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Oct
4
7:30 PM19:30

Donald Lee III conducts two California premieres of romantic music by Black composers and Beethoven's 5th

San Francisco Conservatory of Music, 50 Oak St

Donald Lee III, Guest Conductor

  • Damien Geter Sinfonia Americana (California Premiere) 

  • Joel Thompson To Awaken the Sleeper (California premiere), textby James Baldwin

  • Ludwig van Beethoven   Symphony #5

    BARS will perform Joel Thompson's To Awaken the Sleeper, which uses texts by gay author James Baldwin and was co-commissioned by nine orchestras including the London Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Detroit Symphony,  and Atlanta Symphony.  They will also perform Damien Geter's Sinfonia Americana, an exploration of the "American Sound" with "a nod to Black American Culture.  The concert will conclude with the most famous symphony in the world, Beethoven's 5th.  

    TICKETS WILL BE ON SALE SOON

    Artists 

    Donald Lee III  American Conductor and Pianist Donald Lee III is quickly becoming known for his versatility and charisma both on the podium and at the keyboard. Lee has appeared in concert with the Des Moines Metro Opera Orchestra, Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra, and members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Lee has been engaged as a cover conductor with the Gateways Festival Orchestra and Des Moines Metro Opera. Recent productions include Salome, Carmen, Champion, and the world premiere of American Apollo. Recent highlights as a pianist include appearing as soloist with the University of Maryland Symphony Orchestra, and recital performances with tenor Lawrence Brownlee, baritone Will Liverman, and countertenor Key’mon Murrah.  As an advocate for the performance of new music by under-represented composers, Lee has conducted the music of Jasmine Barnes, Damien Geter, and Carlos Simon. Lee appeared as the guest conductor for Montgomery Presents the Blacknificent 7, part of the CSO MusicNOW concert series. He has also conducted the workshops of In The Rush, a new opera by Carlos Simon, Lynn Nottage, and Ruby Aiyo-Gerber at Cincinnati Opera and Indiana University. As a pianist, Lee has been a part of the creation of six new operas through Opera Theater St. Louis’ New Works Collective.  He was also the pianist for Will Liverman’s The Factotum, improvising in multiple genres throughout the opera. Lee holds degrees from James Madison University and University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Lee was the inaugural conductor/pianist member of the Ryan Opera Center, the training program of the Lyric Opera of Chicago.   https://www.donaldleeiii.com/

Joel Thompson  is a composer, conductor, pianist and educator whose works aim to prioritize community and facilitate connection, while creating music that is “alive and inquisitive, in constant dialogue” (Arts ATL) and “one of the most attractive things one has heard” (New York Classical Review). His work is both powerful and incisive in centering the concerns and desires of the voiceless and historically marginalized. Thompson currently serves as Houston Grand Opera’s first-ever full-time Composer-in-Residence, holding a five-year residency that commenced in 2022.

 Thompson’s career honors include the 2023 Sphinx Medal of Excellence; a 2018 American Prize for his well-known choral work, Seven Last Words of the Unarmed; and the 2017 Hermitage Prize – an honor bestowed by the Hermitage Artist Retreat. Thompson draws inspiration from artists who transcend labels and have a clear sense of identity, such as Nina Simone, Esperanza Spalding and Cécile McLorin Salvant. 

 

Thompson holds a B.A. in Music and M.M. in Choral Conducting, both from Emory University, and is currently studying with Aaron Jay Kernis, Christopher Theofanidis, Hannah Lash, Martin Bresnick and David Lang at the Yale School of Music for his D.M.A. in Composition.   https://www.primoartists.com/joel-thompson

