An array of Bay Area and international luminaries from the classical music world — including world-renowned mezzo-sopranopianist-composerJake Heggie, conductorNicole Paiementand members of the San Francisco Symphony — are slated to perform in aconcert to benefit Ukrainein the wake of the Russian invasion of that country.
The program, titled “Concert of Compassion,” is scheduled for Monday, May 9, at Congregation Sherith Israel in San Francisco.
Other artists on the program include San Franciscoorganist Jonathan Dimmock, the concert’s organizer, and the Bay Brass,a collective of local instrumentalists. Ukrainian soprano Alina Ilchuk, baritone Eugene Brancoveanu, bass Matt Boehler and cellist Jeffrey Zeigler are also on the bill.
“The project began on a personal note,” Dimmock told The Chronicle. “I have a friend who’s originally from Kharkiv, and he sent me video footage of the bombing of the city hall there. This was well before it hit the American media — like three minutes after it happened.
“I felt I had a personal connection, and felt I had to do something. My instinct as a musician is to pull together some musicians and do it as a community.”
该项目由旧金山Sympho包括音乐ny Music Director LaureateMichael Tilson Thomas, Missy Mazzoli and Samuel Barber, as well as Ukrainian composers Valentin Silvestrov and Lesia Dychko.
Von Stade, the semiretired opera star who has lived in the East Bay for decades, said she signed on to the project as soon as she was asked and persuaded Heggie, her longtime collaborator, to take part as well.
“I would lay down my heart and soul for this, because I’m so devastated by what is happening,” she said.
She and Heggie plan to perform two songs, one by Debussy and one by Poulenc. Debussy’s “Noël des enfants qui n’ont plus de maison” (“Christmas of the Homeless Children”), which was composed during World War I, struck von Stade as particularly apt.
“The words,” she said, “are heartbreaking: We don’t have any houses! My father has gone to war, my mother has gone to war, everything is destroyed.”
Dmytro Kushneruk, the Ukrainian consul general, is also scheduled to speak.
The performance will be live-streamed atwww.concertofcompassion.comand will be available for viewing for several weeks afterward, Dimmock said.
Viewing is free, but donations are requested.
Proceeds will go to the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, famed chef and philanthropistJosé Andrés‘ World Central Kitchen and Nova Ukraine. Dimmock said the goal is to raise $100,000, of which 60% to 70% is already in hand.
Concert of Compassion:7:30 p.m. Monday, May 9. $40-$100. Congregation Sherith Israel, 2266 California St., S.F.www.concertofcompassion.com