2017-18 Season

JOIN US for our 2017-18 season - Tickets and Subscriptions.Purchase tickets for all three productions (at the same price level) save 20% + waiver of fees! A 25% Discount Code for March 3 and April 28, 2018 concerts at Herbst will be emailed to subscribers when those tickets go live.

October 14, 2017 at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music

Brahms - Academic Festival Overture

Barber - Knoxville: Summer of 1915

Floyd - "Ain't it a pretty night" from Susannah

Julie Adams, soprano

Amy Beach - Gaelic Symphony

December 16, 2017 Wilsey Center, Taube Atrium (401 Van Ness, SF)

w/Guest Conductor Cyrus Ginwala

Copland - Outdoor Overture

Prokofiev - Piano Concerto No. 3

Roger Woodward, piano

Shostakovitch - Symphony No. 5

March 3, 2018 Herbst Theatre

Patricia Racette

soloist program TBA

April 28, 2018 Herbst Theatre

Ravel – Mother Goose suite

June Bonacich – The Moons of Neptune

Breshears family "Little Stars" (soloists will appear on NBC's Little Big Shots in March, 2018)

June 9, 2018 at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music

Elfrida Andree - Movement from Freitof's Suite

Tchaikovsky – Serenade for Strings

Bernstein – Symphony No. 2 (Age of Anxiety)

Robin Sutherland, piano

These events are sponsored in part by a grant from Grants for the Arts/San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund

December 16, 2017 8pm + December 17 at 2pm

Taube Atrium at the Wilsey Center, 401 Van Ness (top floor), SF 9410 (Map)(Tickets)   The Saturday night 8pm concert is sold out. A limited number of seats will be available on a 1st come 1st served basis, but there is no guarantee of admission and no standing room seats.   There are tickets available for the Sunday 2pm concert.  

Cyrus Ginwala, guest conductor

Copland - Outdoor Overture

Prokofiev - Piano Concerto No. 3

Roger Woodward, piano

Shostakovich – Symphony No. 5

 

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 Dr. Cyrus Ginwala, guest conductor

Conductor Cyrus Ginwala has served as Music Director of the Symphony of the Mountains, and the Young Victorian Opera Theater, Resident Conductor of the Sewanee Summer Music Center, and conductor of the Summer Musica Piccola Orchestra at the NC School for the Arts. He has appeared as guest conductor with the Boca Pops, the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica, the Aspen Concert Orchestra and the Sewanee Summer Festival Orchestra. He has served as visiting faculty at the Peabody Conservatory and the St. Petersburg Conservatory in Russia.

Since relocating to the Bay Area in 2005, Dr. Ginwala has conducted concerts throughout the region, with the Sonoma Philharmonic, the Diablo Symphony and regular appearances with the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony, as well as with young musicians in the honors orchestras including Stanislaus, San Francisco and Diablo school districts, as well as the California Orchestra Directors Association Honors Orchestra. He is a tenured professor of music and Director of the School of Music at San Francisco State University.

About Roger Woodward, piano

Roger Woodward’s performances at the UNESCO Jeunesses Musicales, Paris, were noticed by Yehudi Menuhin after which he was contracted to perform at most of the major international festivals with orchestras such as the Leipzig Gewandhaus and Berlin Radio orchestras, L’orchestre de Paris, the New York, Los Angeles, Warsaw and Israel Philharmonic Orchestras, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Mahlerjugenorchester, the five London orchestras, the Budapest and Prague chamber orchestras and with directors such as Claudio Abbado, Zubin Mehta, Lorin Maazel, Pierre Boulez, Erich Leinsdorf, Kurt Masur, Edo de Waart, Pierre Boulez, Charles Dutoit, Georges Tzipine, Tan Li Hua, Nello Santi, Witold Rowicki, Georg Tintner, and Walter Susskind et al. Over three decades he worked with Olivier Messiaen, Iannis Xenakis, Jean Barraqué, John Cage, Morton Feldman, Franco Donatoni, Luciano Berio, Sylvano Bussotti, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Rolf Gehlhaar, James Dillon, Harrison Birtwistle, Anne Boyd, Larry Sitsky, Horatiu Rådulescu and Toru Takemitsu, most of whom dedicated works to him, and more recently, with Robert Greenberg who dedicated his Piano Quintet to the Alexander String Quartet and Roger Woodward.

Woodward is also a composer and conductor who worked with Frank Zappa, Cecil Taylor, the Tokyo, Arditti and Alexander string quartets; with violinists Ilya Grubert, Philippe Hirschhorn, Ivry Gitlis, Wanda Wi?komirska and with the Synergy Percussion Ensemble. He completed over one hundred recording projects for DG, EMI, Decca, RCA, CPO, ABC Classics, Sipario Dischi and Celestial Harmonies BV, some of which received Germany’s Goethe prize and Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, France’s Diapason d'or and Spain’s Ritmo prize. He received many awards and honors including Le chevalier dans l'ordre des arts et des lettres, the Polish Order of Merit and Gloria Artis (gold class). He was Artistic Director of festivals in London, Sydney, Kötschach-Mauthen, (Austria), La Bourgogne and appears at festivals such as Le festival d’automne à Paris, Venice Biennale, Wien Modern, Warsaw Autumn, New York Piano Festival, Edinburgh Festival and at BBC Promenade Concerts, London. He was invited by Sviatoslav Richter to appear at his Grange de Meslay festival in Touraine, on several occasions and has regularly performed the Beethoven cycles of piano sonatas and concertos.

On January 13th and 20th he will appear for San Francisco Performances with the Alexander String Quartet at the Herbst Theatre performing the Shostakovich Piano Quintet and Second Piano Trio, and again, May 19th, partnering Paul Yarbrough of the ASQ in a performance of Shostakovich’s epic swan song – the Viola Sonata Op.147. Woodward performs the two books of Chopin Etudes in Debussy-Chopin concerts in Australia April 28th and May 1st for the Canberra Festival and during the 2018-19 season the artist will record the Beethoven cycle of 32 Piano Sonatas.

  Roger Woodward completed his undergraduate studies at the Sydney University Conservatorium of Music in the piano class of Alexander Sverjensky (pupil of Alexander Siloti, Sergei Rakhmaninov and Alexander Glazunov); postgraduate studies as a sta?ysta of the PWSM (Chopin National University) Warsaw, in the piano class of Zbigniew Drzewiecki, before completing his doctorate at the University of Sydney. He is published by the Greenberg and Pendragon Presses (New York), Kindle and HarperCollins and is a piano professor at the San Francisco State University. He conducts master classes worldwide and regularly appears on the juries of international piano competitions.   Contact: trishludgate@gmail.com

October 14, 2017 8:00 p.m. Season Opening Concert

San Francisco Conservatory of Music, 50 Oak St at Van Ness, SF 94102 (Map)(Tickets)  

