Tuesday, December 2
Sacramento Recorder Society
Regular meeting for recorder players, with guest conductor Jerry Schwartz. 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
Wednesday, December 3
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Nicholas McGegan, Conductor
“A Joyous Christmas: Vivaldi and Zelenka” Celebrate the holiday season with joyous sacred music by Antonio Vivaldi, Jan Dismas Zelenka, and others. Featured works include Vivaldi’s recently-discovered Dixit Dominus, whose pealing trumpets, exultant strings, and soaring choral harmonies rival his Gloria in beauty and magnificence; Zelenka’s Missa Nativitatis Domini (“Christmas Mass”), which includes ornate arias and duets, enthralling choral passages, and richly expressive harmonies from the orchestra; Prince Paul Esterházy’s Cur fles, Jesu; Pavel Josef Vejvanovský’s Sonata natalis; and Franz Joseph Haydn’s Ave Regina Coelorum, a tender hymn to a young girl Haydn loved but lost to the convent. With soloists Dominique Labelle, soprano; Christopher Ainslie, countertenor; Thomas Cooley, tenor; Dashon Burton, bass-baritone; and the Philharmonia Chorale, Bruce Lamott, director. John Prescott will give a prelude lecture 45 minutes before every concert.
7:30 PM
First United Methodist Church
625 Hamilton Ave., Palo Alto
$25–$100
Tickets, 415-392-4400
Thursday, December 4
San Francisco Early Music Society
“Into the Light”—A Special SFEMS Concert. The Galax Quartet (Elizabeth Blumenstock and David Wilson, violin; David Morris, cello; and Roy Whelden, viola da gamba) and contralto Karen Clark perform the world premiere of Berkeley composer David Jaffe’s cantata “Eight O’s in Woolloomooloo,” a setting of nonsense verse from Mark Twain’s 1898 book Following the Equator. Jaffe’s work was commissioned by SFEMS and Galax, with support from the Aaron Copland Fund for Music (New York). Also on the program are lute songs by John Dowland, as well as nine contrapuncti and the closing chorale from J.S. Bach’s final masterwork, Art of the Fugue (BWV 1080). Read more…
Trinity Chapel
2320 Dana St. (between Bancroft & Durant), Berkeley
General admission $25, SFEMS members $20
Tickets, 510-528-1725
Friday, December 5
California Bach Society, Paul Flight, Conductor
“A German Christmas” The California Bach Society explores a fascinating landscape of less-familiar works by German masters, traveling through several musical periods. Featured are compositions by Renaissance-Reformation and baroque era composers Bartholomëus Gesius, Michael Praetorius, Melchior Vulpius, Hans Leo Hassler, Johannes Eccard, Heinrich Schütz, Andreas Hammerschmidt, Johann Rudolph Ahle, and J.S. Bach; as well as later works by Carl Loewe, Felix Mendelssohn, Albert and Günter Raphael Becker, Carl Orff, Max Reger, and Hugo Distler. Read more…
8 PM
St. Mark’s Lutheran Church
1111 O’ Farrell St. (at Franklin), San Francisco
Advance purchase tickets are $25 general admission; $18 seniors; $10 students and under 30. Tickets purchased at the door are $30, $22 and $10, respectively. SFEMS members receive a $5 discount when using promotion code “SFEMS” at www.calbach.org/tickets.pl. Tickets can be purchased in advance by phone at 650-485-1097 or online at www.calbach.org/tickets.pl. The deadline for advance sales is 5 PM on Thursday, December 4. For information, phone 650-485-1097, visit www.calbach.org, or email [email protected].
East Bay Chapter, ARS
Monthly playing session with guest conductor Letitia Berlin. New members and guests welcome.
