Jan. 7: Pianist Sarah Cahill Presented by Old First Concerts
Photo of Sarah Cahill by Kristen Wrzesniewski available in high-resolution at www.jensenartists.com/artists-profiles/sarah-cahill
Pianist Sarah Cahill Presented by Old First Concerts
Performing Music by
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Amy Beach, Ruth Crawford,
Terry Riley, Ann Southam, Evan Ziporyn
Friday, January 7, 2024 at 2pm
Old First Church | 1751 Sacramento Street | San Francisco, CA
General Admission In-Person Tickets: $25
Senior (65+): $20
Full-time student w/ ID: $5
Livestream Suggested Donation: $20
More information:
www.oldfirstconcerts.org/performance/sarah-cahill-sunday-january-7-at-2-pm/
“Pianist Sarah Cahill commands a near-godlike status among fans of contemporary classical music”
– NPR Music
Watch Sarah Cahill’s NPR TIny Desk Concert
Sarah Cahill: www.sarahcahill.com
San Francisco, CA – On Sunday, January 7, 2024 at 2pm, Sarah Cahill, described as “a sterling pianist and an intrepid illuminator of the classical avant-garde” by The New York Times, commences 2024 with a performance presented by Old First Concerts. Cahill will celebrate the beginning of a new year performing an extensive program of works from the 20th and 21st centuries, including Forest Scenes, Op. 66 by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1907); Hermit Thrush at Eve, Op.92 No. 1 (1921) by Amy Beach; Preludes 5, 6, 7, and 9 (1924) by Ruth Crawford; The Walrus in Memoriam (1993) by Terry Riley; Commotion Creek (2007) and Rivers Series 1 No. 1 (1979) by Ann Southam; and You Are Getting Sleepy (2015) by Evan Ziporyn.
The concert will be held at Old First Church (1751 Sacramento Street). General admission is $25. The concert will also be available to watch online as a livestream with a suggested donation of $20.
Praised by Time Out New York as “A brilliant and charismatic advocate for modern and contemporary composers,” Cahill is highlighting several composers on this program who are not only known for their pioneering work but are deeply respected musical figures who have impacted Cahill as a musician. Cahill has performed and recorded several works by Terry Riley, working with the esteemed composer/pianist since 1997. In 2015, Cahill commissioned several new solo piano works from many other accomplished composers and artists –– including Evan Ziporyn –– all of which she performed at a tribute concert honoring Riley for his eightieth birthday. Works by Amy Beach, Ruth Crawford Seeger, and Ann Southam are all highlighted as part of Cahill’s project, The Future is Female. Cahill and Evan Ziporyn have collaborated on many occasions, including on a critically acclaimed recording of Lou Harrison’s Concerto for Piano with Javanese Gamelan released in 2021 and made commercially available through the CMA’s Recorded Archive Editions.
Cahill says of starting the new year with a return to Old First Concerts and the music on this adventurous, contrast driven program:
"Old First Concerts is a Bay Area treasure, and I've been fortunate to play regularly on the series for the past 25 years. They have always encouraged exploration, innovation, and creative programming. Over the years I've enjoyed combining early 20th century compositions and newer works, which speak to each other across the decades, and also revisiting favorites while learning new repertoire. I'm obsessed with Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's Forest Scenes, with its love story of a Forest Maiden and a Phantom. Ruth Crawford and Ann Southam have been favorites for thirty years now. Pianist Matt Bengtson recently introduced me to Amy Beach's Hermit Thrush at Eve -- every pianist who hears it immediately wants to play it. Terry Riley and Evan Ziporyn are two composers I've been very lucky to work with, and always love revisiting their music. This program has a lot of stylistic contrast, and yet each work resonates with the possibilities of past and future."
About Sarah Cahill: Sarah Cahill, hailed as “a sterling pianist and an intrepid illuminator of the classical avant-garde” by The New York Times, has commissioned and premiered over seventy compositions for solo piano. Composers who have dedicated works to Cahill include John Adams, Terry Riley, Frederic Rzewski, Pauline Oliveros, Julia Wolfe, Roscoe Mitchell, Annea Lockwood, and Ingram Marshall. She was named a 2018 Champion of New Music, awarded by the American Composers Forum (ACF).
Cahill’s latest project is The Future is Female, an investigation and reframing of the piano literature featuring more than seventy compositions by women around the globe, from the Baroque to the present day, including new commissioned works. Recent and upcoming performances of The Future is Female include concerts at The Barbican, Carolina Performing Arts, National Gallery of Art, Carlsbad Music Festival, Detroit Institute of Arts, University of Iowa, Bowling Green New Music Festival, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, North Dakota Museum of Art, Mayville State University, the EXTENSITY Concert Series’ Women Now Festival in New York, and the Newport Classical Music Festival. Cahill also performed music from The Future is Female for NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concert series.
Sarah Cahill’s discography includes more than twenty albums on the New Albion, CRI, New World, Tzadik, Albany, Innova, Cold Blue, Other Minds, Irritable Hedgehog, and Pinna labels. Her three-album series, The Future is Female, was released on First Hand Records between March 2022 and April 2023. These albums encompass 30 compositions by women from around the globe, from the 17th century to the present day, and include many world premiere recordings
Cahill’s radio show, Revolutions Per Minute, can be heard every Sunday evening from 8 to 10 pm on KALW, 91.7 FM in San Francisco. She is on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory and is a regular pre-concert speaker with the San Francisco Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
For more information, visit www.sarahcahill.com.
About Old First Concerts: Since its founding in 1970, Old First Concerts has grown to be an important part of the San Francisco cultural landscape. In a beautiful historic space with excellent acoustics, Old First Concerts presents rich and diverse high-quality concert experiences of classical music, jazz and world music. We feature eclectic and adventurous programming including works and performances by women, people of color, and members of the LGBTQ community alongside more established classical music repertoire. Our audiences discover a like-minded community of music lovers eager to explore the energy and excitement of the new music and performers of today, re-engage with old favorites, and help build the musical culture in San Francisco by supporting local musicians. Many of our concerts include our Hamburg Steinway concert grand piano, a favorite of local pianists. The piano is meticulously maintained by David Love (www.davidlovepianos.com).
All concerts are held at the Old First Church, home to an affirming and welcoming congregation with a long history of social activism, located on the corner of Sacramento Street and Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco. Please note that Old First Concerts is a completely separate 501(c)3 organization with no religious affiliation and we strive to feature music that is welcoming and inclusive to all people regardless of their race, culture, gender identity, sexuality, age or any other identifying characteristic.
For Calendar Editors:
Description: Pianists Sarah Cahill, described by The New York Times as “a sterling pianist and an intrepid illuminator of the classical avant-garde,” is presented by Old First Concerts in a performance of music from the 20th and 21st centuries. Cahill will commemorate the start of 2024 with a concert program featuring Forest Scenes, Op. 66 by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1907); Hermit Thrush at Eve, Op.92 No. 1 (1921) by Amy Beach; Preludes 5, 6, 7, and 9 (1924) by Ruth Crawford; The Walrus in Memoriam (1993) by Terry Riley; Commotion Creek (2007) and Rivers Series 1 No. 1 (1979) by Ann Southam; and You Are Getting Sleepy (2015) by Evan Ziporyn. In addition to an in-person performance, the concert will be available for live stream.
Short description: Pianist Sarah Cahill, “a sterling pianist and an intrepid illuminator of the classical avant-garde” (The New York Times), is presented by Old First Concerts in a performance featuring music of the 20th and 21st centuries. The program includes works by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Amy Beach, Ruth Crawford, Terry Riley, Ann Southan, and Evan Ziporyn.
Concert details:
Who: Pianists Sarah Cahill, Adam Sherkin, and Adrienne Kim
Presented by Old First Concerts
What: Music by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Amy Beach, Ruth Crawford, Terry Riley, Ann Southam, and Evan Ziporyn
When: Sunday, January 7, 2024 at 2pm
Where: Old First Church, 1751 Sacramento Street, San Francisco, CA 94109
Tickets and information: www.oldfirstconcerts.org/performance/sarah-cahill-sunday-january-7-at-2-pm/