zaborski on viola and cellist Krzysztof Lenczowski for the last Old First Concerts performance of the month, also taking place on Sunday but beginning at 4 p.m.

Remaining events will also take place between Thursday and Sunday at a diversity of venues, many (most?) of which will be familiar to readers:

Thursday, September 24, and Sunday, September 27, 7 p.m. and 9:15 p.m., and Friday, September 25, and Saturday, September 26, at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., Black Cat Jazz Supper Club: Saxophonist Stacy Dillard and trumpeter Josh Evans  will lead a quintet whose other members have not yet been identified. In their words, the repertoire will be “hard swing, sharp interplay, and the kind of late-night jazz energy that keeps the room on edge.” Admission for all performances will be $30. The club is located in the Civic Center at 400 Eddy Street.

Thursday, September 24, 7 p.m., Mr Tipple’s: Japanese jazz pianist Rumi Abe is now based in San Francisco, following her career in Tokyo, where she appeared in over 200 performances annually. She will lead a quartet with drummer Akira Tana and bassist John Wiitala. Saxophonist Kasey Knudsen will take the front line. As many readers probably know by now, the venue is located at 39 Fell Street.

Friday, September 25, 7 p.m., Community Music Center: Persistence is a program of two nights of music and poetry performed both nationally and internationally by Bay Area artists. On the first of these programs, the poets will be devorah major and Josiah Luis Alderete. Each reading will be followed by a combo. The first of these will be a quartet called Red Fast Triple Luck, whose performers will be David Boyce and Francis Wong on reeds, keyboardist Chris Trinidad, and spoken word artist PC Muñoz. The second will be the Music at Large quartet, identified only by the performers: Lewis Jordan, Sandi Poindexter, Ollen Erich Hunt, and Jimmy Biala. For those that do not already know, the venue is located in the Mission at 544 Capp Street.

Friday, September 25, 7 p.m., Medicine for Nightmares: The next Other Dimensions in Sound performance to be curated by “Boohaabian multi reed player extraordinaire David Boyce” will see him playing saxophones and special effects as part of a quartet. He will be joined on the front line by saxophonist Francis Wong. Rhythm will be provided by Chris Trinidad on bass with percussionist PC Munoz who will supplement his drum kit with boom stick and flying hook-rug. As many (most?) readers probably know by now, the venue is located in the Mission at 3036 24th Street, between Treat Avenue and Harrison Street. As always, there is no charge for admission, presumably to encourage visitors to consider buying a book.

Bruce Ackley with his soprano saxophone (from the BayImproviser Web page for his performance this week)

Saturday, September 26, 7 p.m., Community Music Center:  The second performance of Persistence will present a poetry reading by Genny Lim. The program will conclude with Poetic License (with no further information currently provided). Saxophonist Bruce Ackley will perform with The Don Robinson Abstract, whose set will be followed by Music at X-Large.

Saturday, September 26, 7:30 p.m., Bird & Beckett Books and Records: Drummer Devin Gray is currently based in Berlin. However, he is currently on a West Coast tour, which will bring him to San Francisco. He will lead a quartet with trumpeter Darren Johnston on the front line. He will be joined in the rhythm section by Lisa Mezzacappa on bass and guitarist Liberty Ellman. For those that do not already know, the bookstore is locate at 653 Chenery Street, a short walk from the Glen Park station for both Muni and BART.

Sunday, September 27, 7 p.m., Bric-a-Brac: Johnny Bell, who performs on a diversity of instruments, is currently on his Basin & Range Tour. He will be performing with “an outstanding bill of Bay Area artists.” He will be joined by the vocal duo of Eda Er and Tasya Abbot. There will also be a duo performance of traditional and experimental string band music by Sadie Siskin and Waldner Kalb, as well as solo improvisations by guitarist Joseph Bradshaw. The venue is located at 175 Leland Avenue. Admission will be $10, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

Sunday Bach

The first half of this month has been relatively quiet, and things will begin to rev up in the Civic Center over the course of the coming week. San Francisco Opera is beginning its season with Giuseppe Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra and Thea Musgrave’s Mary, Queen of Scots; and the San Francisco Symphony will have its Opening Gala concert on Thursday, September 24, followed by the annual All San Francisco Concert on Friday. In that context I decided that this morning would be a good time to “take refuge” in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach.

