Author: Rebecca Hathaway

Spring 2022 Concert Dates

After a two-year hiatus, the SF Mandolin Orchestra will perform again this Spring, and the season’s concert theme is “Meditations.” 

As we once again gather to share the joy of live music, the orchestra will perform pieces that inspire relaxation, concentration, and joy, including music from:

  • The Faery Queen by Henry Purcell.
  • The Arpeggione Sonata by Franz Schubert
  • Fidelio by Ludwig van Beethoven
  • Chaconne by Gustav Holst
  • Meditation (from Thais) by Jules Massenet

Here’s a video preview of one of the pieces we’ll play during the program:

Make plans today to attend one of our upcoming concerts:

San Francisco:

Sunday, May 22 at 500pm

Mission Dolores Chapel

320 Dolores Street, San Francisco

Map | Tickets | Facebook Event

Piedmont:

Sunday, May 29 at 500pm

Piedmont Center for the Arts

801 Magnolia Avenue, Piedmont

Map | Tickets | Facebook Event

Concerts are family-friendly. Admission is $20 general, $15 student/senior, and free for children 12 and under. Tickets may be purchased at the door, or at our ticketing site: sfmandolin.square.site. As always, you can connect with us on Facebook.

Spring 2019 Concert Dates

SF Mandolin Orchestra "Wind" Spring 2019. Cherry blossoms in background with wind blowing flower petals and music notes.

Music is in the air, as they say.  So it is only fitting that this Spring, San Francisco Mandolin Orchestra’s program theme is “Wind,” a celebration of wind- and air-themed compositions.

“Wind” and music go together.  Music, after all, is created by the movement of air, an invisible breeze that blows between performer and audience.  It comes from wind chimes and Aeolian harps.  It comes from wind instruments of all kinds. And it comes from mandolins and guitars, whose strings send vibration through in air, create their own special magic.

Join us this Spring for our wind-themed program, which includes:

  • Vivaldi’s Primavera (“Spring”) from The Four Seasons, featuring Achille Bocus, mandolin soloist.
  • Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 2, BWV 1067 (excerpts), featuring Susan Pursey, flute soloist, and Air on a G String, BWV 1068.
  • Mozart’s Symphony #29, KV. 201 (in which the orchestra will be joined by wind instrument players).
  • Respighi Ancient Airs and Dances.
  • …and much more.

Make plans today to attend one of these three concerts:

Palo Alto:

Sunday, May 12 (Mother’s Day!) at 400pm

All Saints Episcopal Church

555 Waverley Street, Palo Alto

Map | Tickets | Facebook Event

Piedmont:

Saturday, May 25 at 400pm

Piedmont Center for the Arts

801 Magnolia Avenue, Piedmont

Map | Tickets | Facebook Event

San Francisco:

Sunday, May 26 at 500pm

Mission Dolores Chapel

320 Dolores Street, San Francisco

Map | Tickets | Facebook Event

Concerts are family-friendly. Admission is $20 general, $15 student/senior, and free for children 12 and under. Tickets may be purchased at the door, or at our ticketing site: Brown Paper Tickets. As always, you can read about the orchestra at www.sfmandolin.org and connect with us on Facebook.

Fall 2018 Concert Dates

SF Mandolin Orchestra - Grand Tour - Fall 2018 seasonSeason 26: Grand Tour

Three hundred years ago European men and women of means took “The Grand Tour” of the continent in search of art, culture, and learning.

And now YOU can take a musical “Grand Tour” with the SF Mandolin Orchestra. Our fall program features orchestral works from Germany, Spain, Italy, and other countries representing the heart of European culture. Our musical journey will include:

  • Violin Concerto in A Minor by J.S. Bach, featuring our music director Achille Bocus as mandolin soloist
  • Notturno in Sol by Italian composer Giuseppe Martucci
  • March from the opera Fidelio by Ludwig van Beethoven
  • Excerpts from Joaquín Rodrigo’s guitar concerto Fantasia Para un Gentilhombre, featuring soloist Nicholas Martin
  • …and much more.

So save the date to attend one of our three upcoming concerts:

Palo Alto:
Sunday, October 28 at 4pm
All Saints Episcopal Church
555 Waverley Street, Palo Alto
Map | Tickets | Facebook Event

Piedmont:
Saturday, November 3 at 4pm
Piedmont Center for the Arts
801 Magnolia Avenue, Piedmont
Map | Tickets | Facebook Event

San Francisco:
Sunday, November 4 at 5pm
Mission Dolores Chapel
320 Dolores Street, San Francisco
Map | Tickets | Facebook Event

Concerts are family-friendly.  Admission is $20 general, $15 student/senior, and free for children 12 and under.  Tickets may be purchased at the door, or at our ticketing site.

