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SAN FRANCISCO COMPOSERS CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
Presents "Leaving a Mark"
A Memorial Concert for Dr. Mark Alburger
Saturday, March 16, 2024 at 8 pm

Lakeside Presbyterian Church
201 Eucalyptus Drive, San Francisco, CA

PROGRAM

 

Dr. Mark Alburger (1957-2023, Upper Darby, PA) was an award-winning, eclectic ASCAP composer with postminimal, postpopular, and postcomedic sensibilities. He was the Music Director of SF Composers Chamber Orchestra, SF Cabaret Opera / Goat Hall Productions, and The Opus Project; Editor-Publisher of 21st-Century Music and New Music; Adjunct Professor Emeritus of Music Theory and Literature at Diablo Valley College; and a Musicologist for Grove Online and Grove Dictionary of American Music. His principal teachers were Gerald Levinson and Joan Panetti (Swarthmore College, B.A.); Jules Langert (Dominican University, M.A.); Christopher Yavelow (Claremont University, Ph.D.); and Terry Riley. Dr. Alburger had composed 399 major works, including chamber music, concertos, oratorios, operas, song cycles, and symphonies. His complete catalogue was available from New Music. (markalburgerworks.blogspot.com)

Mark Alburger

Symphony No. 1 in C Major   notes   video

I. Adagio molto - Allegro con brio

Dr. Mark Alburger (1957-2023, Upper Darby, PA) was an award-winning, eclectic ASCAP composer with postminimal, postpopular, and postcomedic sensibilities. He was the Music Director of SF Composers Chamber Orchestra, SF Cabaret Opera / Goat Hall Productions, and The Opus Project; Editor-Publisher of 21st-Century Music and New Music; Adjunct Professor Emeritus of Music Theory and Literature at Diablo Valley College; and a Musicologist for Grove Online and Grove Dictionary of American Music. His principal teachers were Gerald Levinson and Joan Panetti (Swarthmore College, B.A.); Jules Langert (Dominican University, M.A.); Christopher Yavelow (Claremont University, Ph.D.); and Terry Riley. Dr. Alburger had composed 399 major works, including chamber music, concertos, oratorios, operas, song cycles, and symphonies. His complete catalogue was available from New Music. (markalburgerworks.blogspot.com)

Mark Alburger

Broke Dance Suite, Op. 290     notes   video

I. Bourgeois Ouverture (Comedie-Ballet)
II. Allemande Left-Right (Brothers' Joy)
III. Au Courante (Sweet Expectation, Running)
IV. Varese Sarabande (Icy Folia)
V. Unkempt Gigue (Images from the Stark Land)

Dr. Mark Alburger (1957-2023, Upper Darby, PA) was an award-winning, eclectic ASCAP composer with postminimal, postpopular, and postcomedic sensibilities. He was the Music Director of SF Composers Chamber Orchestra, SF Cabaret Opera / Goat Hall Productions, and The Opus Project; Editor-Publisher of 21st-Century Music and New Music; Adjunct Professor Emeritus of Music Theory and Literature at Diablo Valley College; and a Musicologist for Grove Online and Grove Dictionary of American Music. His principal teachers were Gerald Levinson and Joan Panetti (Swarthmore College, B.A.); Jules Langert (Dominican University, M.A.); Christopher Yavelow (Claremont University, Ph.D.); and Terry Riley. Dr. Alburger had composed 399 major works, including chamber music, concertos, oratorios, operas, song cycles, and symphonies. His complete catalogue was available from New Music. (markalburgerworks.blogspot.com)

