Monday, July 22
Valley of the Moon Music Festival
Fortepiano lecture. Curious about fortepianos? Learn about historical pianos and how they work from Bay Area piano builder and technician Thomas Winter.
12:45 PM
Hanna Center
17000 Arnold Drive, Sonoma
Free and open to the public
Wednesday, July 24
Early Music Open Mic Night
Join us for Early Music Open Mic Night in the East Bay, 4th Wednesday of every month. This is your opportunity to perform early music in a friendly cabaret style setting. Instrumentalists, singers, soloists, groups, students, youngsters, professionals — all are welcome! Please email [email protected] with the date you’d like to perform. Time slots will be up to 15 minutes, and there will be six time slots on each night. A harpsichord as well as a piano will be available on site. Food and drinks will be provided.
7–9:30 PM
Hillside Community Church,
1422 Navellier Street, El Cerrito
Donations gratefully accepted
[email protected]
The Musical Offering
“The Bach Project VII” The 3 remaining original members of the Town Quartet, Corey Mike, Jacob Hansen-Joseph, and Lewis Patzner, present a string trio program for the seventh installment of the Bach Project: The 6 Preludes and Fugues arranged by Mozart and the 15 Sinfonias, also known as 3-part inventions. This is the first Bach Project concert that deviates from the all-J.S. Bach format because it includes 4 original preludes by Mozart and a fugue by Bach’s first son, W.F. Bach.
7:30 PM
Musical Offering Cafe
2430 Bancroft Way, Berkeley
$10-20 requested donation for the performers. light refreshments for sale
Reservations appreciated not required
510-849-0211 Call for Information
Thursday, July 25
Buxtehude Band, Loren Tayerle, director
A program of works by Corelli, Buxtehude, and Bach. Dietrich Buxtehude, cantatas Jesu, meines lebens leben and Jesu, meine Freude; Arcangelo Corelli, Concerto Grosso, Opus 6, No. 4; and Johann Sebastien Bach, Coffee-Cantata, Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht, BWV 211. With Julia Nielsen, soprano, Lieschen; Stacey Helley, mezzo soprano; Barrie Cowan, tenor, Erzähler; and Greg Poirer, baritone, Schlendrian; Anthony Martin, Eric Finley, Lisa Nguyen, and Stephen Grenholm, violin; Loren Tayerle, Lisa Nguyen, viola; Daniel Deitch, flute and viola da gamba; August Lee, cello; and Hyunjung Cho, organ.
8 PM
First Lutheran Church
600 Homer Ave., Palo Alto
$20 Tickets online
https://www.dacorchestra.com/
Saturday, July 27
Valley of the Moon Music Festival
“My Brilliant Sister: Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel” Fanny Mendelssohn, the older sister of Felix Mendelssohn, led a relatively short but astonishing career, composing over 400 works during a time in which, in the words of her father, music could be the “profession” of a man, but merely the “ornament” of a woman. At her family home in Berlin, she hosted a salon where she put on display her own musical talent, performing, composing, conducting and programming new works. The concert opens with her Fantasie in G minor for cello and fortepiano, with cellist Ana Kim joined by Zivian. Kim returns for a duet with fortepianist Christian De Luca in Fanny’s Capriccio in A-flat major. Seattle-based soprano Danielle Sampson, in her Festival debut, will perform a selection of eight songs from Fanny’s collection of Lieder. Four of the Festival apprentices will perform Fanny’s String Quartet in E-flat major. Rounding out the program is Felix’s Cello Sonata No. 2 in D major, performed by Tomkins on cello and De Luca on fortepiano. With performers Danielle Sampson, soprano; Keats Dieffenbach and Jason Issokson, violin; Joshua Gomberoff, viola; Ana Kim, Geirþrúður Guðmundsdóttir, and Tanya Tomkins, cello; Christian De Luca and Eric Zivian, fortepiano.
4 PM concert
Hanna Center
17000 Arnold Drive, Sonoma
$45 general, $25 under 35 years old.
