The Gold Coast Chamber Players present ¡Caliente!, the third of a five concert series, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 19 at the Don Tatzin Community Hall at the Lafayette Library. The live concert will be recorded and all ticket holders will have the option for unlimited online viewing from March 21 to July 1. Proof of vaccination is required and N95 masks will be provided.
¡Caliente! features leading Bay Area musicians including Spanish clarinetist and composer, José González Granero, who has held the position of Principal Clarinet with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra since 2010. Mr. Granero has garnered many prizes for his compositions and recently was awarded first prize for the Villiers Quartet New Works Composition Competition in London. He will be performing his own works and chamber music transcriptions. Joining Mr. Granero is California Symphony Concertmaster Jennifer Cho who also performs with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra. Other members of San Francisco Opera Orchestra, violinist Dian Zhang and cellist Peter Myers join violist Pamela Freund-Striplen and pianist Julie Nishimura.
The program offers a sizzling exploration of the dynamic range of leading Spanish composers. Granero's haunting Paisajes for clarinet and strings and virtuosic Canto y Danza for solo clarinet are juxtaposed with the passionate Piano Quartet op. 67 by Joaquin Turina and the Piano Quintet by Enrique Granados. Granero's arrangement of Manuel DeFalla's Seven Spanish Popular Songs and Kreisler's arrangement of Granados' Spanish Dance No. 5 "Andaluza" for violin and piano round out this appealing program.
Tickets: $15-45 tickets online or by phone: (925) 283-3728; www.gccpmusic.com
Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA