The mission of Old First Concerts is manifold. Primarily, our goal is to contribute to and enhance the artistic life of the Bay Area by offering the public a wide variety of musical forms and expressions, a diverse, often unconventional and sometimes adventurous repertoire that ranges from classical recital and chamber performances to blues, folk, avant-garde and jazz, as well as multicultural concerts and world music, all the while maintaining high quality by featuring only outstanding professional musicians.
Beyond that, we seek to provide a serious and hospitable venue for niche and non-mainstream artists, such as jazz and multicultural musicians, to reach new and receptive audiences, and to provide talented musicians, whether established or emerging, a greater freedom and latitude to perform the music of their choosing than is generally permitted to them elsewhere; in short, a "safe house" for musicians to express their creativity and individuality on their own artistic terms.
As a corollary, it is also our aim to maintain a venue in which appreciative local musical audiences can become acquainted with groundbreaking, unorthodox, or largely under-recognized performers and composers who, despite their unmistakable artistic quality, are not otherwise available or familiar to the local concert scene and musical community, thus providing them with the means to showcase their talent before a loyal and knowledgeable concert audience and thereby build a rewarding reputation and following. To that end, we have presented some fifteen to twenty World Premiere performances each year, and countless San Francisco Premieres, and have debuted or showcased a host of emerging talents who have gone on to considerable renown, including The Kronos Quartet, Weslia Whitfield, Ali Akbar Khan, pianists Clive Swansbourne and Jeffrey Kahane, the Lark String Quartet, guitarist David Tanenbaum and many others.
We are, finally, proud of two uncommon but vital qualities that we bring to the Bay Area's concert environment: ambiance, and affordability. The physical setting of the Old First Church is, quite simply, a performer's dream: acoustically and visually superb, matchlessly intimate and atmospherically unique, with an old world grace and grandeur.
Since 1970, Old First Concerts has premiered numerous important works, helped introduce an array of brilliant young artists who have gone on to careers of national and global distinction, presented truly dazzling collaborations, and introduced a legion of music aficionados to performers, composers, and genres that would otherwise not have enriched their lives. Our fundamental mission is, quite simply, to continue to do so.
You can read more about us at SF Arts.
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