Listening Ahead
Our Critics’ Choices of Upcoming Events in the Bay Area
for April 1 – 14, 2008
Chamber Music
St. Lawrence String Quartet
The St. Lawrence String Quartet brings its yearlong residency at Stanford to a close with a Haydn classic, Op. 77, No. 1, and the premiere of Jonathan Berger’s String Quartet No. 4, The Bridal Canopy. Pianist Stephen Prutsman joins the quartet for a performance of Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Piano Quintet.
April 6, 2:30 p.m., Dinkelspiel Auditorium, Stanford, $20-$44, (650) 723-2551, www.livelyarts.stanford.edu. (M.Z.)
Juilliard String Quartet
Now in its 60th year, the Juilliard String Quartet still serves up fresh, vibrant interpretations of works from the classical tradition as well as insight into contemporary works. Its mastery of a wide swath of repertoire will be evident in three wildly different works: Haydn’s expansive E-flat Major Quartet, Op. 76, No. 6; Giuseppe Verdi’s gem and his only string quartet, the Quartet in E Minor; and Elliott Carter’s Pulitzer Prize-winning String Quartet No. 2.
April 9, 8 p.m., Dinkelspiel Auditorium, Stanford, $22-$48, (650) 723-2551, www.livelyarts.stanford.edu. (C.G.)
martha & monica
“Papillons” is the title of martha & monica’s concert at Old First Church. The duo — Monica Scott on cello and Hadley McCarroll on piano — will perform pieces named after said butterfly: Schumann’s poetic cycle Papillons and Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho’s quixotic Sept Papillons, for piano and cello. Also on the program are two sonatas, one by Schubert — his Sonata in A Minor “Arpeggione,” which was inspired by a bowed guitar (arpeggione) that was held between the knees and in vogue for no more than 10 years — and another by Britten, inspired, this time, by Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich.
April 11, 4 p.m., Old First Church, San Francisco, $12-$15, (415) 474-1608, www.oldfirstconcerts.org. (C.G.)
martha & monica
The Wisdom of Salomon
As many Haydn afficionados know, the New Esterházy Quartet is elbow deep into a series of 18 programs that over the next two seasons will include all 68 of Haydn’s string quartets, in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the composer’s death in 1809. So far the series has explored how the passage of time matured and transformed the composer’s style, yet upheld that spark, originality, and even idiosyncrasy for which Haydn is known. On this program, titled “Haydn in London: The Wisdom of Salomon,” the featured quartets are Op. 64/3, 71/3, and 74/1.
April 12, 8 p.m., St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, San Francisco, $12-$15, (650) 322-2455, www.newesterhazy.org. (C.G.)
Here’s Looking at 40 Years
Dutch pianist Rudolf Jansen and flutist Alexandra Hawley united for their debut recital at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam 40 years ago. Their Avedis concert is a 40th anniversary celebration of that appearance, with works by Americans (Eldin Burton and Aaron Copland) and Dutch (Willem Pijper), as well Reinecke’s romantic Sonata “Undine” and Poulenc’s flute sonata.
April 13, 2 p.m., Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, $15-$20, (415) 392-4400, www.avedisconcerts.org. (C.G.)
Chamber Orchestra
New Century Chamber Orchestra
Stuart Canin, NCCO’s founding music director, returns to lend his silken violin tone to the solo part of Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5, K. 219. The concert will also feature string orchestra versions of Mendelssohn’s Octet and Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 8. (NCCO gave one of the best concerts of 2007.)
April 3, 8 p.m., St. John’s Presbyterian Church, Berkeley; April 4, 8 p.m., St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Palo Alto; April 5, 8 p.m., Florence Gould Theatre, San Francisco; April 6, 5 p.m., Osher Marin JCC, San Rafael; $28-$42, (415) 392-4400, www.ncco.org. (D.B.)
Stuart Canin
Swedish Chamber Orchestra
The Swedish Chamber Orchestra brings a program of Beethoven and Schumann to Cal Performances, with pianist Piotr Anderszewski as soloist in Beethoven’s first concerto. The Coriolan Overture and Schumann’s Symphony No. 2 are also featured.
April 6, 3 p.m., $34-$58, (510) 642-9988, www.calperfs.berkeley.edu. (M.Z.)
Early Music
Anthems by Handel and Purcell
As it always does, Philharmonia Baroque brings in the Philharmonia Chorale to end the season. This year, there won’t be an oratorio. Instead the orchestra and chorus perform Handel’s festive Dettingen Te Deum, commemorating a victory by George II and his allies over the French during the War of Austrian Succession. Philharmonia also offers Zadok the Priest, the most famous of the Coronation Anthems composed for George II’s accession in 1727, and two of Purcell’s gorgeous anthems, the forerunners of Handel’s in the English tradition.