I rather enjoy the luxury of having two “complete works” collections of recordings of Bach’s music. The first one I acquired was the Teldec Bach 2000 release. A few years later my wife happened on the Brilliant Classics collection, and I have been enjoying compare-and-contrast listening ever since! This morning I found myself revisiting the Brilliant CD of seven of the keyboard toccatas performed on the harpsichord by Menno van Delft, who was a student of Gustav Leonhardt for both harpsichord and organ.

Fragment of the opening measures of BWV 565, copied by Johannes Ringk (from the Wikimedia Commons Web page, public domain)

When “Bach” and “toccata” appear in the same sentence, most readers almost immediately think of BWV 565, the coupling of toccata and fugue in the key of D minor. That music has been performed in so many different settings that it has become almost a cliché (perhaps not even “almost”). As might be guessed, the word has its own Wikipedia page, whose first sentence is: “Toccata (from Italian toccare, literally, ‘to touch’, with ‘toccata’ being the action of touching) is a virtuoso piece of music typically for a keyboard or plucked string instrument featuring fast-moving, lightly fingered or otherwise virtuosic passages or sections, with or without imitative or fugal interludes, generally emphasizing the dexterity of the performer's fingers.”

However, there are seven more toccatas that Bach composed for harpsichord: BWV 910–916. Only two of these are in major keys: BWV 912 in D major and BWV 916 in G major. As the Wikipedia page puts it, all seven of them “are multi-sectional works which include fugal writing, rhetorical flourishes, recitative, and aria-like movements as part of their structure.” The Wikipedia page also cites that all of these toccatas emerged from Bach’s rich capacity of improvisation. As a result, I found that listening to the seven toccatas on the Brilliant CD was a refreshing experience, reminding me of how long it has been since I last played that album.

My only regret is that, to the best of my knowledge and/or memory, I have not had a chance to listen to any of those “seven other” toccatas in performance!

Keyboard Arrangement This Time for 2 Guitars

The Montenegrin Guitar Duo of Goran Krivokapić and Danijel Cerović (screenshot of their performance of BWV 812 in Montenegro)

Readers may recall that it was almost exactly a month ago when Omni on-Location released a video of the Andalusian Guitar Quartet playing three of the four movements in Manuel de Falla’s 4 Piezas españolas (four Spanish pieces). A little over half an hour ago, the latest Omni on-Location video was released, this time with a performance of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. The guitarists for this video were Goran Krivokapić and Danijel Cerović, who call themselves the Montenegrin Guitar Duo.

The Bach selection was BWV 812, the first in the composer’s collection of six “French” suites. This one is in the key of D minor. My guess is that anyone familiar with Bach’s music will know what the movements are in this suite: Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, a coupling of two Menuets, and the concluding Gigue. As might be guessed, the performance was filmed in Montenegro, more specifically at the Saint Nicholas’ Church in Perast.

BWV 812 is one of those suites where all of the movements are composed for three-voice polyphony. As many readers might guess, arranging that polyphony for two guitars should not be too challenging! However, what is more important is how the guitarists realize that polyphony through their arrangements. The result is that the attentive listener can readily appreciate the inventive breadth in Bach’s polyphony as well as the depth required by the two guitarists to realize that breadth. This is a video that is definitely “one for the books!”

SFS: Afkham Leads Season Opening Concert

Last night saw the first performance in Davies Symphony Hall for the new San Francisco Symphony (SFS) concert series. The conductor was David Afkham, who had made his SFS debut in the fall season of 2025. On that occasion his program was based entirely on two Russian composers from the late nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Dmitri Shostakovich. This time the program was structured around Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms, the “dynamic duo” of the mid-nineteenth century. The program, as a whole, consisted of overture, concerto, and symphony, but not in the usual order.

Unsuk Chin (courtesy of Boosey & Hawkes)

The second half of the program was devoted entirely to Brahms with the performance of one of his early compositions, the Opus 15 (first) piano concerto in D minor. This was paired on the other side of the intermission with Robert Schumann’s final symphony, the Opus 120 (fourth) in D minor. The program began in the more immediate present with Unsuk Chin’s “subito con forza,” composed in 2020. Garrick Ohlsson was the concerto soloist; and he performed a single encore of Frédéric Chopin’s, the first (in the of A-flat major) of the three waltzes collected in Opus 34. Following tonight’s second performance, Ohlsson will return to Davies on Sunday afternoon for chamber music performances of Johannes Brahms Opus 87, his second piano trio in C major, and Amy Beach’s only piano quintet, her Opus 67 in F-sharp minor.

