SF Chamber Orchestra presents: The Incredible Shrinking Orchestra! April 4, 2011

The Bay Area's own guitar-superstar David Tanenbaum returns to perform Gabriela Lena Frank's Latin Grammy Award-winning Inca Dances and Vivaldi. Also: the exclusive world premiere our new chamber orchestration of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, written by five talented composers from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music-the first offering in our innovative Incredible Shrinking Orchestra Project.

A new initiative from the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, the Incredible Shrinking Orchestra Project (or ISOP) creates exciting repertoire for chamber orchestra, while helping develop talented young Bay Area composers. We re-orchestrate large symphonic masterpieces for smaller forces, keeping the composer's intentions clear but in a more concentrated form.

SFCO Music Director Ben Simon, Composer-in-Residence Gabriela Frank, and Dan Becker, Chair of the Composition Faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, chose five SFCM composition students (Elizabeth Kimble, Winston Yuchiro White, Anthony Porter, Jonathan Russell and Noah Luna) to take part in our "Rite Lite" and have been working on this project with them since January of 2010.

The ISOP version of Stravinsky's masterpiece will utilize only 14 musicians: five string players (two on violin, and one each on viola, cello, and bass), four woodwind players (flute/piccolo, oboe/English horn, clarinet/alto sax, and bassoon), two brass players (trumpet and trombone), a pianist, and two percussionists playing a wide range of instruments including timpani, marimba, bass drum, and gong. That's 14 musicians, down from 114!

Join Maestro Ben Simon for an engaging pre-concert talk 30 minutes before each show! Doors open 45 minutes before show time. Admission is free, but because space is limited, tickets are required (available online or at the door). SFCO Members receive priority seating.

Official Website: http://www.sfchamberorchestra.org/concerts/mainstage/