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“With fine backing from the winds, Golka gave a performance that was both subtle and true to the spirit of Gershwin.” – Olin Chism, Star-Telegram, December 31, 2016

On New Year’s Eve, Adam Golka returned to his home state of Texas to perform Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the Fort Worth Symphony. A favorite and frequent guest of the orchestra, Adam was chosen by the symphony to celebrate the breaking of their strike in a festive performance. To further welcome in the new year on a playful note, Adam and Music Director, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, performed a Victor Borge-esque comedic music routine at the closing of the concert.

“… on New Year’s Eve, I was extremely humbled to be asked as a guest artist for Rhapsody in Blue with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, conducted by their Music Director, Miguel Harth-Bedoya. This was their first concert after a four-month silence; the orchestra had declared a strike when their salaries received a devastating cut. It is wonderful news for the Fort Worth community and the musicians that they have re-started their season, and I am crossing my fingers that the electric atmosphere of the New Year’s concert is a promise of great things to come. This was my ninth concerto performance with Miguel and the FWSO; this group of musicians has been an instrumental part of my growth.” – Adam Golka

Last August, following a recital at the Duszniki International Chopin Festival, Adam reconnected with Alfred Brendel, in a return to the Krzyzowa Festival in Poland. This collaboration was documented in a short film.

This year, Adam continues solo and chamber performances in New York at Merkin Hall and at Barge Music in Brooklyn, and performed last week at (Le) Poisson Rouge and 11th Street Arts. A frequent guest at the Cliburn, Adam returns to give a repeat performance of the program, An American Hero, in the upcoming 55th anniversary of the international piano competition this June.

Adam launched his newsletter at the end of the year, in which he delves into the process of recording his new album of Schubert and Schumann with his friends, pianists Michael Brown and Roman Rabinovich, at the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Read the entire story of his recording adventure with other updates in his newsletter and watch it in action in this video!

Conductor Daniel Meyer appears in Germany three times during January and February. He returns to the Württembergische Philharmonie in Reutlingen for concerts of Gerswhin, Mintzer and Rachmaninoff; debuts with the Staatsorchester Darmstadt in concerts of JC Bach, Ligeti, Janacek and Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with pianist Joseph Moog; and debuts with the Nuremberg Symphony in a program of Strauss, Beethoven and the Higdon Percussion Concerto.

“My family’s roots are in Bavaria and Alsace-Lorraine. On a Rotary International Scholarship, I was fortunate enough to study conducting at the Hochschule fur Musik in Vienna and, during the same period, sang Mozart, Schubert and Haydn on a regular basis as a member of the St. Augustine Choir; an up close and personal immersion experience, if you will, in a language and culture that had always fascinated me. Those student days set me up on a good path to feel at home in the German speaking world — and I love it that I’m getting to conduct there more frequently these days.” – Daniel Meyer

Highlights in North American this winter/spring include guest conducting engagements with the Detroit Symphony and the West Virginia Symphony. As music director of the Erie Philharmonic, he leads their residency with Emanuel Ax in early March. Also Music Director of the Asheville Symphony, Meyer leads the 2nd annual Amadeus Festival there March 10-19, 2017 featuring a residency by Midori.

Paul Jacobs gives the world premiere of the Organ Concerto by Christopher Rouse on November 17 with the Philadelphia Orchestra led by their Music Director, Yannick Nezet-Seguin, in an organ extravaganza program that also includes Barber’s Toccata Festiva for Organ and Orchestra, and Saint Saën’s Symphony No. 3.  Paul will repeat the Rouse Concerto later this season with co-commissioners Los Angeles Philharmonic and the National Symphony Orchestra.
“It was touching to see Mr. Jacobs use all his weight and force to squeeze every ounce of sound out of the grand final chord.” 
– James R. Oestreich, THE NEW YORK TIMES, September 19, 2016

He spends Thanksgiving weekend this month playing Barber’s Toccata Festivawith the Montreal Symphony.  Other fall highlights included a return to the Cleveland Orchestra to open their season with Copland’s Symphony for Organ and Orchestra led by Music Director, Franz Welser-Most, and a return to the Kansas City Symphony with Music Director, Michael Stern, for Alexander Guilmant’s Symphony No. 1.