Want to be reminded when concert dates approach? Sign up for email updates using the form on this page.

Achille Bocus on KALW Open Air

KALW logo - local public radio in San FranciscoOur conductor and music director, Achille Bocus, spoke with David Latulippe of KALW on the May 3 episode of Open AirListen to their conversation on the KALW website (it’s the first 14 minutes of the stream).

Spring 2018 Concert Dates

coun·ter·point ˈ(koun(t)ərˌpoint/)
Complimentary ideas, arguments, or themes that illuminate each other when encountered side by side, especially in music.

Contrast is at the heart of great music. Fast and slow, loud and soft, tension and release, the “counterpoint” of voices—all are prominent in all genres of world music.

American composers in particular use contrast prominently in a variety of unique musical genres. That’s why the theme of this SF Mandolin Orchestra season is “American Counterpoint.” We’ll be exploring a variety American music and contrasting it to J.S. Bach’s “Art of Fugue,” one of the most famous works of counterpoint by one of the most popular European composers.

We’ll encourage you to compare Bach’s work with these (and other) American pieces…and see what you discover:

  • George Gershwin’s “Prelude II” transcribed for mandolin orchestra.
  • “Walnut Valley Suite,” a three movement piece by award-winning mandolin player and composer Bruce Graybill.
  • “Happy Birthday Bill Monroe,” by Bay Area mandolin legend David Grisman.
  • The world premiere of “Adagio Misterioso,” by our music director Achille Bocus.
  • Big-band legend Glenn Miller’s 1939 hit “Moonlight Serenade.”

Concerts will be held in Piedmont, San Francisco, and Palo Alto.  Here are the details:

Piedmont:
Saturday, May 5 at 4:00pm
Piedmont Center for the Arts
801 Magnolia Avenue, Piedmont
Map | Tickets | Facebook Event

Palo Alto:
Sunday, May 13 at 4:00pm
All Saints Episcopal Church
555 Waverley Street, Palo Alto
Map | Tickets | Facebook Event

San Francisco:
Sunday, May 27 at 5:00pm
Mission Dolores Chapel
320 Dolores Street, San Francisco
Map | Tickets | Facebook Event

Concerts are family-friendly.  Admission is $20 general, $15 student/senior, and free for children 12 and under.  Tickets may be purchased at the door, or at our ticketing site.

SFMO in the Feb 2018 Issue of Mandolin Journal

The San Francisco Mandolin Orchestra was recently featured in Mandolin Journal, the newsletter of the Classical Mandolin Society of America! Click here to read the article written by orchestra member Paul Hennessey [PDF, 1.2mb]. If you’re a CMSA member, you can find it in the “Orchestra News” section of the February 2018 issue.

Fall 2017 Concert Dates

The theme for this November’s SF Mandolin Orchestra concerts is “Young at Heart.”  We’ll celebrate youth, and wistfully look back on our own.

Our youth inspired program includes these wonderful works:

  • The Toy Symphony by Joseph Haydn or Leopold Mozart. This joyous 18th century classical symphony features a number of toy instruments accompanied by the orchestra, including a toy whistle, drum, and kuckuck.
  • The Concerto Grosso in G-minor, Op.6 no. 8, by Arcangelo Corelli, better known as “The Christmas Concerto.” This work was written in 1714 as part of Corelli’s Twelve Concerti Grossi. It is famous for its stunning movement titled “Fatto per la note di Natale (“Made for the Night of Christmas”).
  • Kinderszenen, Op.15 (“Scenes from Childhood”) by Robert Schumann. Written in 1838, these thirteen short pieces were inspired by Robert’s wife Clara’s comment that sometimes he “seemed like a child.” The most famous of the thirteen pieces is the “Träumerei,” whose sentimental theme has been used in a number of films, including “Song of Love.”
  • Elegia e Tarantella by Giovanni Bottesini, a 19th century Italian romantic composer, conductor, and double bass virtuoso. These two pieces, originally for double bass, have been transcribed by Achille Bocus, our conductor, who will also be featured on solo mandolin. Like Bottesini, Achille Bocus’ early career was as a double bass player.