Julie Adams, soprano

Dawn Harms, Music Director & Conductor

Brahms - Academic Festival Overture

Barber- Knoxville: Summer of 1915

Carlisle Floyd - "Ain't it a pretty night" from Susannah

Julie Adams, soprano

Amy Beach - Gaelic Symphony

Amy Beach, composer

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 Julie Adams, soprano A winner of the 2014 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, 2015 George London Award, 2015 Elizabeth Connell prize for aspiring dramatic sopranos, and recipient of a 2015 Sara Tucker Study Grant, soprano Julie Adams has been praised by the New York Times for possessing a voice that is “rich, full and slightly earthy in an expressive way.” The 2017 – 2018 season sees Ms. Adams return to San Francisco Opera as a guest artist in Francesca Zambello’s production of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, singing Freia in Das Rheingold and Gerhilde in Die Walküre. Additional engagements include her house and role debut as Countess in le Nozze di Figaro at Michigan Opera Theatre, conducted by Stephen Lord and her house debut at Opera Idaho as Blanche in Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire.   In the 2016 – 2017 season Ms. Adams returned to San Francisco Opera as Mimi in La Bohème, conducted by Carlo Montanaro, Kate Pinkerton in Madamda Butterfly, Kristina in Makropulos Case, and covering Princess Jia in the world premiere of Dream of the Red Chamber. She also appeared as both Mimi in La Bohème and Anna Sørensen in Silent Night with Opera San Jose, of which Opera Today exclaimed “her rich, creamy, agile soprano was of the highest quality, the kind that prompts excited “who-is-she?” intermission chatter (and beyond).”   Highlights at San Francisco Opera include covering both Eva in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and the title role in Jen?fa, and singing First Lady in the Jun Kanako production of Die Zauberflöte, and Cesira in the world premiere of Marco Tutino’s La Ciociara. Highlights at other companies include her role debut as Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire as part of the 2014 Merola Opera Program, Lia in Debussy’s L’Enfant Prodigue at the International Vocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, and Magnolia Hawks in Show Boat and Rose in Street Scene with the Oakland East Bay Symphony. Additional roles include Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Blanche in Les Dialogues des Carmélites, and Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.   On the recital stage Ms. Adams was featured as part of the Schwabacher Debut Recital series with John Churchwell, which the San Francisco Chronicle praised her “combination of plush tone and seeming effortless vocal power.”   Orchestral works include Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with Contra Costa Wind Symphony, and a chamber concert with San Francisco Opera musicians as part of SF Opera Lab’s Chamberworks Concerts, with repertoire including Morgen! by Strauss, Previn’s Vocalise, Eternamente by Ponchielli, and Chausson’s Chanson Perpetuelle. Haydn’s Mass in C Major with Oakland East Bay Symphony, Brahms Requiem and Vivaldi’s Gloria with Ventura College Orchestra, and a set of five Joseph Marx Lieder with the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Orchestra.   A native of Burbank, California, Ms. Adams holds both Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music where she was awarded the Phyllis C Wattis Memorial Scholarship.

June 17, 2017 8 p.m.

San Francisco Conservatory of Music, 50 Oak St at Van Ness, SF 94102 (Map)(Tickets) 

Dawn Harms, Music Director & Conductor

Rossini - La gazza ladra

Mendelssohn - Sinfonia No. 10 in b min

Clarice Assad - Scattered and The Last Song

Clarice Assad, piano

Joe W Moore, III  - Barbaric Passages

Christian Foster Howes, percussion

Alapaki Yee, percussion

Laura Karpman - Siren Songs

Ravel - Boler-uh-o

Johannes Mager, Arranger & Soloist  

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 Clarice Assad, composer & pianist Versatile, sophisticated, and accomplished, Clarice Assad is a sought after composer, pianist, and vocalist of musical depth and ability. Her music embraces a wide variety of styles, including her own original musical concepts.   Summer 2012 highlights included the world premieres of festival commissions by Ms. Assad for the internationally renowned Vail Valley Music Festival in Colorado; a world premiere for the celebrated Cabrillo Festival in Santa Cruz, California, as part of the Hidden World of Girls Symphonic Project; and performances by Ms. Assad in New York, Belgium, France and Brazil. Commission premieres continue in the 2012-2013 season. In October 2012, the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra in Columbus, Ohio presents the world premiere of Ms. Assad’s concerto commission, Album de Retratos; in March 2013, the San Jose Chamber Orchestra presents an evening devoted to works written by Clarice, including the premiere of a PANDEMONIUM for string orchestra and string quartet.   A mini-residency in April 2013 at The Iolani School in Hawaii will include the performance of a new arrangement by Ms. Assad of Bartok’s Rumanian Dances. Assad will also be the composer-in-residence for the Albany Symphony during the 2013/2014 season. More highlights include the premiere of her new piece for orchestra, entitled SARAVÁ, commissioned by the Orquestra Sinfônica of São Paulo (OSESP). The new work will be premiered in São Paulo, Brail in October 2013. Following performances will take place during their two week European tour.   Ms. Assad is the recipient of such awards as the Aaron Copland Award, several ASCAP awards, Meet The Composer's Van Lier Fellowship as well as recognition from the Latin Grammy and the Grammy Foundation, the Franklin Honor Society, American Composers Forum and has been commissioned by Carnegie Hall, Fundação OSESP, the Chattanooga Symphony Orchestra, Concordia Chamber Players and the New Century Chamber Orchestra, to name a few. She is the principal staff arranger for the New Century Chamber Orchestra, and is responsible for most of the orchestra’s musical arrangements, such as the highly praised chamber orchestra version of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.   Clarice Assad has also written for theater and ballet. Works include Ópera das Pedras, written and directed by Brazilian visual artist Denise Milan and co-directed by Mabou Mine's co-founder and director Lee Breuer; an original soundtrack for the play A Lição de Anatomia by Argentinian playwright Carlos Mathus, the ballet Steps to Grace, by choreographer Lou Fancher and Essentials of Flor by Kristi Spessard. Assad's Impressions, a suite for chamber orchestra, was choreographed by Steve Rooks for the Masterworks Festival in Winona Lake, Indiana. A native of Rio de Janeiro, Clarice Assad was born into one of Brazil’s most famous musical families (she is the daughter of Sergio Assad, one of today’s preeminent guitarists and composers), and has performed professionally since the age of seven. Formal piano studies began with Sheila Zagury in Brazil; she then studied with Natalie Fortin in Paris and had additional instruction in Jazz and Brazilian piano under the tutelage of Leandro Braga. Clarice continued her classical piano studies in the United States with Ed Bedner (Berklee School of Music) and then Bruce Berr at Roosevelt University in Chicago. Composition studies have been with Ilya Levinson, Stacy Garrop, David Rakowski, Osvaldo Golijov, Michael Daugherty, Evan Chambers and Claude Baker. Clarice studied voice with Susan Botti and Judy Blazer. Ms. Assad Holds a Bachelor of Music from the Chicago College of the Performing Arts, Roosevelt University in Chicago, Illinois, and a Masters of Music in Composition from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.   About Laura Karpman, composer With a feverish imagination, impeccable musicianship, complexity, versatility, unbridled joy, and fearlessness, Laura Karpman makes music, which is, in the words of George Manahan, music director of the American Composer’s Orchestra, "a rare combination of heart and groin." With her rigorous musical approach, coupled with conceptual and progressive uses of technology and recording, Laura is a true 21st century American composer. She is one of a handful of female composers with an active career in film and television, winning four Emmys and receiving an additional seven nominations, an Annie Award nomination, and a GANG award and nomination for her video game music. She was named one of the most important women in Hollywood by VARIETY MAGAZINE, and is a professor at UCLA in the School of Theater, Film, and Television.  She is a founder and president of the Alliance for Women Film Composers. She serves on the Music Peer Group Executive Committee of The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, was recently invited to join the Music Branch of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.   EDUCATION A native of Los Angeles, Laura began composing music at seven years old and continued her studies at Phillips Academy at Andover and the National Music Camp, Interlochen, Michigan. Her lifelong obsession with jazz began early on as well, when, at age 11 she started memorizing Ella Fitzgerald’s scat solos.    Later she started playing and singing in high school bands, sneaking into clubs with a fake I.D. to hear great players like Anthony Braxton, Oscar Peterson, Ella Fitzgerald, Ahmad Jamal, and Betty Carter. Laura attended the University of Michigan School of Music, studying composition with William Bolcom and Leslie Bassett, and spent a life-changing summer studying with the legendary Nadia Boulanger at Fontainebleau. She then went on to Juilliard, where she received her Master’s and Doctoral degrees as a student of Milton Babbitt, composing and studying the complexities of concert music by day, while playing jazz and scat singing in Manhattan clubs by night.   Laura subsequently received kudos in concert music with awards including the Ives Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, 2 ASCAP Foundation grants, multiple Meet the Composer grants, and residencies at Aspen, Tanglewood and The MacDowell Colony. She credits a fellowship to the Sundance Institute’s Composer’s Lab as a pivotal moment in her life. For the first time, she saw computers and music work together and was utterly enthralled with this then new technology. She relocated back to Los Angeles from New York, attended the ASCAP Film Scoring workshop, and soon after began working steadily in the commercial world.   TELEVISION/FILM MUSIC Laura has scored projects for every major network, and has a new unannounced series forthcoming with the iconic R&B artist Raphael Saadiq. She created a unique soundscape for Showtime’s acclaimed science fiction series, ODYSSEY 5 starring Peter Weller. This Emmy-nominated highly unusual score, featuring 12 cellos, bassoons, basses, duduk and countertenor, caught the attention of Steven Spielberg, who invited her to create an epic orchestral score for his 20-hour miniseries, TAKEN. She seamlessly intertwined traditional Americana with evocative modernist strains in this sprawling, adventurous sci-fi score.   Other notable works include the acclaimed DOING TIME ON MAPLE DRIVE directed by Ken Olin for Fox, DASH AND LILLY directed by Kathy Bates for A&E, and the highly rated SINS OF THE MOTHER, starring Jill Scott for Lifetime. She also composed music for NBC’s hit miniseries A WOMAN OF INDEPENDENT MEANS, starring Sally Field, creating music stylistically spanning the first half of the 20th century. Laura scored the series WIOU for CBS and the procedural drama IN JUSTICE for Robert and Michelle King on ABC. She has also collaborated with directors Michael Tolkin, Michael Petroni and Darnell Martin on the limited series MASTERS OF SCIENCE FICTION for ABC, for which she received an Emmy nomination for her quirky score to JERRY WAS A MAN. She most recently created a massive suspense soundtrack for LAST MAN STANDING, Lifetime's first action movie, produced by Gale Ann Hurd and directed by Ernest Dickerson.   Laura’s imaginative scores for numerous independent films include BLACK NATIVITY for director Kasi Lemmons and Fox Searchlight; for THE BREAK UP starring Bridget Fonda and Keifer Sutherland; FOR MAN IN THE CHAIR starring Christopher Plummer and Michael Angarano; THE ANNIHILATION OF FISH starring Lynn Redgrave and James Earl Jones for director Charles Burnett; and most recently, the hybrid orchestral score for THE TOURNAMENT for The Weinstein Company. She received a feature Annie nomination for her score A MONKEY’S TALE, combining Chinese instruments and traditional cartoon scoring, and has enjoyed creating scores for SANDLOT 2 and ACE VENTURA: PET DETECTIVE, JR., directed by David Mickey Evans.   INTERACTIVE MUSIC Laura has composed music for dozens of game titles, including the large orchestral scores for Sony’s EVERQUEST 2 and many of its updates. She created an epic choral sound and set a Middle Scots war text for the PS3 launch title and PSP versions of UNTOLD LEGENDS: DARK KINGDOM. Laura is currently scoring Microsoft’s PROJECT SPARK, and has recently worked on Kinect Disneyland Adventures, Warner Brothers’ GUARDIANS OF MIDDLE EARTH, and a Chinese action score for KUNG FU PANDA 2 for DreamWorks/THQ, and has contributed additional music to Clive Barker’s JERICHO and HALO 3. She was included in the original production of Video Games Live and received 2 GANG awards for her work on EVERQUEST 2 and KINECT DISNEYLAND ADVENTURES. Her music has also been featured by The National Symphony at The Kennedy Center, and performed throughout Europe. She conducted Games in Concert 2, Metropole Orchestra and PA’dam Choir, Music Centre Vredenburg, in Utrecht, The Netherlands, in 2007. She also contributed to PLAY FOR JAPAN, a collection of tracks from top videogame composers for the Japanese tsunami relief effort.   NON-NARRATIVE MUSIC Laura has a passion for documentary film, and has won four Emmy's and been nominated for an additional five for her work in this genre. She has served as an advisor for the Sundance Composer’s Lab. She credits THE LIVING EDENS, the long running nature series on PBS, for helping to shape her creative voice. To create a sound for the last unspoiled places on earth, Laura melded world music with jazz and traditional Western scoring and started sampling from her collection of over 200 instruments from across the globe.   Laura has scored dozens of documentaries, including REGARDING SUSAN SONTAG for HBO, and three seasons of the Peabody award-winning PBS series, CRAFT IN AMERICA, where her re-contextualizing of classic American tunes earned her another Emmy nomination.  For directors Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine she wrote the music for THE GALAPAGOS AFFAIR, which premiered at the Telluride Film Festival and was showcased at the Berlin Film Festival, as well as a “cool” jazz score, featuring the Turtle Island String Quartet, for Geller and Goldfine's feature documentary SOMETHING VENTURED, which premiered in 2011 at South By Southwest. Laura has also helped shape dozens of winning political campaigns, having written music for candidates Diane Feinstein, Charles Schumer, Lois Capps, and many others—she scored a third of the campaigns for the DCCC in 2000.   CONCERT MUSIC Hailed by Vanity Fair as “super-lush…always impressive,” Laura’s epic multimedia work ASK YOUR MAMA was commissioned by Carnegie Hall. At its sold-out world premiere there, The New York Times reported that the audience “thundered its approval,” and raved that the ground-breaking music, “melding Ivesian collage with club-culture remixing, morphed from one vivid section to the next in a dreamlike flow.” ASK YOUR MAMA, based on an iconic cycle of poems by Langston Hughes, was written for Jessye Norman, The Roots, Nnenna Freelon, d’Adre Aziza, and large orchestra, conducted by George Manahan. The work received its West Coast Premiere at the Hollywood Bowl, returned to New York’s Apollo Theater in 2013, and Avie Records will release the recording in 2015. SIREN SONGS, premiering on June 11th, 2015 was commissioned by the Pacific Symphony to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its music director, Carl, St. Clair. This multimedia work explores women, the ocean and our alarming future; it is based on a set of poems by the exceptional poet, Amy Gerstler, and is accompanied by video and animation by Tempe Hale, who has used footage from Gregory MacGillivray, an Academy-Award nominated cinematographer. Laura’s concert music has been commissioned and performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cabrillo Festival Orchestra (with Marin Alsop), Concordia, the American Composers’ Orchestra, Metropole Orkest, Northwest Sinfonia, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and the Detroit, Houston, National, New York Youth, Richmond, and El Paso Symphonies. Upcoming commissions include works for The Gay Men’s Chorus of San Francisco (2015) and WILDE TALES for Glimmerglass (2016). Laura has also received an Opera Grant for Female Composers from Opera America to develop BALLS, an opera about the Billie Jean King/ Bobby Riggs tennis match with NY Times columnist Gail Collins. She is also developing multimedia works for clarinetist David Krakauer and Evelyn Glennie.   Recent commissions include the evening-length THE HIDDEN WORLD OF GIRLS, in collaboration with NPR’s the Kitchen Sisters and visual artists Obscura Digital, for which she also served as creative director, for the Cabrillo Festival; ONE TEN PROJECT for the Los Angeles Opera, celebrating both the 70th anniversary of the dedication of the freeway and the 25th anniversary of the Los Angeles Opera; DIFFERENT LANES for string quartet and two iPads for Pacific Serenades; THE TRANSITIVE PROPERTY OF EQUALITY for orchestra and electronics, conducted by Marin Alsop with the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, commissioned by Red Bull; WAXING NOSTALGIC for Laura Klugherz (viola) and Roberto Limón (guitar); NOW ALL SET, a memorial tribute to her teacher Milton Babbitt, for Perspectives of New Music.   THEATER MUSIC Laura is an active composer for the theater. She has created underscore and songs for A Noise Within in Los Angeles, The Georgia Shakespeare Festival, The Old Globe Theater, and Los Angeles Theater Works, among others. She takes great pride in A WILDE HOLIDAY, her original musical theater production of Oscar Wilde's Fairy Tales, which ran to critical acclaim for three seasons at A Noise Within, and her work with Tony award-winning singer/actress Tonya Pinkins, for whom she created arrangements for Jazz at Lincoln Center and Stephen Sondheim's 75th Birthday Celebration.   TEACHING Laura loves to teach and does so whenever she can. As a professor at UCLA in the School of Theater, Film, and Television, she has taught about interdisciplinary multimedia performance, and about film music, mentoring the collaboration between filmmaker and composer. In 2012-13, she ran the first master’s degree film-scoring program at Berklee College of Music, where she taught videogame scoring as well as film composition. Laura serves as an advisor at the Sundance Institute and has lectured at The Juilliard School, USC, UCLA Herb Alpert School, Mills College, Berklee College of Music, Emerson College, and The Tides Momentum Leadership Conference, and is a fellow of The Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities. She has served on the boards of the American Music Center, the Society of Composers and Lyricists and currently is on the Artist's Council for New Music USA. Next year she will be a visiting artist at the San Francisco Conservatory’s New Media and Music Technology Program.