Damien Geter is an acclaimed American composer who infuses classical music with various styles from the Black diaspora to create music that furthers the cause for social justice. His rapidly growing and “invigoratingly fresh” (Opera Today) body of work includes chamber, vocal, orchestral, and full operatic works, with his compositions praised for their “skillful vocal writing” (Wall Street Journal). He is Richmond Symphony’s Composer-in-Residence through 2026 and serves as Interim Music Director & Artistic Advisor at Portland Opera.
This season, the world premiere of Geter’s new major opera, Loving v. Virginia, concludes Virginia Opera’s 50th anniversary season. Based on the true story of Mildred and Richard Loving, the opera is co-commissioned by Virginia Opera and Richmond Symphony, co-produced by Virginia Opera and Minnesota Opera, and features a libretto by Jessica Murphy Moo, Denyce Graves as director, and Adam Turner conducting. Another new opera of Geter’s, Delta King’s Blues, commissioned by IN Series, will be workshopped in January 2025 and premiered later that year. His opera American Apollo is based on the relationship between gay painter John Singer Sargent and his black model Thomas Eugene McKeller. His song, Amanirenas, commissioned by soprano Karen Slack for her African Queens art song program, tours at Washington Performing Arts, the Ravinia Festival, Aspen Music Festival, 92nd Street Y New York, the Nashville Symphony, and Friends of Chamber Music Denver. His newly commissioned song, Gentle lady, do not sing, is included on the Choral Scholars University College Dublin’s album, Music by James Joyce, Volume I (September 2024, Signum Classics).
As conductor this season, he leads Paul Moravec’s opera The Shining, based on Stephen King’s iconic novel, at Portland Opera, and Carmel Symphony Orchestra’s Opening Night Gala, America the Beautiful concert. Future commissions include world premieres with the Richmond Symphony and Nathaniel Dett Chorale, plus a new operatic production at Portland Opera in 2026.
Geter is an alumnus of Austrian American Mozart Festival and Aspen Opera Center, was an Irma Cooper Vocal Competition finalist, and toured with American Spiritual Ensemble. He owns DG Music, Sans Fear Publishing. www.damiengetermusic.com.



Pieces 


Sinfonia Americana
 is an expansion on what has been deemed "the American Sound." As a composer, I spend copious amounts of time trying to define what that even means. The answer, I imagine, lies somewhere in the fact that as I am an American, by default, I have created an American sound — my own — that is influenced by those who came before me who seemed to have success in creating the template for this particular sonic landscape. However, mine grooves a bit, a nod to my Black American culture.The piece is in two main parts with a recap. The opening melodies are interwoven throughout the piece against differing musical ideas which cause the main tunes to act like a chameleon that is shaped by its surroundings.  Commissioned by and premiered with the Richmond Symphony, January 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZObxyRlNO4

To Awaken a Sleeper The insightful and prophetic words of James Baldwin have always been a source of solace for me, and never more so than during the last few years as the country has been forced to grapple with its identity. When commissioned to write a piece for Peter Oundjian and the Colorado Music Festival in 2020, it felt like the perfect opportunity to amplify his words. James Baldwin sought to bear witness to the country that birthed him and hated him, a country that murdered his friends (Evers, King, X) for speaking out against injustice. Despite the pain of those wounds, it is evident that, although Baldwin didn't hesitate to hold our deeply flawed society to account, his words were rooted in an impossible love of this country. Though they were written decades ago, his words still ring true. Today, Baldwin asks us to look in the mirror and reckon with what we see. He asks us to examine the nature of power and its dependence on human will and desire. He asks us to go to "the unprotected" among us in order to examine our supposed love for justice. I like to think that if he were to reword his proposal today, he would include the immigrant, the refugee, the trans person, those without bodily autonomy under the law, and those suffering in the thrall of poverty. Baldwin acknowledges all the messiness and failure and genocide and death that has brought us to this point and he asks us to build a new world where we truly value and support each other in all of our differences. It is in that spirit that the piece was born and I hope that same spirit can continue to move each of us toward a more perfect union.

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Jun
14
7:30 PM19:30

BARS Pride Concert

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Martha Stoddard, conductor

Jimmy Chan, timpani

Bacewicz…………………..Overture                                           

Mahler/ arr. Britten…...…What the Wildflowers Tell Me                

Cardona-Ospina………...Concerto for Timpani and Orchestra [US Premiere]

Sibelius…………………….Symphony No 3         


Martha Stoddard enjoys a multi-faceted musical career as conductor, composer and flutist. She assumed the leadership of the Oakland Civic Orchestra in 1997 and began her 28th season as Music Director in August 2024. Praised for her clarity, generosity and vision, she continues to guide  this 85-piece orchestra to new heights, and has earned accolades and multiple American Prizes in orchestral performance, programming and chamber music. Under her leadership the orchestra also provides conducting opportunities for emerging conductors, many of whom have gone on to enjoy careers on the podium. 

Stoddard is also the Music Director of the Piedmont Chamber Orchestra and a popular guest conductor of the Awesome Orchestra. Previous conducting positions include the Community Women’s Orchestra, Holy Names University Community Orchestra, San Francisco Composers’ Chamber Orchestra, and Enriching Lives Through Music. She also held the position of Program Director for the John Adams Young Composers Program at the Crowden Music Center for three years and was Director of Instrumental Music at Lick-Wilmerding High School from 1991 - 2021, where she also served as Performing Arts Department Chair and JV Tennis Coach.  

In 2023 and 2024 she was selected as a Conducting Fellow for professional workshops in Los Angeles and the Pacific Northwest Conducting Institute. In 2024 she also enjoyed her debut  with Verismo Opera in Vallejo, conducting Verdi’s La traviata.