Mark Alburger

Cliff Variations   notes

Dr. Mark Alburger (1957-2023, Upper Darby, PA) was an award-winning, eclectic ASCAP composer with postminimal, postpopular, and postcomedic sensibilities. He was the Music Director of SF Composers Chamber Orchestra, SF Cabaret Opera / Goat Hall Productions, and The Opus Project; Editor-Publisher of 21st-Century Music and New Music; Adjunct Professor Emeritus of Music Theory and Literature at Diablo Valley College; and a Musicologist for Grove Online and Grove Dictionary of American Music. His principal teachers were Gerald Levinson and Joan Panetti (Swarthmore College, B.A.); Jules Langert (Dominican University, M.A.); Christopher Yavelow (Claremont University, Ph.D.); and Terry Riley. Dr. Alburger had composed 399 major works, including chamber music, concertos, oratorios, operas, song cycles, and symphonies. His complete catalogue was available from New Music. (markalburgerworks.blogspot.com)

Mark Alburger

The Pied Piper Suite: Concertino for Orchestra   Program Notes

Overture
I. Air ("Into the Street")
II. Menuet ("You Should Have Heard")
III. Badinerie ("No Trifling")
IV. Pavanne ("Once More")
V. Rondeau ("The Wonderful Music")

John Kendall Bailey, spoken word

intermission
 

Dr. Mark Alburger (1957-2023, Upper Darby, PA) was an award-winning, eclectic ASCAP composer with postminimal, postpopular, and postcomedic sensibilities. He was the Music Director of SF Composers Chamber Orchestra, SF Cabaret Opera / Goat Hall Productions, and The Opus Project; Editor-Publisher of 21st-Century Music and New Music; Adjunct Professor Emeritus of Music Theory and Literature at Diablo Valley College; and a Musicologist for Grove Online and Grove Dictionary of American Music. His principal teachers were Gerald Levinson and Joan Panetti (Swarthmore College, B.A.); Jules Langert (Dominican University, M.A.); Christopher Yavelow (Claremont University, Ph.D.); and Terry Riley. Dr. Alburger had composed 399 major works, including chamber music, concertos, oratorios, operas, song cycles, and symphonies. His complete catalogue was available from New Music. (markalburgerworks.blogspot.com)

Mark Alburger

Animal Farm: Grand Zoological Fantasy-Variations
Part 1 In Cold Blood
  notes   video

I. Wasps
II. Flies
III. Spiders
IV. Crabs
V. Sharks
VI. Frogs
VII. Turtles
VIII. Snake

Megan Cullen, spoken word



Dr. Mark Alburger (1957-2023, Upper Darby, PA) was an award-winning, eclectic ASCAP composer with postminimal, postpopular, and postcomedic sensibilities. He was the Music Director of SF Composers Chamber Orchestra, SF Cabaret Opera / Goat Hall Productions, and The Opus Project; Editor-Publisher of 21st-Century Music and New Music; Adjunct Professor Emeritus of Music Theory and Literature at Diablo Valley College; and a Musicologist for Grove Online and Grove Dictionary of American Music. His principal teachers were Gerald Levinson and Joan Panetti (Swarthmore College, B.A.); Jules Langert (Dominican University, M.A.); Christopher Yavelow (Claremont University, Ph.D.); and Terry Riley. Dr. Alburger had composed 399 major works, including chamber music, concertos, oratorios, operas, song cycles, and symphonies. His complete catalogue was available from New Music. (markalburgerworks.blogspot.com)

Mark Alburger

Allan Crossman has written for many soloists and ensemble. The North/South Consonance (NYC) recording of Millennium Overture Dance received a GRAMMY nomination in 2003; Music for Human Choir (SATB) shared Top Honors at the Waging Peace through Singing Festival; North/South recently recorded his FLYER (cello and string orchestra, with soloist Nina Flyer); and a recent commission is the piano trio Icarus, for the New Pacific Trio (San Francisco).

One of his many theatre scores, The Log of the Skipper's Wife, was produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford and the Kennedy Center, with Crossman's music drawn from Irish/English shanties and dances. His music is the soundtrack for the award-winning animated short, X man, by Christopher Hinton (National Film Board of Canada). His work has been supported by such organizations as Canada Council for the Arts, American Composers Forum, and Meet the Composer (NY). Professor Emeritus, Concordia University (Montreal), he has also taught at Wheaton College, the Pacific Conservatory, and is presently on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. His doctoral studies were with George Rochberg, George Crumb, and Hugo Weisgall at the University of Pennsylvania.

Allan Crossman

Vance Maverick is a composer in San Francisco. He has worked for many years as a computer programmer, and has also studied composition at university, at the San Francisco Community Music Center, and privately.

Vance Maverick

Hussein Al-Nasrawi is an accomplished pianist who graduated from San Francisco State University (B.M., 2018, and M.M., 2020), and was born to Iraqi parents. His passion for music is showcased through improvisation, by playing pieces by various composers, and by composing pieces representing people and places.

Hussein Al-Nasrawi

John Beeman studied with Peter Fricker and William Bergsma at the University of Washington where he received his Master's degree. His first opera, The Great American Dinner Table was produced on National Public Radio. Orchestral works have been performed by the Fremont-Newark Philharmonic, Santa Rosa Symphony, and the Peninsula Symphony. The composer's second opera, Law Offices, premiered in San Francisco in 1996 and was performed again in 1998 on the steps of the San Mateo County Courthouse. Concerto for Electric Guitar and Orchestra was premiered in January 2001 by Paul Dresher, electric guitar. Mr. Beeman has attended the Ernest Bloch Composers' Symposium, the Bard Composer-Conductor program, the Oxford Summer Institutes, and the Oregon Bach Festival and has received awards through Meet the Composer, the American Music Center and ASCAP. Compositions have been performed by Ensemble Sorelle, the Mission Chamber Orchestra, the Ives Quartet, Fireworks Ensemble, the Oregon Repertory Singers and Schola Cantorum of San Francisco.

John Beeman

Loren Jones began experimenting with composition as a child. He spent his early years dividing his time between film-making and music, and some of his film work was periodically broadcast on local San Francisco television. Eventually choosing to pursue music instead of film, Loren formed and was part of several bands performing and creating different genres of original music. To this point largely self-taught, in the 1980's Loren returned to serious study to acquire greater depth musical education in order be able to create the kind of music that he had always been the most passionate about. Loren has studied with Tom Constantine, Alexis Alrich and is currently working with David Conte at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he is also a member of the chorus.

His music has been performed by his own chamber group, by the San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra, and by students and teachers from around the Bay Area. He has produced several recordings, worked in radio and film, including creating the sound track for an animated short which won a special Academy Award. His 2006 release, Woodward's Gardens, features two guitars, piano, flute, oboe, harp, and cello. He was the recipient of a 2007 Meet the Composer Grant. His project, Dancing on the Brink of the World, a fourteen movement piece for chamber orchestra and period instruments, on the history of San Francisco, has been an ongoing part of the repertoire of the past three seasons of SFCCO concerts.

Loren Jones

The multi-instrumentalist Michael Cooke is a composer of jazz and classical music. This two-time Emmy, ASCAPLUS Award and Louis Armstrong Jazz Award winner plays a variety of instruments: you can hear him on soprano, alto, and tenor saxophones, flute, soprano and bass clarinets, bassoon and percussion. A cum laude graduate with a music degree from the University of North Texas, he had many different areas of study; jazz, ethnomusicology, music history, theory and of course composition. In 1991 Michael began his professional orchestral career performing in many north Texas area symphonies. Michael has played in Europe, Mexico, and all over the United States. Cimarron Music Press began published many of Michael's compositions in 1994. After relocating to the San Francisco Bay Area, he has been exploring new paths in improvised and composed music, mixing a variety of styles and techniques that draw upon the creative energy of a multicultural experience, both in and out of America. In 1999, Michael started a jazz label called Black Hat Records (blackhatrecords.com) and is currently on the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra. The San Francisco Beacon describes Michael's music as "flowing out color and tone with a feeling I haven't heard in quite a while. Michael plays with such dimension and flavor that it sets (his) sound apart from the rest." Uncompromising, fiery, complex, passionate, and cathartic is how the All Music Guide labeled Michael's playing on Searching by Cooke Quartet, Statements by Michael Cooke and The Is by CKW Trio. His latest release, An Indefinite Suspension of The Possible, is an unusual mixture of woodwinds, trombone, cello, koto and percussion, creating a distinct synergy in improvised music that has previously been untapped.

