Listening Ahead
Our Critics’ Choices of Upcoming Events in the Bay Area
for February 12 – 25, 2008
Early Music
Academy of Ancient Music
The terrific orchestra returns to the Bay Area, courtesy of Stanford Lively Arts. With harpsichordist Richard Egarr in tow, the group navigates a program of popular concertos by Bach, Handel, and Telemann.
Feb. 13, 8 p.m., Dinkelspiel Auditorium, Stanford University, $22-$48, (650) 723-2551, www.livelyarts.stanford.edu. (M.Z.)
Benjamin Alard
At age 22, the harpsichordist/organist’s win in the prestigious Bruges Competition is already three years behind him. His fascinating first album (on the indie Hortus label), garnered accolades not only for his dazzling technique, but also for an intelligent, adventurous program (listen at his MySpace page). He appears in the Bay Area at MusicSources, a conspicuously small location, where tickets are apt to sell out fast. Don’t be left behind.
Feb. 15, 8 p.m., MusicSources, Berkeley, $15-$18, (510) 528-1685, www.musicsources.org. (M.Z.)
Benjamin Alard
S.F. Renaissance Voices
Love is in the air at the chorus’ February concert, “A Feast for St. Valentine” (see review). The group focuses on the Franco-Flemish Renaissance with music for lute, with lutist Sean Smith performing Airs de Coeur and chansons including Clement Janequin’s La Guerre. Also on the program is Orlando di Lasso’s Missa super Mon cœur se recommande à vous (My heart is offered still to you), a parody Mass based on his motet of the same name.
Feb. 17, 5 p.m., St. John’s Episcopal Church, Ross; Feb. 23, 7:30 p.m., Seventh Avenue Presbyterian Church, San Francisco; $12-$18, (415) 664-2543, www.sfrv.org. (C.G.)
Artists’ Vocal Ensemble
The professional chorus known as AVE, along with the Whole Noyse ensemble, present “1508,” which features parts of the extraordinary Choralis Constantinus by Heinrich Isaac exactly 500 years after it was commissioned. The program also includes works by Isaac’s contemporary Josquin des Prez, also Flemish-born. (Listen to AVE online.)
Feb. 22, 8 p.m., St. Ignatius Church, San Francisco; Feb. 23, 8 p.m., St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Berkeley; Feb. 24, 5:30 p.m., Lafayette-Orinda Presbyterian Church, Lafayette; $10-$25, askave@yahoo.com, www.ave-music.org. (L.H.)
Recital
Return of the Guzik Award Winners
The arrival of these Guzik Foundation award winners means that spring is around the corner. The foundation brings sterling young musicians from the former Soviet Union to San Francisco every February. This year’s posse, who receive recording contracts, cash, and performance opportunities, include 16-year-old Armenian saxophonist Airapet Arakelian, pianists Daniil Trifonov and Konstantin Alexeev, and violinist Sergey Dogadin. In addition to solo concerts for Chamber Music San Francisco, all four will appear at San Jose’s Le Petit Trianon in a single, free concert.
Feb. 23, 8 p.m., Feb. 24, 2 p.m., Florence Gould Theater, Legion of Honor, San Francisco; Feb. 29, 8 p.m., Le Petit Trianon, San Jose; $22 (San Jose concert is free), (415) 759-1756, www.chambermusicsf.org. (M.Z.)
Joshua Bell
Joshua Bell doesn’t have a hard time getting noticed — well, except for that experiment outside the subway in Washington, D.C., when passersby failed to stop for his street performance. All the tickets to his upcoming Cal Performances appearance have been snatched up. You can sign up to be added to the notification list for tickets that become available — your only hope to see Bell perform on his 300-year-old Stradivarius, alongside Jeremy Denk at the piano, before he heads back to the East Coast and on to the Kennedy Center … also already sold out.
Feb. 24, 3 p.m., Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley, $34-$62, (510) 642-9988, www.calperfs.berkeley.edu. (C.G.)
