Monday, April 3
American Bach Soloists, Jeffrey Thomas, Conductor
J.S. Bach, Motets for Double Chorus. Among the most compelling and mysterious of Bach’s sacred works are his motets for double chorus. Composed for special occasions, these mesmerizing and ethereal works rely on the human voice, in its multifaceted splendor, to provide the color palette, melodic movement, harmonic textures, and, of course, the message of the text. Thomas and the American Bach Choir left the audience breathless when they last performed Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied and Fürchte dich nicht, ich bin bei dir at the 2012 Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. This presentation of Bach’s motets, including some frequently overlooked works only recently attributed to Bach, promises to be a banquet of sublime vocalism. Program includes motets Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf, Fürchte dich nicht, ich bin bei dir, Jauchzet dem Herrn, alle Welt, and Komm, Jesu, komm.
7 PM
Davis Community Church
412 C Street, Davis
$33–$85
Tickets online
Tuesday, April 4
Sacramento Recorder Society
Regular meeting for recorder players, with guest conductor Louise Carslake. Newcomers welcome. Bring recorders, stand, and other early instruments. Music provided. Refreshments.
6:45–9:30 PM
Friends Meeting House
890 57th St., between H and J, Sacramento.
sacrecorders.wordpress.com
Thursday, April 6
Cal Performances Presents The Tallis Scholars
“Metamorphosis” Under the direction of Peter Phillips, The Tallis Scholars present a fascinating program drawn from core Christian texts—exploring the human condition, from the joys of birth to the quiet acceptance of death—by composers in the Catholic, Anglican, and Russian Orthodox traditions. The settings by Praetorius, Gibbons, Pärt, Sheppard, Tavener, Stravinsky, Palestrina, Holst, and others, span centuries and reflect an extraordinary range of affect and style.
8 PM
Zellerbach Hall—Note new location and date.
University of California, Berkeley
$58 and up
Tickets online or 510-642-9988
Friday, April 7
East Bay Chapter, ARS
Monthly playing session with guest conductor Andrew Levy. New members and guests welcome.
7:30–10 PM
Zion Lutheran Church
5201 Park Blvd., Oakland
http://www.symbolicsolutions.com/ebrs-web2015/index.html
SFEMS presents Hallifax & Jeffrey with Marie Dalby Szuts, Josh Lee, and John Lenti
“Big, Beautiful, and French—Music for Several Viols and Continuo” Hallifax & Jeffrey (Peter Hallifax, Julie Jeffrey, violas da gamba; with guest artists Josh Lee and Marie Dalby Szuts, violas da gamba; and John Lenti, theorbo) perform French baroque works for four violas da gamba and theorbo. From Louis Couperin to Jean-Baptiste Forqueray and Michel Corrette, the French composers we know and love also wrote lesser known and seldom performed pieces for a large ensemble of viols with continuo. This is true chamber music, yet written on a larger scale than the familiar pièces de viole or pièces de violon. At times the texture approaches the orchestral, yet the music retains the intimacy that is the hallmark of the viol and the lute. Bathe your ears in an evening of these lush and delightful works. Corrette’s 4-part Le Phénix and Couperin’s La Sultane are cornerstones of this program, which also includes stunning contributions from Sainte-Colombe, Marais, Charpentier, Forqueray, and Louis as well as François Couperin. Read more . . .