April 3, 8 p.m., Herbst Theatre, San Francisco; April 4, 8 p.m., First United Methodist Church, Palo Alto; April 5, 8 p.m., and April 6, 7:30 p.m., First Congregational Church, Berkeley; $30-$72, (415) 252-1288, www.philharmonia.org. (M.Z.)
Vivid Vivaldi
Listen to the Music
Symphony orchestras like to bring big-draw repertory items with them on tour, so why not a Baroque group? When Europa Galante, with its violinist-leader, the fabulous Fabio Biondi, come to Cal Performances, it will feature “Summer” from Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, along with works by Telemann, Purcell, Leclair, and Biber. No apologies necessary, though: If any readings of Vivaldi’s overfamiliar masterpiece can be called revelatory, they would be Europa Galante’s two recordings on Op. 111 and Virgin Classics. Biondi benefits from modern historically informed performance practices, obviously, but is not bound by them. He heads straight for the emotional, rough heart of the music, and pulls out all the dramatic stops. Listen here to the Adagio e spiccato, No. 2 in G minor RV578 (from L’estro armonico), and the second movement from L’estro armonico.
April 4, 8 p.m., $48, First Congregational Church, Berkeley, (510) 642-9988, www.calperfs.berkeley.edu. (M.Z.)
Magnificat
The early-music standouts at Magnificat perform Alessandro Stradella’s farcical Il Trespolo Tutore, a 17th-century precursor to the opera buffa genre. Magnificat offered one of the best concerts of 2007, so don’t miss it this season.
April 11, 8 p.m., First Lutheran Church, Palo Alto; April 12, 8 p.m., St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Berkeley; April 13, 4 p.m., St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, San Francisco; $12-$28, www.magnificatbaroque.org. (M.B.)
Old Pros of Ancient Music
Now 20 years old, the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin is still setting standards in Baroque early music performance. For its appearances at Cal Performances, the ensemble brings a varied program of concertos, by Antonio Vivaldi, J.S. Bach, Carl Heinrich Graun, Benedetto Marcello, and Philip Heinrich Erlebach. And, no, we’re not up on our Erlebach, either.
April 12, 8 p.m., First Congregational Church, Berkeley, $48, (510) 642-9988, www.calperfs.berkeley.edu. (M.Z.)
Recital
Leon Fleisher
This native of San Francisco is no stranger to challenge — when he suffered a debilitating ailment to his right hand, he fought back by performing and recording repertoire for the left hand (to popular and critical acclaim), eventually worked to regain the use of his right hand, and now performs (to popular and critical acclaim) with both hands. His Chamber Music S.F. concert, including both solo works and four-hand works with pianist Katherine Jacobson Fleisher, will feature Schubert’s Fantasy in F Minor and Ravel’s La Valse (both for piano four hands), as well as a Schubert’s Piano Sonata in B-flat major, D. 960.
April 5, 8 p.m., Herbst Theatre, San Francisco, $47-$51, (415) 392-4400, www.chambermusicsf.org. (C.G.)
Beethoven Cycle
Listen to the Music
Even to a pianist as devoted to complete traversals of composers’ piano works as András Schiff, the Beethoven 32 piano sonatas are something of an irresistible mountain that requires repeated climbing. Schiff has played the full set a number of times and he is in the midst of recording it. The four concerts in 2007-2008, a co-presentation of San Francisco Performances and the San Francisco Symphony, offer exactly half of the sonatas. In the upcoming concerts, Schiff goes slightly out of order so that the tragic, experimental Op. 26 in A-Flat Major (No. 12), can join its soulmates, the Op. 27 pair (Nos. 13, “Quasi una fantasia,” and 14, “Moonlight”), and Op. 28 (the “Pastoral”, No. 15). On the earlier program, Op. 22 in B-Flat Major (listen here), with its gorgeous, expansive, Adagio movement, is followed by Op. 49/1 in G Minor (listen here), which sports a lyrical, elegiac, Andante for a first movement. The two sonatas of Op. 14 (Nos. 9-10) and the remaining one in Op. 49 (No. 20), complete the program.
April 6, 13, 7 p.m., Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, $25-$81, (415) 398-6449, www.performances.org. (M.Z.)
Daniela Mack
When John Bender reviewed the Merola Program’s La Cenerentola for SFCV last year, he praised mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack, in the title role, in fulsome terms: “The velvet integration of her vocal registers and her amazing fluency in ornamentation are enough to make crystal-ball gazers predict future greatness.” You now have the chance to hear this young singer in a Schwabacher Debut Recital, and it would be a shame to miss it. The next chance you have might cost you a bundle.