March 11, 2017 8pm

Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness Ave., SF 94102 (Map)(Tickets Available Click Here)

Dawn Harms, Music Director & Conductor

Andrée - Concert-Ouverture in D

Koussevitzky - Concerto for Bass

Paganini - Moses Fantasy for Bass and Orchestra

Gary Karr, double bass

Sibelius - Symphony No. 5

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 Gary Karr, double bass Gary Karr, acclaimed as "the world's leading solo bassist" (Time Magazine), is, in fact, the first solo doublebassist in history to make that pursuit a full-time career. It is a career that adds new lustre to his already lustrous 1611 Amati doublebass which was given to him by the widow of Serge Koussevitzky. Since his debut with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic in 1962, Karr has performed as soloist on six continents with orchestras, including the Chicago Symphony, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Montreal Symphony, Simon Bolivar Orchestra (Caracas, Venezuela), Jerusalem Symphony, Oslo Philharmonic, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, and with all the major orchestras of Australia. On Italian cable, three Karr doublebass recitals reached 20 million classical music lovers. The numerous CDs that Gary Karr has recorded and released in Japan are "top of the recording charts" favorites in the Far East. The BBC has featured two video films of Karr, one an illumination of his life and music (Amazing Bass) and one a series for children. On his third recording with the London Symphony Orchestra, Karr performed the Concerto for Bass by John Downey. CBS Sunday Morning celebrated Gary Karr's career and the University of Wisconsin has released a video demonstrating his instructional approach to the doublebass (BASSically Karr) in addition to a special video concert for children (Karrtunes). One of Karr's proudest achievements is the Bronze Medal he received from the Rosa Ponselle Foundation which recognizes him as an outstanding lyrical musician. Gary is the proud holder of the 1997 Artist/Teacher of the Year Award from the American String Teacher's Association (ASTA). He also holds the Distinguished Achievement Award (1995) from the International Society of Bassists (ISB). Gary Karr participated in the Bi-Annual Rainforest Concert in Carnegie Hall with fellow-bassist Sting, Stevie Wonder and others in 1997. In 1999 a new book by Claude Kenneson, entitled Musical Prodigies -- Perilous Journeys, Remarkable Lives was released by Amadeus Press, which includes a passage describing Karr's early love affair with the doublebass.

January 11, 2017 Open Rehearsal

Musicians, especially violinists and other strings, are invited to join the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony (BARS) for an open reading rehearsal on Wednesday January 11 at Kanbar music center (44 Page Street, between Franklin and Gough) at our regular 7:30 – 10:00 p.m. time. BARS members, and any interested string players, will play through Sibelius's Symphony No. 5, among other works which may include, depending on what we have time for, Andrée: Concert-Ouverture in D; Paganini: Moses Fantasy for Bass and Orchestra; and/or Koussevitzky: Concerto for Bass. There is no obligation to join the group -- you are welcome to come play to see how BARS and you may fit together. 

Violin and viola at the intermediate and advanced intermediate level are especially encouraged to join us (though other sections are generally full, please still email recruitment@bars-sf.org or fill in this form if you're interested in joining). You will have the opportunity to practice sight reading, to reconnect with old friends, to make new friends, and to find out more about playing with BARS. Please RSVP if you plan to come by filling in this form.

Note that for this rehearsal only we are not meeting at our regular rehearsal place is at SFState 1600 Holloway Ave, Creative Arts Building Room 153, San Francisco State University, but will resume there the following week.

Future events this season include performances at Herbst Theatre with world-reknowned bass player Gary Karr and a June concert at the SF Conservatory of Music. We will update our season schedule before we meet on the 11th with planned rehearsal and concert dates.

November 5, 2016 8 p.m.

Everett Middle School, 450 Church St between 16 & 17th St, SF 94114 (Map)(Tickets)

Alasdair Neale, Guest Conductor

Dove - Figures in the Garden, Dancing in the Dark

Mozart - Overture to The Marriage of Figaro, arranged for Wind Octet

Copland - Clarinet Concerto

Stephen Zielinski, clarinet

Barber - Medea's Dance of Vengeance

Britten - Four Sea Interludes, from Peter Grimes

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. Alasdair Neale, guest conductor Alasdair Neale is Music Director of the Sun Valley Summer Symphony (SVSS) and Music Director of the Marin Symphony. In his twenty-two years as Music Director of the SVSS, Mr. Neale has propelled this festival to national status: it is now the largest privately funded free admission symphony in America. Among the many celebrated guest artists that Mr. Neale has brought to this festival are: Emanuel Ax, Joshua Bell, Christine Brewer, Michelle DeYoung, Renée Fleming, Nathan Gunn, Horacio Gutierrez, Augustin Hadelich, Thomas Hampson, Lynn Harrell, Audra McDonald, Midori, Itzhak Perlman, Gil Shaham, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Time for Three, Deborah Voigt, Frederica von Stade, Yuja Wang and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.   As Music Director of the Marin Symphony since 2001, Mr. Neale has been hailed for invigorating the orchestra and establishing it as one of the finest in the Bay Area. Under Mr. Neale’s direction, the Marin Symphony was chosen as one of several distinguished orchestras to participate in Magnum Opus, a groundbreaking, decade-long commissioning project bringing new music to the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. Osvaldo Golijov, Kevin Puts, Kenji Bunch, David Carlson, and Avner Dorman were among the composers represented in the project.   Mr. Neale’s appointment with the Marin Symphony followed 12 years as Associate Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony and Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra. During that time he conducted both orchestras in hundreds of critically acclaimed concerts both here and abroad. In 1999, he substituted for an ailing Michael Tilson Thomas, conducting the San Francisco Symphony in widely praised performances of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony in Germany. Under Mr. Neale’s direction, the Youth Orchestra became one of the finest young ensembles in the world, receiving consistent rave reviews for performances in San Francisco, as well as on tour in Amsterdam, Leipzig, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Madrid, Paris, Prague, Dublin, Copenhagen, and Vienna.   From 2001 to 2011, Mr. Neale served as Principal Guest Conductor of the New World Symphony. From 2001 to 2014, he served on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He has guest conducted numerous orchestras here and abroad, including the New York Philharmonic, Saint Louis Symphony, Houston Symphony, Columbus Symphony, Dallas Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic, Honolulu Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Fort Worth Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Memphis Symphony Orchestra, Omaha Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Nashville Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, Alabama Symphony, Florida Orchestra, Hartford Symphony, Florida West Coast Symphony, Rhode Island Philharmonic, Portland Symphony Orchestra, Orlando Philharmonic, Phoenix Symphony, Princeton Symphony, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Orchestre National de Lyon, Sydney Symphony, Real Filharmonia de Galicia, l’Orchestre Métropolitan du Grand-Montréal, Radio Sinfonie Orchester Stuttgart, Auckland Philharmonia, Orchestra of St. Gallen (Switzerland), MDR Leipzig, NDR Hannover, Trondheim Symphony, Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, University of Melbourne Orchestra, and at the Aspen Music Festival. In March 2002, to enthusiastically positive reviews, he collaborated with director Peter Sellars and composer John Adams to open the Adelaide Festival with a production of the opera El Niño.   In April 1994, Mr. Neale conducted the San Francisco Symphony in the world premiere of Aaron Jay Kernis’ Colored Field, featuring English horn player Julie Ann Giacobassi. Following those performances, Alasdair Neale, Ms. Giacobassi, and the San Francisco Symphony recorded Colored Field for Argo/Decca; the recording was released in February 1996 and was honored with the Diapason d’or award, conferred by the French music publication Diapason harmonie. In addition to his San Francisco Symphony recording, he can also be heard on New World Records conducting the ensemble Solisti New York in a recording of new flute concertos. During his years with the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra he made a number of recordings, including Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony and Strauss’s Also Sprach Zarathustra. Alasdair Neale appears on the Bay Brass recording "Sound the Bells", released in March 2011 on the Harmonia Mundi label and nominated for a GRAMMY for Best Small Ensemble Performance.   Alasdair Neale holds a Bachelor’s degree from Cambridge University and a Master’s from Yale University, where his principal teacher was Otto-Werner Mueller. He lives in San Francisco.   Stephen Zielinski, clarinet Bay Area Rainbow Symphony member Stephen Zielinski, a bay area clarinetist and a graduate of the Juilliard School’s Master of Music program, is an ardent enthusiast for new music.   Mr. Zielinski has worked with the Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble, conducted by Robert Craft, performing on two recordings on the Naxos label featuring chamber works of Anton Webern and Igor Stravinsky. He can also be heard on the Albany Records label performing works of Thomas Pasatieri. He has performed with the Continuum New York Ensemble touring to Jakarta, Indonesia. In New York, Mr. Zielinski has performed with the Axiom Ensemble as well as the American Contemporary Music Ensemble.   In the bay area, Mr. Zielinski regularly plays with Bay Area Rainbow Symphony, Symphony Parnassus, Master Sinfonia Chamber Orchestra, Sacramento Chamber Music Society, Nova Vista Symphony and more.   In the past, Mr. Zielinski has performed in Albany Symphony, Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas, Tulsa Opera Orchestra, Distinguished Concerts International Orchestra, New York Opera Society, et al. As a member of the Juilliard Orchestra, he toured Europe in 2005 performing in the BBC proms and performed concerts in London, Berlin, Helsinki and Lucerne. He also participated in the Festival dei Due Mondi, 2003 and 2004, in Spoleto Italy with performances broadcasted on RAI.   In addition to his Master's degree, Mr. Zielinski holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music. He was a recipient of the Arline J. Smith Scholarship as well as the Otto G. Storm Scholarship for his studies at Juilliard.   Kyle Baldwin, Assistant Conductor for Dawn Harms Bay Area Rainbow Symphony member Kyle Baldwin is an in-demand conductor and percussionist in the San Francisco Bay Area. As Dawn Harm's current assistant and director of the San Bruno School District's after-school beginning band and orchestra music programs, Kyle is dedicated to building community and promoting excellence. Kyle has acquired a diverse background in conducting that allows him to create exciting and meaningful musical experiences. Kyle's experience includes conducting symphony orchestras, wind ensembles, opera, chamber ensembles, and dance ensembles. Attending both international and domestic conducting seminars, Kyle had the opportunity to work with leading conducting educators including Paul Vermel, Peter Jaffe, Maurice Peress, and Neil Thomson. In an academic settings, Kyle studied conducting with Cyrus Ginwala, Wayne Gorder, Christopher James Lees, and Frank Wiley. Kyle strives to work with living composers and worked with distinguished composers Libby Larsen, Avner Dorman, Victoria Bond, and Samuel Jones among others. Kyle conducted the music of Dennis Tobenski with Tobenski singing and played percussion in the West coast premiere of Tobenski's piece Only Air. In addition, Kyle led rehearsals with the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony in preparation for the world-premiere of Andrew Lippa's I Am Harvey Milk. When not pouring over his musical work, Kyle enjoys the problem solving involved with computer programming. Kyle is always trying to expand his abilities and knowledge and is currently in pursuit of becoming a polyglot. Kyle currently lives in San Francisco with his blood fin tetras and otocinclus catfish: Sven, Kristoff, Ana, Elsa.

September 3, 2016 8:00 p.m. Season Opening Concert

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.

June 20 Free Concert in Memory of the Orlando Victims

8:00 p.m. at San Francisco Conservatory of Music, 50 Oak St at Van Ness, SF 94102 (Map)(Tickets)

Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 6 (Pathétique)

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.

Please join the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony to remember and honor the victims of Orlando. The shooting that took place on June 12th 2016 is something that could have happened to any of us.

Music Director Dawn Harms will conduct Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6, "Pathetique." This was his most favorite and the last symphony he wrote before his death.

The concert is free and open to the public, but seats must be reserved in advance. Please register/reserve your EventBrite ticket as it reserves your seat.

UPDATE:

Thanks to our generous attendees, we raised more than $1,200 at the Orlando concert including over $300 for BARS, $500 for the Pulse Victims fund and $400 for the Brady Campaign!

2016-2017 Season

JOIN US for our 2016-17 season - Tickets and Subscriptions.Purchase tickets for all three productions (at the same price level) save 20% + waiver of fees! 20% Discount Code for March 11, 2017 concert will be emailed to subscribers when those tickets go live.

September 3, 2016

Saint-Saëns - Cello Concerto

Emil Miland, cello

Elgar - Sea Pictures

Jill Grove, mezzo-soprano

Brahms - Symphony No. 4

November 5, 2016 w/Guest Conductor Alasdair Neale

Dove - Figures in the Garden: 1st movement  Dancing in the Dark

Mozart - Overture to The Marriage of Figaro, arranged for Wind Octet

Barber - Medea’s Dance of Vengeance

Copland - Clarinet Concerto

Stephen Zielinski, clarinet

Britten - Four Sea Interludes

March 11, 2017

Andree - Concert Ouverture in D Major

Koussevitzky - Concerto for Bass

Paganini - Fantasy

Gary Karr, bass

Sibelius - Symphony No. 5

June 17, 2017

Rossini - La gazza ladra

Clarice Assad - Scattered and Bach Suite

Clarice Assad, piano

Laura Karpman – Sirens

Joe W Moore, III – Barbaric Passages

Christian Foster Howes, percussion

Alapaki Yee, percussion

Ravel – Bolero

Johannes Mager, Acrobat 

These events are sponsored in part by a grant from Grants for the Arts/San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund

June 4, 2016 8 p.m.

