Saturday, September 6, 2008, 8:00pm

Blumenstock/Johnson Duo

Baroque Sonatas and Fantasias

• Elizabeth Blumenstock, violin
• Janine Johnson, harpsichord

Celebrated violinist Elizabeth Blumenstock and harpsichordist Janine Johnson perform J.S. Bach’s Violin Sonatas 1, 2, 3, & 5, a Telemann Fantasia for solo violin, Bach’s Fantasia and Fugue in a minor for harpsichord, and original music. Don't miss this opportunity to hear these acclaimed musicians in this intimate recital setting. Critic's Choice at San Francisco Classical Voice.

Saturday, September 20, 2008, 8:00pm

Grosse Abfahrt

Large ensemble 21st-century improvisation

• Tom Djll, trumpets, electronics, director
• Chris Brown, piano, electronics
• Jen Baker, trombone
• Fred Frith, guitar
• Matt Ingalls, clarinets
• Tim Perkis, electronics
• Gino Robair, percussion and electronics
• John Shiurba, guitar

First launched in 2002, Grosse Abfahrt improvises over long distances (the name means “great departure” in German). This performance starts with a core group of five of the Bay Area’s finest creative musicians, adds some local spice, and fearless flyers Fred Frith and Chris Brown. Expect to depart for some far-off locales of unheard beauty.

Saturday, October 4 , 2008, 8:00pm

Eric Hamilton

Classical guitar recital

Performing throughout North America since the 1970s, guitarist Eric Hamilton enjoys a multifaceted career as soloist and ensemble performer, recording artist, arranger, teacher and industry-recognized instrument technician. Eric will perform works of Dowland, Bach, Rodrigo, Turina, Villa-Lobos and others.

Saturday, October 18, 2008, 8:00pm

Tree Talk

Two bassoons lead this modern ensemble

• Alice Benjamin, bassoon
• David Granger, bassoon
• with
• Tod Brody, flute
• William Benjamin, oboe
• William Wohlmacher, clarinet
• Ward Spangler, percussion
• Ellen Wasserman, piano

Created by Alice Benjamin and David Granger in 1998, Tree Talk presents music for two bassoons, a combination often overlooked by today's composers and audiences, in a format the instruments so richly deserve–as soloists. They will perform Bohuslav Martinů's Sextet for piano, flute, oboe, clarinet and two bassoons, Paul Chihara's Branches for two bassoons and percussion, and works by Georges Bizet, Alan Hovhaness and others.

Saturday, November 1, 2008, 8:00pm

Amy Brodo & LaDene Otsuki

Romantic and post-romantic 'cello and piano music

• Amy Brodo, 'cello
• LaDene Otsuki, piano

Colorful, rhythmic, passionate! Cellist Amy Brodo and pianist LaDene Otsuki perform Benjamin Britten’s Sonata in C, Op.65, full of twists and turns and the beginnings of extended techniques; Alberto Ginastera’s evocative Pampeana No.2, Rhapsody and César Franck’s sweet and passionate Sonata in A major.

Saturday, November 15, 2008, 8:00pm

Aaron Blumenfeld

Songs and sonatinas of a favorite Bay Area composer

•      featuring
• Pamela Hicks, soprano
• Ray Chavez, tenor
• Josh Cohen, violin
• Vicki Trimbach, piano
• Willis Hickox, piano

Aaron Blumenfeld's art songs have long been a favorite of concert-goers throughout the Bay Area. His thirty-five songs on poems by Bay Area poets have made a profound impression. This concert, Songs of Love, Remembrance and Farewell on poems by the composer is sure to touch many hearts. Also included are two sonatinas for violin and piano composed in his most attractive, highly melodious style.

