The 2023-24 season of the Harker Concert Series will begin on Sept. 22 with an appearance by legendary vocal ensemble Chanticleer. The duo of cellist Jonah Kim and dancer Julia Rowe will perform Nov. 3. This season’s final performer will be Grammy-winning baritone saxophonist and composer Aaron Lington on Feb. 9.
Since 1978, the Grammy-winning Chanticleer has established itself as one of San Francisco’s most treasured ensembles. Specializing in Renaissance music, the group also has explored jazz, gospel and contemporary classical music during its 45-year run. In addition to its 1999 Grammy Award for Best Small Ensemble Performance (garnered for the album “Colors of Love”), Chanticleer also has won Musical America’s Ensemble of the Year Award — the first vocal group to do so — and has been inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame.
South Korea-born Jonah Kim received a full scholarship to Juilliard’s pre-college program at the age of 7, and has since performed with orchestras including the National Symphony, Atlantic Classical Orchestra, Festival Mozaic Orchestra, Palm Beach Symphony, Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra and Stanford Philharmonia. Trained at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet and the San Francisco Ballet School, Julia Rowe was a soloist with Oregon Ballet Theatre and later joined San Francisco Ballet, becoming a soloist in 2016. Kim and Rowe have collaborated for several music videos and have been featured by Violinist.com and London-based Classic FM.
Baritone saxophonist and composer Aaron Lington is currently the coordinator of jazz studies at San Jose State University. The Grammy winner’s many credits include work with the San Francisco Symphony, Maynard Ferguson, the Count Basie Orchestra, Bo Diddley, Randy Brecker, Tommy Igoe and Pacific Mambo Orchestra. Lington has also been recognized by Downbeat magazine and ASCAP as well as the California Music Educators Association, which named him 2011’s Jazz Educator of the Year. In 2015, he was named a Silicon Valley Artist Laureate.
Each of these concerts will include a one-hour reception prior to the 7 p.m. showtime. Complimentary soft drinks and hors d’oeuvres will be served and a cash bar will be available for wine and beer. Masks are optional. Tickets for each of these concerts can be purchased at the Harker Concert Series website.