Michael Cooke

Variations on Overture to Antigone  (In Honor of Dr. Mark Alburger) video

I. Theme (by Mark Alburger) arr. Michael Cooke notes
II. Celebrating Mark Alburger notes
III. Antigone Changes notes
IV. Chopin Variation notes
V. Swingin’ Antigone notes
VI. Closer notes
VII. Through the Looking-Glass with Mark notes

Dr. Mark Alburger (1957-2023, Upper Darby, PA) was an award-winning, eclectic ASCAP composer with postminimal, postpopular, and postcomedic sensibilities. He was the Music Director of SF Composers Chamber Orchestra, SF Cabaret Opera / Goat Hall Productions, and The Opus Project; Editor-Publisher of 21st-Century Music and New Music; Adjunct Professor Emeritus of Music Theory and Literature at Diablo Valley College; and a Musicologist for Grove Online and Grove Dictionary of American Music. His principal teachers were Gerald Levinson and Joan Panetti (Swarthmore College, B.A.); Jules Langert (Dominican University, M.A.); Christopher Yavelow (Claremont University, Ph.D.); and Terry Riley. Dr. Alburger had composed 399 major works, including chamber music, concertos, oratorios, operas, song cycles, and symphonies. His complete catalogue was available from New Music. (markalburgerworks.blogspot.com)

Mark Alburger

Overture to "The Bald Soprano"   notes

speaker Click on the links to listen to the music. video Click on the links for video.

PERFORMERS
 

Flute / Piccolo *
Bruce Salvisberg
Diana Gomez *

Oboe
Phil Freihofner
Anthony Perry

Clarinet
Wen-Liang Chung

Alto Saxohpne
Michael Cooke

Bassoon / Contrabassoon *
Michael Cooke
Michael Garvey
Lori Garvey *


Horn
Bob Satterford
Alex Strachan
Megan Cullen

Trumpet
Rick Leder

Trombone
Greg Gomez
Scott Sterling

Piano
Davide Verotta
Hussein Al-Nasrawi

Percussion
Victor Flaviano
Vance Maverick


Violin I
Michael Long

Violin II
Kat Walsh

Viola
Harry Bernstein

Cello
Ariella Hyman
Aaron Urton

Bass
John Beeman

 

 

Symphony No. 1 In C Major, Op. 61 ('It wasn't classical, it was symphonic...' 'It wasn't a symphony, because it did not have a sonata allegro...') is the first of a projected series of nine 'grid' symphonies based on corresponding numbered works by older composers. The magic book for this composition is that of Beethoven's Symphony No. 1, from which is taken form and spirit (including exact number of measures, tempo markings, key, and even opus number), but little content. The lengthy subtitle refers to overheard comments which form the melodic bases of two themes in the opening sonata-allegro movement. The Andante cantabile con moto is a solemn and stately procession through stubbornly contrapuntal processes. The third-movement Menuetto e Trio is a manic and melancholy gallop that was written in two days: the first sunny (a bright Menuetto), the second cloudy (a dark Trio). Philip Glass and Beethoven's Für Elise commiserate in the latter section's sour snap rhythms for a grim brood. The concluding Adagio/Allegro is based on Nevada casino slot-machine pulsations, the 'Bed' section from Glass's Einstein on the Beach, Alburger's Uncertain Need from For My Brother For My Brother, and notes sketched in a hot desert sun.

