San Francisco Contemporary Music Players has been sustained from the start by an entire community of dedicated and adventurous individuals. It is because of you that we have reached the milestone of our 50th season. This is a time to celebrate the achievements of our tremendous community and enjoy the irresistible spirit of the ensemble.
This milestone season offers the work of 26 composers with 7 from California, 2 large-scale commissioning projects, 7 distinct world, U.S. or West Coast premieres with a spotlight on large-ensemble works, and several special events and community engagement activities. The momentum and air of excitement is palpable as we head into our 50th season. We hope you will join us in this celebratory and landmark year by purchasing season tickets today.
Thank you
We would like to extend an enormous thank you for your dedication and support of Bay Area contemporary music. Your ongoing support of the Contemporary Music Players through the purchase of season tickets, single tickets, or a membership is helping us manage these unprecedented times.
SEASON TICKETS
Season Subscription $150
on sale through Apr 6, 2021 (we’re sorry, subscription sales are closed, please consider a membership)
Subscribers receive
-Tickets to all season events
-20% discount on single tickets and ticket fees waived
-Early Bird invitation to special events
-Free music download twice per year
-Invitation to special subscriber-only activities
Membership $75/yr or $6.25/mo
enrollment is open all year
Members receive
-Tickets to 2 events of your choice each season
-20% discount on single tickets and ticket fees waived
-Early Bird invitation to special events
-Free music download twice per year
-A membership is 100% tax deductible
Become a member
Thank you for joining us in our 50th anniversary season!
THURS, MAR 4, 2021 @7:30PM Pacific available on demand for 30 days (webcast livestream on Mar 2 @10AM)
SFCMP MASTERCLASS series
in collaboration with SFCM String Department
In our ongoing MASTERCLASS series, we interact with some of the most talented Bay Area pre-professional musicians in a live performance and feedback session with one of our renowned ensemble members. Students bring selected works to the stage while being mentored in the techniques, skills, and myriad styles of contemporary music performance. This season’s masterclass focuses on contemporary repertoire for stringed instruments, coached by violinist Hrabba Atladottir.
SAT, MAR 6, 2021 @8PM Pacific webcast and on demand for 30 days
Our 50th season in the LABORATORY series stretches the boundaries of sound generation in a program that explores the tensions between the natural and the artificial. Including interviews with the composers and performers that provide windows into their creative processes and behind-the-scenes insight, this fully electro-acoustic concert features the world premieres of two new works by Garrett Lucero and DeVanté Winn. The brilliantly unconventional use of subwoofer cones as pulse generators defines the soundworld of an essay for solo percussion and electronics by Ash Fure, pulling apart the components of speakers for fascinating and unexpected musical results.
SAT, APR 10 and SAT, JULY 10 @8PM Pacific webcast and available on demand for 30 days
at the CROSSROADS series
PostScript to the Future
This year’s at the CROSSROADS series reflects an ongoing exploration of music that exists in the innovative realms of cross-genre connectivity. The Contemporary Players join their trans-Atlantic compatriots at Ensemble Intercontemporain by co-commissioning a new work from NYC-based composer and multi-instrumentalist Tyshawn Sorey, whose fluency across stylistic streams has distinguished him as one of the most compelling voices in contemporary music today. Connecting the threads to a figure that Sorey has long considered a key inspiration for his work, we spotlight the life and legacy of composer and longtime Bay Area resident Olly Wilson, a close friend and collaborator of the Contemporary Players for years. Jazz-trained cellist and composer Tomeka Reid joins the conversation, along with the premiere of our annual SF Search for Scores winning composition, framing an emerging generation of composers whose work launches out on divergent paths along the same cross-genre trajectories.
SUN, MAY 23, 2021 @ 3PM Pacific webcast and available on demand for 30 days
in the COMMUNITY series
Sound Encounters
in collaboration with CNMAT, UC Berkeley
For this year’s in the COMMUNITY series event, we invite everyone to experience sound art in a virtual environment, as we explore a range of fascinating electro-acoustic works of Bay Area origins. Percussionist Andy Meyerson kicks off the program with his uniquely personal interpretation of a famous work by James Tenney, followed by performances of pieces by three of the Bay Area’s leading sound artists from the Center for New Music and Audio Technologies at U.C. Berkeley.
FRI, JUNE 18, 2021 @8PM Pacific webcast and available on demand for 30 days
on STAGE series
Voices in Reverberation
In our on STAGE series, we shine a spotlight on West Coast composers to celebrate some of the brightest luminaries from the Bay Area. Resident rockstar John Adams demonstrates his technical prowess in the riveting, large-ensemble work Son of Chamber Symphony. We present a new work by Caroline Shaw commissioned exclusively by San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, written for instrumental quartet and celebrated Bay Area sound artist and vocalist Pamela Z . The inexpressible Amadeus Regucera thrills us with textual utterances and deep breaths and Los Angeles’ Andrew Norman takes us on a sonic journey through the interior light of the Basilica of Saint Sabina.
SAT, JUNE 26, 2021 8PM Pacific webcast and available on demand for 30 days
ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
50th Celebration and Benefit Concert
For five decades, the Contemporary Players’ activities have helped to define and advance the new music scene in the city of San Francisco and beyond. We celebrate that legacy with an intimate concert highlighting the solo and chamber music artistry of players from SFCMP’s roster of virtuosi, sharing works by celebrated living composers that are among their personal favorite ‘party pieces,’ and in some cases were written specifically for them. This exclusive evening with the Contemporary Players, in commemoration of the 50th season and in support of many more ahead, is an historic, one-of-a-kind event that you won’t want to miss.
How Music is Made ONLINE series: Released September, October, and November 2020
Online Premieres
In our How Music is Made ONLINE series, our hosts—some of contemporary music’s most inspired personalities—share their insight into a personal favorite piece of music, followed by a performance by the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players.
Online Premiere Sept 18, 2020 and available now on demand at SFCMP YouTube
Myra Melford, “Homogeneous Infiltration” featuring Myra Melford as improvising soloist. Hosts, Amadeus Regucera and Kyle Bruckmann
Online Premiere Oct 16, 2020 and available now on demand at SFCMP YouTube
Julius Eastman, “Gay Guerilla” featuring Kate Campbell and Allegra Chapman, soloists. Hosts Allegra Chapman, Kate Campbell, and Artistic Director Eric Dudley
Online Premiere Nov 6, 2020 and available now on demand at SFCMP YouTube
Ted Hearne, “The Cage Variations” featuring Ted Hearne, composer, guest performer. Hosts, Hrabba Atladottir and Artistic Director Eric Dudley
You must be logged in to post a comment.