Bay Area arts: 9 great shows and concerts to catch this weekend
From a special recital by Oakland Ballet to compelling new programs at New Century Orchestra and California Symphony to the return of the Yerba Buena Arts Festival — with more than 100 free performances — there is a lot see and do in the Bay Area this weekend and beyond.
Here’s a partial roundup.
Lots of love for Lustig
The Oakland Ballet this weekend salutes its artistic director Graham Lustig with a program dedicated to his works, including one most of us have not seen yet.
The program, titled “Lustig Live!,” is highlighted by the premiere of the choreographer/director’s new work inspired by famed Russian dancer and choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky. The work, titled “Faun,” imagines Nijinsky on the final day of his life (April 8, 1950) reliving his brilliant life and career and some of his iconic performances. The work’s choreography includes references to such famed Nijinsky-affiliated works as “Faun,” “Rite of Spring” and “Jeux.”
Lustig says he has felt strong ties to Nijinsky since as a member Dutch National Ballet, he was assigned the lead in the ballet “Petrushka.” The role “was originally created in 1911 for Nijinsky by Mikhail Fokine,” said Lustig. “While growing up as a child in London, on the wall of my bedroom, I had a poster of Nijinsky as the Faun. Later, through the experience of performing ‘Petrushka,’ I felt a deep connection to him.”
The program, presented with live music, also features three short Lustig works, “Uncertain Steps,” “Dialogues” and the Elvis Presley-fueled “Heartbreak Hotel.”
Details: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday; Odell Johnson Performing Arts Center at Laney College, Oakland; $20-$100; oaklandballet.org.
— Randy McMullen, Staff
Classical picks: New Century, Cal Symphony, Kohl finale
This week’s calendar brings new music in concerts by New Century Chamber Orchestra and California Symphony; here’s a look.
Pratt to New Century: American works are on the New Century Chamber Orchestra’s program, featuring award-winning pianist Awadagin Pratt as soloist in Jessie Montgomery’s “Rounds,” a work commissioned by Pratt that went on to win the 2024 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition. Conducted by music director Daniel Hope, the program also includes Leonard Bernstein’s “Serenade,” David Diamond’s “Rounds,” and Florence Price’s “Adoration.”
Details: 7:30 p.m. today at First Congregational Church, Berkeley; 7:30 p.m. Friday at Green Music Center, Rohnert Park; 3 p.m. Saturday at Presidio Theatre, San Francisco; $30-$70; ncco.org.
A new resident composer: Audiences at the California Symphony’s weekend concert will have the chance to welcome the orchestra’s new composer in residence. He’s Saad Haddad, and he makes his debut with the world premiere of “Mishwar” – or, in English, “A Trip.” Based in New Jersey, Haddad’s music has been played stateside by ensembles including the JACK Quartet and the Minnesota Orchestra, as well as additional performances in Europe, Asia, and South America. Music Director Donato Cabrera conducts the program, which also includes Brahms Symphony No. 1, and Clara Schumann’s Piano Concerto, featuring Robert Thies as soloist.
Details: 7:30 Saturday, 4 p.m. Sunday; Lesher Center, Walnut Creek; $45-$90, $20 students; californiasymphony.org.
Kohl’s special: Closing its season on a high note, Music @Kohl Mansion welcomes pianist Ilya Yakushev, joining St. Lawrence String Quartet violinist Owen Dalby and cellist Christopher Costanza in a special program featuring a performance celebrating the 100th anniversary of Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.” This special evening also includes works by Rachmaninoff, Nadia Boulanger and more.
Details: 7 p.m. May 5; Kohl Mansion, Burlingame; $25-$58; musicatkohl.org.
— Georgia Rowe, Correspondent
Concord Pavilion opens with alt-rock stars
Needtobreathe, the popular alt-rock act behind such hits as “Washed by the Water,” “Multiplied,” “Brother” and “Who Am I,” is set to open the 2024 concert season at the Toyota Pavilion at Concord.
The chart-topping South Carolina act, fronted by terrific lead vocalist Bear Rinehart, performs May 8 at the open-air venue. Showtime is 7 p.m. and tickets start at $24 (subject to change), livenation.com.
Needtobreathe is touring in support of its ninth studio album, 2023’s “Caves,” which also features contributions from Judah & the Lion, Old Dominion, Carly Pearce and Foy Vance.
Immediately following Rinehart and company, hip-hop artist 21 Savage checks into the Toyota Pavilion on May 9.
Other acts on the 2024 Toyota Pavilion schedule include R&B faves Xscape and SWV on June 27, classic rockers Styx, Foreigner and John Waite on June 29, alt-rock champs Foo Fighters on Aug. 13, country star Lainey Wilson on Aug. 24, hitmakers Earth, Wind & Fire and Chicago on Sept. 1 and San Jose’s own Rock and Roll Hall of Famers the Doobie Brothers on Sept. 8.