The title of Chin’s composition was a reflection on Ludwig van Beethoven, more precisely his Opus 62 “Coriolan Overture.” While she seems to have been inspired by Beethoven’s confrontation with his hearing loss, I was more drawn to the overall rhetoric of her music, turning Beethoven’s intense gestures into a wild ride. She also had a keen sense of timing, knowing how to sustain a duration that was neither too short nor too long.

Taken as a whole, one could say that the program was a confrontation between the present and nineteenth centuries. That said, the intensity of rhetoric in both Schumann and Brahms definitely withstood that confrontation! Next week’s All San Francisco Concert will provide another such confrontation, and I am looking forward to it!

San Francisco Opera Turning to Massenet

Next month will see the third production in the 104th season of the San Francisco Opera (SFO). This will be a revival of Vincent Boussard’s staging of Jules Massenet’s Manon, which was last performed at the War Memorial Opera House in 2017. Caroline H. Hume Music Director Eun Sun Kim will conduct the SFO Orchestra. Soprano Amina Edris will sing the title role with tenor Pene Pati portraying the Chevalier des Grieux.

This is an opéra comique in the French language, the genre that interleaves spoken dialogue with settings of the music. It is based on the 1731 novel by the Abbé Prévost entitled L'histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut. Most of the novel involves narration by the chevalier, which involves, on the Wikipedia Web page for this novel, a narrative of “moral decline.” The chevalier is so smitten with Manon that his moral decline is described by Wikipedia as “gambling, fraud, theft, murder, and Manon's death as a deportee [from France] in New Orleans.”

Banner of Manon on the Web page for purchasing SFO tickets

Boussard will return to San Francisco to direct the revival of this performance. The staging will be shared with performances by the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre and the Israeli Opera. The first performance will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 15; and the other evening performances will take place at the same time on Wednesday, October 21, Saturday, October 24, Tuesday, October 27, and Friday, October 30. There will also be two Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. on October 18 and November 1 (the final performance). A single Web page has been created for purchasing tickets for all seven of these events.

SFCO Begins MainStage Series Next Month

Music Director Jory Fankuchen conducting the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra (from the Eventbrite Web page for purchasing tickets)

The San Francisco Chamber Orchestra (SFCO), led by Music Director Jory Fankuchen, will begin its latest MainStage Concerts series almost one month from today. The title of the program will be Beethoven’s Eroica, A Hero’s Journey, and the entire program will be framed by two compositions by Ludwig van Beethoven. The second half of the program will be devoted to that composer’s Opus 55, his third symphony composed in the key of E-flat major. Many readers probably know by now that Beethoven originally wished to call this the “Bonaparte” symphony; but, after Napoleon proclaimed himself as Emperor, he chose not to praise a tyrant. As a result, he changed the title of the symphony to “Eroica.”

The program will begin with a Beethoven overture composed around the same time as Opus 55. This will be the 1807 “Coriolan Overture,” which takes its name from the title of a five-act play Heinrich Joseph von Collin. That title is based on the name of the Roman general Gnaeus Marcius Coriolanus. He was the protagonist in William Shakespeare’s Coriolanus tragedy, but Beethoven’s overture has nothing to do with Shakespeare. Instead, it was composed for the performance of the play Coriolan by Heinrich Joseph von Collin.

These two selections will frame a twentieth-century composition. Sea Sketches is a five-movement suite for string orchestra composed by Grace Williams. Each of the movements has a title depicting a different aspect of the sea:

1. High Wind
2. Sailing Song
3. Channel Sirens
4. Breakers
5. Calm Sea in Summer

The San Francisco performance of this program will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, October 16. The venue will be the 50 Oak Street building of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. There will be no charge for admission, but reservations are recommended. They may be established through a “Reserve a spot” hyperlink on the Eventbrite Web page for this program

The Latest Repetition of History?

Once again, philosopher George Santayana is in the spotlight with his best-known aphorism, “Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.” This time it involves a NewsFeed Web page on the Al Jazeera Web site involving the United Nations. The headline says it all: “US bars Palestinian president from attending UNGA [United Nations General Assembly] for second year.”