Tickets online, by phone (800-595-4849) or at the door
Sunday, July 28
American Bach Soloists, Jeffrey Thomas, Director
“’Tis Nature’s Voice” ABS Festival’s opening concert features Georg Philipp Telemann, Grillen-Symphonie (“Crickets”) and Concerto in A Major, “Die Relinge” (“Tree Frogs”), Francesco Geminiani “The Enchanted Forest,” and Antonio Vivaldi, “The Four Seasons,” With violin soloists Elizabeth Blumenstock, Tatiana Chulochnikova, Noah Strick, and Rachell Ellen Wong. Throughout the centuries, composers have been fascinated by the deep-rooted relationship between Nature and Music. Music can imitate the sounds of nature, and the voices of nature have played a prominent role in music that we love, from madrigals to Mahler. Telemann’s music about tree frogs and crickets leads us to Geminiani’s fascinating depiction of an enchanted forest. And perhaps the most dramatic portrayal of all is Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, which will feature four virtuoso violinists taking on the colors and climates of Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter.
4 PM
San Francisco Conservatory of Music Concert Hall
50 Oak St., San Francisco
$38–$125
Tickets online or 800-595-4849
Email: [email protected]
Valley of the Moon Music Festival
“Bach’s Greatest Champion:Sara Levy” Sara Levy was Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn’s maternal great aunt and a talented keyboardist in her own right. Today she is best remembered as a devotee of J.S. Bach, playing an important role in proselytizing his significance to German music. A student of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, she performed the harpsichord at the premiere of his brother Carl Philip Emmanuel Bach’s Concerto for Fortepiano and Harpsichord. The Festival will present two keyboard works by C.P.E. Bach—a Rondo in C Minor and Fantasia in C Major—and one chamber work by W.F. Bach, his Overture, “BWV 1070”. Samson will return to perform Carl Friedrich Zelter’s Sehnsucht with lyrics by Goethe. Finally, two chamber pieces by Mozart complete the concert: his Sonata for Violin and Piano in B-flat major and his Piano Trio in E major.
11 AM
Hanna Center
17000 Arnold Drive, Sonoma
$45 general, $25 under 35 years old.
Tickets online, by phone (800-595-4849) or at the door
Valley of the Moon Music Festival
“The Performer as Promoter: Clara Schumann” Like Sara Levy, Mendelssohn and von Thun before her, Clara Schumann was a musical prodigy. She married Robert Schumann, and together they were a power couple of Leipzig until the time of Robert’s passing. Apart from their own composing and concertizing, they championed Brahms to a wide audience. The final concert of the season will feature a selection of songs by Brahms, performed by Samson, together with his celebrated String Sextet No. 1 in B-flat major, a work for two violins, two violas and two cellos. Another figure championed by the Schumanns was Hungarian Jewish violinist Joseph Joachim. Clara reportedly performed more concerts with Joachim than with any other artist over her six-decade-plus career, and the Festival will honor their relationship with a presentation of Grave from Hebrew Melodies, a duet for viola and fortepiano, performed by Andrew Gonzalez and Zivian. The concert will also feature works by Robert and Clara Schumann. Robert’s Märchenbilder or Fairy Tale Pictures, for fortepiano and viola, consists of four character pieces. Finally, Samson returns to perform two of Clara’s most exquisite songs, Die stille Lotosblume and Er ist gekommen. Performers are Danielle Sampson, soprano; Marc Destrubé, Keats Dieffenbach, and Jason Issokson, violin; Joshua Gomberoff and Andrew Gonzalez, viola; Geirþrúður Guðmundsdóttir and Tanya Tomkins, cello; David Belkovski, Christian De Luca and Eric Zivian, fortepiano.
4 PM concert
Lecture, “Conversations with Kate: Women in Music” with Kate van Orden at 2:30 PM
Hanna Center
17000 Arnold Drive, Sonoma
$45 general, $25 under 35 years old.
Tickets online, by phone (800-595-4849) or at the door
