Monday, April 8
SFEMS presents the Choir of New College, Oxford, Robert Quinney, Director
“I Heard a Voice” Founded in 1379, New College Choir remains one of the world’s most acclaimed choral ensembles featuring boy trebles and men. Under the direction of Robert Quinney, the choir will perform a program of Renaissance and baroque works by Giovanni Pierluigi de Palestrina, Tomás Luis de Victoria, Josquin des Prez, John Taverner, Thomas Tallis and more. The program also will include solo organ works by J.S. Bach and William Byrd, performed by Oxford scholars Timothy Wakerell and Charles Maxtone-Smith. A joint presentation with Grace Cathedral. Read more . . .
8 PM
Grace Cathedral
1100 California St., San Francisco
Premium $56, Plus $48 Basic $40, Students with ID $15
Buy tickets online or phone 510-528-1725
www.sfems.org
Tuesday, April 9
PBO Sessions
“Handel’s Biblical Heroes and Villains” An aged King Saul plots against young hero David to the downfall of his own family. The villainous Prime Minister Haman orders the extermination of the Jews, but the courageous Esther asks her husband, the King, to defy Haman’s orders. Cyrus, along with the Persians, invades the land of a cruel Belshazzar. Flurries of fury storm the stage as Nic McGegan, scholar Francesco Spagnolo, and a star-studded cast conjure the heroes and villains that figure prominently in Handel’s most blisteringly brilliant music and explore the thinking behind these powerful works. The program features arias from Biblical oratorios by George Frideric Handel including Saul, Esther, Alexander Balus and Samson. Featuring Yulia Van Doren, soprano; Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, countertenor; Aaron Sheehan, tenor; Daniel Okulitch, baritone; Francesco Spagnolo, Jewish Scholar; and Nicholas McGegan, PBO Music Director. Join us afterwards for complimentary (good) wine and a chance to meet the performers and moderators!
8 PM
Contemporary Jewish Museum
736 Mission St, San Francisco
$25
Tichets online or 415-392-4400
Wednesday, April 10
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
Friday, April 12
Barefoot Chamber Concerts presents the Costanoan Trio with Kathleen Kraft
“Orchestrating the Trio” music by Haydn, J.C. Bach, and Cimarosa Barefoot is delighted to be able to present a very special event: the Costanoan Trio with Kathleen Kraft, flute, playing an unusual concert of orchestral music by Franz Joseph Haydn, J.C. Bach, and Domenico Cimarosa. Representing “the best of emerging early music talent” (Early Music America), the Costanoan Trio explores the piano trio repertoire of the late 18th and early 19th centuries on period instruments and recreates the world of domestic music-making in intimate concert spaces. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, founding members Derek Tam (fortepiano), Cynthia Black (violin), and Frédéric Rosselet (cello) played together in various ensembles before deciding to become a trio. Their guest for this program, Kathleen Kraft, studied flute and 18th-century music at the Royal Conservatory in Holland and became part of the revival of the Early Music movement in the Bay Area music scene in the 1970s when there were but few players. Across the years, she has taken part in the movement’s phenomenal growth, performing with the American Bach Soloists, Philharmonia Baroque, Magnificat, and many other orchestras and chamber ensembles. One of the area’s most revered teachers, Kraft has served for 30 years as instructor and coach at the San Francisco Early Music Society’s baroque workshop.
6 PM
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Berkeley
2300 Bancroft Way, Berkeley
$15, 18 and under free
Tickets online
510-220-1195
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chorale, Nicholas McGegan, Conductor
George Frideric Handel, Saul. Young David has just slain Goliath, earning him the rapturous admiration of the Israelites and the murderous envy of King Saul. This Biblical tale of love and jealousy, madness and mourning, family feuds and supernatural apparitions inspired one of Handel’s most inventive and popular oratorios. Renowned Handel expert Nic McGegan leads an all-star cast through the full dramatic range from tender lyricism to full-throttle triumph and glory. With soloists Sherezade Panthaki, soprano (Michal); Yulia Van Doren, soprano (Merab); Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, countertenor (David); Aaron Sheehan, tenor (Jonathan); and Daniel Okulitch, baritone (Saul).
7 PM
Herbst Theatre
401 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco
$32–$120
Tickets online, 415-392-4400, or [email protected]
SFEMS presents Ensemble Caprice, Matthias Maute and Sophie Larivière, Directors
“iLove baroque: Short Histories and Voices of Eternity” Montreal-based Ensemble Caprice, celebrating its 30th anniversary this season. Ensemble Caprice will perform a program inspired by love stories from five countries with works by Bach, Falconiero, Schmelzer, Vivaldi and more. Matthias Maute and Sophie Larivière, recorders and flutes; Susan Napper, cello; David Jacques, baroque guitar; and Ziya Tabassian, percussion, perform an innovative program whose lively atmosphere will engage the audience in an unusual way. Five musicians, eight short anecdotes, nine roses, two centuries of wonderful music from five different countries by composers like J.S. Bach, A. Vivaldi, A. Falconiero and J. H. Schmelzer; all these make for a program full of drama, tenderness, joy, humour and melancholy. Time flies when one experiences eternity in music. Matthias Maute will introduce the various groups of works with short stories setting the tone for the powerful music that follows: Eight short stories and eight sets of highly exciting music. There are nine roses, and every set of pieces is garnished with one rose. So what could the ninth rose be for? Only to those who attend the concert will know the answer! Read more . . .
8 PM
First Presbyterian Church
1140 Cowper Street (at Lincoln), Palo Alto
General $45, Seniors $40.50, SFEMS Members $38.25, Students with ID $15
Buy tickets online or phone 510-528-1725
www.sfems.org
Saturday, April 13
Gallimaufry, Shira Kammen, Director
“Springtide” a spring concert featuring Medieval and Renaissance songs celebrating Spring’s burgeoning of nature and love, including early and traditional, sacred and secular, songs on those themes.
