Photo by Janos Gereben
Eos is the Greek goddess of dawn (Aurora is the Roman equivalent), but in San Francisco musical circles, it's an unusual and special chamber-music ensemble.
San Francisco Opera and Ballet violinist Craig Reiss recruited a dozen colleagues a decade ago to "play music we want to play, in the company of colleagues and friends."
Saturday night, Eos celebrated the anniversary at Old First Concerts with a rich, generous program. Opening the concert was the premiere of a work commissioned for the occasion: Jose González Granero's Preludio.
González, who became S.F. Opera's principal clarinetist at 25 three years ago, was joined by Reiss, violinist Wenyi Shih, violist Caroline Lee, and cellist Thalia Moore.
The eight-minute-long Preludio is a mature, entertaining, excellent work. Although González hails from Spain, his composition had a Viennese Fin de siècle sound — mellow, melodic, and refined.
Into the hush of the strings González' clarinet entered with a big sound, somewhat out of balance. Playing settled down, to a playful, harmonic conclusion.
Although they played the night before at the Opera Orchestra's Cal Performances concert, the Eos-ians took on Beethoven's long and demanding Septet for Winds and Strings, Op. 20, and did themselves proud. Joining Reiss, Lee, González, and Moore for the Beethoven were bassist Ken Miller, bassoonist Rufus Olivier, and hornist Kevin Rivard.
The concert's second half presented Muriel Maffre's choreography for Stravinsky's L'Histoire du soldat, danced by Kimberly Braylock. Mary Chun conducted a spirited performance by the ensemble, which also included Adam Luftman (trumpet), Bruce Chrisp (trombone), and Rick Kvistad (percussion). Former Adler Fellow tenor Matthew O'Neill served as the Narrator.