A concert of music by Czech and Russian composers

Date & Time: Saturday January 26, 7:30  p.m.
Venue: Incarnation Episcopal Church, 1750 29th Avenue, San Francisco
Tickets: $20 General, $15 Seniors/Students

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Program

Longing for Home:  Music of Dvořák, Janáček, Mussorgsky and Pavel Haas

Baritone John Smalley and pianist Janis Mercer perform music by Czech and Russian masters. The program includes captivating songs by Antonín Dvořák and Modest Mussorgsky, as well as Leoš Janáček’s fiery Piano Sonata, “From the Street”, and Pavel Haas’ remarkable Four Songs on Chinese Poetry.

About the Artists

Over the past decade, John Smalley and Janis Mercer have given recitals featuring the music of Russian and Armenian composers, as well as the music of the 20^th-century composers Hanns Eisler, and John Cage.

John Smalley, baritone, is a native of San Francisco. He received his B.A. in Classics from Santa Clara University and holds an M.A. and M.Phil. in Historical Musicology from Columbia University in New York, where he taught for six years.

He studied piano with Thomas Schultz, and William Corbett-Jones and voice with Dorothy Barnhouse. He has lectured and performed as vocal soloist throughout the Bay Area and was awarded a prestigious Shenson Performing Arts Fellowship.

Janis Mercer is a pianist/composer living in San Francisco.  She has performed solo piano concerts of new music throughout the United States, featuring music by Anthony Braxton, the Second Viennese School and works written for her by living composers. She has appeared as a pianist and composer on CD compilations and two CD’s of her compositions are available on Centaur Records.  A third CD of Anton Webern’s solo piano works will be released in 2019.

Ms. Mercer holds artist residencies at Villa Montalvo Center for the Arts (California), Ragdale (Illinois), Kimmel Harding Nelson Center (Nebraska) Centrum (Washington), and Hypatia-in-the-Woods (Washington).  Her website is http://www.janismercer.com.