Broke Dance Suite, OP. 290 (December 10, 2018), takes its form from a standard set of Renaissance / Baroque dances associated with Germany, France, Spain, and the British Isles -- with breaks beyond Jean-Baptiste Lully, Darius Milhaud, Tielman Susato, Ludwig van Beethoven, Samuel Voelckel, J.S. Bach, Maurice Ravel, the La Folia bass line, G.F. Handel, Edgar Varese, William Kemp, and Claude Debussy.

Cliff Variations, (October 22, 2018), Op. 287
Theme and 30 Passacaglic Life Changes [Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Symphony No. 4, Op. 98 (1885): IV]

Theme [Mark Alburger (b. 1957) - Crystal Series, Op. 32 (1987): I. Crystal Bells]
Variation I [Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) - Peter and the Wolf, Op. 67 (1936)]
Variation II [Philip Glass (b. 1937) - The Illusionist (2006): XXI. Life in the Mountains]
Variation III [Terry Gilkyson (1916-1999) - The Jungle Book (1967): III. Bare Necessities]
Variation IV [Roger Miller (1936-1992) - Robin Hood (1973): II. Oo-De-Lally]
Variation V [Richard Sherman (b. 1928) - Mary Poppins (1967): XIV. Chim Chim Cher-ee]
Variation VI [Alan Menken (b. 1949) - Aladdin (1992): VIII. Prince Ali]
Variation VII [Alexander Courage (1919-2008) - Theme from "Star Trek" (1966)]
Variation VIII [Sammy Fain (1902-1989) - Peter Pan (1959): You Can Fly]
Variation IX [George Bruns (1914-1983 - 101 Dalmatians: Cruella da Vil]
Variation X [John Williams (b. 1932) - Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981): I. Indiana Jones March]
Variation XI [George Bruns (1914-1983) - Yo Ho a Pirate's Life for Me (1967)]
Variation XII [Buddy Baker (1818-2002) - The Fox and the Hound (1981): Best of Friends]
Variation XIII [Alan Menken (b. 1949) - Beauty and the Beast (1991) - Belle (Little Town)]
Variation XIV [James Newton Howard (b. 1951) - Malificent (2014) - VI. Go Away]
Variation XV [Billie Joe Armstrong (b. 1972) - American Idiot (2004): IV. Boulevard of Broken Dreams]
Variation XVI [Valerie Simpson (b. 1946) - Ain't No Mountain High Enough (1966)]
Variation XVII [Jerry Goldsmith (1929-2004) - Mulan (1998): II. Reflection]
Variation XVIII [Phil Collins (b. 1951) - Tarzan (1999): VI. Strangers Like Me]
Variation XIX [Martie Maguire (b. 1969) - Not Ready to Make Nice (2006)]
Variation XX [Elton John (b. 1947) - The Lion King (1994): IV. Hakuna Matata]
Variation XXI [John Williams (b. 1932) - Superman (1978): Theme]
Variation XXII [Macklemore (b. 1983 - Same Love (2012)]
Variation XXIII [Adele Adkins (b. 1988) - Rolling in the Deep (2012)]
Variation XXIV [Dee Snider (b. 1955) - Ride to Live, Live to Ride (1983)]
Variation XXV [Ken Casey (b. 1969) - I'm Shipping Up to Boston (2006)
Variation XXVI [Shawn Patterson (b. 1965) - Everything Is Awesome (2015)]
Variation XXVII [Max Martin (b. 1971 - Oops!...I Did It Again (2000)] Variation XXVIII [Kevin Hendrickson - Jake and the Neverland Pirates (2011)]
Variation XXIX [Rachel Platten (b. 1981) - Fight Song (2015)]
Variation XXX [Chris Janson (b. 1986) - Fix a Drink (2017)]