San Francisco Conservatory of Music, 50 Oak St at Van Ness, SF 94102 (Map)(Tickets) Online sales for this concert have ended, but tickets will be available for cash purchase at the door on a first-come first-server basis, starting at 7pm on 6/4 @ SFCM

Dawn Harms, Music Director & Conductor

Louise Farrenc - Overture #1 for orchestra

 June Bonacich  - Concerto for Bassoon Quartet

Carla Wilson, bassoon

Juliet Hamak, bassoon

Jeremiah Broom, bassoon

Barbara Jones, bassoon

Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 6 (Pathétique)

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 June Bonacich, composer Ms. Bonacich is a Professor of composition and musicianship at the San Francisco Conservatory Pre-College Division, where she is also an alumna. Her award-winning music has been performed extensively throughout the United States. Recently, the world premiere of her Concerto for Four Bassoons was featured on NPR's "State of the Arts" with Jeffrey Freymann and received an extended ovation at CWO's 2015 spring concert. "Group Therapy", a musical she wrote for the Lesbian Gay Chorus of San Francisco was performed at the 2005 Gay Games in Chicago. Her new work, "Life in the Produce Aisle," will be previewed CWO's February 21 concert and given in full on May 15, 2016.

About Carla Wilson, bassoon Carla Wilson, graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory, holds the position of principal bassoon with Santa Rosa Symphony, Marin Symphony, Berkeley Symphony, Napa Symphony, Music in the Mountains Festival Orchestra, and holds the second bassoon position with Vallejo Symphony and California Symphony. She also performs with many other groups around the Bay Area, including San Francisco Symphony and West Edge Opera.

About Juliet Hamak, bassoon Juliet Hamak is a high school chemistry teacher by profession and has played bassoon and contrabassoon in Washington State and California for much of her life. She is currently co-principal bassoon and contrabassoon with Peninsula Symphony, and plays on an “as needed” basis for numerous other groups in the Bay Area including Master Sinfonia and Nova Vista Symphony. She and her husband George, a scientist and active community musician, live with daughter Jeanette and assorted pets. In their rare free time, they enjoy watching science fiction movies and attending friends’ concerts.

About Jeremiah Broom, bassoon Bassoonist, Jeremiah Broom, received his formal training from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music under the tutelage of Steven Dibner, Stephen Paulson, and Greg Barber. Jeremiah can be seen performing with several Bay Area groups including the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony, the sFiato Wind Quintet, and the Kirkwood Bassoon Quartet. Outside of the music world Jeremiah is a celebrated and international award winning makeup artist.

About Barbara Jones, bassoon Barbara Jones is a customer support lead for a software company in San Francisco by day and a bassoonist in a number of groups by night, including Bay Area Rainbow Symphony, San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band and Community Women's Orchestra. She is ecstatic to be performing this concerto this year with BARS and would like to thank Dawn Harms for the opportunity.

April 14 & 15, 8 p.m. at Davies Symphony Hall

Davies Symphony Hall, 201 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94102 (Tickets)  Come hear the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony accompany the SF Gay Men's Chorus in:

It was 40 years ago when author Armistead Maupin penned the very first article that became the international phenomenon of “Tales Of The City,” bringing the colorful life and times of San Francisco to the entire world. Maupin joins SFGMC for an evening full of stories and music about our home and its heroes, while revisiting this magical work of literature, including “Michael’s Letter to Mama.”   Act I includes excerpts from “NakedMan” the groundbreaking multi-movement piece originally commissioned and performed by the Chorus in 1996, which chronicled the lives and loves of the men of SFGMC against the backdrop of the AIDS pandemic. Act II includes excerpts from the wildly popular commissioned work “I Am Harvey Milk” by composer Andrew Lippa, which SFGMC premiered in 2013.   “Tales Of Our City: Our Lives, Our Heroes” also presents a world premiere by SFGMC Composer-In-Residence James Eakin. Accompanying the Chorus for the entire evening will be the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony.   Guest Artist: Armistead Maupin

March 5, 2016 8 p.m.

Everett Middle School, 450 Church St between 16 & 17th St, SF 94114 (Map)(Tickets)

Dawn Harms, Music Director & Conductor

Tchaikovsky - Romeo and Juliet

Jennifer Higdon - Dooryard Bloom

Hadleigh Adams, baritone

Dvorak - Symphony No. 7

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 Hadleigh Adams, baritone New Zealand bass-baritone Hadleigh Adams is a former San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow and a graduate of the Merola Opera Program. Hadleigh studied at the University of Auckland, the New Zealand School of Music, and was an Emerging Artist with the NBR New Zealand Opera before relocating to Australia in 2009 as the inaugural Gertrude Johnson Scholar at The Opera Studio, Melbourne. He subsequently received a full scholarship to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where he studied with Rudolf Piernay and Janice Chapman, gaining a Masters of Music with Distinction.

Whilst studying at Guildhall he made his debut at London’s Royal National Theatre singing the role of Christ in Jonathan Miller’s production of Bach’s St Matthew Passion, to critical acclaim. He has also performed in concert at St Martin-in-the-Fields, the Barbican Theatre, and at the Wigmore Hall as part of the Voiceworks initiative.

Hadleigh’s opera roles include the title role in Le Nozze di Figaro, Papageno (The Magic Flute), Malatesta (Don Pasquale), Aeneas (Dido and Aeneas), Nardo (La Finta Giardiniera), Dappertutto (Les contes d’Hoffmann), Starveling (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), and Bob (The Old Maid and the Thief). Concert engagements have included St Matthew Passion (Southbank Sinfonia) and St John Passion (The Orpheus Choir), Purcell’s Come ye Sons of Art, Dvorak’s Stabat Mater (Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra), David Hamilton’s Breaking the Quiet (Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra), Messiah (Royal Melbourne Philharmonic) and Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on Christmas Carols (Musica Sacra).

Hadleigh’s most recent performances include Schaunard (La Boheme) Marquis (La Traviata), Grand commissioner (Madama Butterfly), Luther/Schlemil (Les contes d’Hoffmann), Simon (The Gospel of Mary Magdalene), Jimmy (Dolores Claiborne), all for the San Francisco Opera, his highly praised debut with Pinchgut Opera singing Pollux in Rameau’s Castor et Pollux, Gendarme in Poulenc’s Les mamelles de Tirésias with Opera Parallèle, Claudio (Agrippina) with Opera Omaha and a recital with Steven Blier. He has also covered the roles of Ormonte (Partenope), Crespil (les Contes d’Hoffmann) and Dandini (Tosca) for San Francisco Opera.

2015 performances include Guglielmo (Cosí fan Tutte) with Opera Pittsburgh, Zoroastro (Orlando) at the New York City Whitespace Art Centre, a residence at the renowned Marlboro Music Festival under the artistic direction of Mitsuko Uchida, a return to Pinchgut Opera to perform the title role in Vivaldi’s Bajazet, the Fauré Requiem with Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, Candide with Oakland East Bay Symphony and Jake Heggie’s For a Look or a Touch with San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus. Hadleigh will also cover the role of Joseph De Rocher in Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking for Opera Parallèle. About Jennifer Higdon, composer

Jennifer Higdon is a major figure in contemporary Classical music, receiving the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in Music for her Violin Concerto and a 2010 Grammy for her Percussion Concerto. Higdon enjoys several hundred performances a year of her works, and blue cathedral is one of America's most performed contemporary orchestral works, with more than 600 performances worldwide since its premiere in 2000. Her works have been recorded on over four dozen CDs. Higdon's most current project is an opera based on the best-selling novel, Cold Mountain, by Charles Frazier. It was premiered by the Santa Fe Opera in August of 2015 and will travel to Opera Philadelphia, Minnesota Opera and North Carolina Opera in the next two seasons. Higdon holds the Rock Chair in Composition at The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Her music is published exclusively by Lawdon Press.

