Wanting to program tenor Michael Schade on this season’s Chamber Music San Francisco roster, director Daniel Levenstein chose a novel way of making it possible. He suggested repertoire that would allow the singer to share the stage with violinist Livia Sohn, playing arrangements that Fritz Kreisler made for himself and tenor John McCormack to perform a hundred years ago.
You can find out more at the Chamber Music San Francisco website.
“We’ve been toying with the idea for years of having a vocalist come and perform in our three cities,” Levenstein says. (Five programs are played in San Francisco, Walnut Creek, and Palo Alto; there are additional performances only at Herbst Theatre.) “There was a central challenge, which is that a vocalist finds it difficult – any vocalist – finds it difficult to do a full recital three times in three days… I did a little bit of research, and discovered the Kreisler/McCormack material. Fritz Kreisler was a legendary violinist in the early part of the 20th Century, and he did performances and recordings with the equally famous original Irish tenor, named John McCormack.” Michael Schade and Livia Sohn will sing and play some of those arrangements, as well as solo repertoire. The other performances that will be taking place this season in all three of the venues include the Israeli Chamber Project, and the Berlin-based Artemis Quartet, with the San Francisco premiere of Alexander Gavrylyuk in May. There are also solo piano recitals by Song-Jin Cho, Yeol-Eum Son, and Angela Hewitt, plus a concert by Midori, a Mother’s Day performance of the Brandenburg Concertos, and a three-concert summer series. “We determined that there was a kind of niche in the month of June, in the realm of chamber music and recitals, which is our cup of tea. It’s sort of after the regular season ends in May, and before festivals begin in July.” They’ll include the Anderson-Roe Piano Duo, violinist Sergey Khachatryan, and a Schubert cello quintet with the Escher String Quartet and Jean-Michel Fonteneau.
