Thursday, January 4, 2018

Sunset Music and Arts Plans Six Keyboard Recitals

The remaining series of concerts presented by Sunset Music and Arts that will begin this month is entitled Recital: Instrumental Series. One could actually be more specific and call this the “Keyboard” series. The last of the six recitals to be performed will be on the organ at the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation, while the five preceding concerts will all be piano recitals.

As with the other concert series, all recitals will take place at the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation, located at 1750 29th Avenue, about halfway between Moraga Street and Noriega Street. Ticket prices for all concerts will be $20 for general admission with a $15 rate for students and seniors; and tickets may be purchased online through Eventbrite. As is the case with the Chamber/Ensemble Series, subscriptions are not being sold; but each date and time in the schedule has a hyperlink to the event page for single ticket purchases. Further information may be obtained by calling 415-564-2324. All concerts will take place on a Saturday with specific dates and times as follows:

January 20, 4 p.m.: The series will begin, appropriately enough, with the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Recitalist Misuzu Tanaka will open with Bach’s BWV 971 “Italian” concerto for keyboard solo in F major. This will be followed by Felix Mendelssohn’s retrospective nod to Bach, the first (in E minor) of his Opus 35 collection of preludes and fugues. The first half of the program will then conclude with Ludwig van Beethoven’s Opus 109 sonata in E major. The second half will begin with a piano sonata by Leoš Janáček giving the date of workers’ protest as its title “1.X.1905” (also given the subtitle “From the Street”). The program will then conclude with the so-called “Dante” sonata from the second “year” of Franz Liszt’s Années de pèlerinage (years of pilgrimage).

February 3, 4 p.m.: Monica Chew will present an all-Beethoven program, framed by two of the composer’s most extensive works, his Opus 120 (“Diabelli”) set of variations and the Opus 111 sonata in C minor; between these two selections she will perform the Opus 126 set of bagatelles.

March 17, 7:30 p.m.: Joana Gonzalez has prepared a recital that will also begin with Bach, this time the BWV 827 partita in A minor. The remainder of her program will offer an impressive range of virtuosic challenges, beginning with Frédéric Chopin’s Opus 61, which he called a “Polonaise-Fantasie,” in A-flat major. Equally challenging will be Maurice Ravel’s “Valse Nobles et Sentimentales;” and the program will conclude with Alberto Ginastera’s Opus 28 (first) sonata.

May 5, 7:30 p.m.: Anne Rainwater will present a program that will begin with Bach and then follow with music from both this and the preceding centuries. She will feature a piece written for her by Bryce Cannell, who will be in attendance to discuss his work. The other composers on the program will be Pierre Boulez, David Lang, and Chris Gendall. Specific titles will be provided at a later date.

June 16, 4 p.m.: Eric Tran will present a program consisting entirely of études by Chopin, playing the Opus 10 set in the first half and the Opus 25 set in the second.

October 27, 4 p.m.: The one organ recital in the series will be presented by Othello Jefferson. As might be expected, his program will include Bach, as well as Mendelssohn, Hubert Parry, and several other composers. Details will be provided at a later date.

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