8 PM
First Presbyterian Church
1140 Cowper Street at Lincoln, Palo Alto
Tickets: General $40, Seniors $36, SFEMS Members $34, Students $12
Tickets online or 510-528-1725
Saturday, April 8
Janine Johnson, fortepiano
“Beethoven and his Pupils” The Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies presents a concert on their three historic pianos. One is a 1795 Dulcken replica Ms. Johnson and Paul Poletti built for the Center when it first opened. The other two are an original 1823 Broadwood & Sons and the truly fabulous 1827 Mathias Jakesch, complete with all sorts of colorful stops operated by the pedals. Beethoven’s two star pupils from the beginning of the 19th century were Carl Czerny (he was a prodigy and started studying with Beethoven at age 10) and Ferdinand Ries, whose music fared better over time than Czerny’s. The latter has been unjustly swept aside, with only his studies finding their way into the modern world, though that is finally changing. The program includes four short Beethoven works on the Dulcken; the Rondo Op. 51 #1, Bagatelle woO 52, Ms. Johnson’s own reconstruction from the original manuscript; Bagatelle Op 119 #2, and the Polonoise Op. 90. The Jakesch gets the lion’s share of the music, partly because one really needs the clean damping of a Viennese piano for Viennese music, but also in the case of the Czerny, he asks for ppp, and that is magic on this instrument with it’s double moderator (mute or sourdine) in combination with the una corda (keyboard shift to one string). The first movement of Ries’ Sonata Op. 114, an Andantino with a few variations will be performed on the Broadwood, and the program will conclude with Ries’ “Air do Matelots Russe” Op. 50 on the Jakesch to show off the bells, drum, bassoon and other colors that instrument has to offer. It is a kick, and despite being popular music, an excellent piece in rondo form.
2 PM Arrive early as seating is limited and events tend to be popular. The concert is presented in conjunction with their opening of an exhibit “Beethoven at Home,” which features beautiful engravings, etc. of Vienna and other locales. You will not be bored if you arrive early.
Beethoven Center, at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Public Library
150 E. San Fernando St. (at the corner of 4th St.), San Jose
Free
SFEMS Medieval Renaissance Collegium
“1517, Music from a Watershed Year,” a collegium for voices, recorders, viols, harps, sackbuts, dulcians and all manner of early instruments led by Adam Gilbert. This is the quincentenary of one of more significant years in western cultural history:1517 marked the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. It also saw the death of the great composer Henricus Isaac, and the last compositions of his student Adam Rener, who was brutally beaten in a barroom fight. In the same year, Johannes Reuchlin published his The Art of the Kabbalah, a landmark book that changed the face of musical symbolism in the Renaissance. For our program, we will explore the music that Isaac composed for Lorenzo de Medici in Florence and Maximilian I of Austria. We will look at music of his students Ludwig Senfl and Adam Rener. We will also play and sing major compositions from the beginning of the Reformation, and we will trace how popular and sacred song evolved before and after 1517, a “year of singing dangerously.” Please spend the day with us making glorious music. The collegium will use a pitch of A=440 Bring your instruments, music stands and pencils, and a bag lunch. Electronic files of the music will be provided in advance. This special collegium supports the SFEMS Summer Workshops, and in particular their scholarship programs.
10 AM–4 PM
St. Alban’s Episcopal Church
1501 Washington Avenue, Albany.
Registration fees: Full day: SFEMS members $60, non-members $75, students $30. Half-day: SFEMS members $30, non-members $45.
For more information, contact SFEMS administrator Jessica House Steward at [email protected], or Greta Haug-Hryciw at [email protected].
SFEMS presents Hallifax & Jeffrey with Marie Dalby Szuts, Josh Lee, and John Lenti
“Big, Beautiful, and French—Music for Several Viols and Continuo” Hallifax & Jeffrey (Peter Hallifax, Julie Jeffrey, violas da gamba; with guest artists Josh Lee and Marie Dalby Szuts, violas da gamba; and John Lenti, theorbo) perform French baroque works for four violas da gamba and theorbo. From Louis Couperin to Jean-Baptiste Forqueray and Michel Corrette, the French composers we know and love also wrote lesser known and seldom performed pieces for a large ensemble of viols with continuo. This is true chamber music, yet written on a larger scale than the familiar pièces de viole or pièces de violon. At times the texture approaches the orchestral, yet the music retains the intimacy that is the hallmark of the viol and the lute. Bathe your ears in an evening of these lush and delightful works. Corrette’s 4-part Le Phénix and Couperin’s La Sultane are cornerstones of this program, which also includes stunning contributions from Sainte-Colombe, Marais, Charpentier, Forqueray, and Louis as well as François Couperin. Read more . . .