Mill Valley Fundraising Chamber Concert

Community Church of Mill Valley, 8 Olive Street (at Throckmorton), Mill Valley, CA 94941 (Map)(Tickets) Sunday, January 31, 2016 at 4:00 pm

Dvorak - String Quartet No. 13 in G Major, Op. 106

Joseph Stillwell - Fantasy Pieces for Woodwind Quintet

Louise Farrenc - Noneto in E-Flat Major, Op. 38

Movements I & III

Fundraising Concert For BARS & MVCC Please come hear players from the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony in a fund raising performance for MVCC and BARS. Our past performance was sold out, so we encourage you to purchase tickets (at this link) ahead of time.

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.

January 20, 2016 Open Rehearsal

Musicians, especially violinists and other strings, are invited to join the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony (BARS) for an open reading rehearsal on Wednesday January 20 at SF State at our regular 7:30 – 10:00 p.m. time and place 1600 Holloway Ave, Creative Arts Building Room 153, San Francisco State University. BARS members, and any interested string players, will play through Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet, Jennifer Higdon's Dooryard Bloom (based on poem by Walt Whitman), and Dvorak's Symphony No. 7, depending on what we have time for. There is no obligation to join the group -- you are welcome to come play to see how BARS and you may fit together.  

Trumpet, violin at the intermediate and advanced intermediate level and percussion players are especially encouraged to join us (though the wind sections are generally full, please still email recruitment@bars-sf.org or fill in this form if you're interested in joining).  You will have the opportunity to practice sight reading, to reconnect with old friends, to make new friends, and to find out more about playing with BARS.  Please RSVP if you plan to come by filling in this form. 

Future events this season include two special event performances at Davies Symphony Hall with the SF Gay Men's Chorus, and two regular concerts in March and June. We will update our season schedule before we meet on the 20th with planned rehearsal and concert dates.

November 7, 2015, 8 p.m.

Everett Middle School, 450 Church St between 16 & 17th St, SF 94114 (Map)(Tickets) 

Michael Morgan, Guest Conductor

Joseph Stillwell - Music for a Forgotten City

Dvorak - Cello Concerto

Joseph Johnson, cello

Kalinnikov - Symphony No. 1

 

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.

These events are sponsored in part by a grant from Grants for the Arts/San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund

About Michael Morgan, guest conductor

Michael Morgan was born in Washington, DC, where he attended public schools and began conducting at the age of 12. While a student at Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, he spent a summer at the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood, studying with Gunther Schuller and Seiji Ozawa. It was during this summer that he first worked with Leonard Bernstein.

His operatic debut was in 1982 at the Vienna State Opera conducting Mozart’s The Abduction from the Seraglio. In 1986, Sir Georg Solti chose him to become the Assistant Conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, a position he held for five years under both Solti and Daniel Barenboim. Also in 1986 he was invited by Leonard Bernstein to make his debut with the New York Philharmonic. As a guest conductor he has appeared with most of America’s major orchestras as well as with the New York City Opera, St. Louis Opera Theater and Washington National Opera.

In addition to his duties with Oakland East Bay Symphony, Maestro Morgan serves as Artistic Director of Oakland Symphony Youth Orchestra, Music Director of Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera, Music Director of Bear Valley Music Festival, and teaches the graduate conducting course at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. As Stage Director he has led productions of Bernstein’s Mass at the Oakland East Bay Symphony and stagings of Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Gounod’s Faust at Festival Opera. As a chamber musician (piano) he has appeared on the Chamber Music Alive series in Sacramento as well as making the occasional appearance in the Bay Area.

He was honored by the San Francisco Chapter of The Recording Academy with the 2005 Governor’s Award for Community Service. On the opposite coast, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) chose Morgan as one of its five 2005 Concert Music Award recipients. ASCAP further honored Oakland East Bay Symphony in 2006 with its Award for Adventurous Programming. The San Francisco Foundation has honored him with one of its Community Leadership Awards, and he received an Honorary Doctorate from Holy Names University.

Maestro Morgan makes many appearances in the nation’s schools each year, particularly in the East Bay, and is highly regarded as a champion of arts education and minority access to the arts. He serves on the Boards of Oaktown Jazz Workshops and Purple Silk Music Education Foundation.

About Joseph Johnson, cello Joseph Johnson has been heard throughout the world as a soloist, chamber musician and educator. His festival appearances include performances in all classical genres at the American festivals of Santa Fe, Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, Bard, Cactus Pear, Grand Teton, and Music in the Vineyards as well as the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan, and the Virtuosi Festival in Brazil.

Highlights of Joseph Johnson's 2015/2016 fall/winter season include three performances of the Brahms Double Concerto for Opening Week with the Toronto Symphony and a performance of the Dvorak Cello Concerto in San Francisco with the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony. Joseph will be making his Edmonton Symphony debut with a performance of the Brahms Double Concerto as well as Miguel del Aguila's Concierto en Tango, a concerto of which Mr. Johnson performed the Canadian Premiere with the Toronto Symphony last June. He will also be heard in recital at the Chatter series in Albuquerque, a solo recital at the Free Concert Series at the Canadian Opera Company's Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, as well as recitals throughout North America. Mr. Johnson recently celebrated the release of his album with pianist Victor Asuncion featuring the Rachmaninoff and Shostakovich Sonatas. He also completed a special recording project with the G. Schirmer Instrumental Library: The Cello Collection. Published in three volumes by Hal Leonard and featuring companion recordings by Mr. Johnson, this project presents cello literature appropriate for recitals and contests, and is available online and from major music retailers worldwide.

In March 2012 Joseph Johnson performed the North American premiere of the Cello Concerto Grosso by Peter Oetvos with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, a co-commission with the Berlin Philharmonic. He recently completed a U.S. tour with Victor Asuncion, performed Don Quixote with Sir Andrew Davis and the Toronto Symphony, as well as with Victor Yampolsky and the Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra, performed the Barber Cello Concerto with the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, and performed multiple concerts in the summer of 2015 at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. Mr. Johnson is also a founding member of the newly created XIA Quartet. (xiaquartet.com)

Principal cellist of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra since the 2009/2010 season, Mr. Johnson previously held the same position with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. He also serves as principal cellist of the Santa Fe Opera, and during the 2008-2009 season, was acting principal cellist of the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra. Prior to his Milwaukee appointment, Joseph Johnson was a member of The Minnesota Orchestra cello section for eleven years, during which time he performed numerous chamber music works during the orchestra's Sommerfest, both as cellist and pianist. He was a founding member of both the Prospect Park Players and the Minneapolis Quartet, the latter of which was honoured with The McKnight Foundation Award in 2005.

A gifted and inspiring teacher, Mr. Johnson has conducted master classes repeatedly at The New World Symphony, The Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, Eastman School of Music, Manhattan School of Music, Northwestern University, and the youth orchestras of the Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Chicago, and Toronto symphonies, as well as at The Glenn Gould School of The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto.

A graduate of the Eastman School of Music, Joseph Johnson earned his master's degree from Northwestern University. Awards and honours include a performer's certificate from the Eastman School of Music and first prize from the American String Teachers Association National Solo Competition.

Mr. Johnson performs on a magnificent Juan Guillami cello, crafted in 1747 in Barcelona.

About Joseph Stillwell, composer Joseph Stillwell began composing at age 17. He currently resides in San Francisco where he is on the Music Theory and Musicianship faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Joseph also maintains a busy schedule of private teaching and composing. In a review for the San Francisco Classical Voice, critic Janos Gereben described Joseph’s music as, “complex and yet instantly appealing, gorgeously tonal but not ‘old-fashioned.’” Joseph has composed works for a variety of genres, ranging from solo piano and art song to wind ensemble and orchestra. His compositions are notable for their attention to form, economy of material and expressive clarity.