7:30 PM
St. Clement’s Church
2837 Claremont Ave., Berkeley
Tickets (door only) $20/$15/$10
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chorale, Nicholas McGegan, Conductor
George Frideric Handel, Saul. Young David has just slain Goliath, earning him the rapturous admiration of the Israelites and the murderous envy of King Saul. This Biblical tale of love and jealousy, madness and mourning, family feuds and supernatural apparitions inspired one of Handel’s most inventive and popular oratorios. Renowned Handel expert Nic McGegan leads an all-star cast through the full dramatic range from tender lyricism to full-throttle triumph and glory. With soloists Sherezade Panthaki, soprano (Michal); Yulia Van Doren, soprano (Merab); Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, countertenor (David); Aaron Sheehan, tenor (Jonathan); and Daniel Okulitch, baritone (Saul).
7 PM
First United Methodist Church
625 Hamilton Ave., Palo Alto
$32–$120
Tickets online, 415-392-4400, or [email protected]
Redwood Arts Council presents the Costanoan Trio with Kathleen Kraft
The Costanoan Trio with Kathleen Kraft, flute, performs concert of orchestral music by Franz Joseph Haydn, J.C. Bach, and Domenico Cimarosa. Representing “the best of emerging early music talent” (Early Music America), the Costanoan Trio explores the piano trio repertoire of the late 18th and early 19th centuries on period instruments and recreates the world of domestic music-making in intimate concert spaces. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, founding members Derek Tam (fortepiano), Cynthia Black (violin), and Frédéric Rosselet (cello) played together in various ensembles before deciding to become a trio. Their guest for this program, Kathleen Kraft, studied flute and 18th-century music at the Royal Conservatory in Holland and became part of the revival of the Early Music movement in the Bay Area music scene in the 1970s when there were but few players. Across the years, she has taken part in the movement’s phenomenal growth, performing with the American Bach Soloists, Philharmonia Baroque, Magnificat, and many other orchestras and chamber ensembles. One of the area’s most revered teachers, Kraft has served for 30 years as instructor and coach at the San Francisco Early Music Society’s baroque workshop.
7:30 PM
Occidental Center for the Arts
4008 Bohemian Highway, Occidental
$10-$30
707-874-1124 or [email protected]
SFEMS presents Ensemble Caprice, Matthias Maute and Sophie Larivière, Directors
“iLove baroque: Short Histories and Voices of Eternity” Montreal-based Ensemble Caprice, celebrating its 30th anniversary this season. Ensemble Caprice will perform a program inspired by love stories from five countries with works by Bach, Falconiero, Schmelzer, Vivaldi and more. Matthias Maute and Sophie Larivière, recorders and flutes; Susan Napper, cello; David Jacques, baroque guitar; and Ziya Tabassian, percussion, perform an innovative program whose lively atmosphere will engage the audience in an unusual way. Five musicians, eight short anecdotes, nine roses, two centuries of wonderful music from five different countries by composers like J.S. Bach, A. Vivaldi, A. Falconiero and J. H. Schmelzer; all these make for a program full of drama, tenderness, joy, humour and melancholy. Time flies when one experiences eternity in music. Matthias Maute will introduce the various groups of works with short stories setting the tone for the powerful music they introduce: Eight short stories and eight sets of highly exciting music. There are nine roses, and every set of pieces is garnished with one rose. So what could the ninth rose be for? Only to those who attend the concert will know the answer! Read more . . .
7:30 PM
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church
2300 Bancroft Way, Berkeley
General $45, Seniors $40.50, SFEMS Members $38.25, Students with ID $15
Buy tickets online or phone 510-528-1725
www.sfems.org
Viola da Gamba Society/Pacifica Chapter
Monthly viol consort playing with guest coach David Morris. Players of all levels welcome. Newcomers please phone ahead.
9 AM–3 PM
Hillside Church
1422 Navellier Street, El Cerrito
RSVP. Newcomers, please email or phone ahead.
Cindi Olwell, 415-999-5242 or [email protected]
http://www.pacificaviols.org/
Sunday, April 14
SFEMS presents Ensemble Caprice, Matthias Maute and Sophie Larivière, Directors
“iLove baroque: Short Histories and Voices of Eternity” Montreal-based Ensemble Caprice, celebrating its 30th anniversary this season. Ensemble Caprice will perform a program inspired by love stories from five countries with works by Bach, Falconiero, Schmelzer, Vivaldi and more. Matthias Maute and Sophie Larivière, recorders and flutes; Susan Napper, cello; David Jacques, baroque guitar; and Ziya Tabassian, percussion, perform an innovative program whose lively atmosphere will engage the audience in an unusual way. Five musicians, eight short anecdotes, nine roses, two centuries of wonderful music from five different countries by composers like J.S. Bach, A. Vivaldi, A. Falconiero and J. H. Schmelzer; all these make for a program full of drama, tenderness, joy, humour and melancholy. Time flies when one experiences eternity in music. Matthias Maute will introduce the various groups of works with short stories setting the tone for the powerful music they introduce: Eight short stories and eight sets of highly exciting music. There are nine roses, and every set of pieces is garnished with one rose. So what could the ninth rose be for? Only to those who attend the concert will know the answer! Read more . . .
4 PM
St. Mark’s Lutheran Church
1111 O’Farrell St., San Francisco
General $45, Seniors $40.50, SFEMS Members $38.25, Students with ID $15
Buy tickets online or phone 510-528-1725
www.sfems.org
Continue reading next week’s calendar . . .