Saturday, December 13, 2008, 8:00pm

Elizabeth-Baptista Gaston

Telemann, Chocolate & Fantasy

The Twelve Fantasias for flute by Georg Phillipp Telemann are miniature suites of highly charged and differentiated feelings. These pieces are so well known that most flutists could play them backwards while dancing the gigue. Flutist Elizabeth-Baptista Gaston brings a new and profoundly earthy humour to the whole… to entice the heart and mind, chocolate nibs will be served between ‘sweets’.

Saturday, December 27, 2008, 8:00pm

String Circle

There were Shepherds, abiding in the Fields...
Pastoral Music for Christmastide

• Joseph Edelberg, violin
• Katherine Kyme, violin
• Anthony Martin, viola
• Thalia Moore, 'cello
• with
• Ian Swenson, violin

Join these celebrated Bay Area musicians for a special holiday concert of sonatas and pastorales by Johann Heinrich Schmelzer, Heinrich Ignaz Biber, Jean-Philippe Rameau and Henry Purcell.

Saturday, January 10, 2009, 8:00pm

Les grâces

Vocal chamber music of the Baroque period

• Jennifer Paulino, soprano
• Annette Bauer, recorders
• Rebekah Ahrendt, viola da gamba
• Jonathan Rhodes Lee, harpsichord

This Baroque ensemble was formed in the spring of 2008 in order to explore 17th and 18th century music. The ensemble’s performances are equally inspired by the four young artists’ passionate musicianship and their collective study of historical performance practices at leading conservatories in Europe and the US.

Saturday, January 24, 2009, 8:00pm

Tom Heasley

21st-century tuba

Composer/tubist Tom Heasley’s solo compositions for electro-acoustic tuba, didjeridu and voice veer toward the meditative and transporting side of contemporary music, being simultaneously avant-garde/experimental and very listenable for audiences as diverse as The Oberlin Conservatory and San Quentin Penitentiary.

“Tom Heasley’s mesmerizing bit of loop-based, ambient tuba playing brought an ethereal beauty from the underrated instrument.”– Joseph Woodard, L.A. Times

Saturday, February 7, 2009, 8:00pm

Tanya Vegvary Plescia

Modern piano with an ear to the past

•     with special guest
• Ingrid Peters, violin

Tanya Vegvary Plescia is a concert pianist and composer who is described as sensitive and one who plays from her heart. Her interpretations of the classics are unique yet pure. Her original compositions are like nothing you’ve ever heard before – one reviewer described her piano solo Geary Street “like a musical trip through rush hour traffic, punctuated by moments of clarity and serenity.”

The program will also include a special Bay Area premiere of the Theme and Variations for Violin and Piano composed by Mrs. Plescia, with guest violinist Ingrid Peters. This work's world premiere last summer received rave reviews:

"Plescia's set of variations are everywhere full of color, and she's not shy about taking risks or being provocative. Peters proves a most willing medium for Plescia's ideas. Peters was not afraid to go for broke with her violin playing. She really brought to the fore many of the tactile and difficult ideas Plescia wrote for the violin... It came across as music that makes you think and feel, and if that isn't the point of original music, I don't know what is."Edward Ortiz, Sacramento Bee

Listen

Saturday, February 21, 2009, 8:00pm

Classical Mandolin Ensembles

Baroque mandolin concertos

• Achille Bocus, mandolin
• Sarah Bell, mandolin
• Tony Kaye, mandolin
• Nicola Swinburne, mandolin
• Laurien Jones, mandola
• Howard Kadis, archlute, guitar
• Javier Trujillo, guitar

This event brings together some of the Bay Area's best classical mandolinists with special guest Achille Bocus, Director of the Milan Plucked String Orchestra of Italy. Featuring Vivaldi's Mandolin Concerto in C, Vivaldi's Concerto for 4 violins (played on plucked strings) and other works by Bach, Sammartini, Giuliano, Gervasio and more.

