A change is being wrought in classical music – as an effort to remain artistically relevant or as a normal response to the diverse stimuli of the contemporary world, or both of those and more. And ground zero for that change is the small groups that, in classical parlance, play chamber music.
Chamber Music Day Live + Free is the signature event of San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music. It is not a day of endless repetitions of Beethoven and Brahms and beatific smiles in a hushed auditorium. It’s broad-ranging enough to include WiENER KiDS, definitely an outside-the-box group with a variety of alternative music/ experimental influences. While it might not bring the alternative music world’s wild side the way, say, the Switchboard Festival does, Chamber Music Day gives you a chance to experience a wild tangle of diverse acts ranging from the Francis Wong Unit (jazz) to the Musical Art Quintet (featuring Charith Premawardhana, who helped found Classical Revolution) to Clerestory (fantastic men’s vocal group), Agave Baroque, S.F. Opera Adler Fellows Laura Krumm and Ao Li, the Ives Quartet, and a variety of cool contemporary music ensembles. And it’s free.
You might not want to sit in on all seven hours at the Yerba Buena Center. But then again, you might. You definitely won’t hear the same music twice. And don't forget to stop by the SFCV booth to say hi.