Listening Ahead
Our Critics’ Choices of Upcoming Events in the Bay Area
for January 8 – 21, 2008
Recital
Highwire Heroics
The superstar countertenor of our time, David Daniels, who made the countertenor voice legit in big, modern opera houses, gives a recital at Cal Performances. Chances are there will be some Handel arias on the program, but Daniels has a wide repertory, and this promises to be an exciting concert.
Jan. 13, 3 p.m., Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley, $48, (510) 642-9988, www.calperfs.berkeley.edu. (M.Z.)
David Daniels
Bach Organ Music
Anthony Newman is one of the most recognized, lauded, and distinguished interpreters of Bach’s music, as both a keyboardist and conductor. A fixture on the New York musical scene for four decades, his appearance here in a free recital on the Grace Cathedral organ in the main quire should be celebrated. San Francisco has a lot going on, but it would be more than worth it to spend an hour on Sunday listening to this concert.
Jan. 13, 4 p.m., Grace Cathedral, free, (415) 749-6355, www.gracecathedral.org. (M.Z.)
Itzhak Perlman
The famous violinist visits the Mondavi Center at UC Davis to play sonatas by Bach (E Major, BWV 1016), Richard Strauss (E-flat Major, Op. 18), and Poulenc (FP 119).
Jan. 19, 8 p.m., Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, UC Davis, sold out (check with box office for returns), (866) 754-2787, www.mondaviarts.org. (M.Z.)
Celebrating Anna Carol
An important member of the Bay Area music scene — as a performer, scholar, and celebrator of everything from choral and chamber to early and contemporary music, and as a regular writer for SFCV — Anna Carol Dudley celebrates her 77th birthday by giving audiences a free recital. Her distinguished career includes appearances as soloist with the San Francisco Symphony, the Bay Area Women’s Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. She has toured extensively in the U.S. and Canada as a recitalist and with the early music ensemble Tapestry, and many works have been inspired by her and composed for her to premiere. The concert on Sunday afternoon includes works from Dowland to Dallapiccola and includes accompanists Phebe Craig on harpsichord and Larry Marietta on piano.
Jan. 20, 2 p.m., First Congregational Church, Berkeley, free, (510) 225-8206, www.fccb.org. (C.G.)
Gil Shaham
The popular violinist returns to Cal Performances, along with pianist Akira Eguchi, in a program that features music by Walton, Bach, Rodrigo, and Sarasate.
Jan. 20, 3 p.m., Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley, $34-$62, (510) 642-9988, www.calperfs.berkeley.edu. (M.B.)
Symphony
Peninsula Symphony
Hot jazz pianist Taylor Eigsti and his band join the Peninsula Symphony in the premiere of four of Eigsti’s pieces for piano and orchestra. Also on the program are Gershwin favorites, the “I’ve Got Rhythm” Variations and An American in Paris. Eigsti and the band also perform some of their own music.
Jan. 18, 8 p.m., Fox Theatre, Redwood City; Jan. 19, 8 p.m., Flint Center, DeAnza College, Cupertino; $29-$50, (650) 941-5291, www.peninsulasymphony.org. (M.Z.)
Marin Symphony
The Marin Symphony dives into Stravinskyʼs surging, intricate Symphony in Three Movements, along with the gentler The Fairyʼs Kiss. Ukrainian violinist Vadim Gluzman tackles the challenges of Tchaikovskyʼs Violin Concerto. Alasdair Neale conducts.
Jan. 20, 22, 7:30 p.m., Marin Veterans’ Memorial Auditorium, San Rafael, $27-$65, (415) 479-8100, www.marinsymphony.org. (M.Z.)
Contemporary Music
Empryean Ensemble
The Empyrean presents a concert “In the Spirit of Cage.” It’s a varied program of works inspired by John Cage, who along with Cage’s Music Circusa was a frequent Merce Cunningham collaborator. Also on the program are premieres of compositions by Pamela Z and Craig Walsh, as well as Luciano Chessa’s piece for — get this — wireless flying blimp, musical saw, and chamber ensemble, and also Kardex, an interactive installation by Robin Hill, with Samuel Nichols.
Jan. 13, 7 p.m., Mondavi Center for the Arts, Davis, $14.50-$29, (886) 754-2787, www.mondaviarts.org. (C.G.)
