The 7th annual San Francisco International Piano Festival returns to Old First Concerts with a celebration of French keyboard music across the centuries. Festival favorite and fellow Francophile Gwendolyn Mok will join artistic director Jeffrey LaDeur and special guests Sarah Yuan and Munan Cheng in this opening concert.
East coast pianist Blaise Bryski plays music by west coast composer Mark Winges. This concert includes Mark’s complete Nocturnes as well as the premieres of longer works Red Sky Opening and More Hand Jive. The latter is a nod to Blaise’s and Mark’s roots in rock / funk, and includes sections of music that are improvised.
Hailed for her “vivid tone and expressive elegance” by the San Francisco Chronicle, soprano Jill Morgan Brenner channels a deep sense of connection to music and poetry, allowing her to communicate with conviction and nuance as she performs Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder, Strauss’ Four Last Songs, and selected lieder by Alma Mahler and Franz Schubert.
The San Francisco International Piano Festival is proud to present pianist and composer Asiya Korepanova in her San Francisco debut recital. Ms. Korepanova begins with a nod to our featured composer, Gabriel Fauré, before launching into a diverse array of virtuosic and emotionally captivating music, all in her own transcriptions.
AnnaLotte Smith’s program Songs My Mother Taught Me blends classical and contemporary works embodying the enduring spirit of female strength and creativity while touching on themes of generational and cultural exchange, climate change, and our collective aspiration for a brighter future.
