Concert program for Old First Concerts 50th Anniversary Gala
Sunday, November 15, 2020 at 2 pm
Download a copy of the program here.
A note from Thomas Culp – President, Board of Directors
I love, admire and support Old First Concerts because it presents the musicians and music of my community at a modest cost, and encourages audience support for the musical arts by presenting new and developing artists in performance, bringing them to the attention of the public as well as the music community.
Many artists have received their first critical notices after performing at O1C, which has been instrumental in bringing performers and management together as well as additional engagements both locally and nationally. Established musicians enjoy the freedom to choose their repertoire, a choice that is not available to them as members of an orchestra.
In addition, Old First Concerts provides audiences with a diverse repertoire of high-quality music ranging from classical and avant-garde to world music. Old First Concerts has been critically recognized for innovative programming variety and outreach. Our audiences are loyal and knowledgeable. Performers notice and respond to the quality of listening.
Old First Center for the Arts was founded in 1970 by John Bodo, an amateur cellist and the pastor of Old First Presbyterian Church. Originally the Series was administered by Old First Presbyterian church and since 1983 Old First Concerts has been an independent nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation.
Artistic background
Old First Concerts has collaborated with the San Francisco Symphony’s New and Unusual Series (renamed Wet Ink), San Francisco Opera’s Schwabacher Debut Recital Series, Yefim Maizel’s Opera Academy of California, John Parr’s series Basically British featuring SF Opera Alder Fellows, and San Francisco Conservatory’s BluePrint Series of new music and Honors concerts. Old First Concerts has co-commissioned with the San Francisco Arts Commission and Chamber Music America. Notable performers have included oboist Heinz Holliger, bassist Ray Brown, sarodist Ali Akbar Khan, husband wife duo Wesla Whitfield and Mike Greensill, kotoist Kazue Sawai, piano/organist Terry Riley, guitarist David Tanenbaum, pianists including Dennis Russell Davies, Clive Swansbourne, Joel Fan, and Jeffrey Kahane, and quartets including the Coull, Lark, and Kronos.
True to our mission composers including Elliot Carter, Ellen Zwilich, Ernst Bacon, Lou Harrison, Sir Michael Tippett, George Benjamin, George Tsontakis, Charles Wuorinen, Charles Shere, Jorge Liderman, John Cage, Ned Rorem, Kirke Mecham, Peter Schickele, Roger Nixon, Robert Sierra, Christian Wolff, Aaron Jay Kernis, Elinor Armer, Pablo Ortiz, John Marvin, Ursula Mamlok, Hyo-shin Na, Paul Chihara, Andrew Imbrie, David Conte, Joel Wallach, Chen Yi, John Harbison, and Terry Riley have all introduced performances of their works on our stage.
While we focus on supporting Bay Area musicians at all stage of their careers, we are always happy to host musicians of exceptional caliber from outside the area to provide our audiences with the best in contemporary chamber music. Recent performers from beyond the Bay area include: M. Lamar, Thorwald Jørgensen, Will Chow, Club Glee, José López, The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, Jason Stoll, Grant Ferris, Duo AMA, Naama Liany, Utsav Lal, Eric Liu, Robert Stallman, Holes in the Floor, Bin Huang, Yu&I Duo, Uppsala Cathedral Choir, Enrico Pompili, Ksenia Nosikova, Paul Yeager, Kevin Kenner, Ivan Ilic, Tao Lin, Alfonso Alberti, Zephyr Ensemble, Zodiac Trio, and Heidi Van Hoesen Gorton.
In addition to all of the performers in today’s program, who make regular appearances on our series, we want to celebrate some of the other local performers who we are proud to have had perform on our stage many times over the years, including Temirzhan Yerzhanov, Empyrean Ensemble, Laurel Ensemble, Adesso, Piedmont Children’s Choirs, Wooden Fish Ensemble, Eos Ensemble, KITKA, Arjun Verma, Thomas Schultz, Volti, Kay Stern & Joan Nagano, Ives String Quartet (now Ives Collective), Voci, SF Piano Quartet, Sqwonk, SF Guitar Quartet, Clerestory, Sarn Oliver, Melodiya, Amos Yang, Jupiter Chamber Players, Heidi Melton, The Living Earth Show, Luciano Chessa, Mobius Trio, Miles Graber, Tom Rose, Sven Olbash, San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra, Schola Cantorum, Melody of China, sfSound Group, Ali Paris, Shana & Avi Downes, Empyrean Ensemble, Shoko Hikage, and so, so many others.
