We are thrilled to finally welcome Jeffrey Zeigler to New Century! Many of you may know Jeffrey through his former role in the Kronos Quartet, and his solo career in the intervening years has been no less daring. Fittingly, we have two world premieres that touch on current themes tonight, starting with a collaboration between Paola Prestini and Inuk artist Tanya Tagaq from her album Tongues, which rejects colonial erasure of indigenous culture. This provocative work is followed by Last Year, a cello concerto by Mark Adamo. In Last Year, Adamo poses the question of what Vivaldi’s Four Seasons might have sounded like if it had been written in the modern era, through the lens of our global climate crisis.

The program concludes with two wonderfully atmospheric works, by William Grant Still and Andy Akiho, that use all the available textures for strings between them. New music often benefits from a second (or third) listen to be fully absorbed, which is why New Century is happy to continue offering a complimentary audio stream of all programs this season to all ticket holders, which you’ll receive via email approximately one week following our concerts.  We hope you’ll enjoy deepening your relationship with this season’s artists and repertoire!

Daniel Hope returns to lead Appalachian Spring for our next set in early 2022, with performances between January 20-23 at Berkeley’s First Congregational Church, Stanford’s Bing Concert Hall, Sonoma’s Green Music Center, and the beautiful Presidio Theatre in San Francisco. Soprano Leah Hawkins will join us to perform selections by influential voices of the Harlem Renaissance, including a song cycle by William Grant Still, songs by Florence Price set to poetry from Langston Hughes, and even a bit of Duke Ellington. Daniel, Leah and our musicians will also be on tap to celebrate our annual gala on January 24 in the spacious atrium of the San Francisco Design Center.  We hope many of you will join us for an evening of gourmet dining, fabulous prizes, and musical surprises!

There is much to look forward to, and we are so grateful that you’ve joined us this season!

Richard Lonsdorf, Executive Director

Mark Salkind, President of the Board of Directors