Saturday, March 7, 2009, 8:00pm

The King's Trumpetts & Shalmes

Renaissance wind music on historical instruments

• David Hogan Smith, director
• Robert H. Cronin
• James Kafka
• Alan Paul

The King's Trumpetts and Shalmes is pleased to present a program of Renaissance music for wind instruments performed on complete consorts of shawms with sackbuts, crumhorns and recorders. The group is particularly proud of its crumhorns, acquired and maintained by David Hogan Smith, which replicate the complete set on display in the Musée Instrumental in Brussels.

Saturday, March 21, 2009, 8:00pm

Two Cherries

Two composer/performers premiering original compositions

• MaryClare Brzytwa, flute, prepared piano, electronics
• Annie Lewandowski, prepared piano, voice
• with guests
• Jason Hoopes, upright bass
• Alex Vittum, percussion

Two Cherries presents an evening of original music created specifically for Trinity Chamber Concerts. Annie Lewandowski will perform the first set, presenting her works for voice and prepared piano. MaryClare Brzytwa will then perform the second set: compositions for flute, prepared piano and electronics.

Saturday, April 4, 2009, 8:00pm

Yolanda Rhodes

A unique journey through many eras of song

With technical skill and musical grace, singer Yolanda Rhodes has a unique style that blends classical, improvisation, elements of jazz, and a touch of storytelling. Yolanda’s performance will include jazz standards, arias, Negro spirituals, art songs and original compositions.

Saturday, April 25, 2009, 8:00pm

Temescal String Quartet

Classical and neo-classical quartets

• Barbara Riccardi, violin
• Katherine Button, violin
• Jonna Hervig, viola
• Victor Fierro, 'cello

The Temescal String Quartet offers, in its inaugural Trinity concert, a program of Haydn, Beethoven and Prokofiev. The compositions all derive from the question, "Muss es sein?" ("Must it be?") and its response "es muss sein" ("It must be").

Saturday, May 2, 2009, 8:00pm

Gail Edwards and Anna Maria Mendieta
with the SFSU Flute Choir

Works for flute, harp and flute choir

Flutist Gail Edwards and harpist Anna Maria Mendieta perform works by Loeillet, Bizet, Ravel, Debussy, Piazzolla and others. The concert will also feature the San Francisco State University Flute Choir, directed by Gail Edwards.

Saturday, May 16, 2009, 8:00pm

California Baroque Ensemble

Baroque vocal chamber music, rediscovered

• Ruth Onstadt, soprano
• Maquette Kuper, flute
• Robert Bloch, violin
• Rejean Anderson, 'cello
• Susan Erickson, harpsichord

The California Baroque Ensemble is known for its extensive and varied baroque repertoire including newly found manuscripts as well as traditional editions by composers of the period.

Saturday, June 6, 2009, 8:00pm

Jerry Kuderna

Centennial Tribute to Joaquin Nin-Culmell

Preview @ San Francisco Classical Voice

Pianist Jerry Kuderna presents a group portrait of Latin American and Spanish composers featuring a celebration of the centennial of Joaquin Nin-Culmell, who lived in Berkeley and taught at Cal. Selections from his cycle Tonadas will be presented along with Musica Callada by Mompou, Villa-Lobos' rarely-performed Rudepoema as well as shorter Spain-inspired works by Chopin, Debussy and Ravel.

Saturday, June 27, 2009, 8:00pm

Passamezzo Moderno

Ostinato!: Pop bass, 17th-century style

• David Granger, dulcian
• Andrew Fouts, violin
• Edwin Huizinga, violin
• Jonathan Davis, harpsichord and organ

Passamezzo Moderno is an early music ensemble committed to providing their audiences the highest caliber performances on period instruments in historically authentic style. They will be performing their program Ostinato! which features 17th century instrumental music based on popular tunes and bass lines of the time. Included are the tunes Ruggerio, La Monica, and La Bergamasca, as well as passamezzos, chaconnes, and passacaglias. Composers include Tarquinio Merula, Johann Heinrich Schmelzer, Girolamo Frescobaldi, Biagio Marini, Salamone Rossi and others.