Details: 7 p.m.; $26-$69, $144-$220 (all subject to change); livenation.com.
— Jim Harrington, Staff
Yerba Buena free shows are back
It’s the time of year when the outdoor concert and performance season heats up throughout the Bay Area, and many of the shows are free. And one of the most impressive and rewarding performance series in the Bay Area – the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival – kicks off this week, offering more than 100 free concerts, dance performances, kids’ shows, poetry readings and a regularly occurring group workout/dance lesson called Dance Outdoors.
The series’ first concert arrives at 1 p.m. May 4, featuring Cuban-born, New York City-based percussionist and band leader Pedrito Martinez. Early in his career, Martinez was, coincidentally enough, a founding member of a band called Yerba Buena. These days, he’s a revered bandleader and musician who’s jammed with music stars including Wynton Marsalis (who calls him “a genius”), Paul Simon, Paquito D’Rivera, Bruce Springsteen, Dave Matthews, James Taylor and Elton John. Others on the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival lineup include the women’s vocal group Kitka (May 11), Bay Area singer Thao Nguyen (May 18), jazz/soul singer Pher (May 23), Bay Area dance troupe RAWdance (June 14-15), Circus Bella (three shows June 21-22) and many, many more.
Details: All shows Yerba Buena Gardens Great Lawn on Mission Street, between Third and Fourth streets; free; ybgfestival.org
— Bay City News Foundation
The art of incarceration
According to Penal Reform International there are more than 11.5 million people around the world locked up in prisons and jails. While they are experiencing a wide variety of conditions and represent a wide variety of judicial causes and effects, they have in common involvement in a system of incarceration that many argue has had a profoundly destructive impact on society.
Visualizing Abolition, a program initiated by the Institute of the Arts and Sciences at UC Santa Cruz to explore the intersection of art, justice and incarceration, is addressing the system with a new art exhibit, “Seeing Through Stone,” which has just opened at the San Joe Museum of Arts.
The exhibit features works from some 80 artists from around the world addressing incarceration, its impact on people and society, and alternatives to the prison system. Some of the artists are prisoners or ex-prisoners, some have never spent a day behind bars. Not surprisingly, the works vary greatly in style — some wistful, some harsh and disillusioned. The overall aim is to use art to help people think differently about prisons and their effect on society. The exhibit is also on view at the Institute of the Arts and Sciences in Santa Cruz (ias.ucsc.edu).
Details: Through Jan. 5; San Jose Museum of Art, open 4-9 p.m. Thursdays, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; $12-$15; sjmusart.org.
— Randy McMullen, Staff
Puppet magic at Stanford
Canadian Ronnie Burkett has gained fame as one of the best puppeteers on the planet, but his works are not always aimed at little kids. After winning acclaim and a regional Emmy Award for his puppetry on a PBS production titled “CincerRabbit,” Burkett founded a stage company that produced several adult-oriented plays with marionettes. This weekend, he’s bringing a new show to the Stanford University’s Bing Studio. “Wonderful Joe,” a puppet play commissioned by Stanford Live, UCLA and TO Live in Toronto, follows a man named Joe and his canine companion Mister, who find themselves homeless and set off on a last adventure to seek magic in a teetering world. Along the way, they encounter Santa Clause, Jesus, Mother Nature and a host of other characters – and learn there is joy to be found in places and situations where you aren’t necessarily expecting to find it. The show, recommended for viewers 16 and older, includes an original score by Joe Alcorn.
Details: 8 p.m. May 1-4; $50; live.stanford.edu.
— Bay Area News Foundation
DocLands returns to San Rafael
The DocLands film festival in Marin County scales nerve-jangling heights with its terrific opening night pick, the Netflix nailbiter “Skywalkers: A Love Story.” The cover-your-eyes documentary, screening 6:30 p.m. today, focuses on the perilous skyscraper escapades, and the romance, of Russian daredevil couple Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus. (True confession: I have a fear of heights and sweated through it, but loved it.)
If that’s just too much for the faint of heart, never fear. The fest, running today through Sunday, offers up 29 other goodies, including its
“official closing night” selection, Dianne Whelan’s “500 Days in the Wild.” (Note that the film actually screens Saturday.) It covers her six-year experience traversing the world’s longest trail — the Trans Canada Trail. She’ll be there to talk discuss the film when it screens 6 p.m. Saturday.
The annual festival also serves up four world premieres, as well as such compelling entries as “The Strike,” Lucas Guilkey and JoeBill Muñoz’s look at the controversial Pelican Bay solitary confinement prison and how those who served time there participated in hunger strikes to oppose and foment change in the inhumane conditions they lived in.
Details: Today through Sunday; all screenings at Smith Rafael Film Center, San Rafael; most screenings $8-$16.50; schedule, tickets and more information at www.doclands.com.
— Randy Myers, Bay City News Foundation