Ensemble for These Times – “Transformations”

E4TT will kick off the season on September 22 at Old First Concerts in San Francisco with “Transformations,” a concert about various kinds of transformation—physical, biological, emotional, environmental, and musical. The highlight of the program will be Verklärte Nacht (“Transfigured Night”), Op. 4 (1899) by Arnold Schoenberg, arranged for piano trio by Eduard Steuermann and inspired by the eponymous poem in which a couple’s love is transformed by compassion. It will be placed in a musical dialogue with three contemporary chamber works: “The Dragon and the Girl” (2014) for cello by Guggenheim Fellow Lisa Bielawa (b. 1968); “Fluid” (2016) for violin and tape by exciting emerging composer Darian Donovan Thomas; and “a bridge between starshine and clay” (2018) for piano by ASCAP Foundation Fred Ho Award winner inti figgis-vizueta (b. 1993); plus songs by Austrian composer Franz Schreker from his Acht Lieder Op. 8 (1898-1900). Guests violinist Jennifer Redondas and cellist Megan Chartier will join E4TT soprano Nanette McGuinness and pianist Margaret Halbig. The concert will also be livestreamed on Old First Concerts’ YouTube channel, and there will be a noontime preview performance of selections in September at Café Europa, JCC East Bay in Berkeley.