Calendar: October 21–27, 2019

Wednesday, October  23

Early Music Open Mic Night
la-barre-and-other-musicians-bouys-croppedJoin 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 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]


Saturday, October 26

San Francisco Conservatory of Music
Conservatory Baroque Ensemble, Corey Jamason and Elisabeth Reed, co-directors, present a concert of vocal music by Barbara Strozzi, celebrating the 400th anniversary of the composer’s birth. Program TBA

7:30 PM
SF Conservatory, Sol Joseph Recital Hall
50 Oak Street, San Francisco
Free, reservations recommended
Reserve tickets online, 415-503-6275  or [email protected]

Sonoma Bach, Robert Worth, Director
“Scepter’d Isle” A deep dive into Elizabethan music. Sometimes referred to as the “Golden Age of English Music,” the period witnessed a remarkable flowering of music both vocal and instrumental. The concert focuses on several of the greatest composers and several of their most outstanding publications, such as William Byrd’s Psalmes, sonets and songs (1588); Antony Holborne’s Galliards, Almains and other short Aeirs (1599); and John Dowland’s famous Lachrimae, or Seaven Teares (1604). Madrigals, motets, lute airs, consort songs, string dances and intimate lute solos from these and other publications weave together to create a lively evocation of “this blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.” With Christopher Fritzsche, countertenor; Kevin Cooper, lute; Green Mountain Consort and Live Oak Baroque Orchestra.

3 PM Bachgrounder pre-concert talk, 2:25 pm
Schroeder Hall, Green Music Center
1801 E. Cotati Ave., Rohnert Park
Tickets $28/$15
877-914-bach, 707-347-9491 or www.sonomabach.org

Tactus SF, Jonathon Hampton, Director
“Music for Renewal” The 16-voice early-music chorus begins its fourth season with a program a cappella music in Latin and English, largely from the 16th and 17th centuries. The program’s theme of renewal is represented by settings of the Kyrie—the opening section of a high mass—by Sigismondo d’India, Tomas Luis de Victoria, and Hans Leo Hassler. More sacred text, enlivening aspects of the Christian faith, as so much 16th-century music does, is brought to our ears through polyphony by Porta, Morales, and Pinarol. Additional biblical allegory, particularly of the ascension, is brought to life through compositions by Praetorius, Isaac, Handl-Gallus, and Tye, spanning the major European countries contributing to the canon of Renaissance masterpieces.

4 PM Wine reception to follow concert
Good Shepherd Episcopal Church
1823 Ninth Street, Berkeley
Tickets available now on Eventbrite ($15)
www.Tactus-SF.org


Sunday, October 27

Tactus SF, Jonathon Hampton, Director
“Music for Renewal” The 16-voice early-music chorus begins its fourth season with a program a cappella music in Latin and English, largely from the 16th and 17th centuries. The program’s theme of renewal is represented by settings of the Kyrie—the opening section of a high mass—by Sigismondo d’India, Tomas Luis de Victoria, and Hans Leo Hassler. More sacred text, enlivening aspects of the Christian faith, as so much 16th-century music does, is brought to our ears through polyphony by Porta, Morales, and Pinarol. Additional biblical allegory, particularly of the ascension, is brought to life through compositions by Praetorius, Isaac, Handl-Gallus, and Tye, spanning the major European countries contributing to the canon of Renaissance masterpieces.

4 PM Wine reception to follow concert
Church of the Advent
261 Fell Street, San Francisco
Tickets available now on Eventbrite ($15)
www.Tactus-SF.org

Continue reading next week’s calendar . . .

Written by Jonathan Harris