Gloria by Antonio Vivaldi

Our latest virtual production featuring a collaboration with the San Jose Symphonic Choir in a complete performance of Vivaldi's Gloria.

Concert for 380th anniversary of Portugal's Independance

On Sunday Decmeber 6 at 12pm, the Cal Arte Ensemble will be appearing at the Five Wounds Portuguese National Church in San Jose playing classical works by leading Portuguese composers from the Renaissance to the modern era. Because of the pandemic, attendance at the church will be very limited but the concert will be livestreamed here. The concert will feature among other works, Carlos Seixas Harpischord Concerto in A, Piano Quintet in E flat by João Domingos Bomtempo, and String Quartet No. 2 by Joly Braga Santos. Sponsored by the Instituto de Camões, Lisbon, Portugal

Requiem by Gabriel Fauré

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, many concerts and other events particularly with larger groups such choirs and orchestras have been cancelled indefintely. The Cal Arte Ensemble has also not appeared live since March 2020 but we have been busy working on a range of virtual productions. Our most recent was premiered on November 1 2020, featuring a collaboration with the San Jose Symphonic Choir in their performance of the Requiem by Gabriel Fauré.

Opferlied by Ludwig van Beethoven

Cal Arte's concert with San Jose Symphonic Choir in March 2020 was to have featured works by Mozart, Beethoven and Hummel. In its place, we created a virtual performance of Beethoven's little known gem, Opferlied Op 121b, performed here by members of SJSC and Cal Arte each recording themselves at home.

My Spirit Be Joyful

In another virtual performance, see our "furry companions" edition of this famous work by Bach.

Beethoven Complete 35 Piano Sonatas performed by Tamami Honma

Available in 2021 from Divine Art Recordings

2020 was to have been a big year for Beethoven enthusiasts as December will mark the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth in 1770. Although the coronavirus has put many Beethoven concerts on hold, we can look forward to Tamami Honma's spellbinding new recordings of the complete 35 Beethoven Piano Sonatas. Based on the critical edition of Beethoven's scores edited by musicologist and renowned Beethoven specialist, Dr Barry Cooper, these recordings will include both the neglected first three sonatas Beethoven wrote in his youth and hundreds of corrections revealed by Dr Cooper's meticulous research. These recordings will set a new standard for both being truly complete and in their faithfulness to Beethoven's intentions.

BEET250VEN Akademie Gala

2pm Sunday, March 15

Old First Concerts, 1751 Sacramento Street, SF, CA 94109

A special 3-hour concert with movements from piano sonatas, arias, and short instrumental works performed by some of the Bay Area’s leading performers. More details here.

Mozart Great Mass in C minor

7:30pm Saturday March 21

Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph, 80 S. Market St., San Jose

Following the highly successful collaboration of Cal Arte with the San Jose Symphonic Choir last year, we present an exciting new concert for 2020 with choral masterpieces by Mozart, Beethoven, and Hummel.

Young People's Recital: A fundraiser for the homeless

7pm Saturday February 22

Prince of Peace Church, 12770 Saratoga Ave, CA 95070

At 7pm Saturday, February 22, the Cal Arte Music Foundation, in conjunction with the Prince of Peace Church, will present a recital of performances by the piano students of Tamami Honma. The recital will feature short student presentations including excepts from Dvorak's Dumky Trio, Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata, and movie anime music. For younger students it will be their very first recital experience while for others it will be the precursor to competition level performances. Come support their efforts to raise funds for a good cause run by the Prince of Peace Church in Saratoga (12770 Saratoga Ave, CA 95070). Cal Arte Music Foundation is sponsoring this concert to foster the musical experiences of the younger generation.

Beethoven Mass in C and Hummel Mass in D

7:30pm Saturday March 23

Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph, 80 S. Market St., San Jose

Hummel (1778-1837) is much less known today than Beethoven (1770-1827), but in their day they were both well known, as well as being friends and rivals. Hummel, like Beethoven, was a piano virtuoso, although his self-confidence was said to have been shattered by Beethoven's arrival in Vienna where both composers spent most of their lives. Hummel, nevertheless, eventually succeeded Joseph Haydn in the role of Kapellmeister in the court of Prince Nikolaus Esterházy II, after Haydn's death in 1809. Two years earlier Esterházy commissioned Beethoven to write a Mass for his wife - the Mass in C. Hummel subsequently wrote his Mass in D a year later. In this concert, SJSC has paired the two masses, allowing comparison of the styles and gifts of these two important classical contemporaries.

Tamami Honma performs Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto 3

7pm Sunday March 17

Lincoln Glen Church, 2700 Booksin Ave, San Jose, California

Tamami Honma performs Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto 4

3pm Sunday January 27

Free admission
McAfee Performing Arts and Lecture Center, 20300 Herriman Avenue, Saratoga, CA 95070

In a rare performance of Rachmaninoff's fourth and last piano concerto, we get to hear the composer operating in a new more jazzy and experimental style. Partly because the work was quite different from the much more famous second and third concertos, audiences were slow to appreciate it. Rachmaninoff felt obliged to revise the concerto several times over many years significantly cutting it in length. Modern thinking suggests Rachmaninoff may have overcompensated with the later versions. This performance will feature one of the early versions, itself a rarity among rarities, as when this work does infrequently get an outing, players often opt for the shortened and perhaps less satisfying final version.

Romantic Visions & Illusions

4pm Sunday October 21

7:30pm Saturday October 27

Good Samaritan United Methodist Church 19624 Homestead Rd, Cupertino, CA 95014

When Schumann wrote his Piano Quintet in E flat the idea of combining a string quartet with piano was new. With this magnificent composition, considered to be one of the finest musical works of the 19th century, Schumann opened the way for a whole new genre of chamber music. Edward Elgar's Piano Quintet, written in 1918 at the end of the Great War came just a year before his famous cello concerto. It is a similarly powerful and expansive work and widely considered to be one of the composer’s finest chamber works.

Triton Museum of Art

March 19

April 23

May 14

• Schubert Octet
• Julian Brown (violin), Cyril Bouchard (violin), Goetz Leonhardt (viola), Yong-Zi Ma (cello), Micheal Nitzberg (bass), David Dufour (French horn)

June 18

Ladera Community Church

March 5

April 2

May 7

• Schubert Octet
• Julian Brown (violin), Cyril Bouchard (violin), Goetz Leonhardt (viola), Yong-Zi Ma (cello), Micheal Nitzberg (bass), David Dufour (French horn)