The Pied Piper Suite Concertino for Orchestra (after the poem by Robert Browning) was composed as a commission from the Diablo Valley Philharmonic to be premiered in March 2006,. The work was extracted from the composer's 23rd opera, The Pied Piper of Hamelin, commissioned by Harriet March Page for San Francisco Cabaret Opera's Fresh Voices VI (May 2006). The six selections are derived from the overture and five scenes of W.A. Mozart's Cosi fan tutti, with additional infestations from Philip Glass's Glassworks and Songs from Liquid Days, George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, Claude Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, Alban Berg's Wozzeck, Igor Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress, Maurice Ravel's Pavanne for a Dead Princess, Giacomo Puccini's La Boheme, Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, 12-bar blues, and vaudeville shuffle. The work is styled as both a baroque suite -- with titles after J.S. Bach and Ravel -- and as a concertino, where various instrumental groups are given prominence, ideally including four flutes (including piccolo, plus alto and bass flute) that characterize the Piper's magic. The Ouverture is an abbreviated sonata-allegro, the Air a three-part collision of found musics, the Menuet an abruptly cut-off Minuet and Trio, the Badinerie a locrian-lydian boogie, the Pavanne a minor retrograde of Ravel, and the Rondeau a St. Vitus Dance Rondo of 13 motives and themes.

The 32 Grand Zoological Fantasy-Variations of Animal Farm takes for its subject the structure of Leslie Bricusse's Talk to the Animals, with each variant as four eight-bar phrases, plus a four-measure coda (36 total). The four variational subsets are in a biological progression derived from the work of Carolus Linnaeus as A. Cold-Blooded, B. Birds, C. Mammals I, and D. Mammals II. Variations have been premiered in Philadelphia, PA; Surrey, ME; and Tacoma, WA -- and the entire work, with videos, is online at the Dr. Mark Alburger channel on YouTube. The music is ideally paired with a coda of The Four Temperaments -- a quartet of human pieces on the same subject. Musical gene-splicing may be heard in Cold-Blooded from Ralph Vaughan Williams's The Waspsand Tuba Concerto, F.J. Haydn's Symphony No. 94 ("Surprise"), Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 4, Gilles Binchois's L'homme arme (treated as crab [retrograde] and mensuration [time] canons a la Guillaume Dufay and Josquin des Pres), Camille Saint-Saens's Carnival of the Animals, John Williams's Jaws, Alburger's Mice and Men, Peter Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker, Oliver Wallace's Alice in Wonderland, and Igor Stravinsky's The Flood.

Mark Alburger
Antigone (libretto inspired by Jean Anouilh and Sophocles) is a "grid" opera based on W.A. Mozart's The Magic Flute, from which is taken form (often including exact number of measures tempo markings, and keys), but little content. Much of the music was written in the spirit of the title character: that of rebellion -- major keys become minor, very slow tempi become very fast, stolid rhythms become almost irrationally syncopated. The opera also alludes to Philip Glass's Einstein on the Beach and Akhnaten, 50's rock, J.S. Bach's Cantata No. 140 ("Wachet Auf"), Ancient Greek music, 70's pop, Arthur Sullivan, Gian Carlo Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors, Sergei Prokofiev's Symphony No. 3, the Beach Boys, John Barry's Dances With Wolves, Igor Stravinsky's Pulcinella and Ebony Concerto, Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata and Aida, Meredith Willson's The Music Man, Alburger's Sonata for Oboe, Piano, and Percussion, and Balinese gamelan music.

Allan Crossman
Celebrating Mark Alburger
ingredients: - motifs throughout from Mark's Overture + his Antigone choral melody; - opening: the musical letters of "Mark": MAR - mi, A, re, or the notes E A D; (familiar as the motto of a certain long-running sci-fi tv show); - theme from Bach's fugue on his own name; - rhythmic figures from Morse code; - a brief melodic nod to a Kurt Weill song, a favorite of Mark's. recipe: combine ingredients, keep warm, then set to high heat just before serving.

