Derek Tam has been appointed Executive Director of the San Francisco Early Music Society. He succeeds Harvey Malloy, who served from 2009 until his retirement last fall. His appointment to the top leadership position with SFEMS will be especially important in the planning of the 2020 Berkeley Festival and Exhibition. SFEMS President Joyce Johnson Hamilton […]
The 2018 Berkeley Festival was a milestone—the first time a major early music festival made a strong case for applying the principles and practices of historical performance to music of the 19th century, up to and including Debussy, as demonstrated in a program by Alexei Lubimov co-presented by the Westfield Center. In an early piano […]
This season’s Sunday Afternoon concert series at the California Jazz Conservatory continues on February 17 with Ensemble Bizarria (Lindsey Strand-Polyak, violin; and Alexa Haynes-Pilon, cello) performing music from the Court of Modena. While most tourists and foodies today think of Modena in Northern Italy as the home of balsamic vinegar and Lamborghinis, 17th-century Italians knew […]
Musical and Gustatory Opulence and Splendor in San Francisco, February 24th The SFEMS Baroque Workshop, now entering its 5th decade, is the oldest workshop of its kind in the world. The enterprise began in 1978, when the City of Berkeley asked harpsichordist and early music evangelist Laurette Goldberg to set up a week-long summer music […]
John Prescott, Ph.D., will present another in his series of early music lecture courses in March—an entirely new series focusing on music in the North American colonies, especially during the 18th century. The course runs Monday, March 4, through Friday, March 8, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon, at St. Mary Magdalene (Norton Hall), 2005 […]
The San Francisco Early Music Society is pleased to announce the award of grants from the California Arts Council to four of our Affiliate groups. Each of these organizations’ projects is closely aligned with SFEMS’s goal of strengthening regional early music networks. We wanted to share with you the winners and their projects. The East […]
When Harvey Malloy stepped down this past October, after almost 10 years as SFEMS Executive Director, he had both helped the Society meet and overcome major challenges and done a tremendous amount to modernize it, put it on sounder footing, and give it an ever more significant role, both in the regional arts community and […]
Back in 2003, the SFEMS newsletter ran an article (interview) on The Musical Offering that we titled “The Last Classical Record Store,” which indeed it was. It still is worth reading, both for its insights into the recording industry and into the store’s history and unique vision. The MO’s ability to weather disruptive changes in […]
Baroque Dance and J.S. Bach Bay Area historical dance troupe SF Renaissance Dancers and baroque music ensemble Nash Baroque are creating a performance of compositions by J.S. Bach together with 18th-century French dances to reveal how baroque dance influenced Bach’s music. This production, involving a total of 11 artists,will take place over two performances in […]
Bay Area dance enthusiasts young and old should be aware of two workshops coming up Friday and Saturday, January 25 and 26. On Friday evening, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, the University of California Berkeley Baroque Ensemble, and the New York Baroque Dance Company co-present a free baroque dance and music workshop for students and the community. […]