April 6, 5:30 p.m., Temple Emanu-El, San Francisco, $20, (415) 864-3330, www.sfopera.com. (M.Z.)
Daniela Mack
Kate Royal
Listen to the Music
Soprano Kate Royal has been making waves across the pond, at Glyndebourne as the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro, and Pamina in The Magic Flute, as well as on her first solo album for EMI (listen online). With a slew of awards under her belt, she arrives April 13 at Cal Performances. At least on record, she has the full-bodied sound of a lyric soprano, and, an impressive chest register.
April 13, 3 p.m., Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley, $42, (510) 642-9988, www.calperfs.berkeley.edu. (M.Z.)
Kate Royal
Gila Goldstein Goes Global
Some people know Gila Goldstein from her dedication to Liszt, others for her versatility and soulful interpretation of a variety of composers from divergent cultures. Her upcoming Music at Meyer concert celebrates Israel’s 60th Birthday with works by young, contemporary Israeli composers. But it wouldn’t be a Goldstein performance without some globe-trotting as audiences will see in an otherwise mostly Mediterranean- and Russian-flavored program, which includes selections by Bach, Debussy, Rachmaninov, Prokofiev, and several Spanish composers.
April 14, 7:30 p.m., Temple Emanu-El, San Francisco, $17-$20, (415) 355-9988, www.emanuelsf.org. (C.G.)
Choral
S.F. Choral Artists Hit Home
Local choral composers are featured in San Francisco Choral Artists’ April concerts. The 23-year-old chorus presents a grab bag of musical styles and premieres from Kirke Mechem, Henry Mollicone, Herb Bielawa, and others.
April 5, 8 p.m, St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, San Francisco; April 6, 4 p.m., St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Oakland; $9-$22, (415) 979-5779, www.sfca.org. (M.Z.)
Contemporary Music
The 51 Percent Majority
The Empyrean Ensemble celebrates women composers, with a lineup of heavy hitters in its April 13 concert. The premiere of Ann Callaway’s The Memory Palace shares a program with Unsuk Chin’s Piano Etudes, Judith Weir’s Several Concertos, Sofia Gubaidulina’s Binge Delirium, Augusta Read Thomas’ Sounds of the Forest, and co-director Laurie San Martin’s Circus Maximus. This is the meatiest contemporary music program this month.
April 5, 7:30 p.m., Music Recital Hall, UC Santa Cruz, free; April 13, 8 p.m., Studio Theater, Mondavi Center, UC Davis, $9-$18, (530) 754-5418, www.mondaviarts.org; April 18, 8 p.m., Old First Church, San Francisco, $12-$15, (415) 474-1608, www.oldfirstconcerts.org. (M.Z.)
eighth blackbird
Like Alarm Will Sound, eighth blackbird is one of the hippest, hottest new-music groups from the New York area. Justly celebrated for its outstanding musicianship, in performance its musicians are also personable, charming, and entertaining. The ensemble premiered works from an impressive list of composers, but more important, its programs are voyages of discovery. The sextet brings its latest concert, “The Only Moving Thing,” to San Francisco Performances, featuring music by Steve Reich (Double Sextet), and Michael Gordon and Bang on a Can composers David Lang and Julia Wolfe (Singing in the dead of night). Both works were commissioned by eighth blackbird, and the latter includes stage direction by the choreographer Susan Marshall.
April 12, 8 p.m., Herbst Theatre, San Francisco, $27-$39, (415) 398-6449, www.performances.org. (M.Z.)
Symphony
Classics for Kids
Listen to the Music
April is party time for the underage set at the San Francisco Symphony. The indispensible Benjamin Schwarz, who takes charge of most education concerts and events at the Symphony, leads the orchestra in two concert sets this month, one for kindergarten through third grade, and one for grades 4-9. The April youth concerts are 45-minutes long and include a wide variety of fascinating music, including Christopher Rouse’s Ku-Ka-Ilimoku, a canzona by early-17th-century composer Giovanni Gabrieli, Astor Piazzolla’s Libertango (listen here), and the Times Square ballet sequence from Leonard Bernstein’s 1944 musical, On the Town (listen here). Note that tickets are not available online, only from the box office.
April 1, 3, 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.; April 4, 10 a.m.; Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, $5, (415) 864-6000, www.sfsymphony.org. (M.Z.)
