Out There :: Visit to a New-Music Box

The Civic Center/Hayes Valley arts district is a living, growing neighborhood. Besides those stalwarts of civilized entertainment Davies Symphony Hall and the War Memorial Opera House, you can now also find the SFJazz Center, Nourse Auditorium, and in a transformed rehearsal hall in the back of Davies, SoundBox, a new, nightclub-like venue for musical exploration led by San Francisco Symphony (SFS) musicians and guest artists.

Five different programs come to SoundBox this season, and Out There and Pepi were in the box for last Saturday night's offering, "Farther Out," guest curated by composer Nathaniel Stookey and conductor Edwin Outwater. The program began with two works for solo piano by genius composer Terry Riley, performed by the excellent pianist Sarah Cahill. Then came an excerpt from Lisa Bielawa's new opera "Vireo: The Spiritual Biography of a Witch's Accuser," its opening, "Forest" (Jeremy Constant and Kum Mo Kim, violins; Wayne Roden , viola; Margaret Tait , cello; San Francisco Girls Chorus, Lisa Bielawa, Artistic Director, Valerie Sainte-Agathe, Music Director).

Even before hearing it, we got a sense of composer Stookey's String Quartet No. 2, "Musee Mecanique," from the titles of its five movements: I. Chaser, II. Plucker, III. Opener, IV. Grinder, and V. Mixer (Leor Maltinkski and Victor Romasevich, violins; David Kim, viola; David Goldblatt, cello). It was a musical delight, apt tribute to the mechanical-toy museum of the title.

Finally came the SFS commission and world premiere by composer Nicole Lizee, "Kool-Aid Acid Test #17: Blotterberry Bursst," with visuals provided by the composer. SFS musicians, Joan Cifarelli on synthesizer, and mezzo-sopranos Silvie Jensen and Tania Mandzy Inala, led by conductor Outwater, gave their all. The piece was a wild aural approximation of an acid trip, with quotations from Jefferson Airplane ("White Rabbit") and visuals from Vertigo, The Birds, and other Bay Area flashbacks. Whoa, man, trippy!

The night's offerings also included an installation of sculptor Oliver DiCicco's electro-acoustic work Sirens, and a post-concert DJ set by composer Lizee. Kudos, too, to Travis Hagenbuch, lighting designer, and Adam Larsen, video designer. All that and a full bar!

SoundBox comes equipped with the Meyer Constellation Sound System, which can change a space's interior acoustics for different musical experiences, creating its own sound environments. In last week's issue of The New Yorker, estimable music critic Alex Ross described a visit to SoundBox to hear this state-of-the-art technology. "Joshua Gersen, who conducted that night, began the show with a demonstration of the Meyer setup. He clapped his hands; the sound resonated handsomely. Then he signaled for the power to be turned off. Suddenly, the clap was clipped and lifeless. The crowd gasped and applauded. The Meyers [audio engineer John and wife Helen], sitting amid a throng of 20- and 30-somethings, smiled. 'Isn't that a kick?' Helen said."

The whole she-bang is a kick, and OT was happy to experience it. We wonder, though, why not supply more real seating? The crowd of mostly young people was happy to plop down in beanbags, ottomans or on the floor, but these old bones could sure use back support. Lucky for us, the wine bar stayed open through the concert.