Concerts will be held in Piedmont, San Francisco, and Palo Alto, all starting at 4:00pm.  Here are the details:

Piedmont:
Saturday, November 4 at 4:00pm
Piedmont Center for the Arts
801 Magnolia Avenue
Map | Tickets | Facebook Event

San Francisco:
Sunday, November 5 at 4:00pm
Mission Dolores Chapel
3321 16th Street
Map | Tickets | Facebook Event

Palo Alto:
Sunday, November 12 at 4:00pm
All Saints Episcopal Church
555 Waverley Street
Map | Tickets | Facebook Event

Concerts are family-friendly.  Admission is $20 general, $15 student/senior, and free for children 12 and under.  Tickets may be purchased at the door, or at our ticketing site.

Spring 2017 Concert Dates

The San Francisco Mandolin Orchestra’s Spring 2017 season features the stunning Stabat Mater by Italian composer Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710-36), as well as Adagio for Strings by American composer Samuel Barber (1910-1981).

Stabat Mater is Pergolesi’s most celebrated work, and was composed in the last year of his brief life. The piece, written for soprano, alto, and orchestra, was composed as a Good Friday meditation in honor of the Virgin Mary, and was one of the most frequently printed musical works of the 18th century. Famed French philosopher Jean-Jacque Rousseau praised the work’s opening movement as “the most perfect and touching duet to come from the pen of any composer.”

Achille Bocus will conduct the orchestra, and the performance will feature two renowned Bay Area singers, soprano Susan Gundunas and alto Twila Ehmcke:

SusanGundunas_Headshot2016

With over 50 roles to her credit, critically acclaimed soprano Susan Gundunas is an active performer in opera, musical theatre, dramatic theatre, and concert and recital repertoire.  Her international career includes role portrayals as Nedda (I pagliacci), Adina (L’elisir d’amore), Violetta (La Traviata), Cio-Cio San (Madama Butterfly), Mimì (La Bohème), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor, Carlotta (Phantom of the Opera), Mrs. Peachum (Three Penny Opera), Esther (MeshugaNutcracker), and Helen Hart (The Game Show Show).

Ms. Gundunas is well known in the Northwest, performing with companies including Nevada Opera, Opera Idaho, Rimrock Opera, Sonoma City Opera, Pacific Repertory Opera, Monterey Opera, San Francisco Bay Opera, San Francisco Mandolin Orchestra, San Jose Stage Company, The Retro Dome, Marin Theatre, Renaissance Voices, Masterworks Chorale, San Jose Chamber Orchestra, Santa Cruz Symphony, and the Las Vegas Symphony.  Her performance as Ellen in Alva Henderson’s Nosferatu can be heard on the Albany Records label, and she also served as a recording artist for The Marin Project.

 

Headshot-Twila Ehmcke

Twila Ehmcke moved to San Francisco in 2007 after sharing her voice for most of the prior decade with New York and East Coast audiences. Beforehand, she performed solo and ensemble concerts for German and Italian audiences as well as performing two years with “The Phantom of the Opera” (Mme. Giry) in Hamburg.  Her concert career has occupied most of her time and has carried her to many well know classical venues such as Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall and Brooklyn Academy of Arts.  Her opera career brought her to the stages of Wolftrap, Philadelphia Opera Company, Dallas and Ft. Worth Operas as well as the Hamburg Stella Theater, Germany, and countless regional festivals in the Tuscany and Liguria regions.  Twila participated in the inception of the now flourishing Brooklyn Artists of New York, singing the role of Mama Lucia in “Cavalieri Rusticana” in its debut season. She also performed with Vertical Opera Players as Nourice in Milhaud’s “Médée” and Frugola in Puccini’s “Il Tabarro”.  Always a strong supporter of those in need, she contributed her talents to the annual galas for Cystic Fibroses in New York City, where she sang Octavian in scenes from “Der Rosenkavalier”.  She has sung under the baton of international and American conductors, of note James Levine, Peter Oundjian, Donald Runnicles, Carlo Maria Giulini and Nicola Rescigno.

Concerts will take place in both Palo Alto and San Francisco:

San Francisco:
Saturday, April 8 at 7pm
Old First Presbyterian Church
1751 Sacramento Street
Map | Tickets | Facebook Event

Palo Alto:
Sunday, April 9 at 4pm
All Saints Episcopal Church
555 Waverley Street
Map | Tickets | Facebook Event

Tickets for both concerts are available online or at the door.

Admission: $18 General, $10 Students/Seniors. (Note: door tickets are cash only.)

Concerts are family-friendly, and admission is free for children 6 and under.