Monday, February 26
American Bach Soloists, Jeffrey Thomas, Conductor
J.S. Bach, St. John Passion The great Passions of J. S. Bach remain unparalleled in their dramatic impact and universally experienced emotional effects. Bach took the genre to new worlds of expression, incorporating the Lutheran tradition of chorales with newer, Italianate operatic elements. The result is a powerful force of rhetoric that tells the Passion story reinforced by personalized illuminations of onlookers. This is music that transcends cultural, religious, and theatrical boundaries between performers and audience members, drawing in listeners as historical participants. Maestro Thomas, one of the baroque music world’s most celebrated Bach specialists, brings his unique and insightful perspectives to the podium in definitive performances that are profoundly beautiful and moving. With soloists Aaron Sheehan, tenor (Evangelist); Jesse Blumberg, baritone (Christus); Hélène Brunet,soprano; Robin Bier, contralto; Steven Brennfleck, tenor; Bryan Jolly, baritone; and the American Bach Choir.
7 PM
Davis Community Church
412 C St, Davis $35–$89
Tickets online, 415-621-7900
[email protected]
Wednesday, February 28
Early Music Open Mic Night
Join us for Early Music Open Mic Night in the East Bay, 4th Wednesday of the month from September through May. 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 Roland state of the art harpsichord/organ will be available on site as well as a regular piano. Food and drinks will be provided.
7–9:30 PM
Hillside Community Church,
1422 Navellier Street, El Cerrito
Donations gratefully accepted
[email protected]
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, March 2
California Bach Society, Paul Flight, Director
“The German Romantics” A program of sacred and secular vocal music by Felix Mendelssohn, Johannes Brahms, Anton Bruckner, Josef Rheinberger, Clara Schumann, Gustav Uwe Jenner, Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, and Moritz Hauptmann. Read more . . .
8 PM
St. Mark’s Lutheran Church
1111 O’Farrell Street, San Francisco
$35 (discounts for seniors and students)
Tickets online, [email protected] or 650-485-1097
http://www.calbach.org
East Bay Chapter, ARS
Monthly playing session with guest conductor Louise Carslake. New members and guests welcome.
7:30–10 PM
Zion Lutheran Church
5201 Park Blvd., Oakland
http://www.symbolicsolutions.com/ebrs-web2015/index.html
La Marina
“Music at the Hapsburg Court: from Maximilian I to Charles V, and beyond” Carlo Benedetti, cornetto & recorder; Mary Ellen Reed, dulcian, shawm & recorder; John Harris, sackbut; Brian Taylor, sackbut; Robin Houston, dulcian, shawm & recorder; and Peggy Murray, dulcian, shawm & recorder, perform sacred and secular music by des Prez, Gombert, Guerrero, Morales, Vasquez, Lobo, and others. La Marina is a Renaissance winds ensemble playing cornetto, sackbut, dulcian, shawm and recorder. The group formed in 2015 and specializes in the music of late15th, 16th, and early 17th century. Besides presenting concerts and accompanying vocal ensembles, the group presents educational programs for adults and schools, with demonstrations and explanations of both the music and a variety of wind instruments.
8 PM
St. Mary Magdalen Church
2005 Berryman St., Berkeley
$20/$15
www.facebook.com/LaMarinaEnsemble, [email protected]
SFEMS presents Les Délices, Debra Nagy, Director
“Age of Indulgence” Debra Nagy, baroque oboe; Julie Andrijeski and Adriane Post, violins; Emily Walhout, viola da gamba; and Mark Edwards, harpsichord perform some of the daring, experimental works from the French Rococo, works full of wit and elegance by François-André Philidor, Jean-Philippe Rameau, and others. Les Délices’ program spotlights the musical culture of Paris in the 1740s and ‘50s, a world with a wealth of opportunities to find a patron and thrive as a musician. The works on our program don’t conform to popular expectations about Baroque music, but they’re not quite Classical either. Rather, they mix the humor and wit of early Haydn and Gluck with some of C.P.E. Bach’s sturm und drang, adding characteristically lush French harmonies to create a truly unique sound. The result is a fusion of baroque gestures and Classical forms that combine with harmonic and technical virtuosity to yield expressive extremes. Read more . . .