Joshua Bell
Much More Meacham
Adler Fellow alum Lucas Meacham has done pretty well for himself. At 29, the big-voiced baritone is singing at the major companies, and has a profile in Opera News. You could see this coming even five years ago, when he was a bit more raw, but now he’s a polished performer.
Feb. 24, 5:30 pm, Temple Emanu-El, San Francisco, $20, (415) 864-3330, www.sfopera.com/. (M.Z.)
Xuefei Yang
As a child virtuoso, the Chinese guitarist made established players like Masaru Kohno and John Williams swoon, while picking off top competition prizes almost at will (including at the San Francisco International Guitar Competition). Now a mature artist, she’s the Tiger Woods of the guitar world — unbeatable when she’s on. Her recital for San Francisco Performances is this month’s pick for guitar fans.
Feb. 24, 7 p.m., Herbst Theatre, San Francisco, $22-$35, (415) 398-6449, www.performances.org. (M.Z.)
Chamber Music
Eroica Trio
The trio — Adela Peña (violin), Sara Sant’Ambrogio (cello), and Erica Nickrenz (piano) — is one of the most sought-after ensembles performing today. And “performing” is a particularly apt word, as these musicians aren’t just a delight to hear, they also put on a good show. The program sounds entertaining as it is: Loiellet’s Trio Sonata in B Minor, Bernstein’s West Side Story Suite, and Dvořák’s Trio No. 3 in F Minor, Op. 65.
Feb. 15, 8 p.m., Cowell Theater, Fort Mason, San Francisco, $24-$45, (415) 345-7575, www.chambermusicsf.org.org. (C.G.)
Eroica Trio
Eos Ensemble With Richard Savino
Craig Reiss, violin; Mariya Borizina, violin; Caroline Lee, viola; and Thalia Moore, cello, are some of the finest musicians from the San Francisco Opera and Ballet Orchestras. Known together as the Eos Ensemble, here they team up with guitarist Richard Savino in a cultural exploration dubbed “From Fandango to Tango” — music from 17th-century Spain to 20th-century Argentina, including works by Falconieri, Piazzolla, and Shostakovich’s powerful String Quartet No. 8.
Feb. 15, 8 p.m., Old First Church, San Francisco, $12-$15, (415) 345-7575, www.oldfirstconcerts.org.org. (C.G.)
Alexander String Quartet, “Inspirations”
For some years now the ensemble has busied itself giving Bay Area quartet lovers good reasons not to sleep in on Saturday mornings. This season its 10 a.m. Herbst Theatre series features a not unprecedented but still irresistible design: two quartets per program, one “standard rep,” one more recent, less familiar, and in some way related (see review of the season opener). On the former side of the ledger are the likes of Haydn, Bartók (two of his six), and Schubert; on the latter, Carter (No. 2), Wayne Peterson, George Crumb (Black Angels). The Alexanders’ longtime colleague Robert Greenberg provides the preconcert inspiration.
Feb. 16, 10 a.m. (through May 17, dates vary), Herbst Theatre, San Francisco, $22-$34, (415) 398-6449, www.performances.org. (M.D.T.)
Alexander String Quartet
The Haydn Chronicles
Performances of complete cycles of a composer’s works are pretty easy to find, but the New Esterházy Quartet has undertaken a remarkable one: Over a two-year period and 18 concerts, which began last summer, it will play all 68 (yes, 68) of Haydn’s string quartets, on original instruments. Haydn, a relatively underappreciated sting-quartet great, is an appealing choice, as he can be credited with laying the groundwork for both the modern symphony and the string quartet. The concerts so far have been a great success. The combined talent of violinists Katie Kyme and Lisa Weiss, violist Anthony Martin, and cellist William Skeen have found a novel way to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Haydn’s death in 1809.
Feb. 16, 4 p.m., St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, San Francisco; $10-$25, (650) 322-2455, www.newesterhazy.org. (C.G.)
Morrison Artists Series
San Francisco State University’s free Morrison Artists Series presents the Formosa Quartet in a program of Mozart (String Quartet in F Major, K. 590), Richard Wilson (Quartet No. 3), and Brahms (String Quartet in Bb Major, Op. 67). Formed for a concert tour of Taiwan in 2003, the quartet — Jasmine Lin, Ayano Ninomiya, Che-yen Chen, and Jacob Braun — has gone on to win recognition and awards, including first prize and the Amadeus Prize at the 10th London International String Quartet Competition in 2006.