Kronos in Deep Space
It’s not a sci-fi movie, just another piece created for the Kronos Quartet. Terry Riley’s Sun Rings (2002), an intermissionless hour and a half, is another entry in the musical contemplation of the heavens, and was commissioned for Kronos by NASA, no less. In addition to the quartet, the work includes sounds of space collected by University of Iowa professor Don Gurnett over a 40-year period, a visual production by well-known video artist Willie Williams, and a backing choir in some of the work’s 10 sections. This is something you’ll probably want to experience live.
Jan. 18, 8 p.m., Memorial Auditorium, Stanford University, $13-$44, (650) 723-2551, livelyarts.stanford.edu. (M.Z.)
Early Music
Voices of Music
Well-known early music specialists Laura Heimes, Katherine Kyme, Carla Moore, Bill Skeen, David Tayler, and Hanneke van Proosdij present music from the royal Swedish court by Buxtehude, Grandi, Schmelzer, and more.
Jan. 11, 8 p.m., St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, Albany; Jan. 13, 7:30 p.m., St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, San Francisco, $20-$25, (510) 236-9808, www.voicesofmusic.org. (M.B.)
Asteria
The engaging duo of soprano Sylvia Rhyne and tenor and lutenist Eric Redlinger — winners of Early Music America’s first Unicorn Prize for period music — present medieval and Renaissance love songs that hark back to the age of chivalry.
Jan. 12, 7:30 p.m., Seventh Avenue Presbyterian Church, San Francisco, $12-$15, (415) 664-4523, www.sevenperforms.org. (C.G.)
Asteria
Opera
Farewell My Concubine
First there was a Peking-style opera about a proud warlord battling for control of China. Then there was a novel about a 20th-century Peking opera troupe, turned into a famous movie by Chen Kaige. Now a rewrite of the original opera is coming to the War Memorial Opera House. China National Opera’s version, with music by Xiao Bai and libretto by Wang Jian, has been “Westernized” — the story is the famous one, the language is Mandarin, but the musical style is that of European opera. The success of European opera on the Chinese mainland means that this artistic product is not just a tool of cultural diplomacy, but is also meant for domestic consumption. The Chinese National Opera’s tour comes about through the agency of Dallas philanthropist Emily Kuo Vong and her Chinese American Inter-Cultural Exchange Foundation.
Jan. 12, 8 p.m., Jan. 13, 2 p.m., War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco, $50-$200, (415) 392-4400, www.farewellmyconcubineusa.com. (M.Z.)
The Secret Garden
Lamplighters presents this classic of children’s literature turned Tony-award winning musical that appeals to adults and children alike. Based on the novel by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Frances Hodgson Burnett, the book and lyrics are by Marsha Norman, music is by Lucy Simon, Jane Erwin Hammett directs, and Brett Strader conducts.
Jan. 18-20, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, (415) 978-2787; Jan. 31 – Feb. 3, Lesher Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek; $50-$200, (925) 943-7469, www.lamplighters.org. (C.G.)
Chamber Music
Haydn and Royalty, Part 3
The New Esterházy Quartet, in its interestingly programmed march through the full corpus of Haydn string quartets, has finally arrived at the big one. Yes, it’s Op. 76, No. 3, in C Major, in all its imperial glory, the quartet that uses Haydn’s Kaiserhymne (Gott erhalte Franz, den Kaiser, “God save Emperor Francis”), which later became the German national anthem. This is the popular crown jewel of the Op. 76 set. It is paired with two quartets from the less frequently played Op. 50 set (Nos. 2 and 3), dedicated by Haydn to the cello-playing King of Prussia (Friedrich Wilhelm II). The Op. 50 quartets are rarely heard, but chamber music fans will find them more magical than their better-known cousins for that very reason. As SFCV quartet maven Michelle Dulak Thomson has often noted in this publication, all of Haydn’s quartets are great, especially when played with the exuberance and intelligence the New Esterházys bring to the table.
Jan. 12, 4 p.m., St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, San Francisco, $10-$25, www.newesterhazy.org.org. (M.Z.)
New Esterházy Quartet
Bon Voyage to St. Pat at Noontime
The perennial French Music Festival takes place at Noontime Concerts with six January performances celebrating masters from Bizet to Milhaud. But what’s different this time is that this is the last set at St. Patrick’s Church, before Noontime officially moves venues to Old St. Mary’s. The first concert features the music of Versailles — works by Marin Marais, Sainte-Colombe, and Antoine Forqueray, with Farley Pearce and John Dornenburg on viola da gamba and Katherine Heater on harpsichord. Other highlights include soprano Svetlana Nikitenko and tenor Jorge Gomez in arias and duets from the French operas by Bizet and Delibes; clarinetist Tom Rose and pianist Miles Graber in works for clarinet and piano by Francis Poulenc, Darius Milhaud, and Philippe Gaubert; pianist Valentin Surif in works by Ravel and Debussy; bassoonist Yueh Chou and harpsichordist Jonathan Lee in Baroque works by Corrette, Couperin, and Boismortier; and Alexander Vereshagin of the Russian National Orchestra in works by Fauré and Massenet.
