8 cool shows to see this weekend and beyond
There’s a ton of cool shows and concerts to see and hear in the Bay Area this weekend and beyond. Here is a partial roundupo.
Hiromi settles into Yoshi’s
Over the past 20 years, no musician has done more to expand the idiom of jazz/rock fusion than Japanese pianist/keyboardist Hiromi.
Ever since Ahmad Jamal co-produced her first album, 2003’s “Another Mind,” she’s recorded a series of fascinating projects displaying her overwhelming technique and fecund imagination. Equally commanding performing solo, trio or quartet with a guitarist, Hiromi has yet to record her own music with a horn player, which makes her divided five-night Yoshi’s run particularly intriguing.
The new quartet she brings to Oakland bristles with brilliance, featuring French electric bass star Hadrien Feraud, who’s toured and recorded with fusion pioneers Chick Corea and John McLaughlin; Los Angeles studio mainstay Gene Coye on drums; and rising 28-year-old trumpeter Adam O’Farrill, scion of one of Latin jazz’s leading families.
The quartet is set for six shows over five nights at the iconic nightclub.
Details: 8 and 10 p.m. May 19, 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. May 20, 7 and 9 p.m. May 21, 8 p.m. May 23-24; Yoshi’s, Oakland; $39-$89; 510-238-9200, www.yoshis.com.
— Andrew Gilbert, Correspondent
Classical picks: ‘Requiem”; striking autoworkers
Choruses take center stage this week; on the calendar are an iconic British requiem, a century-old Russian gem, and a new work recalling the history-making 1936-’37 auto workers’ strike in Flint, Michigan.
A Russian Rarity: It hasn’t been performed for 35 years, but this week offers a special opportunity to hear Konstantin Shvedov’s “Liturgy.” In 1988, this 100-year old Russian masterwork made its first modern performance in Kosovo; now, performed by the Bay Area’s own Russian chorus Slavyanka, Shvedov’s work for mixed choir makes its U.S. premiere. Artistic director Irina Shachneva conducts three performances.
Details: 8 p.m. May 19, St. Mark’s Church, Berkeley; 3 p.m. May 20, First Lutheran Church, Palo Alto; 4 p.m. May 21, Star of the Sea Church, San Francisco; $25 general, $20 students; slavyankachorus.org.
Britten at Davies: One of the great works of the choral repertoire, Benjamin Britten’s “War Requiem” is the main attraction at the San Francisco Symphony this weekend. Philippe Jordan conducts the orchestra, with a great vocal lineup featuring soprano Jennifer Holloway, tenor Ian Bostridge, and baritone Iain Paterson; the Bay Area’s own Ragazzi Boys’ Chorus joins the San Francisco Symphony Chorus in this monumental work.
Details: 7:30 p.m. Mayc18-20; Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco; $35-$165; www.sfsymphony.org.
“Songs of Protest”: That’s the title of a May 19 Oakland Symphony concert, featuring the world premiere of “Bodies on the Line: The Great Flint Sit-Down Strike” by Bay Area composer Martin Rokeach and librettist Rebecca Engle; commissioned by the Symphony, the work commemorates the protest that brought the United Auto Workers to prominence. Conductor Tito Muñoz leads the Oakland Symphony orchestra and chorus, with special guests Pacific Edge Voices and vocal soloists mezzo-soprano Melody Wilson, tenor Marc Molomot, and baritone Morgan Smith.
Details: Pre-concert talk by John Kendall Bailey at 7:05, concert at 8 p.m.; Paramount Theatre, Oakland; $19.60-$90; www.oaklandsymphony.org.
— Georgia Rowe, Correspondent
Spotlight on ’90s graffiti
What most people recognize as graffiti art arose in the late 1960s in such places as Philadelphia and especially New York, which, by the early to mid ‘70s, was the unofficial capital of an art form that many people opposed from the start. By the late ‘70s, cities were cracking down on graffiti with a variety of means, but artists found new forums to display their talents. During the ‘90s, vibrant and spirited graffiti zines took root in several markets, echoing the scruffy, DIY style and ethos of such scenes as punk and underground rock, tattoo art, graphic novels, and more.
Now, San Francisco museum Letterform Archive is hosting what’s said to be the first extensive exhibit in the country looking back at the indie graffiti zines, as well as the artists and writers, that flourished in the ‘90s. Titled “Subscription to Mischief,” the exhibit offers examples and insights into more than 40 zines as well as details and history about the artists involved and the methods they employed. The show was created by Letterform Archive’s librarian Kate Long Stellar with guest curators such as Greg Lamarche, a famed artist and creator of one of the scene’s best-known publications, “Skills.”