Feb. 17, 3 p.m., McKenna Theatre, Creative Arts building, SFSU, San Francisco, free admission, (415) 338-1358, www.morrisonseries.org. (J.G.)
Left Coast and Eastern Europe
Two concerts by the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble make a foray into Eastern Europe: On the program is Sofia Gubaidulina’s Rejoice, Dusan Bogdanovic’s Quatre Pieces Intimes, Dvořák’s Terzetto, a sonata by Prokofiev, and the West Coast premiere of a trio for violin, viola, and guitar by Sandor Jemnitz.
Feb. 21, 8 p.m., Throckmorton Theatre, Mill Valley, $15-$20, (415) 383-9600, www.142throckmortontheatre.com; Feb. 25, 8 p.m., Green Room, San Francisco, $15-$20, (415) 642-8054, www.chambermusicpartn.org. (C.G.)
Left Coast Chamber Ensemble
All-Bach From All the Bachs
Avedis’ season opener is its sixth all-Bach program, this time highlighting the monumental Trio Sonata in G Major, as well as two trio sonatas by his sons. This Avedis concert begins its 23rd year with some Bay Area greats: Alexandra Hawley, flute; Susan Freier, violin; Stephen Harrison, cello; and Paul Hersh, piano.
Feb. 23, 2 p.m., Legion of Honor, San Francisco, $15-$20, (415) 392-4400, www.avedis.org. (C.G.)
Chopin Gala
Bay Area musicians come together in an all-Chopin concert put on by, you guessed it, the San Francisco Chopin Foundation. On the program are familiar and lesser-known masterpieces by the composer, performed by an array of piano notables, such as John Boyajy, Michael Boyd, Robyn Carmichael, Daniel Glover, Sujeeva Hapugalle, Hilda Huang, Hugo Kitano, Jaejin Lee, Mack McCray, Reah Sadowsky, Thomas Schultz, Robert Schwartz, Jean Alexis Smith, and William Wellborn, as well as mezzo-soprano Donna Bruno.
Feb. 24, 2 p.m., Old First Church, San Francisco, $12-$15, (415) 474-1608, www.oldfirstconcerts.org. (C.G.)
Symphony
From Russia With Love
The sheer dynamic range of the Russian National Orchestra, one of the former Soviet Union’s finest ensembles, is something not to missed. Based in Moscow, the RNO spends a large part of each season touring Europe, Asia, and the Americas, and it boasts a growing discography. Under the baton of Vladimir Jurowski the orchestra will lend its big, warm sound to the U.S premiere of Anton Safronov’s completion of Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony. Pianist Stephen Hough will join the orchestra to play Brahms’ kaleidoscopic Piano Concerto No.1. Hough will sign CDs in the lobby after the concert.
Feb. 14, 8 p.m., Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, $25-$81, (415) 864-6000, www.sfsymphony.org. (C.G.)
Blomstedt Conducts Mozart
Herbert Blomstedt is back for this run of four concerts, which feature three great works by Mozart — his Divertimento in D Major, the Piano Concerto No. 22 with Jonathan Biss on piano, and the Symphony No. 38 “Prague,” always a favorite. Even with its notable lack of clarinets, the powerful backing of the trumpets and timpani more than make up for it.
Feb. 20, 22, 23, 8 p.m., Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco; Feb. 21, 8 p.m., Flint Center, Cupertino; $25-$125, (415) 864-6000, www.sfsymphony.org. (C.G.)
Golijov Lullaby
The first West Coast performance of a work from one of the hottest composers around today, Osvaldo Golijov, will be introduced by candidate conductor Hugh Wolff, soprano Heidi Melton, and the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra. Night of the Flying Horses is based on a lullaby written for a Sally Potter film, but after a New Jersey critic heard it, he wrote he’d never sleep because he’d keep begging to hear it again. Also on the program are works by Aaron Jay Kernis, Shostakovich, and Beethoven
Feb. 21, 8 p.m., Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley, $40-$60, (510) 841-2800, www.berkeleysymphony.org. (J.D.)