“Whether interacting subtly with individual musicians or letting the organ rip in regal displays with the full ensemble, Jacobs displayed perfect senses of balance and registration in addition to technical fluidity and musical insight. Through often strange, winding, and unpredictable territory, the organist proved an assured and compelling guide, taking care to point out all the music’s curious wonders.”
– Zachary Lewis, CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER, September 30, 2016

Wearing a different hat, Paul Jacobs added a journalistic twist to his career, advocating for the re-institution of the pipe organ in the New York Philharmonic concert hall with his piece published in the Wall Street Journal:
“Many people think of the organ as a solemn, lonely instrument, and organists as primarily a support for congregational singing. The organ’s sacred setting over the past millennium should not be underestimated or diminished, and church organists continue to play an indispensable role. But the artistic possibilities for organ music have blossomed significantly beyond the sanctuary.” – Paul Jacobs (to view the full article on the Wall Street Journal site, click here)

Pianist Marc-André Hamelin earned accolades for a recent Festival performance at La Jolla Music Society:

“One moment Hamelin demonically crashed out chords in the lowest register, the next teased out pianissimo plaintive utterances in the treble. He emphasized the wildness of Liszt’s narrative without derailing it.

It was a heroic journey, and at its quiet conclusion, Hamelin was given a hero’s celebration by the audience.”
– Christian Hertzog, THE SAN DIEGO TRIBUNE, August 25, 2016

In the next weeks, Hamelin launches a globe-trotting round of recitals including performances at San Francisco Performances — his 10th recital there since Ruth Felt first presented him in 2003; at  The Gilmore, where his November 5concert will be live-streamed (be sure to like our Facebook page for the link to this special event!); at Roosevelt University in Chicago; an all-Mozart program at the 92nd St Y in New York;  his China debut in a pair of recitals at the Shanghai Concert Hall; and a return to the Berlin Philharmonie.

San Francisco Performances on October 21, 23
Roosevelt University on November 2
The Gilmore in Kalamazoo, Michigan on November 5
92nd St Y in New York City on November 12
The Shanghai Concert Hall in China on November 18, 19
The Berlin Philharmonie on November 29

Marc-André finishes up his European tour in December with performances of Brahms 2 with the Warsaw Philharmonic, and begins 2017 in a return to theMontreal Symphony to play Ravel G Major and Shostakovich Cto. No. 1 with Kent Nagano.

Read Marc-André Hamelin’s thoughts on his Twitter!

~ We would like to take this occasion to celebrate Ruth Felt, who established San Francisco Performances 37 years ago and has nurtured it creatively — and with great acumen, style, and good spirit —  every day since.  We are grateful for her manifold and excellent efforts to present artists always in the very best way possible, building trust and respect with her audiences every step of the way.  Ruth Felt’s  legacy is fine, and huge — and we honor it. ~

Three years ago, pianists Soyeon Kate Lee and Ran Dank were wed, and marked that year by performing together at (Le) Poisson Rouge for the first time. Those three years have seen them from Cincinnati to Hawaii, and now they are together in the same city, as they celebrate their third anniversary and return to (Le) Poisson Rouge for another exhilarating concert.
After kicking off the season in New York City, Ran Dank and Soyeon Kate Lee have a full 16/17 season, with duo concerts interspersed within a series of solo engagements.

Soyeon Kate Lee ended her summer with a recital at Mänttä Music Festival in Finland, and began fall with two performances at the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, performing Schumann’s Piano Quintet with the Ariel String Quartet, and Chopin’sPiano Concerto No. 2. She will be performing Bartok’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Erie Philharmonic, and Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Asheville Symphony later this season.

After a concert at Ravinia performing a program of Chopin Mazurkas and Polonaises, and Bolcom’s Twelve Etudes Books I&II, Ran Dank will be performing Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra on October 29, and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Toledo Symphony on March 25.

Tonight, they will perform a program of duo piano pieces (Kaleidoscope by Corigliano, the New York premiere of Seven Impromptus by Alexander Goehr, and Ravel’s La Valse) and solo pieces (Scriabin’s Fantasy by Kate, and Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 13 in A minor by Ran). See their concert tonight at (Le) Poisson Rouge. Hear a preview of their concert here.