Vance Maverick
Mark Alburger's Antigone overture begins with a sequence of 15 chords. In Antigone Changes, I treat them as the “changes” for a melodic improvisation — keeping the bassline (or roots), but varying the flavor of the chords. At the end, the violin plays the bassline as a melody.

Hussein Al-Nasrawi
Chopin Variation
My variation of the Antigone Overture, by Mark Alburger, is in the style of Frederic Chopin (1810-1849). The variation is a waltz that portrays lively and energetic qualities of Mark Alburger and celebrates his legacy. The variation was composed for a string quintet (Double Bass, Violin I, Violin II, Viola, and Cello), timpani, and piano.

John Beeman
Swingin' Antigone is a variation of Mark Alburger's composition, Antigone Overture. The introduction of my variation in large part follows the form of Mark Alburger's overture and uses a great deal of the original material. In the following Allegro section, my composition “scaffolds” on Mark’s piece, but the rhythm transforms to swing style and the key changes from minor to major. There are some short sections that briefly return to Alburger's duple rhythms. As my composition continues, the key changes again to C major and the music veers away from the original. It becomes more in my own musical style yet retains the energy of Mark Alburger's dramatic overture. I would like to think that Mark would have approved of my jazzy take on his composition.

Loren Jones
Closer
Originally a solo piano piece, it was orchestrated for flute, clarinet, piano, and strings in honor of Mark.

Michael Cooke
In Through the Looking-Glass with Mark, Philip Glass's influence and the classic inverted BACH motif of the original predominant, alongside a personal twist: I've encoded Mark's name and my surname in Morse code within the music, infusing the piece with this hidden layers. Additionally, the alto sax and bassoon—which I frequently played in Mark's works—lead the theme in the lament section, blending tradition with a personal signature.
https://blog.michaelkcooke.com/2024/02/a-musical-homage-crafting-my-variation-for-dr-mark-alburgers-memorial/

The Bald Soprano, Op. 94 (April 6, 2001) - After characters in the Eugene Ionesco play.

John Kendall Bailey John Kendall Bailey is an Associate Conductor with the San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra and is Principal Conductor and Chorus Master of the Trinity Lyric Opera, Music Director and Conductor of Voices of Musica Sacra, and Artistic Director of the San Francisco Song Festival. In 1994, Mr. Bailey founded the Berkeley Lyric Opera and served as its Music Director and Conductor until 2001. Since then he has been a guest conductor with the Oakland East Bay Symphony, Oakland Youth Orchestra, and Oakland Ballet, and music director and conductor for productions with North Bay Opera, Mission City Opera, Goat Hall Productions, Solo Opera, the Crowden School and Dominican University. From 2002-2006 he was the Chorus Master of the Festival Opera of Walnut Creek. Mr. Bailey is also a composer, and his works have been performed and commissioned in the Bay Area and abroad.

Mr. Bailey also maintains a busy performance schedule as a bass-baritone, oboist, and pianist, and has performed with the San Francisco, Santa Rosa, Oakland East Bay, Berkeley, Redding, Napa, Sacramento, and Prometheus symphonies, American Bach Soloists, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, the Midsummer Mozart and West Marin music festivals, San Francisco Bach Choir, Coro Hispano de San Francisco, Pacific Mozart Ensemble, California Vocal Academy, San Francisco Concerto Orchestra, Masterworks Chorale of San Mateo, Baroque Arts Ensemble, San Francisco Korean Master Chorale, the Master Sinfonia, the Mark Morris and Merce Cunningham dance companies, Goat Hall Productions, Opera Piccola, the Berkeley, Golden Gate, and Oakland Lyric Opera companies, and many other groups. He has recorded for the Harmonia Mundi, Koch International, Pro Musica, Wildboar, Centaur, and Angelus Music labels.

Mr. Bailey has been a pre-performance lecturer for the Oakland East Bay Symphony and the San Francisco Opera, a critic for the San Francisco Classical Voice, a writer of real-time commentary for the Concert Companion, and has taught conducting at the University of California at Davis.