The history I have in mind involves the ongoing question of legitimacy. In the last centuries, countries like Germany tried to deny the legitimacy of its Jewish population. It would not be an understatement to say that the consequences were ghastly, but ultimately they led to the creation of Israel as a sovereign state. The resulting governance gave Jews a “voice,” which had been denied in many regions in Europe.

Many who benefitted from that preference had not been born in the territory that is now Israel. They were more likely to come from Europe than from other countries, such as the United States. For my part, I left the United States to teach in Israel after I achieved my doctoral degree. Since my thesis advisor had not prepared me for what I would do after receiving that degree, teaching at the Technion in Haifa was the only job I managed to get! So it would be fair to say that Israel played a significant role in launching my professional career.

That said, the best thing to result from that career was that it prepared me for returning to the United States to teach Computer Science at the University of Pennsylvania! This allowed me to use my summer break to do something that I could not have done when I was living in Israel. I arranged a vacation for visiting Egypt and Jordan, after which, I prepared for an overland move to Jerusalem. This endowed me with a much broader view of the history and governance in that region, a view in which Palestinian Arabs had as much right to participate in governance as the Jewish population did.

The plaque on the base of the Statue of Liberty with the text of Emma Lazarus’ sonnet, “The New Colossus” (from the Wikimedia Commons Web page, photograph provided by the National Park Service, public domain)

As many might guess, this was an idealistic perspective, which has yet to come to terms with reality. The latest attack on that idealism showed up on that Al Jazeera Web page cited in the opening paragraph. Apparently,  seeing to “huddled masses yearning to breathe free” only seems to apply to “masses” from some regions in the world but not others!

Harnoncourt Concludes Collection with Dvořák

Photograph of Antonín Dvořák’s funeral in Prague on May 5, 1904 (from Jarmil Burghauser’s catalog of Dvořák’s works and the reason for the “B” catalog numbers)

I have now listened to the final four CDs in the Warner box set of 42 CDs of recordings made by Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam. Some readers may recall that, in my last article, Johannes Brahms was allocated only three CDs. That leaves four CDs devoted entirely to Antonín Dvořák, which made for a particularly stimulating conclusion.

The first three of those CDs account for the last three symphonies: the seventh (B. 141) in D minor, the eighth (B. 163) in G major, and the ninth (B. 178) in E minor, usually known by its title “From the New World.” The final CD presents Dvořák’s only piano concerto, B. 63 in G minor with French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard as soloist. Each of these four CDs concludes with a tone poem. In “order of appearance,” these compositions are:

1. The Wild Dove (B. 198)
2. The Noon Witch (B. 196)
3. The Water Goblin (B. 195)
4. The Golden Spinning Wheel (B. 197)

I must confess that the first pocket score I ever purchased was for B. 178 (although those catalog numbers were not used at that time). I think it was my father that thought this would be a good start, but he had forgotten that we did not have the music in our record collection. As a result, it was a while before I could put that score to good listening use; but it has now served me well for several decades!

That said, Harnoncourt’s conducting is often as good a “tour” through any piece of music as one would encounter through score-following. Mind you, where Dvořák is concerned, I still treasure my Naxos seventeen-CD box set: The Complete Dvořák Published Orchestral Works. Past encounters with Harnoncourt, on the other hand, are more distant. Ironically, they involve another Warner box set, Gidon Kremer: The Warner Collection, which outdoes the Dvořák box with 21 CDs. However, Harnoncourt appears in this collection in only two of those CDs, one for Ludwig van Beethoven’s Opus 61 violin concerto in D major and the other for Johannes Brahms’ Opus 77 violin concerto, also in D major, which also includes the Opus 102 “double” concerto in A minor with Clemens Hagen playing cello.

In other words, prior to the release of the Warner box set, it has been about half a decade since I last wrote about my listening experiences of Harnoncourt. On the other hand, the Concertgebouw box covers a decidedly longer period of time. The earliest recordings date back to 1980, and the most recent were recorded in 2001.

The music, on the other hand, is limited to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; but, where most of the composers are concerned, depth matters more than breadth. When it comes to Harnoncourt’s career, he did not retire until December 5, 2015, which was the day before his 86th birthday! He would die the following year, on March 5, 2016.

