MEDIA UPDATE/IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, July 23, 2021
Contact: Nancy Bertossa
(415) 677-0328 or nancy@sfperformances.org

San Francisco Performances Announces the Rescheduled 2020–21 Art of the Quintet Series and 2019–20 Beethoven Quartet Series with the Alexander String Quartet

Zakarias Grafilo, violin, David Samuel, viola, Frederick Lifsitz, violin, Sandy Wilson, cello
SF Performances Music Historian-in-Residence Robert Greenberg

All performances take place at Herbst Theatre

The Art of the Quintet Series

Sunday, September 5, 2021, 10:00am | $60/$50/$40
Paul Yarbrough, guest viola
MOZART: Quintet in B-flat Major, KV 174
MOZART: Quintet in C Major, KV 515

Sunday, September 5, 2021, 3:00pm | $60/$50/$40
Paul Yarbrough, guest viola
MOZART: Quintet in G minor, KV 516
MOZART: Quintet in D Major, KV 593

Saturday, September 11, 2021, 10:00am | $60/$50/$40
Paul Yarbrough, guest viola and Eli Eban, guest clarinet
MOZART: Quintet in E-flat Major, KV 614
MOZART: Clarinet Quintet in A Major, KV 581

Saturday, September 11, 2021, 3:00pm | $60/$50/$40
Paul Yarbrough, guest viola and Eli Eban, guest clarinet
BRAHMS: Quintet in G Major, Op. 111
BRAHMS: Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op. 115

Sunday, September 12, 2021, 10:00am | $60/$50/$40
Eugene Sor, guest cellist
SCHUBERT: Cello Quintet in C Major, D. 956

Beethovend Quartet Series

Sunday, September 19, 2021, 10:00am | $60/$50/$40
BEETHOVEN: String Quartet No. 13 in B-flat Major, Op. 130
Grosse Fugue for String Quartet in B-flat Major, Op. 133

Sunday, September 26, 2021, 10:00am | $60/$50/$40
BEETHOVEN: String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Op. 132
MOZART: String Quartet No. 16 in F Major, Op. 135

SAN FRANCISCO, CA—July 27, 2021—San Francisco Performances (SFP) announces the rescheduling of the Saturday Morning Series concerts with the Alexander String Quartet and Music Historian Robert Greenberg, which were canceled due to the pandemic. These seven concerts/lectures feature the newest member of the Alexander String Quartet, violist David Samuel. The first five performances are the complete The Art of the Quintet series with programs of Mozart, Brahms and Schubert originally scheduled for the 2020–21 season. The final two performances are the two canceled Beethoven Quartets concert/lectures from the end of the 2019–20 season.

"The Alexander String Quartet and Robert Greenberg have been educating and entertaining audiences for 27 years through our Saturday Morning series, converting thousands of audience members into chamber music aficionados. In these seven concerts the beloved Alexander String Quartet, Music Historian-in-Residence Robert Greenberg, and a host of guest artists will explore music for five in The Art of the Quintet series and survey Beethoven’s string quartets in the last two of our 2019-20 Beethoven Quartets series. For anyone wishing to know more about music combined with a live performance experience, the Saturday Morning Series is an amazing San Francisco cultural asset.” —SFP President Melanie Smith

Celebrating its 40th Anniversary in 2021, the Alexander String Quartet (ASQ) has performed in the major music capitals of five continents, securing its standing among the world’s premiere ensembles. Widely admired for its interpretations of Beethoven, Mozart, and Shostakovich, the quartet's recordings of the Beethoven cycle (twice), and the Bartók and Shostakovich cycles have all won international critical acclaim. The quartet has also established itself as an important advocate of new music through over 25 commissions from such composers as Jake Heggie, Cindy Cox, Augusta Read Thomas, Robert Greenberg, Martin Bresnick, César Cano, and Pulitzer Prize-winner, Wayne Peterson.

ASQ has been Ensemble-in-Residence since 1989 with San Francisco Performances, the result of a unique partnership between SF Performances and The Morrison Chamber Music Center at San Francisco State University. Starting in 1994, ASQ joined with SF Performances’ Music Historian-in-Residence, Robert Green¬berg, to present the Saturday Morning Series exploring string quartet literature. The Quartet has appeared on SF Performances’ mainstage Chamber Series many times, collaborating with such artists as soprano Elly Ameling and mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato; clarinetists Richard Stoltzman, Joan Enric Lluna and Eli Eban; pianists James Tocco, Menahem Pressler, Jer¬emy Menuhin, and Joyce Yang; and composer Jake Heggie. Robert Greenberg, in addition to his programs with the Alexander String Quar¬tet, lectures frequently for SF Performances.

The Alexander String Quartet was formed in New York City in 1981 and captured international attention as the first American quartet to win the London International String Quartet Competition in 1985. The quartet has received honorary degrees from Allegheny College and St. Lawrence University, and presidential medals from Baruch College (CUNY).

Robert Greenberg was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1954, and has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1978. Greenberg received a BA in music, magna cum laude, from Princeton University in 1976. In 1984, Greenberg received a Ph.D. in music composition, With Distinction, from the University of California, Berkeley.

Greenberg has composed over fifty works for a wide variety of instrumental and vocal ensembles and has performed, taught and lectured extensively across North America and Europe. He is currently music historian-in-residence with San Francisco Performances, where he has lectured and performed since 1994. He has served on the faculties of the University of California at Berkeley, California State University East Bay, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he chaired the Department of Music History and Literature from 1989–2001 and served as the Director of the Adult Extension Division from 1991–1996. Greenberg has lectured for some of the most prestigious musical and arts organizations in the United States including the San Francisco Symphony (where for ten years he was host and lecturer for the Symphony’s nationally acclaimed “Discovery Series”).

