San Francisco Chamber Orchestra Free Concert | Herbst Theatre

Submitted by the Event Organizer

Free San Francisco Chamber Orchestra Concerts

Founded in 1953, the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra has remained an active voice in the Bay Area music community, presenting free concerts with an ensemble of the region’s top professional musicians.

The rollout of an exciting new concert format, Maestro Ben Simon becomes your host for a 90-minute, no intermission podcast. Think of it as a cross between Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me and From the Top with games, prizes, Ben’s famous trivia quiz, and of course, great music.

Featuring a host of SFCO All-Stars, this engaging program will feature variations on familiar themes by Mozart, Haydn, Schubert, and more. With special guest Anthony Lane, luthier.

Free admission. Members entry one hour before. General audience entry 15 minutes before. Recommended for middle school-age and up.

Mozart 12 Variations on “Ah, vous dirai-je, Maman” K.265

• Keisuke Nakagoshi, piano

Haydn String Quartet in C Major, op. 76 no.3 (“Emperor”)

• Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra string quartet
• Second movement, Poco adagio; cantabile

Schubert Die Forelle (“The Trout”)

• Ann Moss, soprano
• Keisuke Nakagoshi, piano

Schubert Piano Quintet in A Major, D. 667 (“Trout”)

• Fourth movement: Tema con variazione (Andantino)

Heidrich Happy Birthday Variations

Friday, October 23, 2015
Free San Francisco Chamber Orchestra Concerts

“Sharp’s playing was elegant and impassioned, in turn sweetly lyrical and dazzlingly virtuosic…” -SFCV

SFCO concertmaster Robin Sharp takes center stage for a rare performance of Leonard Bernstein’s masterpiece for violin, percussion, harp, and strings: his 1954 “Serenade”, inspired by Plato’s “Symposium” about the nature of love. This is Bernstein at his symphonic best: a richly colored and dramatic score, with six percussionists powering the stern and our nimble soloist at the bow. An earlier 20th century experiment in sound and color is Claude Debussy’s 1904 “Danses sacree et profane”; composed for harp and strings, its two movements are colorful musical portraits, intimate in scale and dazzling to the ears. Three short, exciting works for multiple percussionists round out this wide-ranging program.

Benjamin Simon, conductor
Robin Sharp, violin
Meredith Clark, harp

Claude Debussy: Danses sacree et profane
Thierry de Mey: Table Music
David Lang: the so-called laws of nature, part 3
Nebojsa Jovan Zivkovic: Trio per Uno
Leonard Bernstein: Serenade (after Plato’s “Symposium”)

Disclaimer: Please double check event information with the event organizer as events can be canceled, details can change after they are added to our calendar, and errors do occur.