Details: Through Nov. 1; 2339 Third St., fourth floor, in San Francisco; free admission Thursdays (open 1-8 p.m.); $10 Fridays through Sundays (11 a.m.-6 p.m.); letterformarchive.org
— Bay Area News Foundation
Famed fiddlers on display
Alasdair Fraser is something of a musical and cultural icon in Northern California, particularly for fans of authentic Scottish and Celtic music. Not only is he recognized as one of the top Scottish fiddlers on the planet, but he has done so much to preserve and popularize the lively and stirring musical form as the owner and founder of Culburnie Records as well as through the several fiddling camps and other educational programs he organizes.
There there is the Scottish Fiddlers, a talented group of musicians that banded under Fraser’s direction in 1986 to fulfill their passion for performing traditional Scottish tunes. The group continues to this day, and and will perform their popular spring concerts with Fraser at three venues this weekend.
The shows are lively affairs, with as many as 50-100 musicians playing fiddles, cellos, guitars, mandolins, harps, flutes, whistles, drums, and more and covering a wide variety of authentic music from the Scottish mainland and Shetland Islands extending through the British Isles and through Europe and North America. And don’t be surprised if some spirited dancing breaks out.
Details: 8 p.m. Friday at Freight & Salvage, Berkeley; 7 p.m. Saturday at Spangenberg Theater, Palo Alto; 3 p.m. Sunday Carmel Center for the Performing Arts, Carmel High School; $24-$43; sffiddles.org.
— Randy McMullen, Staff
History gets a makeover
If the “future is female,” as the popular feminist rallying cry goes, the truth is that much of the past centers on the deeds and declarations of white males. That is certainly true when it comes to the early history of the United States. Let’s face it, when we refer to the “Founding Fathers,” we are not using a gender-neutral term. Which brings us to “1776,” the hit musical about the aforementioned “Fathers” and their trials and tribulations leading up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The show debuted on Broadway in 1969 and won three Tony Awards, including best musical, and was revived in 1997. (It was also adapted into a popular movie in 1972.)
The traditional staging of the show has called, not surprisingly, for a mostly male cast. Until now. The most recent adaptation of “1776,” which hit Broadway in 2022 and is now a touring production that’s playing in San Jose this week, features a cast exclusively dedicated to female, transgender and non-binary actors. Don’t get us wrong, this is the same “1776” that features music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards and a book by Peter Stone; it’s just that Thomas Jefferson here is played by Nancy Anderson and Ben Franklin is portrayed by Liz Mikel. Directed by Broadway hitmakers Diane Paulus and Jeffrey L. Page, this gender-flipping “1776,” presented by Broadway San Jose, is only around through May 21.
Details: Performances are at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts, 255 S. Almaden Blvd; $38-$103; www.broadwaysanjose.com
— Bay Area News Foundation
Free St. James concerts are back
While the dreams of some San Jose resident of seeing a concert pavilion erected at St. James Park have not yet come to fruition, the music part of the plan is coming along pretty nicely. After hosting a string of free concerts last fall, St. James Park is set to welcome music fans for shows on five consecutive Sundays beginning this weekend. And all the music is free. Kicking things off on Sunday is the Grammy-winning jazz/blues/hip-hop trumpeter Maurice “Mobetta” Brown, with jazz singer Melanie Charles opening. On May 28, L.A. band Los Yesterdays bring their “souldies” sound to the park, with funk/rock/pop artist Diamond Ortiz opening. On June 4, the terrific blues guitarist J.C. Smith and his band will hold forth, with soul band Noah and the Arkiteks opening. On June 11, East Side San Jose celebrates its new album with a cumbia dance party with musical guests including Mariposas Del Alma, Deuce Eclipse and more. And June 18 brings the lively L.A. rock band La Luz (said to be fond of injecting impromptu “Soul Train”-like dance contests into their shows). No opener for the weekend has been named yet. Concerts will run 3:30-7 p.m. at the park, located at North 2nd and East St. James streets. There will be a beer and wine garden at the park and plenty of food trucks will be on hand as well. The Friends of Levitt Pavilion San Jose have organized the shows to, of course, call attention to their goal of getting a pavilion built at St. James Park, but also to demonstrate how weekend concerts can bring a community together.
Details: More information is at levittsanjose.org.
