Wednesday, November 9
Mid-Peninsula Recorder Orchestra
Regular meeting, for players of recorder, early winds or early strings. Bring your instrument(s) and music stand.
7:30–9:30 PM
Trinity Church, Angus Hall
330 Ravenswood Ave. (at Laurel), Menlo Park
650-591-3648 or mpro-online.org
Thursday, November 10
Berkeley Baroque Strings, Kati Kyme, Director
“Concerto Night” Last fall’s program of concerto movements featuring soloists from our orchestra was so successful, we’re doing it again! Our soloists will perform concerto movements for violin, cello, viola, harpsichord, viola da gamba, oboe, and tenor solo, with music by Porpora, J.S. Bach, Handel, and Telemann.
7:30 PM
Parish Hall, St. Clement’s Episcopal Church
2837 Claremont Blvd., Berkeley.
Free (donations gratefully accepted)
www.berkeleybaroquestrings.org
Elaine Thornburgh, harpsichord
“A Post-Election Musical Potpourri” Elaine Thornburgh performs music by William Byrd, Jean-Philippe Rameau, and François Couperin. “I decided to offer a fun program to offer reflection and closure to the election cycle and hopefully a few laughs! This theme was a popular program when offered four years ago. Come enjoy a delightful set of thematic English tunes and French character portraits designed to bring reflection and merriment (hopefully!) to the occasion.”
7:30 PM Reception to follow
510 48th Avenue (at Geary), San Francisco
$25 suggested donation.
Call 415-387-6890 to reserve your seat
Friday, November 11
Coro Ciconia, Asher Davison, Director
“After the Fall—Medieval ventures toward the other side of loss.” As the night lengthens, we naturally grapple with autumnal aspects of finding meaning and purpose; our program troves the plangency and harmony that emerge when we confront suffering and turmoil. Dufay’s Lamentatio Sanctae makes the fall of “the church” in Istanbul intensely personal; Brumel’s setting of the Lamentations of Jeremiah is an early vision of those all-too-familiar texts. The late motet of Machaut Plange, regni respublica reeks of sarcasm toward inconsequential political leaders, yet ultimately hints at prayerfulness; Dufay’s masterful Nuper rosarum flores is an ecstatic consecration of Il Duomo in Firenze that flowers into a supplication that we prove not unworthy to what we ourselves have built. Alma redemptoris mater is a liturgical prayer treated as personal by Ockeghem and Dufay, who understand that being “fallen” is a core universal. Ciconia’s lovelorn ballata Merçe, o morte (a group premiere!) dares invoke Judas as it beseeches that a dismissive consort provide . . . something. Devotion despite death is the currency of impassioned laments penned by Andrieu, Ockeghem, and Josquin, to honor Machaut, Binchois, and that same Ockeghem. We lose our geniuses, but others evidently rise to fill their shoes! Dufay sensed this all too well, as he crafted his own eventual lament—in the guise of an expansive Ave regina caelorum so powerful that it inspired his own final Mass setting. Singers are Michael Deacon, Peter Fisher, Cheryl Koehler, Jane Jewell, Jean McAneny, Ralph Prince, Scott Robinson, Helen Wolfe-Visnick
8 PM
St. Alban’s Episcopal Church
1501 Washington Ave, Albany
Door donations: $20 general, $15 senior, $10 student
SFEMS presents Musica Pacifica with Countertenor Ryland Angel
“Chiesa and Camera: Virtuoso Vocal and Instrumental Chamber Music from Italy, 1650–1700” Grammy-nominated countertenor Ryland Angel joins Musica Pacifica in a stunning program highlighting the connections between the sacred and the secular during the Italian Middle Baroque. The program features appealing sacred motets of Alessandro Scarlatti and Alessandro Stradella, as well as complementary instrumental works by these composers and their contemporaries. The music of this era is not as well known today as it should be, but its characteristic marriage of virtuosic agility and sustained lyricism was a major inspiration to the composers of the next generations—Corelli, Vivaldi, Handel and Bach. 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
South Bay Recorder Society
Monthly meeting, guest conductor David Hogan Smith. New members and guests welcome.
7:30–10 PM
First Congregational Church of San Jose
1980 Hamilton Ave (at Leigh), San Jose
408-358-0878 or [email protected]
Saturday, November 12
Berkeley Baroque Strings, Kati Kyme, Director
“Concerto Night” Last fall’s program of concerto movements featuring soloists from our orchestra was so successful, we’re doing it again! Our soloists will perform concerto movements for violin, cello, viola, harpsichord, viola da gamba, oboe, and tenor solo, with music by Porpora, J.S. Bach, Handel, and Telemann.
