It’s swan song time for the Cypress
Time indeed seems to fly when you’re having fun. For the past two decades, violinists Cecily Ward and Tom Stone, in collaboration with violist Ethan Filner and cellist Jennifer Kloetzel, have been having some exceedingly happy times combining their formidable musical skills into what has ultimately become one of our nation’s most respected string quartets: the Cypress String Quartet.
Taking the name from the elegant set of string quartet movements arranged in 1865 by Czech composer Antonin Dvorak (based on 12 lyric love songs he wrote 22 years earlier), the ensemble has distinguished itself serving as visiting artists at such universities as Harvard, Stanford, UC Berkeley and more, as well as extending their music making to nontraditional venues in art galleries, private residences and even boardrooms.
Throughout this past May, Cypress has played through all of Beethoven’s string quartets during free performances at unusual venues all over San Francisco, beginning with a morning concert at St. Anthony’s Dining Room on May 4 and ending with an afternoon concert featuring Beethoven’s Grosse Fuge at Yerba Buena Gardens. In between were performances at Point Lobos near the Cliff House, San Francisco’s City Hall Rotunda and General Hospital, the Justin Herman Plaza near the Ferry Building, the Persia Triangle at Ocean and Mission, and more. What a way to celebrate a 20th anniversary!
While the Cypress musicians are among the world’s best, the instruments they play to dazzle their audiences are among the world’s historic best. These include a 1681 violin made by Antonio Stradivari, as well as a 1733 violin crafted by Carlos Bergonzi, a viola built by Vittorio Bellarossa in 1947 and a 1701 cello made by Hieronymus Amati.
The quartet has recorded more than 15 albums distributed worldwide and presented thousands of concerts throughout the world. The group has even recorded for the Netflix original series “House of Cards.”
What could be next — perhaps retirement?
Yes — at least for the time being. Their final local performance as the Cypress String Quartet will be a special “Farewell Concert” for the San Francisco Bay Area. The program touches on the hallmarks of the quartet’s storied career: Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 11, Opus 95 “Serioso,” as well as works by Debussy and Cypresscommissioned composers Elena Ruehr, Jennifer Higdon, Philippe Hersant and Benjamin Lees.
Details: 3 p.m. Sunday at the Taube Atrium Theater, San Francisco War Memorial Building, 401 Van Ness Ave; $100 up to $5,000 for tickets that include a catered reception; 415-500-2150, www. cypressquartet.com. CHAMBER MUSIC ORIGINS: Chamber music abounds in the Bay Area this coming week. As a specific genre, it made its first appearances in Europe in the late 17th century at a time before public concert-giving began. Prior to that, set musical performances fell into three classes: those in the church, the theater and in the halls of royalty or the aristocracy.
Composers were writing more intimate music, and whether vocal or instrumental, their performances in smaller, more intimate places were designated as chamber music (Kammermusik). Some of the initial, and many still enduring, instrumental combinations were duet sonatas for piano combined with an individual string, woodwind or brass instrument, as well as string trios and string quartets and quintets.
On Sunday, some of the Bay Area’s best individual instrumentalists, all from the San Francisco Symphony, are assembling at Davies Symphony Hall for a feast of more modern-day chamber music. The works they have chosen are Gabriel Faure’s dramatic and emotionally intense Piano Quartet No. 2, a work described as possessing impressionistic elements later used by Debussy; Bela Bartok’s imaginative “Contrasts,” (would you believe this piece was commissioned by American jazz great Benny Goodman?); and Erwin Schulhoff’s “Duo for Violin and Cello,” dedicated to fellow Czech Leos Janacek, composer of “Jenufa,” currently being performed by the San Francisco Opera. Among the San Francisco Symphony musicians participating will be David Goldblatt, cello; Katie Kadarauch, viola; Elina Lev, Leor Maltinski and Florin Parvulescu, violin; Jerome Simas, clarinet; Elizabeth Schumann and Eric Zivian, piano; Jerome Simas, clarinet; and Amos Yang, cello.
Details: 2 p.m., Sunday, Davies Symphony Hall, 201 Van Ness Ave.; $38; 415-864-6000, www. sfsymphony.org.