The Sierra Chamber Society, featuring members of the SF Symphony and distinguished guests, is delighted to announce its 2019-20 (33rd) season of five concerts. The first program on October 27, 2019 at 3 PM, features members of the SF Symphony and SF Ballet Orchestra in a diverse program including the premiere of a new work by celebrated musicologist and composer, Joseph Way, three of whose previous works have received their first performances with the SCS. Mr. Way has composed an eclectic quintet for the ensemble of clarinet, trumpet, horn, tuba and piano, which he subtitles "Anachronisms," a spicy blend of jazz and Klezmer elements. The program will feature as well Ravel's symphonic and virtuosic Sonata for Violin and Cello, dedicated to Claude Debussy, and concludes with Brahms' masterpiece, the Trio for Horn, Violin and Piano Op. 40. The illustrious ensemble in this concert includes Wyatt Underhill, Assistant Concertmaster of the SF Symphony, Robert Howard, cello, Philharmonia Baroque, Aaron Schuman, Associate Principal trumpet of the SF Symphony, Jerry Simas, Principal bass clarinet of the SF Symphony, Chris Cooper, horn, SF Symphony, Peter Wahrhaftig, Principal tuba of the SF Ballet Orchestra and Marc Shapiro, pianist with the SF Symphony.
The SCS 33rd concert season continues on Sunday December 8, 2019 with the celebrated Left Coast Chamber Ensemble performing Olivier Messaien's seldom-heard masterpiece from the WWII POW camp, his Quartet for the End of Time for Clarinet, Violin, Cello and Piano. Also heard on this program will be Debussy's delightful and idiomatic late work, his Sonata for Cello and Piano.
Next in the season, on January 26, 2020, members of the SF Symphony will be heard in works by George Rochberg, the Ricordanza, or Solioquy for Cello and Piano (1972), a lyrical and achingly beautiful tribute to his deceased son, which, celebrating Rochberg's well known break from serial, atonal composition, famously quotes from a Beethoven Cello Sonata, Madeleine Dring's fanciful trio for Flute, Oboe and Piano, Benjamin Britten's Temporal Variations for Oboe and Piano and, concluding with a work by Britten's teacher, Frank Bridge, his seldom heard and eminently listenable masterpiece, his second String Quartet.
On March 15, 2020 the SCS will present, arguably, its most ambitious and rewarding program of the season, featuring the renowned Telegraph String Quartet (TSQ), winners of the prestigious 2016 Naumburg International Chamber Music Competition, with guest soprano/mezzosoprano, and a rising New York City and international star, Abigail Fischer (www.abigailfischer.com) in the premiere of a SCS commission by eminent American composer, Robert Sirota, a work entitled "Contrapassos for Voice and String Quartet," with lyrics by SCS Director and Pianist Stevan Cavalier. Mr. Sirota is past president of the Peabody Conservatory and Manhattan School of Music, and will be celebrated on his birthday in October 2019 in a concert of his work in NYC's Merkin Hall at the Kaufman Music Center, launching a year of international commissions and performances from his extensive oeuvre in celebration of "Sirota@70." The SCS commission is to be an important part of this celebration. The TSQ will perform another most unusual and ambitious work on this program, Arnold Schoenberg's early post-romantic masterpiece, his second String Quartet Op. 10 which is famous as both his last tonal work and for including an extended soprano solo in its last two movements, set to poetry by the German expressionist writer, Stefan Georg. Mr. Fischer will perform in this piece as well. To cap it all off, the TSQ will perform Beethoven's colossal String Quartet No. 14 Op. 131, its seven uninterrupted movements a wonder of invention and profundity.
Finally, on June 3, 2020, the SCS concludes its 33rd season with members of the SF Symphony playing Haydn's delightful String Quartet Op. 77 No. 2 and Igor Stravinsky's Divertimento for Violin and Piano, Samuel Dushkin's reduction of Stravinsky's orchestral suite from the ballet "The Fairy's Kiss." The program and season will conclude with Bedrich Smetana's much beloved String Quartet No. 1, "From my life."
All SCS programs take place on Sunday's at 3 PM at Grace Presbyterian Church, 2100 Tice Valley Blvd, in Walnut Creek (1 block east of the Rossmoor Parkway intersection). Ticket prices continue to represent one of the true bargains on the Bay Area chamber music scene. Season subscribers enjoy a substantial discount as well. Both individual tickets and season subscriptions may be purchased via the link at this website, or at www.sierrachamber.com. Seating is open, but SCS concerts frequently threaten to sell out, so advance ticket purchase is advisable.