February 24 - 26, 2023

A Sneak Preview of the SFCO's

All Star Show!

Hosted by Incoming Music Director,
Cosette Justo Valdés

PART ONE

Hear a World Premiere!

Jonathan Bingham's Pareidolia

Commissioned by the SFCO with
generous funding from the
National Endowment for the Arts.
Additional support from
Emerging Black Composers Project

Performed by the SFCO's
Chamber Music Society of San Francisco

Jonathan is a Rock Star!

Over the last decade, composer Jonathan Bingham 
has been recognized for his use of electronic
and acoustic instrumentation. He received the
Vincent C. LaGuardia Award in composition,
leading to a residency with
the Arapahoe Philharmonic in 2016.
Since then, he as premiered five orchestral works and
obtained an additional residency with the Boulder Symphony. 

Recent commissions include:
Pareidolia for the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra and
DEIFIED for the National Brass Ensemble.

He has also created original scores for over a dozen film productions which have premiered at the New York Film Festival, Rome International Film Festival, and BFI London Film Festival.  

Jonathan currently serves as an adjunct professor at the
San Francisco Conservatory of Music. 

Aside from composing, Jonathan is founder of
Cool Story, a record label researching music
and producing recordings of lesser known literature.

Click HERE for Jonathan's Website

WHAT, YOU MAY ASK, IS "PAREIDOLIA?"

We wondered the same thing! so Jonathan told us:

We all have the ability to perceive familiarity in complete randomness. We can identify shapes in cloud formations and find patterns in lottery numbers. Despite it being by chance, some of us claim to find continuity in multiple dice rolls. Our response to inkblot tests conveys this all. This tendency is called pareidolia, and it can be applied to what we hear as well.

How will we know when we hear pareidolia?

Sections in Pareidolia are composed intentionally to sound random. There are immediate rests, entrances, and abnormal phrasings. The same material, though, is put into patterns with the intent of shifting the listener’s cognitive response
from hearing noise to hearing music.
This is all to convey the highest extent of pareidolia
—finding signification.

And all music is patterns!
From Bach, Mozart and Beethoven
to Stravinsky, Philip Glass and John Adams.
(And the Beatles, too)
It's conclusive that music is about
setting up our expectations via patterns. 
And then throwing in a surprising wrinkle or two... 
Thanks, Jonathan. 
Can't wait to hear it!

The premiere will be performed by the SFCO's OWN Rock Stars:

Natasha, Jory, Clio and Samsun

.....world-class chamber music with a flair for story telling

And all four are long time SFCO All Stars!

Click HERE to visit the CMS of SF's Website

Main Stage III:

Quartets and Quintets
(more...AND less)
a trio and small orchestra, too!

Our amazing musicians, on display, and an opportunity to get to know our fabulous incoming Maestra.

Click HERE for Cosette's Website

Friday, February 24, 2023; 7:30pm
PLEASE NOTE OUR NEW VENUE!!!!!
St. Mark’s Lutheran Church
1111 O'Farrell St,  San Francisco

Saturday, February 25, 2023; 7:30pm
First United Methodist Church of Palo Alto
625 Hamilton Ave, Palo Alto

Sunday February 26, 2023; 3:00pm
PEASE NOTE OUR RETURN TO FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH!
First Congregational Church of Berkeley
2330 Durant Ave, Berkeley

More about MainStage Concerts HERE