7:30–10 PM
Zion Lutheran Church
5201 Park Blvd., Oakland.
www.symbolicsolutions.com/ebrs/
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Nicholas McGegan, Conductor
“A Joyous Christmas: Vivaldi and Zelenka” Celebrate the holiday season with joyous sacred music by Antonio Vivaldi, Jan Dismas Zelenka, and others. Featured works include Vivaldi’s recently-discovered Dixit Dominus, whose pealing trumpets, exultant strings, and soaring choral harmonies rival his Gloria in beauty and magnificence; Zelenka’s Missa Nativitatis Domini (“Christmas Mass”), which includes ornate arias and duets, enthralling choral passages, and richly expressive harmonies from the orchestra; Prince Paul Esterházy’s Cur fles, Jesu; Pavel Josef Vejvanovský’s Sonata natalis; and Franz Joseph Haydn’s Ave Regina Coelorum, a tender hymn to a young girl Haydn loved but lost to the convent. With soloists Dominique Labelle, soprano; Christopher Ainslie, countertenor; Thomas Cooley, tenor; Dashon Burton, bass-baritone; and the Philharmonia Chorale, Bruce Lamott, director. John Prescott will give a prelude lecture 45 minutes before every concert.
8 PM
Calvary Presbyterian Church
2515 Fillmore St. (at Jackson), San Francisco
$25–$100
Tickets, 415-392-4400
Saturday, December 6
California Bach Society, Paul Flight, Conductor
“A German Christmas” The California Bach Society explores a fascinating landscape of less-familiar works by German masters, traveling through several musical periods. Featured are compositions by Renaissance-Reformation and baroque era composers Bartholomëus Gesius, Michael Praetorius, Melchior Vulpius, Hans Leo Hassler, Johannes Eccard, Heinrich Schütz, Andreas Hammerschmidt, Johann Rudolph Ahle, and J.S. Bach; as well as later works by Carl Loewe, Felix Mendelssohn, Albert and Günter Raphael Becker, Carl Orff, Max Reger, and Hugo Distler. Read more…
8 PM
All Saints’ Episcopal Church
555 Waverley (at Hamilton), Palo Alto
Advance purchase tickets are $25 general admission; $18 seniors; $10 students and under 30. Tickets purchased at the door are $30, $22 and $10, respectively. SFEMS members receive a $5 discount when using promotion code “SFEMS” at www.calbach.org/tickets.pl. Tickets can be purchased in advance by phone at 650-485-1097 or online at www.calbach.org/tickets.pl. The deadline for advance sales is 5 PM on Thursday, December 4. For information, phone 650-485-1097, visit www.calbach.org, or email [email protected].
Mid-Peninsula Recorder Orchestra, Frederic Palmer, Director
Mid-Winter concert, featuring music of Francisco Guerrero, Josquin des Pres, Giorgio Mainerio, Johann Sebastian Bach, Georg Philipp Telemann, and 17th-century Polish composer Adam Jarzebski. Read more…
2 PM
Grace Lutheran Church
3149 Waverley Street in Palo Alto
Free
at http://mpro-online.org/ or 650-591-3648
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Nicholas McGegan, Conductor
“A Joyous Christmas: Vivaldi and Zelenka” Celebrate the holiday season with joyous sacred music by Antonio Vivaldi, Jan Dismas Zelenka, and others. Featured works include Vivaldi’s recently-discovered Dixit Dominus, whose pealing trumpets, exultant strings, and soaring choral harmonies rival his Gloria in beauty and magnificence; Zelenka’s Missa Nativitatis Domini (“Christmas Mass”), which includes ornate arias and duets, enthralling choral passages, and richly expressive harmonies from the orchestra; Prince Paul Esterházy’s Cur fles, Jesu; Pavel Josef Vejvanovský’s Sonata natalis; and Franz Joseph Haydn’s Ave Regina Coelorum, a tender hymn to a young girl Haydn loved but lost to the convent. With soloists Dominique Labelle, soprano; Christopher Ainslie, countertenor; Thomas Cooley, tenor; Dashon Burton, bass-baritone; and the Philharmonia Chorale, Bruce Lamott, director. John Prescott will give a prelude lecture 45 minutes before every concert.
8 PM
First Congregational Church
2345 Channing Way (entrance on Dana near Durant), Berkeley
$25–$100
Tickets, 415-392-4400
San Francisco Bach Choir, Magen Solomon, Director
“A Candlelight Christmas” SFBC transports audiences every year with its beloved, traditional candlelight Christmas concert. This season the performance includes many delightful new treats and surprises and is more family-friendly than ever. The program of seasonal music spans the 15th to 21st centuries, from Dufay, Praetorius, and Lasso to Mendelssohn and Aprahamian, and includes traditional carols as well. Singers will surround you with candlelight to share the joy of this glorious music. The Whole Noyse joins the choir with its eclectic collection of baroque and Renaissance instruments, including cornett, sackbut, curtal, recorder, crumhorn, and shawm, predecessors of modern instruments such as the bassoon, trombone, and oboe. Together they produce a distinctive and gorgeous sound, making the event nothing short of a grand holiday celebration.
