With its spring season finished, and fall season still a couple of months away (Alas, is September really that close?), 405 Shrader (the venue's address at the corner of Oak St. and Shrader), is worth attention even while on vacation.
The storefront at 405 Shrader, which started out as a practice room for pianist Ellen Milenski is now entering its third year as a real concert venue.
Located below a Victorian house in the Haight, the space was known to have been a flower shop and kite store among other things in the past. Milenski describes it as "light and airy, a bit funky, it has an arty feel that makes it an ideal intimate performing space." Originally, it had 33 seats, now apparently expanded to 40 — "intimate" is right.
But size is not reflected in ambition and accomplishment. Since its inception as a concert venue less than two years ago, there have been 24 events at 405 Shrader, with fall and spring seasons of six concerts each.
Milenski says programs are curated with an eye to interesting repertoire, "presenting healthy doses of 20th- and 21st-century works as audiences have unlimited opportunities to hear the classics elsewhere." Featured composers have been Janáček, Copland, Shostakovich, Piazzolla, Ives, Schoenberg, along with the 18th- and 19th-century masters.
Contributing artists include John Duykers, Daniel Glover, The Delphi Trio, the Eusebius Duo, Don Erlich, and Ian Scarfe. "Not limited to the concert format," boasts Milenski, "a Day of the Dead 'happening' featured a naked Bhutto dancer, accompanied by George Crumb's Apparitions for prepared piano and soprano.
Events at 405 Shrader are described as "aperitif concerts for the neighborhood." The concerts, on Fridays at 7 p.m., are no more than an hour in length, and are followed by the aperitif. The hat is passed for the artists.
Check the website in September for details of the fall season, which begins in October.