Monday, March 25
American Bach Soloists, Jeffrey Thomas, conductor
Johann Sebastian Bach, Passion According to St. Matthew. ABS and Thomas, “unsurpassable as a Bach interpreter” (San Francisco Classical Voice), have become closely associated with Bach’s masterpiece, the Saint Matthew Passion. Their emotionally stirring performances are unforgettable. The experience of their 2012 performances of an early version of the work made a profound impact on audiences and critics alike. “I am so grateful I was there,” one patron excitedly proclaimed. SFCV also remarked that the work, “when cleansed of much historical baggage, shone as new. Thanks to Thomas and ABS for such a profoundly beautiful, moving evening.” Returning to its more familiar form this season, Thomas will direct the Passion with his distinctive focus on musical detail, transparent textures, direct expression, and intense intimacy. ABS and the American Bach Choir will be joined by ten superb vocal soloists: tenor Guy Cutting (Evangelista), baritone William Sharp (Christus), sopranos Hélène Brunet and Katelyn Aungst, contralto Agnes Vojtko, countertenor Nicholas Burns, tenors Steven Brennfleck and Matthew Hill, and baritones Jesse Blumberg and Constantine Novotny.
7 PM
Davis Community Church
412 C Street at Fourth
Tickets online $35 to $89
800-595-4TIX (-4849), [email protected]
http://americanbach.org
Wednesday, March 27
Early Music Open Mic Night
Join us for Early Music Open Mic Night in the East Bay, 4th Wednesday of every month. 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 harpsichord/organ as well as a piano will be available on site. 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
Thursday, March 28
Voices of Music
“As Steals the Morn: Music of Bach and Handel” Internationally acclaimed singers Amanda Forsythe and Thomas Cooley join Voices of Music for a spectacular evening of instrumental and vocal music including the Bach orchestral suite in B Minor and arias from Handel’s operas. With soloists Emi Ferguson, baroque flute, and Marc Schachman, baroque oboe.
8 PM
All Saints Episcopal Church
555 Waverly, Palo Alto
$47 Adult, $42 Senior/SFEMS/EMA/ARS. Full-time student: $5
Tickets online
Friday, March 29
Junior Bach Festival
66th annual Junior Bach Festival continues (Concert 7)
The Junior Bach Festival is dedicated to touching young lives by promoting the study and performance of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Presented annually about the time of Bach’s birthday, March 21, the Festival features in concert some of the finest young musical talent in California (ages 6 to 18), chosen by audition. Tickets are $17 general admission, $12 Seniors, $5 for students 12 and under, except as noted below. There is a FAMILY PACKAGE, where ALL family members (parents, siblings and grandparents) may attend a single concert for $50. (Exception: Concert 4, 10 and 11, as noted). More concert details at www.juniorbach.org. Performances are scheduled the weekends of March 22–24 and March 29–31. Twelve concerts (all different) at venues around the Bay Area feature young people performing works of Johann Sebastian Bach. Click on concert numbers to see detailed programs.
7:30 PM (Concert 7)
Christ Episcopal Church
815 Portola Road, Portola Valley
925-837-1683, [email protected], or www.juniorbach.org
New Esterházy Quartet
“The Hunt for Bb” Kati Kyme and Lisa Weiss, violins; Anthony Martin, viola; and William Skeen, cello, perform quartets by Haydn, Op. 55 no. 3; Beethoven, Op. 18, no. 6; and Brahms, Op. 67.
8 PM
St. Mary Magdalen
2005 Berryman St., Berkeley
$30 (discounts for SFEMS members, seniors, and students)
Tickets online, 510-334-3882, or [email protected]
www.newesterhazy.org
Voices of Music
“As Steals the Morn: Music of Bach and Handel” Internationally acclaimed singers Amanda Forsythe and Thomas Cooley join Voices of Music for a spectacular evening of instrumental and vocal music including the Bach orchestral suite in B Minor and arias from Handel’s operas. With soloists Emi Ferguson, baroque flute, and Marc Schachman, baroque oboe.
8 PM
St. Mark’s Lutheran Church
1111 O’Farrell St., San Francisco
$47 Adult, $42 Senior/SFEMS/EMA/ARS. Full-time student: $5
Tickets online
Saturday, March 30
Bay Area Baroque Orchestra, Frances Blaker, Conductor
BABO, a community orchestra for accomplished amateur musicians interested in playing music of the baroque era in historically informed style, performs a free, public concert. Reception following the concert.