A strong advocate for living and women composers, recent performances include premieres by Alexis Alrich, Jessica Krash, Monica Chew and Niko Umar Durr, as well as seldom heard works by Ruth Gipps, Naomi Dodd, Doreen Carwithen, Germaine Tailleferre, Grace Williams, Florence Price and Louise Farrenc. In 2019  Stoddard brought the Oakland Civic Orchestra into the final round of the Ernst Bacon Prize for the Performance of American Music and in 2020 she was a finalist in the American Prize Competition for Conductors, Community Orchestra Division. Originally trained as a flutist, she continues her freelance performance practice and serves as principal flute for the Handel Opera Project and Piedmont Chamber Players. Her flute music is published by Tetractys in the UK.  In her free time she enjoys composing, chamber music and tennis. 

Jimmy Chan, originally from Hong Kong, is a versatile solo, chamber, and orchestral percussionist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He regularly performs with prominent ensembles, including the San Francisco Symphony, California Symphony, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Marin Symphony, Oakland Symphony, Sacramento Philharmonic, and Stockton Symphony. Previously, he served as Associate Percussionist with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and has performed under renowned conductors such as Stéphane Denève, Sir Neville Marriner, Esa-Pekka Salonen, John Williams, and Michael Tilson Thomas.

A Marimba One Artist, Chan has performed across three continents on prestigious stages such as Royal Albert Hall and Walt Disney Concert Hall. His engagements include performing as a concerto soloist with the Billings Symphony and Colburn Orchestra, as well as being a guest artist at the Bellingham Festival of Music Residency and Stanford University. In chamber music, he serves as percussionist and timpanist with One Found Sound, a conductorless chamber orchestra based in the Bay Area.

Showcasing his versatility in pop and rock music, he collaborated and performed “Don’t Stop Believin’” alongside Neal Schon, co-founder and lead guitarist of Journey.

Chan was recently appointed Percussion Faculty at California State University, East Bay. In addition to his university teaching, he maintains a private studio at the International School of San Francisco and serves as a Teaching Artist with the Oakland Symphony. Through this role, he coaches young musicians in the Oakland School District and the Oakland Symphony Youth Orchestra.

Chan holds degrees from the Royal College of Music in London, Colburn Conservatory, and San Francisco Conservatory, where he studied under distinguished instructors Sam Walton, Ted Atkatz, Jack Van Geem, and Jacob Nissly.

Jimmy is thrilled to perform with BARS as the soloist in the U.S. premiere of Concerto for Timpani and Orchestra by Juan Sebastián Cardona-Ospina. He strives to convey joy and peace through music, inspiring audiences to appreciate and engage with it

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Mar
29
7:30 PM19:30

BARS Spring Concert

Set design by Léon Bakst for the world premiere of Daphnis et Chloé, Paris 1912.

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John Kendall Bailey, conductor

  • 🏳️‍🌈 BENJAMIN BRITTEN: THE YOUNG PERSON'S GUIDE TO THE ORCHESTRA

  • KURT ATTERBERG: SUITE NO. 3 for violin, viola, and strings

    • 🏳️‍🌈Michael Long, violin

    • 🏳️‍🌈Ivo Bokulic, viola

  • AVRIL COLERIDGE-TAYLOR: SUSSEX LANDSCAPE West Coast premiere

  • 🏳️‍🌈 MAURICE RAVEL: DAPHNIS ET CHLOÉ, SUITE NO. 2

John Kendall Bailey is currently Music Director of the Mozart to Mendelssohn Orchestra, Artistic Director of Chora Nova, and Principal Conductor of the San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra. 

In 1994, he founded the Berkeley Lyric Opera and served as its Music Director and Conductor until 2001. Since then, he has held positions including Music Director of Mesopotamia Symphony Orchestra, Principal Conductor of Oakland Symphony Youth Orchestra, Music Director and Conductor of Trinity Lyric Opera, and Guest Conductor with Oakland Symphony, Oakland Ballet, Bay Area Rainbow Symphony, Palo Alto Philharmonic, Folsom Lake Symphony, Sonoma County Philharmonic, Diablo Symphony Orchestra, Magik*Magik Orchestra, San Francisco Civic Symphony, San Francisco Concerto Orchestra, Santa Rosa Junior College, and has conducted productions for Festival Opera of Walnut Creek, West Bay Opera, North Bay Opera, Pocket Opera, Mission City Opera, Cinnabar Theater, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the Crowden School, Oakland School for the Arts, and Dominican University, among others. He has also been a cover/rehearsal conductor for several orchestras including Berkeley Symphony, Modesto Symphony, Oakland Symphony, and Young People’s Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Bailey has taught conducting at the University of California-Davis and Notre Dame de Namur University.

