Friday, August 7
American Bach Soloists, Jeffrey Thomas, Conductor
“Versailles & The Parisian Baroque—Part I” The 2015 American Bach Soloists Festival & Academy opens with a trio of stunning orchestral works by three French masters. Rameau’s Suite from Naïs; Aubert’s Concert de simphonies—Suite No. 2; and Rebel’s Les Élémens, simphonie nouvelle. The high-minded musical ideals and splendor of the era are fully evident in the Ouverture and Suite of dances from Jean-Philippe Rameau’s opera Naïs. Here beauty and grandeur are enhanced by a third trait: velocity! As first violinist at the Paris Opéra, Jacques Aubert had an ear for music that would be suitable for drama and dance. His D Major Concert de Symphonie, an early incarnation of what would become the French symphony, is a delightful, foot-tapping tour of dance forms. Finally, Jean-Féry Rebel’s imaginative and vivid work for orchestra, Les Élémens, depicts the creation of the world from chaos using motifs associated with earth, air, fire, and water.
8 PM
San Francisco Conservatory of Music
50 Oak St., San Francisco
Tickets online $20–$66
415-921-7900, [email protected]
West Edge Opera presents Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria
After his long journey home from the Trojan wars, Ulysses, King of Ithaca, returns to find a villainous trio of suitors importuning his faithful queen, Penelope. Ulisse vanquishes the suitors and recovers his kingdom. Constancy and virtue are ultimately rewarded, treachery and deception overcome. Ulysses has been described as the most tender and moving of Monteverdi’s surviving operas, and one which reveals a vocal style of extraordinary eloquence. Early music specialist Nikolas Nackley sings Ulysses and Sara Couden, a current Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist sings Penelope. Mark Streshinsky directs and Gilbert Martinez conducts. A collaboration with Music Sources Center for Historically Informed Performance.
8 PM
American Steel Studios
1960 Mandela Parkway at 20th Street, Oakland
$84 and $55; a limited number of $20 seats 1 week in advance or at the door.
510-841-1903; www.westedgeopera.org
Saturday, August 8
American Bach Soloists
Public Colloquium: “The Culture of Versailles” Join ABS faculty and guests as they explore what sets French Baroque music apart from that of the rest of Europe. The first of three 45-minute sessions will outline the culture of Paris and Versailles through a survey of the art, architecture, and politics of the period. Then, ABS Academy instrumental and vocal faculty members will share their insights gained from years of historically informed performing experience as they discuss the challenges specific to French Baroque music. It will conclude with a discussion of the Querelles des Buffoons, the philosophical battle that took place in Paris in the 1750s over the relative merits of French and Italian style.
2:30 PM
San Francisco Conservatory of Music
50 Oak St., San Francisco
Free, but registration requested. Tickets online
415-921-7900, [email protected]
American Bach Soloists, Jeffrey Thomas, Conductor
Versailles & The Parisian Baroque—Part II From the grand to the intimate, ABS’s exploration of the Parisian Baroque continues into the drawing rooms, private halls, and Royal residence at Versailles. Featuring works by Marin Marais, François Couperin, André Campra, and Quirinus van Blankenburg, the elegance, refinement, mirth, and poignancy that were hallmarks of the Parisian Baroque will be presented.
8 PM
San Francisco Conservatory of Music
50 Oak St., San Francisco
Tickets online $20–$66
415-921-7900, [email protected]
Sunday, August 9
American Bach Soloists, Jeffrey Thomas, Conductor
Bach’s Mass in B Minor. Bach’s Mass in B Minor is the pinnacle of the Baroque repertory and ABS’s annual performances draw Bach pilgrims to San Francisco from around the world. Jeffrey Thomas and the ABS Festival Orchestra, with vocal and instrumental soloists from the ABS Academy, perform this masterwork on each Festival Sunday. [This work will be repeated on Sunday, August 16 2015 at 2:00 p.m.]
7 PM
San Francisco Conservatory of Music
50 Oak St., San Francisco
Tickets online $20–$75
415-921-7900, [email protected]
Musical Waves
“Early Keyboard Improvisations” Ilana Bar-David/Elaine Thornburgh, harpsichord, performs an intriguing program of early keyboard improvisations by William Byrd, Girolamo Frescobaldi, and J.S. Bach, as well as other early Italian solo keyboard music on her gorgeous, John Phillips Italian harpsichord. “I just had the quills changed from plastic to bird quill,” she says, “and the sound is spectacular.”
3 PM Reception to follow
510 48th Avenue, San Francisco
$20 Send payment to Ilana Bar-David, 510-48th Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94121 to reserve your seat. Seating is limited, parking ample.
415-387-6890
West Edge Opera presents Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria
After his long journey home from the Trojan wars, Ulysses, King of Ithaca, returns to find a villainous trio of suitors importuning his faithful queen, Penelope. Ulisse vanquishes the suitors and recovers his kingdom. Constancy and virtue are ultimately rewarded, treachery and deception overcome. Ulysses has been described as the most tender and moving of Monteverdi’s surviving operas, and one which reveals a vocal style of extraordinary eloquence. Early music specialist Nikolas Nackley sings Ulysses and Sara Couden, a current Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist sings Penelope. Mark Streshinsky directs and Gilbert Martinez conducts. A collaboration with Music Sources Center for Historically Informed Performance.
2 PM
American Steel Studios
1960 Mandela Parkway at 20th Street, Oakland
$84 and $55; a limited number of $20 seats 1 week in advance or at the door.
510-841-1903; www.westedgeopera.org
Continue reading next week’s calendar . . .
