Bay Area arts: 12 great shows and concerts to catch this weekend
From one of the world’s best jazz guitarists to the return of star soprano Renee Fleming and a new program from Smuin Contemporary Ballet, there are a lot of great shows to catch this weekend.
Here is a partial rundown.
Guitar great heads to Bay Area for 3 shows
Pat Metheny is ready to once again delight his loyal contingent of local fans.
The phenomenal guitarist, who has scored a number of gold-selling albums, performs three shows in three different cities in Northern California.
Having first skyrocketed to widespread fame - as well as the top of the charts - as the leader of the acclaimed Pat Metheny Group in the late ’70s, the guitarist/bandleader/composer has accomplished so much during his stellar career. He’s a 20-time Grammy winner. Yet, what might be even more impressive - certainly in terms of underscoring his musical versatility - is that Metheny is also reportedly the only artist in history to win Grammys in 10 different categories.
His latest effort is “Side-Eye III+” — the new album from the guitarist’s Side-Eye musical project — which Metheny is supporting on this current road show.
Details: Shows are 8 p.m. May 1 at the Masonic, San Francisco, tickets start at $64, ticketmaster.com; 8 p.m. May 2 at the Crest Theater in Sacramento, tickets start at $84, ticketmaster.com; and 7:30 p.m. May 3 at Rio Theatre in Santa Cruz, tickets start at $89.25, kuumbwajazz.org.
— Jim Harrington, Staff
Classical picks: Renee Fleming, a bunch of Bach, more
This week's classical music events feature a range of works for all interests, including a concert by Renée Fleming, another featuring Bach's music for harpsichord, and a chamber music program presented by the San Francisco Symphony.
Renée returns: It's always a special event when soprano Renée Fleming returns to the Bay Area; this week at Cal Performances, accompanied by pianist Inon Barnatan, the Kennedy Center honoree and five-time Grammy Award-winning vocalist matches her eloquent, velvety voice to an afternoon program of songs, arias, and piano showpieces.
Details: 3 p.m. May 3; Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley; $119-$152; calperformances.org.
"Bach's Harpsichord": Under Artistic Director and conductor Jeffrey Thomas, the early music orchestra American Bach will perform works that explored the myriad ways J.S. Bach used the harpsichord. Among them are some of the revered composer's most imaginative creations, including a rare performance of Bach's Concerto for Two Harpsichords.
Details: Performances are May 1 in Belvedere, May 2 in Berkeley, May 3 in San Francisco, and May 4 in Davis; $44-$111; AmericanBach.org.
Chamber Music at the Symphony: They don't come around that often, but the San Francisco Symphony's Chamber Music programs are always of interest - and the orchestra’s upcoming program is alluring, with works by Mozart, Prokofiev, and American composer Harry T. Burleigh, whose music from "Six Plantation Melodies, Old and New" rounds out the afternoon.
Details: 2 p.m. May 3; Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco; $60; sfsymphony.org.
— Georgia Rowe, Correspondent
Smuin Ballet looking ‘Forward’
Smuin Contemporary Ballet is bringing is its spring program “Future Forward” — which, typically, is a blend of world premieres and old favorites — to Walnut Creek and Mountain View May 1 through 17.
One of the world premieres on the program includes “Jane Doe,” a series of vignettes that cast a not-entirely optimistic look at women’s equality, created by South Africa-born choreographer Andi Schermoly. The other premiere is “Still Falling,” by Smuin artistic director Amy Seiwert. The work, set to the solo piano intermezzi of Johannes Brahms, marks Seiwert’s 15th ballet.
Also on the program is a revival of “Hearts Suite,” an excerpt from “Hearts” (Le Ballet des coeurs), which was created and written by Raquel Bitton and choreographed by company founder Michael Smuin. The popular work, set to the songs of Edith Piaf, has not been on the company’s lineup since 2015. The remaining work on the program is “Sextette,” by Kate Skarpetowska.
Another, more melancholy, note on the program is that it marks final Smuin performances by revered company dancers Tessa Barbour and Marc LaPierre, who will be departing the company after the “Future Forward” tour.
Details: 7:30 p.m. May 1 and 2 p.m. May 2 at Lesher Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek; 7:30 p.m. May 14-15 and 2 and 7:30 p.m. May 16 at Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts; $28-$90; www.smuinballet.org.
— Randy McMullen, Staff
Here are your freebie(s) of the week
May kicks the Bay Area's festival season into high gear, meaning that in addition to the mix of downtown art strolls and First Friday events, there is an abundance of community gatherings to check out, featuring live music, dancing, lots of food and often arts and crafts and other stuff to shop for. And admission to most of these events is free. Head to Concord's Todos Santos Plaza on May 2, for example, and you'll find the city's fifth annual SpringFest going on from noon to 7 p.m. There will be lots of food, arts and crafts and plants for sale and live music from the U.S. Air Force Band of the Golden West as well as ‘80s-'90s blues rockers Audio Mynde and Concord's own blues singer Katie Knipp as the headliner. More information is at www.kidfestconcord.com. Meanwhile, Mountain View is hosting the free Multicultural Festival from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at its Civic Center Plaza, featuring a dozen dance and music performances from – as the event title suggests - all over the globe. There will also be artist and vendor booths, kids activities and food trucks on hand. Go to www.mountainview.gov/home.