8 PM
First Presbyterian Church
1140 Cowper Street (at Lincoln), Palo Alto
Tickets: General $45, Seniors $40.50, SFEMS Members $38.25, Students $15
Buy tickets online or phone 510-528-1725
www.sfems.org
Voices of Music, Hanneke van Proosdij and David Taylor, Co-Directors
“Leonardo da Vinci: A Musical Odyssey.” This concert explores the music that Leonardo da Vinci would have heard in the cities in which he lived. There is no surviving music that Leonardo da Vinci played or composed, but through the writings of Giorgio Vasari and contemporaneous accounts we know that Leonardo was an acclaimed virtuoso on the lira da braccio, a type of bowed string instrument, and that he loved to accompany himself as he sang improvised poetry. Proficiency in music was highly valued in his time alongside the study of art and architecture. Da Vinci’s life coincides with a burst of activity in music, including the invention of music printing by Ottaviano Petrucci in Venice as well as the patronage in the 1480s of Lorenzo de’ Medici in Florence. Our research for this project includes a variety of musical forms, including frottole, sung poetry, music from the Medici and Sforza courts, the circle of Isabella d’Este, and the Parisian chansons from da Vinci’s final years in France. Performers are Lawrence Rosenwald, poet and story-teller; Stefanie True, soprano; Deborah Rentz-Moore mezzo soprano; Shira Kammen, lira da braccio & Renaissance strings; Adaiha MacAdam-Somer & Elisabeth Reed, viols; Malachai Bandy, Renaissance winds and viol; Rotem Gilbert, Renaissance winds; Peter Maund, percussion; David Tayler, lute, and Hanneke van Proosdij, recorders.
8 PM
All Saints Episcopal Church
555 Waverly St., Palo Alto
$5–$45
Tickets online or 415-260-4687
Saturday, March 3
California Bach Society, Paul Flight, Director
“The German Romantics” A program of sacred and secular vocal music by Felix Mendelssohn, Johannes Brahms, Anton Bruckner, Josef Rheinberger, Clara Schumann, Gustav Uwe Jenner, Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, and Moritz Hauptmann. Read more . . .
8 PM
All Saints Episcopal Church
555 Waverly, Palo Alto
$35 (discounts for seniors and students)
Tickets online, [email protected] or 650-485-1097
http://www.calbach.org
SFEMS presents Les Délices, Debra Nagy, Director
“Age of Indulgence” Debra Nagy, baroque oboe; Julie Andrijeski and Adriane Post, violins; Emily Walhout, viola da gamba; and Mark Edwards, harpsichord perform some of the daring, experimental works from the French Rococo, works full of wit and elegance by François-André Philidor, Jean-Philippe Rameau, and others. Les Délices’ program spotlights the musical culture of Paris in the 1740s and ‘50s, a world with a wealth of opportunities to find a patron and thrive as a musician. The works on our program don’t conform to popular expectations about Baroque music, but they’re not quite Classical either. Rather, they mix the humor and wit of early Haydn and Gluck with some of C.P.E. Bach’s sturm und drang, adding characteristically lush French harmonies to create a truly unique sound. The result is a fusion of baroque gestures and Classical forms that combine with harmonic and technical virtuosity to yield expressive extremes. Read more . . .
7:30 PM
St. Mary Magdalen Church
2005 Berryman St., Berkeley
Tickets: General $45, Seniors $40.50, SFEMS Members $38.25, Students $15
Buy tickets online or phone 510-528-1725
www.sfems.org
Voices of Music, Hanneke van Proosdij and David Taylor, Co-Directors
“Leonardo da Vinci: A Musical Odyssey.” This concert explores the music that Leonardo da Vinci would have heard in the cities in which he lived. There is no surviving music that Leonardo da Vinci played or composed, but through the writings of Giorgio Vasari and contemporaneous accounts we know that Leonardo was an acclaimed virtuoso on the lira da braccio, a type of bowed string instrument, and that he loved to accompany himself as he sang improvised poetry. Proficiency in music was highly valued in his time alongside the study of art and architecture. Da Vinci’s life coincides with a burst of activity in music, including the invention of music printing by Ottaviano Petrucci in Venice as well as the patronage in the 1480s of Lorenzo de’ Medici in Florence. Our research for this project includes a variety of musical forms, including frottole, sung poetry, music from the Medici and Sforza courts, the circle of Isabella d’Este, and the Parisian chansons from da Vinci’s final years in France. Performers are Lawrence Rosenwald, poet and story-teller; Stefanie True, soprano; Deborah Rentz-Moore mezzo soprano; Shira Kammen, lira da braccio & Renaissance strings; Adaiha MacAdam-Somer & Elisabeth Reed, viols; Malachai Bandy, Renaissance winds and viol; Rotem Gilbert, Renaissance winds; Peter Maund, percussion; David Tayler, lute, and Hanneke van Proosdij, recorders.
8 PM
St. Mark’s Lutheran Church
1111 O’Farrell (at Gough), San Francisco
$5–$45
Tickets online or 415-260-4687
Sunday, March 4
Barbary Coast Recorder Orchestra, Frances Feldon and Greta Haug-Hryciw, music directors
“Harmony out of Chaos” Guest conductor Tom Bickley leads the orchestra in performances of original works and arrangements for recorder orchestra by Bickly, Machaut, Manning, Handel, Jenkins, Sansom, Verdelot, and Vivaldi. A presentation of Voices of Music.
4 PM
Arlington Community Church, Parish Hall
52 Arlington Avenue, Kensington
Free Donations gratefully accepted at the door
Information: [email protected]
California Bach Society, Paul Flight, Director
“The German Romantics” A program of sacred and secular vocal music by Felix Mendelssohn, Johannes Brahms, Anton Bruckner, Josef Rheinberger, Clara Schumann, Gustav Uwe Jenner, Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, and Moritz Hauptmann. Read more . . .
4 PM
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church
2300 Bancroft Way, Berkeley
$35 (discounts for seniors and students)
Tickets online, [email protected] or 650-485-1097
http://www.calbach.org
SFEMS presents Les Délices, Debra Nagy, Director
“Age of Indulgence” Debra Nagy, baroque oboe; Julie Andrijeski and Adriane Post, violins; Emily Walhout, viola da gamba; and Mark Edwards, harpsichord perform some of the daring, experimental works from the French Rococo, works full of wit and elegance by François-André Philidor, Jean-Philippe Rameau, and others. Les Délices’ program spotlights the musical culture of Paris in the 1740s and ‘50s, a world with a wealth of opportunities to find a patron and thrive as a musician. The works on our program don’t conform to popular expectations about Baroque music, but they’re not quite Classical either. Rather, they mix the humor and wit of early Haydn and Gluck with some of C.P.E. Bach’s sturm und drang, adding characteristically lush French harmonies to create a truly unique sound. The result is a fusion of baroque gestures and Classical forms that combine with harmonic and technical virtuosity to yield expressive extremes. Read more . . .
4 PM
Church of the Advent
261 Fell St., San Francisco
Tickets: General $45, Seniors $40.50, SFEMS Members $38.25, Students $15
Buy tickets online or phone 510-528-1725
www.sfems.org
Voices of Music, Hanneke van Proosdij and David Taylor, Co-Directors
“Leonardo da Vinci: A Musical Odyssey.” This concert explores the music that Leonardo da Vinci would have heard in the cities in which he lived. There is no surviving music that Leonardo da Vinci played or composed, but through the writings of Giorgio Vasari and contemporaneous accounts we know that Leonardo was an acclaimed virtuoso on the lira da braccio, a type of bowed string instrument, and that he loved to accompany himself as he sang improvised poetry. Proficiency in music was highly valued in his time alongside the study of art and architecture. Da Vinci’s life coincides with a burst of activity in music, including the invention of music printing by Ottaviano Petrucci in Venice as well as the patronage in the 1480s of Lorenzo de’ Medici in Florence. Our research for this project includes a variety of musical forms, including frottole, sung poetry, music from the Medici and Sforza courts, the circle of Isabella d’Este, and the Parisian chansons from da Vinci’s final years in France. Performers are Lawrence Rosenwald, poet and story-teller; Stefanie True, soprano; Deborah Rentz-Moore mezzo soprano; Shira Kammen, lira da braccio & Renaissance strings; Adaiha MacAdam-Somer & Elisabeth Reed, viols; Malachai Bandy, Renaissance winds and viol; Rotem Gilbert, Renaissance winds; Peter Maund, percussion; David Tayler, lute, and Hanneke van Proosdij, recorders.
7:30 PM
St. Mary Magdalen Church
2005 Berryman St., Berkeley
$5–$45
Tickets online or 415-260-4687
Continue reading next week’s calendar . . .
