San Francisco Conservatory of Music, 50 Oak St at Van Ness, SF 94102 (Map)(Tickets)
A limited supply of individual tickets may be available at the box office on a first-come first-served basis along with a small number of standing room tickets.
Dawn Harms, Music Director & Conductor
Saint-Saëns- Cello Concerto No. 1
Emil Miland, cello
Elgar - Sea Pictures
Jill Grove, mezzo-soprano
Brahms - Symphony No. 4
Part of BARS' LGBTQ Composer and Performing Artist Series, which strives to redefine perceptions of LGBTQ music and increase awareness of the beauty, talents, and accomplishments of fellow LGBTQ individuals and groups.
About Jill Grove, mezzo-soprano
Praised by the Chicago Tribune for her “firmly knit tone from top to bottom of an imposingly wide range,” American mezzo-soprano Jill Grove makes returns to Houston Grand Opera as Ježibaba in Rusalka, Lyric Opera of Chicago as Margret in Wozzeck, and San Francisco Opera as Buryja in Jen?fa in the 2015-16 season. She also returns to Baba the Turk in The Rake’s Progress with Pittsburgh Opera and, in her home state of Texas, Verdi’s Requiem with the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra. Future engagements include returns to the Lyric Opera of Chicago and San Francisco Opera.
A sought-after concert soloist, she has joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, National Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Utah Symphony, Houston Symphony, and Santa Fe Symphony for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. She has sung Verdi’s Requiem with the Toronto Symphony under the baton of Sir Andrew Davis, Tucson Symphony, and Calgary Philharmonic; Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 with the Houston Symphony under the baton of Christoph Eschenbach and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra with Mariss Jansons conducting. Ms. Grove performed Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the San Francisco Symphony conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas; Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the Minnesota Orchestra; Brahms’ Alto Rhapsody with the American Classical Orchestra; and Verdi’s Requiem with the Dallas Symphony conducted by Jaap van Zweden.
Ms. Grove’s recordings include Ulrica on a Chandos recording of Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera, Auntie in Peter Grimes on the London Symphony Orchestra Live label with Sir Colin Davis and in a new production by John Doyle at the Metropolitan Opera (available on EMI DVD), Magdalene in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg under the baton of James Levine and issued on DVD by Deutsche Grammophon, as well as the Muschel in Strauss’s Die ägyptische Helena with the American Symphony Orchestra on Teldec.
She is the winner of the 2003 ARIA award, a 2001 Richard Tucker Foundation Career Grant, a 1999 George London Foundation Career Grant, a 1997 Sullivan Foundation Career Grant, a 1996 winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, a 1996 recipient of a Richard Tucker Foundation Study Grant, and a 1995 recipient of a Richard F. Gold Career Grant. She was a member of the Merola Program at San Francisco Opera and the Houston Grand Opera Studio and attended the Music Academy of the West, the New England Conservatory, and Stephen F. Austin State University. She received a Distinguished Alumna Award from the latter university in 2006. About Emil Miland, cello Cellist Emil Miland is an acclaimed soloist, chamber and orchestral musician. He made his solo debut at age 16 with the San Francisco Symphony, the same year he was selected to perform in the Rostropovich Master Classes at UC Berkeley. A graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music, he has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and Chamber Music America. He has been a member of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra since 1988 and has collaborated with Jamie Barton, Joyce DiDonato, Susan Graham, Marilyn Horne, Frederica von Stade, and the late Zheng Cao and Lorraine Hunt-Lieberson. In 2010 Miland was invited by von Stade to perform with her at Carnegie Hall for her farewell recital.
Many composers have written and dedicated works for him, including Ernst Bacon, David Carlson, David Conte, Shinji Eshima, John Grimmett, Lou Harrison, Jake Heggie, Richard Hervig, Andrew Imbrie, James Meredith and Dwight Okamura. Recordings include David Carlson's Cello Concerto No. 1 with the Utah Symphony on New World Records and his Sonata for Cello and Piano with David Korevaar on MSR Records. Miland is featured on David Conte's recently released CD of chamber music for Albany Records, on which he performs Conte's Concerto for Violoncello and Piano (written for Miland) with Miles Graber, as well as Conte's Piano Trio with violinist Kay Stern and pianist Keisuke Nakagoshi. This recording has been met with critical acclaim, with reviewers praising Miland's “impeccable playing in terms of both technique and taste,” and lauding him for “extracting every ounce of passion from this passionate work.” Miland is featured on many of Jake Heggie's recordings, beginning with the RCA Red Seal CD The Faces of Love: The Songs of Jake Heggie and, most recently, the 2013 release Here/After: Songs of Lost Voices on Pentatone.
Miland is presented in “The Heart of a Bell,” a film by Eric Theirmann and Aleksandra Wolska, performing Smirti, a haunting elegy for cello, Tibetan chimes and bells with the Sonos Handbell Ensemble. Miland joined Sonos in December 2012 as a soloist on their nine city tour of Japan. He also appears in the 2012 documentary “Lou Harrison: A World of Music” by Eva Soltes. In 2013 he made his Paris recital debut under the auspices of The European American Alliance. Earlier this year, Miland toured to Hawaii and Australia performing chamber music and in July was presented in recital at The Bear Valley Music Festival. He performs on Love Life, a recording featuring soprano Ann Moss and music by Jake Heggie, Liam Wade and Joni Mitchell. He performs regularly as a member of The Lowell Trio with Janet Archibald, oboe, and Margaret Fondbertasse, piano.