The Search Continues at Berkeley Symphony
Laura Jackson, the third of six finalists in the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra’s search for a music director to succeed Kent Nagano, leads the Symphony’s last concert in its Zellerbach Hall series. She’ll conduct Milhaud’s 20-minute-long ballet La création du monde, which demonstrates the composer’s interest in jazz, and Rimsky-Korsakov’s colorful fairytale Scheherazade. Two additional pieces by international prize-winning composer and singer Susan Botti are on the program: a piece set to poetry titled The Exchange, with tenor Thomas Glan and harpist Wendy Tamis, and the West Coast premiere of Translucence, the symphonic setting of The Exchange.
April 2, 8 p.m., UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley, $20-$60, (510) 841-2800, www.berkeleysymphony.org. (C.G.)
Laura Jackson
Baroque Standards
Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos and Handel’s third suite of Water Music are the highlights of the San Francisco Symphony’s program with guest conductor Harry Christophers. Britten’s arrangement of Purcell’s Chacony in G Minor and Respighi’s Ancient Airs and Dances add a touch of the 20th century to the Baroque standards.
April 2, 5, 8 p.m., Davies Symphony Hall; April 3, 8 p.m., Flint Center, Cupertino; $25-$125, (415) 864-6000, www.sfsymphony.org. (M.Z.)
Mahler’s Third
The ambitious, all-volunteer, and always impressive Redwood Symphony is at it again — this time for the marathon that is Mahler’s Third Symphony, which promises to be as stirring as ever with alto Theresa Cardinale and the Peninsula Women’s Chorus. Rapturously nostalgic, like the composer’s more haunted Ninth, it ends in an extended Adagio that demands extraordinary concentration and dedication from the conductor and the orchestra. Kristin Link will lead the concert, which also includes a work that is a comparison in contrasts: Lutosławski’s skittish and intense — one and a half minute long — Fanfare for Louisville. Listen for the stellar wind section before the sprint is over.
April 6, 3 p.m., Cañada College Main Theater, Redwood City, $10-$25, (651) 366-6872, www.redwoodsymphony.org. (C.G.)
Cervantes Is Served
Charles Dutoit and the San Francisco Symphony present a quixotic concert this month. Cello chief Michael Grebanier takes the part of the madman/visionary in Strauss’ tone poem Don Quixote. In the first half, the orchestra plus solo soprano Awet Andemicael, tenor Gustavo Pena, and baritone Hector Vasquez present Manuel de Falla’s half-hour opera, El retablo de Maese Pedro, based on an episode in Cervantes’ novel. This wonderful piece was commissioned by the Princess de Polignac, who commissioned Stravinsky’s Renard and Erik Satie’s Socrate, also for her private puppet theater. When it was first performed there, in June 1923, the musicians included Wanda Landowska at the harpsichord.
April 10-12, 8 p.m., Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, $25-$125, (415) 864-6000, www.sfsymphony.org. (M.Z.)
Central European Tour
Music Director Bruno Ferrandis leads the Santa Rosa Symphony in an exciting program anchored by Brahms’ Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 68. Pianist Christopher O’Riley takes a break from his peregrinations through the Radiohead oeuvre, to play the Bartók Piano Concerto No. 3, and the curtain-raiser is Janáček’s somber Overture to his opera From the House of the Dead.
April 12, 14, 8 p.m.; April 13, 3 p.m.; Wells Fargo Center for the Arts, Santa Rosa, $27-$50, (707) 546-8742, www.santarosasymphony.com. (M.Z.)
The Mighty Ninth Again
The Napa Valley Symphony is the next group in line to offer a gala performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony as its season finale. Along with guest conductor Carlo Ponti, the Symphony has tapped Adler Fellows Heidi Melton and Katherine Tier and a couple of unspecified men as vocal soloists, as well as the Pacific Mozart Ensemble as the chorus.
April 12, 8 p.m.; April 13, 3 p.m.; Lincoln Theater, Yountville, $25-$60, (707) 226-6872, www.napavalleysymphony.org. (M.Z.)
Opera
Xerxes
It’s almost a crime to attempt to describe an opera that Donald Pippin is sure to describe in person, poignantly and with a dose of his trademark humor. But the tangled love story that is Xerxes deserves an advance plug for not only Pippin, but also for the stellar cast: Elspeth Franks is in the title role, Karen Carle is Arsamene, and Aimee Puentes is Romilda.
April 5, 12, 2 p.m., Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco; April 6, 2 p.m., Notre Dame de Namur University, Belmont, $20-$34, (415) 972-8934, www.pocketopera.org. (C.G.)
David Bratman is a librarian who lives with his lawfully wedded soprano and a wall full of symphony recordings.
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 David Bratman, Mickey Butts, Catherine Getches, Michael Zwiebach, all rights reserved.