American Bach Announces 38th Season

Poster design for the coming American Bach season

San Francisco performances of the 2026–2027 season of American Bach will get under way in a little less than a month’s time. Once again, this will be a “movable feast” with three different venues: St. Mark’s Lutheran Church at 1111 O’Farrell Street, on the southwest corner of Franklin Street, Grace Cathedral, which is located on Nob Hill at 1100 California Street, and Herbst Theatre, which is entered on the ground floor of the Veterans Building of the San Francisco War Memorial at 401 Van Ness Avenue on the southwest corner of McAllister Street. There will be five programs, only three of which will be conducted by Jeffrey Thomas. Specific dates, in chronological order, are as follows:

Sunday, October 11, St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, 4 p.m.: The first concert will be performed without a conductor. Featured soloists will be cellists Joseph Howe and Gretchen Claassen, and soprano Mary Wilson will perform the opening selection. That will be one of the five settings of Psalm 113 composed by Antonio Vivaldi. (As of this writing, I cannot be more specific!) Two of the selections are listed as “Scarlatti,” without adding the first name of either Domenico or Alessandro! Somewhat more specific is a trio sonata in B-flat major by Antonio Caldara, known as the “Chaconne” trio sonata. There will also be a Sinfonia a cinque in C major by Tomaso Albinoni, most likely taken from his Opus 2 collection 6 Sinfonie & 6 Concerti a cinque. The program will conclude with the fourth concerto da chiesa in Arcangelo Corelli’s Opus 6 collection, composed in the key of D major.

Thursday, December 10, and Friday, December 11, Grace Cathedral, 7:30 p.m.: This will be the annual performances of George Frideric Handel’s HWV 58 oratorio Messiah. Thomas will conduct the American Bach Soloists and the American Bach Choir. There will be four soloists: Hélène Brunet (soprano), Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen (countertenor), Steven Soph (tenor), and Christian Pursell (bass-baritone).

Saturday, December 12, St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, 7:30 p.m.: Messiah will be followed by a program entitled A Baroque Christmas. Two of the concertos have titles referencing “Il Santissimo Natale,” the first by Vivaldi and the second by Giuseppe Torelli. There will also be two compositions by Michel Corrette from his Symphonie des Noëls, one in A major and the other in D major. Winds will have their say in the “Concerto Pastorale” in F major composed by Johann Christoph Pez. The program will conclude with a “Gloria” setting by Handel (which lacks an HWV number). YuEun Gemma Kim will be the solo violinist, and the vocal performance of the “Gloria” will be sung by Brunet. This will be the second program performed without a conductor.

Thursday, December 31, Herbst Theatre, 4 p.m.: This program has not yet been finalized. However, soprano Nola Richardson and mezzo Sarah Colt will perform arias and duets. As might be expected, Handel will be one of the composers, along with Vivaldi and Johann Adolph Hasse.

Sunday, February 28, St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, 4 p.m.: Life, Hope, and Joy  will be a rich vocal program. The five vocalists will be sopranos Brunet and Morgan Balfour, countertenor Nicholas Burns, tenor Soph, and bass-baritone David McFerrin. Most of the program will be divided between Johann Sebastian Bach and Dieterich Buxtehude. There will be one selection on the program by Franz Tunder.

Sunday, May 2, St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, 4 p.m.: The season will conclude with a program entitled Fantastic Baroque. Soloists will be Bethanne Walker on flute and violinists Tatiana Chulochnikova and Kim. The program will be devoted almost entirely to Johann Sebastian Bach and Vivaldi, beginning with a solo violin account of BWV 565, Bach’s coupling of a toccata and fugue in the key of D minor, originally composed for organ. (According to the Wikipedia Web page for this composition, the music “may have been a transcription of a lost solo violin piece.”) There will also be the familiar pairing of canon and gigue by Johann Pachelbel.

175 Years!

The New York Times is 175 years old:

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/16/insider/new-york-times-175-anniversary.html

Even in San Francisco, I still follow its content. Mind you, my primary focus is on the “Arts,” with particular attention to performances of music. After all, many of the performers tend to tour; so recital programs that begin in New York may end up in San Francisco later in the season. (For all I know, this sometimes happens the other way around!)