Hugh Wolff
Czech Philharmonic
The excellent orchestra brings a program of Dvořák’s greatest hits to Davis’ Mondavi Center. The “New World” Symphony, the Carnival Overture, and the Czech Suite share the bill. If you want to find out how the locals stack up in the Czech repertory, here’s an excellent standard against which to judge.
Feb. 22, 8 p.m., Jackson Hall, Mondavi Center for the Arts, UC Davis, $27.50-$75, (866) 754-2787, www.mondaviarts.org. (M.Z.)
Screen Gems
The next Marin Symphony program is comprised entirely of well-known film score themes: excerpts from 2001: A Space Odyssey (Richard Strauss), Platoon (Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings), The Right Stuff (music from Holst’s The Planets), Chocolat (Satie’s Deux Preludes posthumes et une Gnossienne), Fantasia (Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice), (Mozart’s Overture to The Marriage of Figaro), Immortal Beloved (the first movement to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5), and Schindler’s List (the theme by contemporary composer John Williams).
Feb. 24, 26, 7:30 p.m., Marin Veteran’s Memorial Auditorium, Marin, $27-$65, (415) 499-6800, www.marinsymphony.org. (C.G.)
Opera
Youth Rigoletto
Opera San José offers Verdi’s Rigoletto, as always with young artists. Scott Bearden and Andrew Fernando split performances in the title role, Christopher Bengochea and Isaac Hurtado appear as the Duke of Mantua, and Khori Dastoor and Rochelle Bard, as Gilda. Fans of Opera San Josè will certainly recognize the Duke and Gilda. The four singers share the lead roles in all of the company’s productions this year.
Through Feb. 24, 8 p.m. (Sunday matinees, 3 p.m.), California Theatre, San José, $66-$88, (408) 437-4450, www.operasj.org. (M.Z.)
Così fan tutti
If you’ve had enough of carnations, chocolate, cheesy cards, and cupid then Mozart’s Così fan tutti — filled with tests of faithfulness, swapping of mates, bribes, flirtation, and sweethearts in disguises — may be the perfect foil for all that love-is-in-the-air feeling. The tale comes to the West Bay Opera for a run of six performances. Douglas Nagel directs, Barbara Day Turner conducts, and the costumes by Beth Gilroy are available for advance viewing at the WBO’s Web site.
Feb. 15, 16, 22, 23, 8 p.m.; Feb. 17, 24, 2 p.m.; Lucie Stern Theatre, Palo Alto, $15-$50, (408) 437-4450, www.wbopera.org. (C.G.)
Forbidden Games
Sacramento Opera’s production of The Turn of the Screw is anchored by two well-regarded singers, with acting skills and voices to go with their looks. Emily Pulley, a regular leading lady at the Metropolitan Opera, plays the Governess. Thomas Glenn, a Merola program grad and recent Schwabacher recitalist, plays Peter Quint. The rest of the cast are hardly punters, either. Seasoned pro Maria Jette, a frequent guest at the Oregon Bach Festival, and a featured singer on Virgin Classics’ recording of Britten’s Paul Bunyan, sings Miss Jessel, while Fenlon Lamb, who sings Mrs. Grose, has sung major roles at Caramoor Music Festival and Seattle Opera. Too bad there are only three performances.
Feb. 22, 8 p.m., Feb. 24, 2 p.m., Feb. 26, 7:30 p.m., Sacramento Community Center Theater, $36-$265, (916) 737-1000, www.sacopera.org. (M.Z.)
