presents… DAWN UPSHAW | Soprano GILBERT KALISH | Piano SŌ PERCUSSION Eric Cha-Beach Adam Sliwinski Josh Quillen Jason Treuting Thursday October 26, 2017 | 7:30pm Herbst Theatre BRYCE DESSNER Music for Wood and Strings Commissioned by Carnegie Hall (Sō Percussion) CAROLINE SHAW Narrow Sea BAY AREA PREMIERE Commissioned by Music Accord INTERMISSION GEORGE CRUMB The Winds of Destiny (American Songbook IV) This presentation is made possible, in part, by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts Dawn Upshaw is represented by Colbert Artists Management, Inc., 307 Seventh Ave., Suite 2006, New York, NY 10001 colbertartists.com Sō Percussion is represented by Alliance Artist Management, 5030 Broadway, Suite 812, New York, NY 10034 allianceartistmanagement.com Hamburg Steinway Model D, Pro Piano, San Francisco. For Tickets and More: sfperformances.org | 415.392.2545 | 1 ARTIST PROFILES son; the Grawemeyer Award-winning op- era, L’Amour de Loin and oratorio La Passion San Francisco Performances presents Dawn de Simone by Kaija Saariaho; John Adams’s Upshaw for the eighth time; she made her SF Nativity oratorio El Niño; and Osvaldo Performances recital debut in 1990. Gilbert Golijov’s chamber opera Ainadamar and Kalish appears for the third time; he first per- song cycle Ayre. formed here with Ms. Upshaw in 1997. Tonight It says much about Dawn Upshaw’s sen- is the SF Performances debut of Sō Percussion. sibilities as an artist and colleague that she is a favored partner of many leading musi- cians, including Gilbert Kalish, the Kro- nos Quartet, James Levine, and Esa-Pekka Salonen. In her work as a recitalist, and particularly in her work with composers, Dawn Upshaw has become a generative force in concert music, having premiered more than 25 works in the past decade. From Carnegie Hall to large and small venues throughout the world she regu- larly presents specially designed programs Through his activities as performer composed of lieder, contemporary works and educator, Gilbert Kalish is a major in many languages, and folk and popular figure in American music making. A na- music. She furthers this work in master tive New Yorker, Mr. Kalish studied with classes and workshops with young singers Leonard Shure, Julius Hereford and Isa- at major music festivals, conservatories, belle Vengerova. He is a frequent guest and liberal arts colleges. She is Artistic artist with many of the world’s most dis- Director of the Vocal Arts Program at the tinguished chamber ensembles. He was Bard College Conservatory of Music, and a founding member of the Contemporary the Head of the Vocal Arts Program at the Chamber Ensemble, a pioneering new mu- Tanglewood Music Center. sic group that flourished during the 1960’s A five-time Grammy Award winner, and ’70’s. He is noted for his partnerships Dawn Upshaw is featured on more than with other artists, including cellists Timo- 50 recordings, including the million-sell- thy Eddy and Joel Krosnick, soprano Dawn ing Symphony No. 3 by Henryk Gorecki for Upshaw, and, perhaps most memorably, Joining a rare natural warmth with a Nonesuch Records. Her discography also his thirty-year collaboration with mezzo- fierce commitment to the transforming includes full-length opera recordings of soprano Jan DeGaetani. communicative power of music, Dawn Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro; Messiaen’s St. Gilbert Kalish leads a musical life of un- Upshaw has achieved worldwide celebrity Francois d’Assise; Stravinsky’s The Rake’s usual variety and breadth. As educator he as a singer of opera and concert repertoire Progress; John Adams’s El Niño; two vol- is Leading Professor and Head of Perfor- ranging from the sacred works of Bach to umes of Canteloube’s “Songs of the Au- mance Activities at the State University of the freshest sounds of today. Her ability vergne,” a dozen recital recordings, and New York at Stony Brook. From 1968–1997 to reach to the heart of music and text has an acclaimed three-disc series of Osvaldo he was a faculty member of the Tangle- earned her both the devotion of an excep- Golijov’s music for Deutsche Grammo- wood Music Center and served as the tionally diverse audience, and the awards phon. Her most recent Grammy was the “Chairman of the Faculty” at Tanglewood and distinctions accorded to only the most 2014 Best Classical Vocal Solo Grammy for from 1985–1997. He often serves as guest distinguished of artists. In 2007, she was Maria Schneider’s Winter Morning Walks on faculty at distinguished music institutions named a Fellow of the MacArthur Founda- the ArtistShare Label. such as the Banff Centre and the Steans In- tion, the first vocal artist to be awarded the Dawn Upshaw holds honorary doctorate stitute at Ravinia, and is renowned for his five-year “genius” prize, and in 2008 she degrees from Yale, the Manhattan School of master class presentations. was named a Fellow of the American Acad- Music, the Juilliard School, Allegheny Col- Mr. Kalish’s discography of some 