7:30 PM
St. John’s Presbyterian Church
2727 College Ave at Garber, Berkeley
Tickets: General $40, Seniors $36, SFEMS Members $34, Students $12
Tickets online or 510-528-1725
Santa Cruz Baroque Festival
The Festival’s 44th Season, “Alla Rustica,” continues with “Musick’s Silver Sound.” These Shakespearian tunes filled the air surrounding the common folk who came to the Globe Theatre; played on street corners, in taverns, and in the theatre, they were a part of the public subconscious in England and abroad. This Baltimore Consort program will send you dancing from the halls feeling as if you’ve traveled back in time to the world of Shakespeare. With renowned musicians Mary Anne Ballard, treble & bass viols; Mark Cudek, cittern; Larry Lipkis, bass viol, recorder, krummhorn & gemshorn; Ronn McFarlane, lute; Mindy Rosenfeld, flutes, fifes, bagpipes & krummhorn; and Danielle Svonavec, soprano.
7:30 PM
UC Santa Cruz Recital Hall
Meyer Drive, UCSC Campus, Santa Cruz
$35/$25/$22/$10
Tickets online, 831-457-9693, or www.scbaroque.org
Second Saturday Chamber Music Series
“Tennebrae Lessons” François Couperin’s Leçons de Tennèbre performed by Rita Lily and Luciana Miranda, sopranos; Lynn Tetenbaum, viola da gamba; and Andy Canepa, harpsichord
7:30 PM (No host drinks and hors d’ouevres in the social hall 6:30–7:30)
St. Mary Magdalen Church
2005 Berryman St., Berkeley
Advance tickets online $15 general/$5 students; at the door: $20/$10
Advance tickets sold until two hours before concert
Viola da Gamba Society/Pacifica Chapter
Monthly viol consort playing with guest coach Frances Blaker. Players of all levels welcome. Newcomers please phone ahead.
9 AM–3 PM
Hillside Church
1422 Navellier Street, El Cerrito
RSVP. Please email or phone ahead.
[email protected]
Sunday, April 9
Musica Pacifica
“Telemann and Friends” Musica Pacifica (Judith Linsenberg, recorder; Elizabeth Blumenstock, violin; Farley Pearce, viola da gamba; Katherine Heater, harpischord) performs a concert commemorating the 250th anniversary of Georg Philipp Telemann’s death, including works by Telemann and his Dresden court colleagues, Veracini, Pisendel, and W.F. Bach. A co-presentation of the San Francisco Early Music Society and the California Jazz Conservatory.
4:30 PM
California Jazz Conservatory
2087 Addison St., Berkeley
$20
Buy Tickets
SFEMS presents Hallifax & Jeffrey with Marie Dalby Szuts, Josh Lee, and John Lenti
“Big, Beautiful, and French—Music for Several Viols and Continuo” Hallifax & Jeffrey (Peter Hallifax, Julie Jeffrey, violas da gamba; with guest artists Josh Lee and Marie Dalby Szuts, violas da gamba; and John Lenti, theorbo) perform French baroque works for four violas da gamba and theorbo. From Louis Couperin to Jean-Baptiste Forqueray and Michel Corrette, the French composers we know and love also wrote lesser known and seldom performed pieces for a large ensemble of viols with continuo. This is true chamber music, yet written on a larger scale than the familiar pièces de viole or pièces de violon. At times the texture approaches the orchestral, yet the music retains the intimacy that is the hallmark of the viol and the lute. Bathe your ears in an evening of these lush and delightful works. Corrette’s 4-part Le Phénix and Couperin’s La Sultane are cornerstones of this program, which also includes stunning contributions from Sainte-Colombe, Marais, Charpentier, Forqueray, and Louis as well as François Couperin. Read more . . .
4 PM
St. Mark’s Lutheran Church
1111 O’Farrell at Gough, San Francisco
Tickets: General $40, Seniors $36, SFEMS Members $34, Students $12
Tickets online or 510-528-1725
Continue reading next week’s calendar . . .
