Arts & Events

Ensemble San Francisco, its players drawn from the San Francisco Symphony, Ballet and Opera orchestras--Christine McLeavey Payne, piano; Laura Griffiths, oboe; Meredith Brown, horn; Rebecca Jackson, violin; Matthew Young, viola and Jonah Kim, cello--will play Brahm's Trio for Horn, Violin and Piano; Britten's Phantasy Quartet; Barber's Cello Sonata, Op 6. and Mozart's Oboe Quartet, 8 p. m. Tuesday, January 12 for Berkeley Chamber Concerts, in its 23rd season, at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant, between Dana and Ellsworth. A complimentary wine and cheese reception will follow the performance, a chance to meet the artists. General admission, $30; students through high school, free; post-secondary school students, $15. 525-5211; www.berkeleychamberperform.org -more-

Many years ago – how many no one seems to know – San Francisco Chamber Orchestra’s founding Musical Director Edgar Braun (1933-2002) began the tradition of offering a New Year’s Eve concert in Berkeley. Ben Simon, SFCO’s current Music Director, recalls attending these concerts when he was in high school. Currently, SFCO has expanded this tradition by adding, in addition to the Berkeley New Year’s Eve concert, performances on Friday, Jan. 1 in Palo Alto and on Sunday, Jan. 3 at Herbst Theatre in San Francisco. On the program this time around were two works by Joseph Haydn – the Sinfonia Concertante in B-flat, Op. 84, and the “Farewell” Symphony No. 45 in F-sharp minor – plus a Concerto for Three Violins, BWV 1064R, by Johann Sebastian Bach, and an orchestral suite entitled “Quiet City” by Aaron Copland. -more-

Now twenty years old, Oakland pianist Audrey Vardanega considers herself a protégée of Maestro George Cleve, the founding Director of Midsummer Mozart and conductor of the San Jose Symphony. Maestro Cleve died in August, shortly after I heard him conduct two Mozart works in kicking off the 2015 Midsummer Mozart Festival -- the overture to the one-act opera Der Schauspieldirektor/The Impresario, and Mozart’s 41^st and final Symphony, nicknamed “The Jupiter.” (See my review of this concert in the July 21, 2015 issue of this paper.) To honor Maestro Cleve, Audrey Vardanega put together a program of piano works that spoke to her of George Cleve and the music he loved. Vardanega’s recital took place before a packed house on Sunday evening, January 3, 2016, at Berkeley’s Hillside Club. -more-