Community support
As a community organization, Old First Concerts is encouraged by the financial support that we have received through Concert Memberships, individual donations and funding from:
San Francisco Grants for the Arts
William & Flora Hewlett Foundation
Ann & Gordon Getty Foundation
San Francisco Arts Commission- Cultural Equity Grant
Crescent Porter Hale Foundation
California Arts Council
Chamber Music America
Stanley Ibler, Jr. Fund for Music
The Zellerbach Family Fund
California Lawyers for the Arts
Bernard Osher Foundation
Bank of America Community Fund
National Endowment for the Arts
Artist’s Advisory Committee
Old First Concerts is delighted to recognize the following artists who have served on a Advisory Committee over our history: Dan Becker, Donna Bruno, Lawrence Ferrara, Daniel Glover, Mike Greensill, Corey Jamason, Esther Landau, Jodi Levitz, Mack McCray, Ron McFarland, Emil Miland, Bettina Mussumeli, Hyo-shin Na, Joan Nagano, John Parr, Elizabeth Prior, Stephen Prutsman, and Victor Romasevich.
Program
Matthew Wolka, Old First Concerts Director – Welcome
William Wellborn, piano
Impromptu in A major, Op. 7, No. 2 by Jan Václav Voříšek
Impromptu in E-flat Major D. 899 #3 by Franz Schubert
James Armstrong, piano
Sanctuary by James Armstrong
Robert Schwartz, piano
La leggierezza from Three Concert Etudes (S.144) by Franz Liszt
John Ferguson, piano
Molto vivace from Symphony No. 9 by Ludwig van Beethoven (arr. Franz Liszt)
our #1 video on YouTube – over 460,000 views!
Hadley McCarroll, piano
Hymne from Serenade in la by Igor Stravinsky
Midsummer Nocturne by Aaron Copland
Thomas Culp – Old First Concerts Board President – Remarks
Daniel Glover, piano
Polonaise in C, Op. 89 by Ludwig van Beethoven
Gwendolyn Mok, piano
Fantasy on Melodies of Beethoven by Carl Czerny
Christopher Burt – Old First Concerts Board Vice President – Remarks
NEW MUSIC at Old First Concerts
Friction Quartet
Doug Machiz, cello; Otis Harriel, violin; Kevin Rogers, violin; Lucia Kobza, viola
Short and Reflectaphor a from Family Group with Aliens by Piers Hellawell
Sarah Cahill, piano
She Dances Naked Under Palm Trees by Theresa Wong
ZOFO
Eva-Maria Zimmermann & Keisuke Nakagoshi, piano four-hands
Tupan and Davul by Erberk Eryılmaz
Del Sol String Quartet
Sam Weiser & Benjamin Kreith, violins; Charlton Lee, viola; Kathryn Bates, cello
Borne (excerpt) by Rajna Swaminathan
Ensemble for These Times – Margaret Halbig, piano
Twilight Mazurka by Alden Jenks
Thomas Culp – Old First Concerts Board President
CHAMBER MUSIC at Old First Concerts
Holes in the Floor
Eunghee Cho, Jonathan Butler, Joy Yanai, Yejin Hong, cellos
Clair de lune by Claude Debussy (arr. Blaise Dejardin)
Ensemble ARI – Jean Ahn, director
martha & monica
Hadley McCarroll, piano & Monica Scott, cello
Con moto – Adagio from Pohádka by Leoš Janáček
SF SOTA – Ava Soifer
Winnie Nieh, soprano & Paul Dab, piano
Simple Gifts Shaker song attr. Elder Joseph Brackett, arr. Aaron Copland
WORLD MUSIC/JAZZ at Old First Concerts
Cascada de Flores
Arwen Lawrence & Jorge Liceaga, voice, dance & guitars
Lawrence Ferrara, guitar
Sunburst by Andrew York
Henry Plotnick, piano
Improvisation
Cornelius Boots, shakuhachi
Underground Sun by Cornelius Boots
KITKA
Shira Cion, Director
K’viria
Matt Wolka, Old First Concerts Director – Thanks so much for being part of Old First Concerts during the past 50 years and we look forward with hope to the future!