7 PM
Parish Hall, St. Clements Episcopal Church
2837 Claremont Blvd., Berkeley
Free
Junior Bach Festival
66th annual Junior Bach Festival continues (Concerts 8, 9 & 10)
The Junior Bach Festival is dedicated to touching young lives by promoting the study and performance of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Presented annually about the time of Bach’s birthday, March 21, the Festival features in concert some of the finest young musical talent in California (ages 6 to 18), chosen by audition. Tickets are $17 general admission, $12 Seniors, $5 for students 12 and under, except as noted below. There is a FAMILY PACKAGE, where ALL family members (parents, siblings and grandparents) may attend a single concert for $50. (Exception: Concert 4, 10 and 11, as noted). More concert details at www.juniorbach.org. Performances are scheduled the weekends of March 22–24 and March 29–31. Twelve concerts (all different) at venues around the Bay Area feature young people performing works of Johann Sebastian Bach. Click on concert numbers to see detailed programs.
4 PM (Concert 8)
7:30 PM (Concert 9)
The Crowden Music Center
1475 Rose Street, Berkeley
7:30 PM (Concert 10)
St. Mary Magdalen Church
2005 Berryman Street, Berkeley
(NOTE: Concerts 9 and 10 run concurrently)
925-837-1683, [email protected], or www.juniorbach.org
New Esterházy Quartet
“The Hunt for Bb” Kati Kyme and Lisa Weiss, violins; Anthony Martin, viola; and William Skeen, cello, perform quartets by Haydn, Op. 55 no. 3; Beethoven, Op. 18, no. 6; and Brahms, Op. 67.
4 PM
St. Mark’s Lutheran Church
2005 Berryman St., Berkeley
$30 (discounts for SFEMS members, seniors, and students)
Tickets online, 510-334-3882, or [email protected]
www.newesterhazy.org
Sonoma Bach
“Sacred Realms: Agnus Dei” We return to St. Seraphim for our fifth annual concert in its inspiring space and acoustics. Our repertoire is built around the Missa Paschalis of Ludwig Senfl. Set for five voices, the piece invokes a special world of its own—particularly in the atmospheric Gloria, consisting of many small ‘tone paintings’ which bring to life the successive sections of the text. A Credo by Senfl’s teacher and colleague Heinrich Isaac and motets from the monumental collection Choralis Constantinus complete the music for Easter Mass, while Senfl’s joyful (and rarely performed) Quinque salutationes Domini nostri Jesu Christi punctuates the program with its many exuberant terms of endearment.
8 PM BachGrounder at 7:25 PM
St. Seraphim of Sarov Orthodox Church
90 Mountain View Ave., Santa Rosa
$25/$15
Tickets
South Bay Recorder Society
“Birth Pangs of the Baroque: Frottole and Madrigals by 16th-century Italians and the Oltremontani,” a Spring Workshop directed by Letitia Berlin. Come spend a day exploring Italy in the 16th century, the birthplace of the baroque. We’ll discover the early 16th century’s beginnings of word and text painting with Arcadelt, Verdelot, Willaert, Festa, and others who will illuminate our search for the origins of the baroque. We’ll soar to the heights of madrigalian expressiveness with the mid- to late-century composers Monteverdi, Gesualdo, Marenzio, Giovanni Gabrieli, and the Northerners who came to Italy to study the madrigal—Giaches de Wert, Heinrich Schütz, Mogens Pedersøn, and more. Workshop participants may choose between all-day (9 AM–4 PM) or half-day (9 AM–12:15 or 1:15–4 PM) sessions. In addition to recorders, all soft instruments (viols, harps, soft reeds) are welcome. Please bring your instruments, music stand, and your lunch. Hot and cold beverages and snacks will be provided during breaks.