— Bay Area News Foundation
There’s a ton of cool shows and concerts to see and hear in the Bay Area this weekend and beyond. Here is a partial roundupo.
Hiromi settles into Yoshi’s
Over the past 20 years, no musician has done more to expand the idiom of jazz/rock fusion than Japanese pianist/keyboardist Hiromi.
Ever since Ahmad Jamal co-produced her first album, 2003’s “Another Mind,” she’s recorded a series of fascinating projects displaying her overwhelming technique and fecund imagination. Equally commanding performing solo, trio or quartet with a guitarist, Hiromi has yet to record her own music with a horn player, which makes her divided five-night Yoshi’s run particularly intriguing.
The new quartet she brings to Oakland bristles with brilliance, featuring French electric bass star Hadrien Feraud, who’s toured and recorded with fusion pioneers Chick Corea and John McLaughlin; Los Angeles studio mainstay Gene Coye on drums; and rising 28-year-old trumpeter Adam O’Farrill, scion of one of Latin jazz’s leading families.
The quartet is set for six shows over five nights at the iconic nightclub.
Details: 8 and 10 p.m. May 19, 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. May 20, 7 and 9 p.m. May 21, 8 p.m. May 23-24; Yoshi’s, Oakland; $39-$89; 510-238-9200, www.yoshis.com.
— Andrew Gilbert, Correspondent
Classical picks: ‘Requiem”; striking autoworkers
Choruses take center stage this week; on the calendar are an iconic British requiem, a century-old Russian gem, and a new work recalling the history-making 1936-’37 auto workers’ strike in Flint, Michigan.
A Russian Rarity: It hasn’t been performed for 35 years, but this week offers a special opportunity to hear Konstantin Shvedov’s “Liturgy.” In 1988, this 100-year old Russian masterwork made its first modern performance in Kosovo; now, performed by the Bay Area’s own Russian chorus Slavyanka, Shvedov’s work for mixed choir makes its U.S. premiere. Artistic director Irina Shachneva conducts three performances.
Details: 8 p.m. May 19, St. Mark’s Church, Berkeley; 3 p.m. May 20, First Lutheran Church, Palo Alto; 4 p.m. May 21, Star of the Sea Church, San Francisco; $25 general, $20 students; slavyankachorus.org.
Britten at Davies: One of the great works of the choral repertoire, Benjamin Britten’s “War Requiem” is the main attraction at the San Francisco Symphony this weekend. Philippe Jordan conducts the orchestra, with a great vocal lineup featuring soprano Jennifer Holloway, tenor Ian Bostridge, and baritone Iain Paterson; the Bay Area’s own Ragazzi Boys’ Chorus joins the San Francisco Symphony Chorus in this monumental work.
Details: 7:30 p.m. Mayc18-20; Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco; $35-$165; www.sfsymphony.org.
“Songs of Protest”: That’s the title of a May 19 Oakland Symphony concert, featuring the world premiere of “Bodies on the Line: The Great Flint Sit-Down Strike” by Bay Area composer Martin Rokeach and librettist Rebecca Engle; commissioned by the Symphony, the work commemorates the protest that brought the United Auto Workers to prominence. Conductor Tito Muñoz leads the Oakland Symphony orchestra and chorus, with special guests Pacific Edge Voices and vocal soloists mezzo-soprano Melody Wilson, tenor Marc Molomot, and baritone Morgan Smith.
Details: Pre-concert talk by John Kendall Bailey at 7:05, concert at 8 p.m.; Paramount Theatre, Oakland; $19.60-$90; www.oaklandsymphony.org.
— Georgia Rowe, Correspondent
Spotlight on ’90s graffiti
What most people recognize as graffiti art arose in the late 1960s in such places as Philadelphia and especially New York, which, by the early to mid ‘70s, was the unofficial capital of an art form that many people opposed from the start. By the late ‘70s, cities were cracking down on graffiti with a variety of means, but artists found new forums to display their talents. During the ‘90s, vibrant and spirited graffiti zines took root in several markets, echoing the scruffy, DIY style and ethos of such scenes as punk and underground rock, tattoo art, graphic novels, and more.
Now, San Francisco museum Letterform Archive is hosting what’s said to be the first extensive exhibit in the country looking back at the indie graffiti zines, as well as the artists and writers, that flourished in the ‘90s. Titled “Subscription to Mischief,” the exhibit offers examples and insights into more than 40 zines as well as details and history about the artists involved and the methods they employed. The show was created by Letterform Archive’s librarian Kate Long Stellar with guest curators such as Greg Lamarche, a famed artist and creator of one of the scene’s best-known publications, “Skills.”
