The San Francisco Early Music Society Announces Upcoming Season

The San Francisco Early Music Society (SFEMS), the nation's leading organization for the advancement of historically informed performance of early music, is proud to announce its 37th annual concert season, featuring six concerts by some of the most respected early music professionals from around the country: Archetti Baroque String Ensemble, Farallon Recorder Quartet, Galax Quartet, Magnificat, Ostraka, and Quicksilver.

Highlights of SFEMS' 2013-14 season include the West Coast premiere of Quicksilver. Based in New York, the seven-piece ensemble has accumulated a raft of accolades since it formed in 2009. For SFEMS Quicksilver will perform a program organized around the early sonata: music of Castello, Fontana, Merula, and Weckmann.

Next year, in a program focused on the avant-garde of 16th-century Ferrara, SFEMS for the first time will also present two works of new music. Co-commissioned by the Galax Quartet and SFEMS is the world premiere of David Jaffe's Eight O's in Woolloomooloo. The Galax Quartet has pioneered in performing and commissioning new works for early instruments, an interest promoted by founding member Roy Whelden, himself a composer. The program will include music written for Galax by Joseph Schwantner as well as David Jaffe.

"Our presentation of new music this season is a definite first," says SFEMS Executive Director Harvey Malloy. "But it is something we have been interested in for quite a while. Many of the individuals who have been drawn to SFEMS and our mission of advancing early music have also been at the forefront of jazz and new music explorations. There is a powerful affinity between early music and new music - namely the possibility for creative improvisation - which the program for the Galax Quartet beautifully showcases."

Early and new music join forces throughout this season. Starting in October SFEMS and the Jazzschool in Berkeley will present monthly Sunday afternoon concerts of early music. Every concert will feature local musicians performing on period instruments and featuring the improvisational common thread that links early music and jazz. The first concert in the series on October 6, 2013 at 4:30pm features improvisational geniuses Shira Kammen and Peter Maund. For more information, visit sfems.org.