9:00 AM to 4:00 PM (9 AM Registration; 9:30 AM Downbeat)
First Congregational Church of San Jose
1980 Hamilton Avenue (corner of Leigh), San Jose
SBRS, ARS, SFEMS Members Whole Day Fee $50, Half Day Fee $30; Non-Members Whole Day Fee $55, Half Day Fee $35 Make check payable to SBRS and mail to Anne Ng, Treasurer, 6031 Bollinger Road, Cupertino, CA 95014
Questions? Contact Anne Ng, 408-257-6506, or [email protected]. For information about the SBRS chapter or workshop, contact Ani Mahler at 925-381-1667 or visit our website at https://sbrs-recorders.herokuapp.com/#/
Sunday, March 31
Junior Bach Festival
66th annual Junior Bach Festival concludes (Concerts 11 & 12)
The Junior Bach Festival is dedicated to touching young lives by promoting the study and performance of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Presented annually about the time of Bach’s birthday, March 21, the Festival features in concert some of the finest young musical talent in California (ages 6 to 18), chosen by audition. Tickets are $17 general admission, $12 Seniors, $5 for students 12 and under, except as noted below. There is a FAMILY PACKAGE, where ALL family members (parents, siblings and grandparents) may attend a single concert for $50. (Exception: Concert 4, 10 and 11, as noted). More concert details at www.juniorbach.org. Performances are scheduled the weekends of March 22–24 and March 29–31. Twelve concerts (all different) at venues around the Bay Area feature young people performing works of Johann Sebastian Bach. Click on concert numbers to see detailed programs.
1 PM (Concert 11)
Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse
2020 Addison Street, Berkeley
(NOTE: Tickets $16 purchased online in advance, $20 at Box Office.)
7:30 PM (Concert 12)
St. Mark’s Lutheran Church
1111 O’Farrell, San Francisco
925-837-1683, [email protected], or www.juniorbach.org
MUSA
Celebrate Johann Sebastian Bach’s 334th birthday with four works by Bach and two of his sons, played on copies of historical instruments! Laura Rubinstein-Salzedo, baroque violin; Gretchen Claassen, baroque cello; and Derek Tam, harpsichord, perform J.S. Bach, Sonata for violin and keyboard in A major, BWV 1015; and Sonata for viola da gamba and keyboard in G major, BWV 1027; C.P.E. Bach, Keyboard Trio from Wq. 91; and J.C. Bach, Keyboard Trio from Op. 15.
4:30 PM
California Jazz Conservatory
2087 Addison Street, Berkeley
Tickets online $20
New Esterházy Quartet
“The Hunt for Bb” Kati Kyme and Lisa Weiss, violins; Anthony Martin, viola; and William Skeen, cello, perform quartets by Haydn, Op. 55 no. 3; Beethoven, Op. 18, no. 6; and Brahms, Op. 67.
4 PM
All Saints Episcopal Church
555 Waverly, Palo Alto
$30 (discounts for SFEMS members, seniors, and students)
Tickets online, 510-334-3882, or [email protected]
www.newesterhazy.org
Sonoma Bach
“Sacred Realms: Agnus Dei” We return to St. Seraphim for our fifth annual concert in its inspiring space and acoustics. Our repertoire is built around the Missa Paschalis of Ludwig Senfl. Set for five voices, the piece invokes a special world of its own—particularly in the atmospheric Gloria, consisting of many small ‘tone paintings’ which bring to life the successive sections of the text. A Credo by Senfl’s teacher and colleague Heinrich Isaac and motets from the monumental collection Choralis Constantinus complete the music for Easter Mass, while Senfl’s joyful (and rarely performed) Quinque salutationes Domini nostri Jesu Christi punctuates the program with its many exuberant terms of endearment.
3 PM BachGrounder at 2:25 PM
St. Seraphim of Sarov Orthodox Church
90 Mountain View Ave., Santa Rosa
$25/$15
Tickets
Voices of Music
“As Steals the Morn: Music of Bach and Handel” Internationally acclaimed singers Amanda Forsythe and Thomas Cooley join Voices of Music for a spectacular evening of instrumental and vocal music including the Bach orchestral suite in B Minor and arias from Handel’s operas. With soloists Emi Ferguson, baroque flute, and Marc Schachman, baroque oboe.
7:30 PM
St. Mary Magdalen Church
2005 Berryman St., Berkeley
$47 Adult, $42 Senior/SFEMS/EMA/ARS. Full-time student: $5
Tickets online
Continue reading next week’s calendar . . .