8 PM
Calvary Presbyterian Church
2515 Fillmore St. (at Jackson), San Francisco
General $30, Senior $25, Students (with ID) $10, Youth Free
Tickets, 855-4SF-BACH (855-473-2224), toll-free, [email protected]
Sunday, December 7
California Bach Society, Paul Flight, Conductor
“A German Christmas” The California Bach Society explores a fascinating landscape of less-familiar works by German masters, traveling through several musical periods. Featured are compositions by Renaissance-Reformation and baroque era composers Bartholomëus Gesius, Michael Praetorius, Melchior Vulpius, Hans Leo Hassler, Johannes Eccard, Heinrich Schütz, Andreas Hammerschmidt, Johann Rudolph Ahle, and J.S. Bach; as well as later works by Carl Loewe, Felix Mendelssohn, Albert and Günter Raphael Becker, Carl Orff, Max Reger, and Hugo Distler. Read more…
4 PM
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church
2300 Bancroft Way (at Ellsworth), Berkeley.
Advance purchase tickets are $25 general admission; $18 seniors; $10 students and under 30. Tickets purchased at the door are $30, $22 and $10, respectively. SFEMS members receive a $5 discount when using promotion code “SFEMS” at www.calbach.org/tickets.pl. Tickets can be purchased in advance by phone at 650-485-1097 or online at www.calbach.org/tickets.pl. The deadline for advance sales is 5 PM on Thursday, December 4. For information, phone 650-485-1097, visit www.calbach.org, or email [email protected].
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Nicholas McGegan, Conductor
“A Joyous Christmas: Vivaldi and Zelenka” Celebrate the holiday season with joyous sacred music by Antonio Vivaldi, Jan Dismas Zelenka, and others. Featured works include Vivaldi’s recently-discovered Dixit Dominus, whose pealing trumpets, exultant strings, and soaring choral harmonies rival his Gloria in beauty and magnificence; Zelenka’s Missa Nativitatis Domini (“Christmas Mass”), which includes ornate arias and duets, enthralling choral passages, and richly expressive harmonies from the orchestra; Prince Paul Esterházy’s Cur fles, Jesu; Pavel Josef Vejvanovský’s Sonata natalis; and Franz Joseph Haydn’s Ave Regina Coelorum, a tender hymn to a young girl Haydn loved but lost to the convent. With soloists Dominique Labelle, soprano; Christopher Ainslie, countertenor; Thomas Cooley, tenor; Dashon Burton, bass-baritone; and the Philharmonia Chorale, Bruce Lamott, director. John Prescott will give a prelude lecture 45 minutes before every concert.
7:30 PM
First Congregational Church
2345 Channing Way (entrance on Dana near Durant), Berkeley
$25–$100
Tickets, 415-392-4400
San Francisco Bach Choir, Magen Solomon, Director
“A Candlelight Christmas” SFBC transports audiences every year with its beloved, traditional candlelight Christmas concert. This season the performance includes many delightful new treats and surprises and is more family-friendly than ever. The program of seasonal music spans the 15th to 21st centuries, from Dufay, Praetorius, and Lasso to Mendelssohn and Aprahamian, and includes traditional carols as well. Singers will surround you with candlelight to share the joy of this glorious music. The Whole Noyse joins the choir with its eclectic collection of baroque and Renaissance instruments, including cornett, sackbut, curtal, recorder, crumhorn, and shawm, predecessors of modern instruments such as the bassoon, trombone, and oboe. Together they produce a distinctive and gorgeous sound, making the event nothing short of a grand holiday celebration.
4 PM
Calvary Presbyterian Church
2515 Fillmore St. (at Jackson), San Francisco
General $30, Senior $25, Students (with ID) $10, Youth Free
Tickets, 855-4SF-BACH (855-473-2224), toll-free, [email protected]