Their series of duo concerts continues at the Smithsonian American Art Museum Steinway Series, where they are performing a program of Mozart, Scriabin, Liszt, and Stravinsky on October 9. They continue their series, Music By The Glass, an intimate recital series developed and curated by Lee and Dank, on September 22 at the Louis Meisel Gallery, and go on tour to perform at Chamber Music Cincinnati on November 20.

Below, Soyeon Kate Lee and Ran Dank perform Brahms Waltzes Op. 39 at Le Poisson Rouge in 2013:

Conductor Michael Stern took the podium with Yo-Yo Ma and the Boston Symphony for the penultimate concert at Tanglewood this summer in a program of Bernstein, Haydn, John Williams, and Respighi:

“The program was designed for popular appeal, with Ma as the chief attraction. In the end, conductor Michael Stern seemed the most interesting part of the evening. He lit up the BSO, whether accompanying Ma or going to the movies with Bernstein.” – The Berkshire Eagle, August 28, 2016

Stern began September leading the Shanghai Symphony in the inaugural Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition, and now heads Down Under to lead the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra in performances of Elgar, Haydn, and Prokofiev. Stern opens his 12th season as Music Director of the Kansas City Symphony in the remarkable Helzberg Hall of the architectural icon that is the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in K.C. Stern also continues as Music Director of IRIS, the ground-breaking orchestra he founded in Memphis to champion new American music — played by extraordinary rosters of musicians — alongside the Classical canon. Mo. Stern also leads weeks with the Nationaland Atlanta Symphonies this season.

Dubbed a “Harpsichord Ninja” by the BBC, Mahan Esfahani returned to North America for debuts at the Aspen Music Festival with works by de Falla and Saariaho on August 1 and a Little Night Music recital for the Mostly Mozart Festival’s 50th anniversary on August 5. This was followed by a profile in The New York Times on his work bringing the harpsichord into modern times.

Esfahani has two CD releases this month: the Seattle Symphony’s third disc of the music of Henri Dutilleux featuring Mahan in Les Citations and Deutsche Grammophon’s release of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, a work that will serve as the start to his 5-year exploration of the keyboard works of Bach at London’s Wigmore Hall beginning on December 21.

Mahan begins his three-year residency with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra as Baroque Conversations Artist-in-Residence on October 6 and in November joins Les Violons du Roy for concerti of Bach and Górecki and a recital at the Isabel Bader Center for the Performing Arts in Kingston, ON.

JACK Quartet began an exciting transition earlier this month as they bade farewell to founding members violinist Ari Streisfeld and cellist Kevin McFarland at the Crested Butte Music Festival on August 5th.

New members violinist Austin Wulliman and cellist Jay Campbell join the quartet for activities later this month and throughout the fall with their official debut together in Roger Reynolds’s FLiGHT at the Park Avenue Armory on October 30 & 31.

McFarland substitutes Campbell on select dates, including their European tour in November that includes the world premiere of Georg Friedrich Haas’ String Quartet No. 9 at the Wien Modern on November 12.  Like Haas’ String Quartet No. 3, this will be performed in complete darkness with the quartet playing from memory.

All six members present and past will take part in John Adams’s Shaker Loops as part of the JACK’s annual appearance at the University of Iowa String Quartet Residency Program on December 8.

Vocal ensemble amarcord offers a new program marking the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s Protestant Reformation of 1517 and the resulting progression of performance practice in vocal music. Leipzig’s premiere a cappella ensemble joins the city’s Gewandhaus Orchestra and St. Thomas Choir for special October 31 Reformation Day celebrations then takes their contribution on tour to North America November 13 – 19, 2017.  A second tour February 22 – March 5, 2018 offers additional programs including:

ARMARIUM
Rare works found in the library of Leipzig’s St. Thomas Church Choir from the Middle Ages to Henrich Schuütz.

TRAUMLICHT
Dream Light
Works by Strauss, Schubert, Saint-Saens, Reger

RASTLOSE LIEBE
Restless Love: Italian Madrigals, Lieder & International Folksongs
Works by Gabrieli, Schutz, de Lasso, Schumann, Mendelssohn and folk songs from around the world