7:30 PM
Sanctuary, St. Mark’s Episcopal Church
2300 Bancroft Way, Berkeley.
Tickets $20, students $10, children under 12 free (but no one turned away for lack of funds)
www.berkeleybaroquestrings.org
St. Bede’s Episcopal Church
All Souls Memorial Service: Music of Purcell & Crofts. The choirs and clergy of St. Bede’s and Christ Church Portola Valley will offer a service of remembrance using the historical rite of Burial of the Dead from the 1662 prayer book. The service will feature music of the Restoration period, including the Funeral Music for Queen Mary by Henry Purcell, and Burial Sentences of William Croft. The singers will be joined by internationally acclaimed Renaissance brass ensemble The Whole Noyse (Stephen Escher & Carlo Benedetti, cornett; Richard Van Hessel & Ernest Rideout, sackbut) and percussionist Todd Jolly. A free-will offering will be received to benefit Home and Hope’s programs for homeless families.
4 PM
St. Bede’s Episcopal Church
2650 Sand Hill Rd, Menlo Park
Free
650-854-6555
SFEMS presents Musica Pacifica with Countertenor Ryland Angel
“Chiesa and Camera: Virtuoso Vocal and Instrumental Chamber Music from Italy, 1650–1700” Grammy-nominated countertenor Ryland Angel joins Musica Pacifica in a stunning program highlighting the connections between the sacred and the secular during the Italian Middle Baroque. The program features appealing sacred motets of Alessandro Scarlatti and Alessandro Stradella, as well as complementary instrumental works by these composers and their contemporaries. The music of this era is not as well known today as it should be, but its characteristic marriage of virtuosic agility and sustained lyricism was a major inspiration to the composers of the next generations—Corelli, Vivaldi, Handel and Bach. 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
Second Saturday Chamber Music Series
Soprano Susan Rode Morris and fortepianist Andy Canepa perform songs and solo piano music by Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven.
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 Loren Ludwig. 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]
David Yearsley, organ
“Bach & Sons” St. Mark’s Lutheran Church presents renowned organist and musicologist David Yearsley performing on the church’s Taylor & Boody organ, considered one of the finest tracker organs in San Francisco. Mr. Yearsley is on the music faculty of Cornell University and holds a BA from Harvard University and a PhD from Stanford University; he is the only musician ever to win all major prizes at the Bruges Early Music Festival competition.
7:30 PM
St. Mark’s Lutheran Church
1111 O’Farrell at Gough, San Francisco
FREE ($20 suggested donation gladly accepted)
415-928-7770 [email protected]
Sunday, November 13
Gallimaufry, Shira Kammen, Artistic Director
“Mappa Mundi: A Musical Atlas” a concert of medieval, Renaissance, and traditional music celebrating great places of the world. Gallimaufry was formed in early 2014 by well-known early music scholar and musician, Shira Kammen. The group performs music from the medieval and Renaissance eras, as well as traditional and contemporary settings of early texts and tunes. The group is unusual in the early music world for performing mostly secular rather than sacred music. The name “Gallimaufry” is a 16th-century French word meaning mix or medley (referring usually to a stew or soup), and reflects the variety of music the group performs. Led by Ms. Kammen as Artistic Director, who also arranges and composes some of the music the ensemble performs, Gallimaufry consists of 20 or so singers from throughout the Bay Area, with experience ranging from skilled amateur to semi-professional. Gallimaufry primarily performs a cappella, but each concert also includes some accompanied pieces and some early or traditional instrumental music performed by Ms. Kammen and by guest artists as well.
4 PM
Chapel of the Chimes
4499 Piedmont Avenue, Oakland
$20/$15/$10 available at the door
A benefit for MISSSEY, a local nonprofit serving sexually exploited youth in Alameda County and beyond.
San Francisco Conservatory of Music
SFCM Conservatory Baroque Orchestra performs string concertos by Vivaldi and others on period instruments..
2 PM
San Francisco Conservatory of Music Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall
50 Oak St., San Francisco
FREE, no tickets required
[email protected], 415-503-6275
SFEMS presents Musica Pacifica with Countertenor Ryland Angel
“Chiesa and Camera: Virtuoso Vocal and Instrumental Chamber Music from Italy, 1650–1700” Grammy-nominated countertenor Ryland Angel joins Musica Pacifica in a stunning program highlighting the connections between the sacred and the secular during the Italian Middle Baroque. The program features appealing sacred motets of Alessandro Scarlatti and Alessandro Stradella, as well as complementary instrumental works by these composers and their contemporaries. The music of this era is not as well known today as it should be, but its characteristic marriage of virtuosic agility and sustained lyricism was a major inspiration to the composers of the next generations—Corelli, Vivaldi, Handel and Bach. 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
Elaine Thornburgh, harpsichord
“A Post-Election Musical Potpourri” Elaine Thornburgh performs music by William Byrd, Jean-Philippe Rameau, and François Couperin. “I decided to offer a fun program to offer reflection and closure to the election cycle and hopefully a few laughs! This theme was a popular program when offered four years ago. Come enjoy a delightful set of thematic English tunes and French character portraits designed to bring reflection and merriment (hopefully!) to the occasion.”
2 PM Reception to follow
510 48th Avenue (at Geary), San Francisco
$25 suggested donation.
Call 415-387-6890 to reserve your seat
Continue reading next week’s calendar . . .
