Earplay 25: Outside In

EARPLAY, the new chamber music ensemble renowned for its lively programming and first-rate performances, presents Earplay 25: Outside In, the second concert of its 25th season on Monday, March 22, at Herbst Theater at 7:30 p.m. Tickets through City Box Office (415 392-4400 or www.cityboxoffice.com). The program offers a glimpse of a modern musical journey through the last half of the 20th century culminating the world premiere of an Earplay commission, Through the Golden Gate by Lori Dobbins. Other composers on the program are Jonathan Harvey, Arnold Schoenberg, Michael Finnissy, and Judith Weir. Arnold Schoenberg’s String Trio, Op.45 (1946) a seminal work and rarely heard live, is one of Schoenberg’s final masterpieces that firmly anchors the program in “modern” music—harmonic and melodic language in which traditional tonal centers are abandoned and each tone is regarded as equal in expressivity and importance (Terrie Baune, Ellen Ruth Rose, and Thalia Moore).

A Bay Area native, Lori Dobbins composed a San Franciscan piece titled Through the Golden Gate for the entire ensemble which is alive with the dramatic tension and flair that characterize her work. Conducted by Mary Chun. The ensemble’s pianist, Karen Rosenak who is also a founder of Earplay, will perform two virtuoso solo works, Michael Finnissy’s, Freight Train Bruise, and Judith Weir’s The Art of Touching the Keyboard, both from 1980’s. Judith Weir’s serious The Art of Touching the Keyboard explores the range of piano ‘touch’ from the gentle stroke to the violent assault in contrast to Michael Finnissy’s quirky Freight Train Bruise. The evening begins with Jonathan Harvey’s The Riot, an exhilarating trio for flute, clarinet and piano (Tod Brody, Peter Josheff and Karen Rosenak).