And if you're looking for a Cinco de Mayo event this weekend, Hayward's been hosting one for some 40 years, and it returns on Saturday. The event runs 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday on B and Main streets in the city's downtown, featuring mariachi bands, DJs and other music, dance performances, a car show, food and drink vendors, kids entertainment and more. Go to www.hayward-ca.gov/community-events.
— Bay City News Foundation
SF Arts Fest is back
San Francisco's Mission District will be humming more than usual now through May 10 as the annual San Francisco International Arts Festival returns, featuring scores of events ranging from concerts and dance performances to theater productions, workshops and more. Performers include the circus-arts troupe Cirque Kikasse; singer-songwriter Duane Forrest, performing his solo show "Bob Marley: How Reggae Changed the World"; the dance/theater outfit InkBoat presenting "Clouds from a Crumbling Giant: Our Wild Shining Days"; neo-folk duo Emma's Revolution performing "We Are the Power: Songs for the Resistance"; and much, much more. In all there are more than 700 artists and arts groups from throughout the U.S. as well as 60 other countries slated to perform. Besides presenting a wide range of arts and entertainment, the event is meant to generate a spirit of global togetherness at a time when some are embracing isolationism and intolerance.
Details: Tickets to most events are $28-$33; festival passes are available for $45-$455; tickets, a complete schedule and more information are available at www.sfiaf.org.
— Bay City News Foundation
A bluegrass bash in Berkeley
The Bay Area may be best known, musically speaking, as the birthplace of the wide-ranging genre known as psychedelic rock, but its bluegrass scene has long been vibrant and impressive, and shares some roots with psychedelic rock. Many of the major players during the formative years of psychedelia and jam-rock during the 1960s and ‘70s had bluegrass somewhere in their foundation - Grateful Dead, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Moby Grape. This weekend, some of the Bay Area's 21st-century bluegrass standard-bearers, as well as some oh-so–talented musicians from out of town, are headed to The Freight music hall in Berkeley for the Berkeley Bluegrass Festival on Saturday and Sunday. The event includes workshops and demonstrations and an impressive lineup of performers. Saturday performers include the sensational fiddler Jason Carter, best known for his work with the Del McCoury Band and the Travelin’ McCourys; Chris Jones and the Night Drivers; Berkeley icon Laurie Lewis and her band The Right Hands; and the East Bay based Critical Grass. On Sunday, the lineup includes Tatiana Hargreaves, a rising-star in the bluegrass fiddling scene, with her band and special guest Michael Daves; the honky-tonk duo Caleb Lauder and Reeb Wllms with their band the Cali Cutups; and Pleasanton native and all-world strings player Tony Furtado.
Details: Shows are 7 p.m. May 2 and 3; tickets are $64-$69, $115 for a two-day pass; thefreight.org.
Plinkety plink, plink, plink
San Francisco Performances proudly - and quite gleefully - closes out its season May 1 by bringing The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain to the Herbst Theatre stage. Founded in 1985, this group of seven savvy string pluckers is the world's first such assemblage and has been the inspiration for all manner of copycat ensembles ever since. Its current players are Peter Brooke Turner, who plays soprano ukulele; Ben Hales and his baritone ukulele; Ben Rouse on tenor uke; Leisa Rea on concert and soprano ukulele; Guy Hargreaves on concert ukulele; Laura Currie on tenor ukulele and Laurie Higgins on bass. (And who knew that ukes have different vocal ranges?) There's no advance word on what will be on their program, which will be announced from the stage, but we can all hope for a rousing rendition of "Ukulele Lady," right?
Details: Performance time is 7:30 p.m.; tickets, $70-$100; sfperformances.org.
Philharmonia Baroque dances through time
Don your dancing shoes and trip the light fantastic to tunes poured out by period instruments Saturday afternoon at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts as the Bay Area ensemble Philharmonia Baroque joins forces with the historical dance company Dance Through Time to sponsor lessons for the light of heart in honor of Bay Area Dance Week. They're calling it "Dance Like It's 1699," and instructions in the art of English country dancing as it was practiced in the Baroque era are offered in this free workshop, starting at 2 p.m. on the Blue Shield of California Theater stage in San Francisco. The instructor is Jennifer Meller, the artistic director of Dance Through time, and the musicians are members of Philharmonia Baroque, and they will be performing music by the great Baroque composer Henry Purcell. Participants of all ages, capabilities and mobility levels are welcome; they ask only that you register in advance at philharmonia.org/dance.
— Bay City News Foundation
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