While a student at the San Francisco Conservatory, Joseph was named winner of the 2010 James Highsmith Composition Competition for his orchestral tone poem Music for a Forgotten City. He also received second place in the Conservatory’s 2010 Choral Composition Competition, and third place in the 2009 Art Song Competition. Joseph’s String Quartet No. 1 was one of three finalists in the 2009 Lyrica Chamber Music Young Composers Competition. His orchestral work Jaunt was a winner of the 2008 Central Wisconsin Symphony Orchestra Fanfare Competition. His 2005 wind ensemble work Morning Hike was named as a finalist in the 2009 Frank Ticheli Composition Competition, and was also winner of the 2006 University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point Wind Ensemble Composition Competition. In the spring of 2008, Joseph’s Two Poems of Edgar Allan Poe and Triptych for Solo Piano were represented in the University of Wisconsin—Stevens Point Online Journal (Vol. VI), a refereed publication of student achievement.

Joseph received his Masters in Music in 2010 from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he studied composition with David Conte and theory with Scott Foglesong. In 2007, Joseph graduated magna cum laude from the University of Wisconsin—Stevens Point where he studied composition with Charles Rochester Young and piano with J. Michael Keller.

Joseph is a member of ASCAP and the American Composers Forum.

September 5, 2015 8pm

San Francisco Conservatory of Music, 50 Oak St at Van Ness, SF 94102 (Map)(Tickets)

Dawn Harms, Music Director & Conductor

Shostakovitch - Festive Overture, Op. 96

Ravel - Piano Concerto in D Major (for left hand)

Keith Porter-Snell, piano

Franck - Symphony in D minor

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 Keith Porter-Snell, piano Concert artist specializing in music for the left hand alone Keith Porter-Snell is a pianist, piano teacher, and writer of educational music for piano students. As a performer, he specializes in piano music written to be played with the left hand alone. Keith appears as recitalist, chamber musician, and concerto soloist throughout the United States and in the United Kingdom. Keith teaches beginning through advanced students, and has given over 400 workshops to piano teachers throughout the US and abroad. He has more than 150 titles published by the Kjos Music Company, a leading publisher of educational music. Keith won the Joanna Hodges International Piano Competition, which provided his London debut in 1984. He subsequently signed with Columbia Artist Management and recorded for Virgin Records. In 1986, Keith was diagnosed with focal dystonia (a repetitive motion injury) in his right hand. As a result, he found it increasingly difficult to meet the demands of his performance schedule. In 1988 he withdrew from his professional life as a pianist, and re-focused his energies on his teaching career, expanding his independent piano studio and giving master classes throughout the United States. Keith has also taught at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, where he was the Assistant Director of the Young Artist Piano Program. He is currently Visiting Artist Faculty at the New Mexico School of Music. In 1993, Keith started his own company, Academy Records, which specialized in making CD recordings of standard piano teaching music. These CDs were created for piano students and teachers to listen to as models for performance. His creation of this product has influenced and revolutionized piano teaching materials. Keith’s entrepreneurial endeavor with Academy Records led to the invitation from the Neil A. Kjos Music Company to become an editor, author, and composer of educational piano music. His music books and CDs are ranked among the most popular teaching resources on the market today. Keith is a passionate proponent of piano music for the left hand alone. He returned to the concert stage in 2006 as a left handed pianist, discovering an intensely gratifying new journey of music making. His left hand alone repertoire includes solo works, chamber music, and concertos by 19th and 20th century composers, as well as new music written especially for Keith by Kathleen Ryan and Beverley Flanagan. In the Spring of 2012, Keith made a three week tour of Malaysia and Singapore. Keith received Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in Piano Performance from the University of Southern California, where he was a student of John Perry. Other studies include work with Maria Clodes Jagauride, Professor of Piano at Boston University. A native of San Francisco, Keith lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

2015-16 Season

JOIN US for our 2015-16 season - Tickets and Subscriptions available now! (Tickets)

Add all four productions at the same price level and receive a 20% subscription discount, plus waiver of all fees!

September 5, 2015

Shostakovitch - Festive Overture Op. 96

Ravel - Piano Concerto in D Major (for left hand)

Keith Porter-Snell, piano

Franck - Symphony in D minor

November 7, 2015 w/Guest Conductor Michael Morgan

Joseph Stillwell - Music for a Forgotten City

Dvorak - Cello Concerto

Joseph Johnson, cello

Kalinnikov  - Symphony No. 1

March 5, 2016

Tchaikovsky - Romeo and Juliet

Jennifer Higdon - Dooryard Bloom (based on poem by Walt Whitman)

Hadleigh Adams, baritone

Dvorak - Symphony No. 7

June 4, 2016

Rossini - La Gazza Ladra Overture

Michael Daugherty - Hell's Angels

Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 6

These events are sponsored in part by a grant from Grants for the Arts/San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund

June 6, 2015 8pm

San Francisco Conservatory of Music, 50 Oak St at Van Ness, SF 94102 (Map)(Tickets)

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Woman

Dawn Harms, Music Director & Conductor

Kaprálová - Partita for Piano and Strings

Clara Wieck Schumann - Piano Concerto

Sara Davis Buechner, piano

Smyth - Serenade

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 Sara Davis Buechner, piano

Sara Davis Buechner is one of the leading concert pianists of our time. She has been praised worldwide as a musician of “intelligence, integrity and all-encompassing technical prowess” (New York Times). Japan’s InTune magazine says: “When it comes to clarity, flawless tempo selection, phrasing and precise control of timbre, Buechner has no superior.”   In her twenties, Ms. Buechner won the Gold Medal at the 1984 Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, and was a Bronze Medalist of the 1986 Tschaikowsky International Piano Competition in Moscow.   With an active repertoire of more than 100 piano concertos ranging from A (Albeníz) to Z (Zimbalist) -- one of the largest of any concert pianist today -- she has appeared as soloist with many of the world’s prominent orchestras. Audiences throughout North America have applauded Ms. Buechner’s recitals in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center and the Hollywood Bowl; and she enjoys wide success throughout Asia where she tours annually.   Sara Davis Buechner’s numerous CD and DVD recordings have received prominent critical appraisal. She can be seen and heard on numerous live video and audio recordings on her website and YouTube Channel; and she has created many essays in written, spoken and film format on her blog “Sara Says.”   She is a Professor of Piano at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, and an Honorary Visiting Professor of Music at the University of Shanghai. Sara Davis Buechner is a Yamaha artist.

June 6, 3:00 pm Recital - FREE EVENT

San Francisco Conservatory of Music, 50 Oak St at Van Ness, SF 94102 (Map)(Tickets) This event was subsidized partially by generous anonymous donor which now allows us to charge no further admission. Please still use Ticket link but there will be no charge for seats.

Crossing the Concourse: Sara Davis Buechner in Music and Words

Sara Davis Buechner, piano

Crossing the Concourse: Sara Davis Buechner in Music and Words. Sara will illustrate her life story and transgender journey with short piano pieces, including one of her own compositions. She will talk about being the T in LGBTQ and share with dignity and humor what she has learned along the way about gender, gender roles, and discuss how preconceptions have both limited and enhanced her own life. Followed by a Q&A session.

Sara Davis Buechner is one of the leading concert pianists of our time. She has been praised worldwide as a musician of “intelligence, integrity and all-encompassing technical prowess” (New York Times). Japan’s InTune magazine says: “When it comes to clarity, flawless tempo selection, phrasing and precise control of timbre, Buechner has no superior.” In her twenties, Ms. Buechner won the Gold Medal at the 1984 Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, and was a Bronze Medalist of the 1986 Tschaikowsky International Piano Competition in Moscow.