Details: Through Nov. 1; 2339 Third St., fourth floor, in San Francisco; free admission Thursdays (open 1-8 p.m.); $10 Fridays through Sundays (11 a.m.-6 p.m.); letterformarchive.org
— Bay Area News Foundation
Famed fiddlers on display
Alasdair Fraser is something of a musical and cultural icon in Northern California, particularly for fans of authentic Scottish and Celtic music. Not only is he recognized as one of the top Scottish fiddlers on the planet, but he has done so much to preserve and popularize the lively and stirring musical form as the owner and founder of Culburnie Records as well as through the several fiddling camps and other educational programs he organizes.
There there is the Scottish Fiddlers, a talented group of musicians that banded under Fraser’s direction in 1986 to fulfill their passion for performing traditional Scottish tunes. The group continues to this day, and and will perform their popular spring concerts with Fraser at three venues this weekend.
The shows are lively affairs, with as many as 50-100 musicians playing fiddles, cellos, guitars, mandolins, harps, flutes, whistles, drums, and more and covering a wide variety of authentic music from the Scottish mainland and Shetland Islands extending through the British Isles and through Europe and North America. And don’t be surprised if some spirited dancing breaks out.
Details: 8 p.m. Friday at Freight & Salvage, Berkeley; 7 p.m. Saturday at Spangenberg Theater, Palo Alto; 3 p.m. Sunday Carmel Center for the Performing Arts, Carmel High School; $24-$43; sffiddles.org.
— Randy McMullen, Staff
History gets a makeover
If the “future is female,” as the popular feminist rallying cry goes, the truth is that much of the past centers on the deeds and declarations of white males. That is certainly true when it comes to the early history of the United States. Let’s face it, when we refer to the “Founding Fathers,” we are not using a gender-neutral term. Which brings us to “1776,” the hit musical about the aforementioned “Fathers” and their trials and tribulations leading up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The show debuted on Broadway in 1969 and won three Tony Awards, including best musical, and was revived in 1997. (It was also adapted into a popular movie in 1972.)
The traditional staging of the show has called, not surprisingly, for a mostly male cast. Until now. The most recent adaptation of “1776,” which hit Broadway in 2022 and is now a touring production that’s playing in San Jose this week, features a cast exclusively dedicated to female, transgender and non-binary actors. Don’t get us wrong, this is the same “1776” that features music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards and a book by Peter Stone; it’s just that Thomas Jefferson here is played by Nancy Anderson and Ben Franklin is portrayed by Liz Mikel. Directed by Broadway hitmakers Diane Paulus and Jeffrey L. Page, this gender-flipping “1776,” presented by Broadway San Jose, is only around through May 21.
Details: Performances are at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts, 255 S. Almaden Blvd; $38-$103; www.broadwaysanjose.com
— Bay Area News Foundation
Free St. James concerts are back
While the dreams of some San Jose resident of seeing a concert pavilion erected at St. James Park have not yet come to fruition, the music part of the plan is coming along pretty nicely. After hosting a string of free concerts last fall, St. James Park is set to welcome music fans for shows on five consecutive Sundays beginning this weekend. And all the music is free. Kicking things off on Sunday is the Grammy-winning jazz/blues/hip-hop trumpeter Maurice “Mobetta” Brown, with jazz singer Melanie Charles opening. On May 28, L.A. band Los Yesterdays bring their “souldies” sound to the park, with funk/rock/pop artist Diamond Ortiz opening. On June 4, the terrific blues guitarist J.C. Smith and his band will hold forth, with soul band Noah and the Arkiteks opening. On June 11, East Side San Jose celebrates its new album with a cumbia dance party with musical guests including Mariposas Del Alma, Deuce Eclipse and more. And June 18 brings the lively L.A. rock band La Luz (said to be fond of injecting impromptu “Soul Train”-like dance contests into their shows). No opener for the weekend has been named yet. Concerts will run 3:30-7 p.m. at the park, located at North 2nd and East St. James streets. There will be a beer and wine garden at the park and plenty of food trucks will be on hand as well. The Friends of Levitt Pavilion San Jose have organized the shows to, of course, call attention to their goal of getting a pavilion built at St. James Park, but also to demonstrate how weekend concerts can bring a community together.
Details: More information is at levittsanjose.org.
— Bay Area News Foundation
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