100 re- emy of Arts & Sciences. lege, and Illinois Wesleyan University. She cordings encompasses classical repertory, Her acclaimed performances on the op- began her career as a 1984 winner of the 20th Century masterworks and new com- era stage comprise the great Mozart roles Young Concert Artists Auditions and the positions. Of special note are his solo re- (Susanna, Ilia, Pamina, Despina, and Zerli- 1985 Walter W. Naumburg Competition, cordings of Charles Ives’ Concord Sonata and na) as well as modern works by Stravinsky, and was a member of the Metropolitan Op- Sonatas of Joseph Haydn, an immense dis- Poulenc, and Messiaen. From Salzburg, era Young Artists Development Program. cography of vocal music with Jan DeGaetani Paris and Glyndebourne to the Metropoli- Ms. Upshaw has recorded extensively for and landmarks of the 20th Century by com- tan Opera, where she began her career in the Nonesuch label. She may also be heard posers such as Carter, Crumb, Shapey and 1984 and has since made nearly 300 ap- on Angel/EMI, BMG, Deutsche Grammo- Schoenberg. In 1995 he was presented with pearances, Dawn Upshaw has also champi- phon, London, Sony Classical, Telarc, and the Paul Fromm Award by the University oned numerous new works created for her on Erato and Teldec in the Warner Classics of Chicago Music Department for distin- including The Great Gatsby by John Harbi- Family of labels. guished service to the music of our time. 2 | For Tickets and More: sfperformances.org | 415.392.2545 Sō Percussion also composes and performs in London; and an original score for a live their own works, ranging from standard performance and broadcast of WNYC’s Ra- concert pieces to immersive multi-genre pro- diolab with Jad Abumrad and Robert Krul- grams—including Imaginary City, Where (we) wich at BAM. Live, and A Gun Show, which was presented Rooted in the belief that music is an es- in a multi-performance presentation as part sential facet of human life, a social bond, of BAM’s 2016 Next Wave Festival. In these and an effective tool in creating agency and concert-length programs, Sō Percussion em- citizenship, Sō Percussion enthusiastically ploys a distinctively 21st century synthesis pursues a growing range of social and com- of original music, artistic collaboration, the- munity outreach. Examples include their atrical production values and visual art, into Brooklyn Bound presentations of younger a powerful exploration of their own unique composers; commitments to purchasing and personal creative experiences. offsets to compensate for carbon-heavy ac- In the current season, Sō performs the tivities such as touring travel; and leading With innovative multi-genre original New York premiere of David Lang’s man their SōSI students in an annual food-pack- productions, sensational interpretations made with Louis Langrée and the Mostly ing drive, yielding up to 25,000 meals, for of modern classics, and an “exhilarating Mozart Festival Orchestra; tours a new the Crisis Center of Mercer County through blend of precision and anarchy, rigor and work by Caroline Shaw with Dawn Upshaw the organization EndHungerNE. bedlam,” (The New Yorker), Sō Percussion and Gil Kalish to the Kennedy Center, San Sō Percussion is the Edward T. Cone has redefined the scope and vital role of the Francisco Performances, UCLA, Penn Ensemble-in-Residence at Princeton Uni- modern percussion ensemble. State, and elsewhere; returns to Carnegie versity, where they teach and present an Sō’s repertoire ranges from “classics” of the Hall with the JACK Quartet in a program annual series of concerts. They are also 20th century, by John Cage, Steve Reich, and of new works by Donnacha Dennehy and Co-Directors of the percussion depart- Iannis Xenakis, et al, to commissioning and Dan Trueman; tours the United Kingdom ment at the Bard College-Conservatory of advocating works by contemporary compos- with its original production exploring the Music, and run the annual Sō Percussion ers such as Caroline Shaw, David Lang, Steve community and culture of English coal Summer Institute (SōSI, which celebrates Mackey, and Paul Lansky, to distinctively mining country, From Out a Darker Sea; its tenth anniversary in 2018), providing modern collaborations with artists who and more. college-age composers and percussionists work outside the classical concert hall, in- Recent highlights include an acclaimed an immersive exposure to collaboration cluding vocalist Shara Nova, electronic duo Trilogy portrait at the Lincoln Center Fes- and project development. Matmos, the groundbreaking Dan Deacon, tival; appearances at Bonnaroo, the Eaux Sō Percussion uses Vic Firth sticks, Zild- legendary drummer Bobby Previte, jam band Claires Festival, MassMoCA, and TED 2016; jian cymbals, Remo drumheads, Black kings Medeski, Martin, and Wood, Wilco’s international tours to Poland and Ireland; Swamp Accessories, Estey Organs and Glenn Kotche, choreographer Shen Wei, and performances of man made with Gustavo Pearl/Adams instruments.