In May 1993, Greenberg recorded a forty-eight lecture course entitled “How to Listen to and Understand Great Music” for the Teaching Company/Great Courses Program of Chantilly, Virginia. In February 2003, The Bangor Daily News (Maine) referred to Greenberg as the “Elvis of music history and appreciation”, an appraisal that has given more pleasure than any other.

Tickets are $60/$50/$40 and can be purchased at sfperformances.org or by calling 415.392.2545. Tickets can also be purchased at the door as available including 50% off student rush tickets and 20% off senior rush tickets. (No subscription packages are available for these rescheduled programs.)

About San Francisco Performances

San Francisco Performances has been a leader in the Bay Area cultural scene since our founding in 1979. With a strong curatorial vision and adventurous programming, we are the city’s premier presenter of intimate concerts and solo performances.

We have introduced hundreds of established and emerging classical music, jazz and dance artists to audiences, including Yo-Yo Ma, the Juilliard String Quartet, Philip Glass, Wendy Whelan, and the Paul Taylor Dance Company. We also champion a new generation, committed to building a contemporary and equitable repertoire. Performers like violinist Jennifer Koh, tenor Lawrence Brownlee and pianist/composer Vijay Iyer are moving their art into the present and future, making it accessible to younger audiences while converting many traditionalists to new possibilities. They represent the path forward.

Quality, intimacy and connection are the hallmarks of San Francisco Performances. We nurture unique relationships with today’s best artists to create an accessible, warm and engaging arts experience.

Calendar Editors, Please Note:

(Please include our name as the presenter—many thanks!))

San Francisco Performances Presents: The Art of the Quintet
Alexander String Quartet
Robert Greenberg, SFP Music Historian-in-Residence
Paul Yarbrough, guest viola
WHEN: Sunday, September 5, 2021, 10:00am
WHERE: Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness Avenue (at McAllister), San Francisco
PROGRAM: MOZART: Quintet in B-flat Major, KV 174; Quintet in C Major, KV 515
TICKETS: $60/$50/$40
CONTACT: (415) 392.2545; sfperformances.org

San Francisco Performances Presents: The Art of the Quintet
Alexander String Quartet
Robert Greenberg, SFP Music Historian-in-Residence
Paul Yarbrough, guest viola
WHEN: Sunday, September 5, 2021, 3:00pm
WHERE: Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness Avenue (at McAllister), San Francisco
PROGRAM: MOZART: Quintet in G minor, KV 516; Quintet in D Major, KV 593
TICKETS: $60/$50/$40
CONTACT: (415) 392.2545; sfperformances.org

San Francisco Performances Presents: The Art of the Quintet
Alexander String Quartet
Robert Greenberg, SFP Music Historian-in-Residence
Paul Yarbrough, guest viola
Eli Eban, guest clarinet
WHEN: Saturday, September 11, 2021, 10:00am
WHERE: Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness Avenue (at McAllister), San Francisco
PROGRAM: MOZART: Quintet in E-flat Major, KV 614; Clarinet Quintet in A Major, KV 581
TICKETS: $60/$50/$40
CONTACT: (415) 392.2545; sfperformances.org

San Francisco Performances Presents: The Art of the Quintet
Alexander String Quartet
Robert Greenberg, SFP Music Historian-in-Residence
Paul Yarbrough, guest viola
Eli Eban, guest clarinet
WHEN: Saturday, September 11, 2021, 3:00pm
WHERE: Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness Avenue (at McAllister), San Francisco
PROGRAM: BRAHMS: Quintet in G Major, Op. 111; Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op. 115
TICKETS: $60/$50/$40
CONTACT: (415) 392.2545; sfperformances.org

San Francisco Performances Presents: The Art of the Quintet
Alexander String Quartet
Robert Greenberg, SFP Music Historian-in-Residence
Eugene Sor, guest cellist
WHEN: Sunday, September 12, 2021, 10:00am
WHERE: Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness Avenue (at McAllister), San Francisco
PROGRAM: SCHUBERT: Cello Quintet in C Major, D. 956
TICKETS: $60/$50/$40
CONTACT: (415) 392.2545; sfperformances.org

San Francisco Performances Presents: Beethoven Quartets
Alexander String Quartet
Robert Greenberg, SFP Music Historian-in-Residence
WHEN: Sunday, September 19, 2021, 10:00am
WHERE: Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness Avenue (at McAllister), San Francisco
PROGRAM: BEETHOVEN: String Quartet No. 13 in B-flat Major, Op. 130;
Grosse Fugue for String Quartet in B-flat Major, Op. 133
TICKETS: $60/$50/$40
CONTACT: (415) 392.2545; sfperformances.org

San Francisco Performances Presents: Beethoven Quartets
Alexander String Quartet
Robert Greenberg, SFP Music Historian-in-Residence
WHEN: Sunday, September 26, 2021, 10:00am
WHERE: Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness Avenue (at McAllister), San Francisco
PROGRAM: BEETHOVEN: String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Op. 132;
String Quartet No. 16 in F Major, Op. 135
TICKETS: $60/$50/$40
CONTACT: (415) 392.2545; sfperformances.org

For selected high-resolution images contact Nancy Bertossa at nancy@sfperformances.org.

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