Too often the summer season finds music ensembles going on physical or artistic hiatus, taking an extended vacation or programming concerts heavy on lighter repertory. Not so the San Francisco Choral Society, a symphonic chorus under the musical direction of Robert Geary, which bucks the tide with substantial works by Beethoven and Britten on July 31 and Aug. 1 at San Francisco’s Calvary Presbyterian Church.
The American Bach Soloists’ first annual Academy, held July 5-18 at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, offers more than just another summer festival. Sure, the Academy gathers elite faculty performers for enough concerts and lectures to satisfy even diehard fans. But by bringing a select group of emerging professional musicians alongside masters of the trade, the Academy also offers a revealing glimpse into the future of early-music performance.
If any Renaissance composer can be said to have the “wow” factor, it would be Carlo Gesualdo. Nobleman, criminal, and all-around troubled soul, Gesualdo pushed music’s limits to the extreme, unmatched in his own time and for centuries afterward in his chromatic harmonies and expressive contrasts.
Among the essential qualities of a successful English Renaissance composer, flexibility must have ranked high on most people’s lists. Rapid power shifts among 16th-century monarchs prompted drastic upheavals in aesthetic thought, requiring that composers quickly adapt to the musical or religious ideals of whoever happened to be in charge.
The new-music chamber ensemble Earplay boasts some impressive numbers. In 25 years of existence the group has performed more than 425 works, introduced 104 world premieres, and commissioned 45 new compositions. Many of these pieces have Bay Area roots, part of conductor Mary Chun’s stated emphasis on giving voice to local composers.
Cantare Con Vivo Music Director David Morales takes the title of his ensemble quite literally. In 23 years of conducting this conglomerate of large, small, and children’s groups, he has developed an unwavering commitment to using singers’ own life experiences to enhance their performance. “I thrive on getting singers to risk investing their personal stories into the texts they are singing, through the given notes, dynamics, and rhythms,” he says. “The challenge for me is turning ink on a page — both notes and words — into sounds that go past our ears and touch our very core.
The idea of the armed man loomed large across the Renaissance musical landscape. Out of a simple tune called L’Homme armé, composers crafted more than 40 separate Masses — a tradition longer and more far-reaching than any other.
If any Renaissance composer can be said to have the “wow” factor, it would be Carlo Gesualdo. Nobleman, criminal, and all-around troubled soul, Gesualdo pushed music’s limits to the extreme, unmatched in his own time and for centuries afterward in his chromatic harmonies and expressive contrasts.
Among the essential qualities of a successful English Renaissance composer, flexibility must have ranked high on most people’s lists. Rapid power shifts among 16th-century monarchs prompted drastic upheavals in aesthetic thought, requiring that composers quickly adapt to the musical or religious ideals of whoever happened to be in charge.
The new-music chamber ensemble Earplay boasts some impressive numbers. In 25 years of existence the group has performed more than 425 works, introduced 104 world premieres, and commissioned 45 new compositions. Many of these pieces have Bay Area roots, part of conductor Mary Chun’s stated emphasis on giving voice to local composers.
The idea of the armed man loomed large across the Renaissance musical landscape. Out of a simple tune called L’Homme armé, composers crafted more than 40 separate Masses — a tradition longer and more far-reaching than any other.