Jan. 9, 16, 23, 12:30 p.m., St. Patrick’s Church, San Francisco; Jan. 22, 30, 12:30 p.m., Old St. Mary’s Church, San Francisco; $5 donation, (415) 777-3211, www.noontimeconcerts.org. (C.G.)
More Dreams, More Prayers
With the fully orchestrated version of Osvaldo Golijov’s The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind (1994, 2005) still ringing in Bay Area music-lovers’ ears, the St. Lawrence Quartet and clarinetist Todd Palmer are ready to bring back the original chamber music version at Stanford. The team recorded the work compellingly, in 2002, and Palmer was the soloist in the recent orchestral performances. In the upcoming concert, the work is paired with Beethoven’s mesmerizing, C-Sharp Minor Quartet, Op. 131.
Jan. 13, 2:30 p.m., Dinkelspiel Auditorium, Stanford University, $20-$44, (650) 723-2551, livelyarts.stanford.edu. (M.Z.)
Beethoven in the Salon
The Cypress Quartet continues its Salon Series at Villa Montalvo, with a performance and discussion of Beethoven’s Quartet in A Minor, Op. 132. Guests can pursue the conversation with the Cypress at an informal reception afterward. How charmingly Old World.
Jan. 13, 3 p.m., Montalvo Arts Center, Saratoga, $30, (408) 961-5858, www.montalvoarts.org. (M.Z.)
Adesso
Adesso is a chamber group formed by members of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra that boasts an unusually high number of percussionists (three). Its concert at Old First Church features a wide variety of 20th-century and contemporary music by the likes of Astor Piazzolla, Bob Becker, John Cage, and Michael Gandolfi.
Jan. 18, 8 p.m., Old First Church, San Francisco, $12-$15, (415) 474-1608, www.oldfirstconcerts.org. (M.Z.)
Adesso
Chamber Orchestra
Gesamtkunstwerk
Aiming to “bring classical music into the 21st century,” Paul Haas (of Sympho) and the New Century Chamber Orchestra created REWIND, a concert with installation art by Reuben Margolin, digital sampling from DJ Mason Bates, and a wide variety of music, from Biagio Marini to James MacMillan. The violin soloists are Anne Akiko Meyers and Raushan Akhmedyarova. Sounds marvelous, but you might want to forgo that after-dinner coffee.
Jan. 19, 8 p.m., Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Forum, San Francisco, $50, (415) 357-1111, www.ncco.org. (M.Z.)
Choral
Coro Hispano de San Francisco
The chorus presents the 21st annual Día de los Reyes concert cycle — usually the group’s most popular set of the year — with a program of medieval chant, Renaissance motets, Baroque villancicos, and lively aguinaldos from Latin American folk traditions, all celebrating Epiphany and the feasts that surround it. Featured works are by such greats as Padilla, Guerrero, Franco, Fernandes, Bermúdez, and the ever-prolific anónimo.
Jan. 11, 8 p.m., St. Francis de Assisi, Concord; Jan. 12, 8 p.m., St. Joseph the Worker Church, Berkeley; Jan. 13, 3 p.m., Mission Dolores Basilica, San Francisco; $15-$20, (415) 431-4324, www.corohispano.org. (C.G.)
Mickey Butts (www.mickeybutts.com) is executive director and editor of San Francisco Classical Voice. His writing has appeared in Salon, Food & Wine, Portfolio.com, The Industry Standard, Wired, Parenting, Sunset, The Nation, and The San Francisco Chronicle. As a professional singer, he has performed with such groups as Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Mark Morris Dance Group, Artists' Vocal Ensemble (AVE), and Pacific Collegium.
Catherine Getches is managing editor of San Francisco Classical Voice. Her writing has appeared in publications such as The Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, Salon.
Michael Zwiebach holds a Ph.D. in music history from UC Berkeley.
©2008 By Mickey Butts, Catherine Getches, Michael Zwiebach, all rights reserved.