“O Canada!”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen addressing the European Parliament with Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney on the right (photograph by Jean-Christophe Verhaegen for Agence France-Presse, from an Al Jazeera Web page)

Some readers may recall that this past Saturday I wrote about United States President Donald Trump’s approach to diplomacy in an article entitled “How to Lose Friends.” This morning Al Jazeera created a Web page with the title “EU chief von der Leyen proposes ‘associate member’ status for Canada,” drawing upon sources from both Agence France-Presse and Reuters. That title is immediately clarified in the opening sentence: “European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has raised the prospect of Canada becoming the 27-nation European Union’s first ‘associate member’, a striking overture as both seek to pivot away from a hostile United States under President Donald Trump.” It ultimately concludes with von der Leyen having the last word:

We believe that power does not belong to the strongest, the richest or the loudest – but to all of us. That democracies have the freedom to choose with whom to work. So, we are joining forces [with Canada] voluntarily.

Now, to be fair, when I was in high school I was taught that our government was a republic, rather than a democracy. Much of what I learned about American History involved the difference between these two concepts and why that difference matters. Nevertheless, it would be fair to say that democratic freedom of choice has always played a strong role in our country’s approach to governance. In a little over a month, the electoral process may involve major changes in the House of Representatives and perhaps also in the Senate. This may result in a decrease of “harmony” between the Legislative and Executive branches. Put in other words, Trump may confront a major reduction in what he has taken to be “free rein.”

How he will respond to this reduction will be anybody’s guess. Personally, I am hoping that the Constitution will have the last word. I hope I am not being too optimistic about what the future may bring!

Brahms a Little Less “Modest” than Bruckner!

Some readers may recall that yesterday’s article about the Warner box set of the recordings made by Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam was described as a “modest” account of Anton Bruckner, because it was limited to two of his early symphonies. It turns out that Harnoncourt’s attention to Johannes Brahms was only slightly less “modest,” if not surprising. The content consists of four concertos on three CDs; and I have to confess that I felt a bit frustrated that none of the four symphonies were included in the collection. Mind you, having now listened to those four concertos, I am happy enough to take what I received, which amounts to new perspectives on compositions that have been familiar to me for quite some time.

Cover design for the concerto album begin discussed, showing both conductor and piano soloist (from the Amazon.com Web page for this CD album)

The first two CDs account for the composer’s two piano concertos: Opus 15 in D minor and Opus 83 in B-flat major. By way of personal digression, I would like to observe that Opus 83 was one of the earliest releases by Columbia on a “long playing” (LP) disc. When my parents bought their first LP player, it came with a few Columbia albums, one of which was Opus 83. My enthusiasm for that concerto resulted in one of my earliest purchases of a pocket score for the music. The pianist on that album was Rudolf Serkin.

By way of digression, I have to confess that I am looking forward to Garrick Ohlsson playing Opus 15 this Friday (in the hopes that there will be a performance). According to my archives, the last time it was performed was in November of 2022 when conductor Michael Tilson Thomas led the San Francisco Symphony with Emanuel Ax at the keyboard. However, while Opus 83 has tended to be the more popular of the two concertos, my last encounter with it in Davies Symphony Hall was even earlier, in April of 2019 when, again, Emanuel Ax was soloist, this time under the baton of Andrey Boreyko.

In the Harnoncourt performances both concertos have Rudolf Buchbinder as soloist. In the past I have been more familiar with him as a recital soloist, having written this past June about his Song Transcriptions CD, accounting for solo piano transcriptions of 28 songs by Franz Schubert. I had the opportunity to see him as a concerto soloist in Davies Symphony Hall, but that was back in October of 2016, when Michael Tilson Thomas conducted the San Francisco Symphony in a performance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s K. 466 piano concerto in D minor. Sadly, that concerto was not included in the Harnoncourt recordings.

The final Brahms CD in the box set accounts for two Brahms concertos, both with Gidon Kremer as violin soloists. The first of these is the composer’s only violin concerto, Opus 77 in D major. This is followed by the Opus 102 “Double Concerto,” the second soloist being cellist Clemens Hagen. Both of these concertos are personal favorites, and I continue to enjoy opportunities to listen to Kremer. Nevertheless, I have to wonder why it is that Harnoncourt decided to shy away from any of the four symphonies. I would have thought that such recordings would make for interesting compare-and-contrast listening when paired with the Bruckner recordings!