Dance
Back-to-Back Giselles
The wonderful and peripatetic Georgian ballerina Nina Ananiashvili came to the United States when she was 19 to dance with the New York City Ballet, founded by George Balanchine, another Georgian, at the beginning of the thaw in U.S.-Soviet relations (and she did an interview without a Soviet minder in the room). Ananiashvili was one of the first Russian stars to freelance widely outside of Russia. Now she’s bringing the State Ballet of Georgia, where she has been director since 2004, to Cal Performances. The music will come from the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, which did such a bang-up job last season playing for American Ballet Theatre’s visit. After a Thursday opener consisting of Balanchine’s Chaconne (music by Gluck), plus U.S. premieres as yet unannounced from Yuri Possokhov and Alexei Ratmansky — two of the most inventive choreographers around — Ananiashvili, now in her gorgeous 40s, will star in her company’s Giselle, Saturday night only, at Zellerbach Hall.
Ballerina Nina Ananiashvili
But wait, what’s that sound across the Bay? Why, it’s San Francisco Ballet, opening its own run of Giselle Saturday night, Feb. 16. Theirs, with a dazzling array of Giselles to choose among, is choreographed by artistic director Helgi Tomasson, with the orchestra directed by Martin West. Perfect for Valentine’s Day weekend: If Giselle’s story and the dancing plus the Adolphe Adam score don’t combine to break your heart, then you don’t have one. After that, we can look forward to the three-night streak of premieres and parade of composers (John Adams, for one) commemorating SFB’s 75th anniversary.
Feb. 14-16, 8 p.m., Feb. 17, 3 p.m., Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley, $34-$90, (510) 642-9988, www.calperfs.berkeley.edu; Feb. 16-24, times vary, War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco, $15-$265, (415) 865-2000, www.sfballet.org. (J.B.)
Contemporary Music
Turtle Island String Quartet
The Grammy-winning ensemble is known for pushing the boundaries of the classical music genre, fusing the classic string quartet aesthetic with everything from jazz to folk music. This concert features a take on jazz legend John Coltrane’s landmark work A Love Supreme, as well as the premiere of a new work written jointly by the quartet’s members and commissioned by Stanford Lively Arts.
Feb. 16, 8 p.m., Dinkelspiel Auditorium, Stanford, $20-$44, (650) 723-2551, www.livelyarts.standford.edu. (C.G.)
Turtle Island String Quartet
Photo by Jay Blakesberg
Meridian Arts Ensemble
The hip brass quintet (plus one percussionist) plays the music of Milton Babbitt, Silvestre Revueltas, Stanford composer Mark Applebaum, and Frank Zappa. Even the most jaded concertgoer will have to admit that this isn’t “the usual,” which is why the Meridian Arts Ensemble has been able to bridge the gap between the concert hall and the club. It plays Alice Tully Hall and CBGBs, The Knitting Factory, and Los Angeles’ House of Blues. The Stanford Lively Arts program is as buttoned-down as it gets.
Feb. 24, 2:30 p.m., Dinkelspiel Auditorium, Stanford University, $18-$36, (650) 723-2551, livelyarts.stanford.edu. (M.Z.)
Choral
San Francisco State Chamber Singers
Conducted by San Francisco State faculty member (and San Francisco Symphony Chorus assistant conductor) Joshua Habermann, the SFSU Chamber Singers are giving a free concert in Grace Cathedral, with the participation of the Australian Voices, San Ramon Valley High School Chamber Singers, and San Jose State University Concert Choir. On the program: works by Australian composers and traditional folk-song arrangements from Cuba and the Philippines.
Feb. 19, 7:30 p.m., Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, free, (415) 338-1341, www.creativearts.sfsu.edu. (J.G.)
Janice Berman was an editor and senior writer at New York Newsday. She is a former editor in chief of Dance Magazine.
Jeff Dunn (jdunnpm@yahoo.com) is a freelance critic with a B.A. in music and a Ph.D. in geologic education. A composer of piano and vocal music, he is a member of NACUSA and president of Composers Inc.
Janos Gereben (janosg@gmail.com) is a regular contributor to San Francisco Classical Voice.
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.
Lisa Hirsch is a technical writer. She studied music at Brandeis and SUNY/Stony Brook.
Michael Zwiebach holds a Ph.D. in music history from UC Berkeley.
©2008 By Janice Berman, Jeff Dunn, Janos Gereben, Catherine Getches, Lisa Hirsch, Michael Zwiebach, all rights reserved.