As a choral director, Mr. Bailey has served as Music Director of Voices of Musica Sacra, Chorus Master for Festival Opera of Walnut Creek and Opera San Jose, and has been guest conductor for the University of California-Berkeley Chamber Chorus, the University of California-Davis Chorus, Chamber Singers, and Alumni Chorus, Contra Costa Chorale, and the Berkeley Broadway Singers.

As a composer, Mr. Bailey’s works have been performed and commissioned in the Bay Area and abroad, including arrangements for Carlos Santana and Oakland Symphony performed in 2010. Mr. Bailey is also a baritone, oboist, and pianist, and has performed with the San Francisco, Santa Rosa, Marin, Oakland, Berkeley, Napa, Sacramento, Redding, Prometheus, and UC Davis symphonies, American Bach Soloists, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale, the Midsummer Mozart and West Marin music festivals, San Francisco Bach Choir, Volti, Coro Hispano de San Francisco, Pacific Mozart Ensemble, Sacred and Profane, Masterworks Chorale of San Mateo, Marin Baroque, the Mark Morris and Merce Cunningham dance companies, the Berkeley, Golden Gate, and Oakland Lyric Opera companies, and many more. He has recorded for the Harmonia Mundi, Koch International, Pro Musica, Wildboar, Centaur, and Angelus Music labels. He has been a pre-performance lecturer for Oakland Symphony, San Francisco Opera, American Bach Soloists, Festival Opera of Walnut Creek, and Gold Coast Chamber Players, and is a regular lecturer for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Cal State University (East Bay, and Chanel Islands) and Santa Clara University. He has also been a critic for the San Francisco Classical Voice, and a writer of real-time commentary for the Concert Companion.

Croatian-American violist Ivo Bokulic is a highly sought-after musician, celebrated for his artistry in the Bay Area and beyond. He is Principal Violist of the San José Chamber Orchestra, and holds additional positions in Opera San José, San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, and One Found Sound. Ivo also performs with distinguished ensembles such as the New Century Chamber Orchestra and San Francisco Opera.

In addition to opera and orchestra, Ivo has toured, recorded, and shared the stage with renowned musicians such as Beck, Andrea Bocelli, Death Cab for Cutie, The Eagles, Father John Misty, Smokey Robinson, and Sting. He also regularly records music for video games, television, and films at Skywalker Ranch. Ivo can also be seen performing at Fever's Candlelight Concerts in San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento, & San José.

Notably, Ivo has appeared as soloist, performing Martinů’s Rhapsody-Concerto with the Eureka Symphony, and Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante alongside violinist Liana Bérubé and the San José Chamber Orchestra.

A recipient of both Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music under the tutelage of Jodi Levitz, Ivo plays a viola crafted in 1999 by Hiroshi Iizuka. When he’s not making music, Ivo enjoys cultivating his mostly monochromatic aesthetic, indulging in fine dining, and indie music exploration. He also loves sharing and receiving copious amounts of cat memes, and polishing the day off with a glass of vino.


BARS concertmaster, Michael Long, is a dedicated pedagogue, active soloist and chamber musician, and busy organizer of community music-making. He studied with Levon Ambartsumian, Valerie Gardner, Shakhida Azimkhodjaeva, and Nancy Bargerstock.

Recent and upcoming solo engagements include concertos with Camerata Bach y la Orquesta Sinfónica Juvenil Rubén Darío in Nicaragua, Mozart 2 Mendelssohn Orchestra, Sonoma County Philharmonic, and Bay Area Rainbow Symphony.

Michael is a passionate and curious chamber musician. During the lockdown when musicians found themselves without stages upon which to share their music, many took to giving smaller outdoor concerts. Michael teamed up with members of the SF Opera and Ballet Orchestras during that time, and from that collaboration was born the Cecilia String Quartet, for which Michael plays 2nd violin.

Michael also organizes a chamber music series with his duo partner, Sung Choi (cello) at CMC. These concerts explore hidden (or sometimes not so hidden) gems for various configurations of strings+, each time curated around a unifying theme.

An advocate for new music, Michael serves as concertmaster for the SF Composers Chamber Orchestra. He has performed and recorded works for NACUSA as well as individual Bay Area composers.

In addition to teaching in his private studio, Michael is on faculty at the Community Music Center (where he teaches violin, viola, ensemble, and theory) and Hamlin School for Girls. He also teaches afterschool group classes through the Harmony Project.

TIX
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