There is much to see and hear this weekend for Bay Area music and dance fans. Here’s a partial roundup.
Make sure to check the production or venue’s website for COVID safety precautions.
Classical treats: SF Music Day, Simon Rattle
Here are some classical events music lovers won’t want to miss.
A really big show: There’s nothing quite like San Francisco Music Day, the annual music marathon that brings together artists from around the Bay for free performances in San Francisco’s Veterans Building. This year’s event — the 14th annual — brings more than 100 artists, with music spanning classical, global, new music and modern jazz; Philharmonia Baroque, Lieder Alive!, Marcus Shelby, Earplay and Tiffany Austin are just a few of those on the schedule.
Details: Noon-7 p.m. March 20; throughout War Memorial Veterans Building, San Francisco; free; www.SFMusicDay.com.
Boyer opens Festival Opera season: Festival Opera’s 2022 season will bring a summer production of Bellini’s “Norma,” along with recitals, a MixTape series, Opera in the Park and other events. But the season opens this week with an intimate recital by tenor Alex Boyer, who recently gave a terrific performance in the role of Cassio in Livermore Valley Opera’s production of “Otello.” His recital will be accompanied by Kevin Korth in a program to be announced. Details: 5 p.m. March 20; Piedmont Center for the Arts, Oakland; $40-$100; www.festivalopera.org.
Sir Rattle returns: Sir Simon Rattle, who will end his tenure as music director of the London Symphony Orchestra in 2023, brings the esteemed ensemble to Cal Performances March 20 in a special program featuring Sibelius’s Symphony No. 7, along with works by Bartók, Berlioz, Ravel, and Hannah Kendall. Details: 3 p.m. March 20, Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley; $45-$225; www.calperformances.org.
World premieres for Delphi Trio: Appearing this Sunday as part of San Jose Chamber Orchestra’s 30th anniversary season, the Delphi Trio will perform two world premieres — Clarice Assad’s “A Story of Mermaids,” and Ahmed Alabaca’s “Unbreakable.” Beethoven’s Triple Concerto for Violin, Cello and Piano in C Major, Op. 56, completes the program. Details: 7 p.m. March 20; St. Francis Episcopal Church, San Jose; $15-$50; sjco.org.
A special Bach Monday: Conductor Nicholas McGegan has conducted many unforgettable performances of Bach’s music throughout the Bay Area, and he’ll be on the podium March 21 when the Cantata Collective presents the composer’s St. John Passion. Featured vocalists include Thomas Cooley, Paul Max Tipton, Nola Richardson, and Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen. Details: 7 p.m. March 21, First Congregational Church, Berkeley; $35-90; www.cantatacollective.org.
— Georgia Rowe, Correspondent
Dance: SF Ballet; Dorrance Dance
Here are two performances dance fans should know about.
SF Ballet: The Company’s “Program 4” of 2022 delivers the West Coast premiere of the famed Russian choreographer Alexi Ratmansky’s “The Seasons,” a work S.F. Ballet co-commissioned with New York’s American Ballet Theatre.
Ratmansky, a former director of the Bolshoi Ballet, reportedly dropped out of a dance production in Moscow recently to protest Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. His work is well known to S.F. Ballet fans — nine of his dances have been produced by the company. This one, a joyful and high-energy adaptation of Marius Petipa’s original ballet of the same name, is set to the original score by Alexander Glazunov. Also on the program is a revival of August Bournonville’s classic Romantic-era dance “La Sylphide,” which the company is performing for the first time in 25 years.
Details: Performances through March 20; War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco; $29-$448; www.sfballet.org.
Dorrance Dance: Acclaimed dancer and choreographer Michelle Dorrance continues to redefine the notion of tap dance. She brings her company Dorrance Dance to Berkeley Friday and Saturday for the Bay Area premiere of “SOUNDspace,” a tap work that eschews colorful sets and costumes and focuses instead on sound, energy and emotion.
Details: Presented by Cal Performances; 8 p.m. March 18, 2 and 8 p.m. March 19; Zellerbach Playhouse, UC Berkeley; $73-$78; calperformances.org.
— Randy McMullen, Staff
Songs to celebrate Women’s History Month by
It’s Women’s History Month, and two themed compelling concerts are hitting the Bay Area this weekend that promise to be as tuneful as informative. Here’s a look.
“Bessie, Billie, and Nina”: This touring show, subtitled “Pioneering Women of Jazz,” focuses on the music, careers and legacies of Billie Holiday, Bessie Smith and Nina Simone, three Black singers who changed the course of American music with their careers from the Jim Crow era through the turbulent ’60s.
The show is produced Grammy winner Eli Wolf and stars singers Charenée Wade, Tahira Clayton and Vanisha Gould, backed by an all-women band. Attendees will hear such classics as Bessie Smith’s “Downhearted Blues,” Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit” and Nina Simone’s “Mississippi Goddamn.”
Details: 3 p.m. Sunday; Bankhead Theater, Livermore; $20-$80; livermorearts.org.
Helen Sung: The Texas-born pianist and composer was headed for a career in classical musical until she attended a Harry Connick Jr. concert and decided jazz was for her. The move paid off, as Sung has won several jazz piano competitions and won the praises of such luminaries as Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter and Wynton Marsalis among others.
She lands at two Bay Area venues this weekend to showcase her raved-about 2021 release “Quartet+,” which features several of her tunes as well as those by such noted female jazz composers as Geri Allen, Mary Lou Williams, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Carla Bley and Marian McPartland.
Details: 7 and 8:30 p.m. March 18 at SFJAZZ Center, San Francisco; $30; www.sfjazz.org; 7 p.m. March 19 at Hammer Theatre Center, San Jose (part of venue’s Black Cab Jazz series); $25-$35; hammertheatre.com.
— Randy McMullen, Staff
‘DWTS’ tours waltzes into San Jose
People who love the hit ABC-TV show “Dancing with the Stars” will have the chance to see some of their favorite competitors and professional dancers in the touring show “Dancing with the Stars — Dare to Be Different.”
The tour stops at the San Jose Civic on Friday, featuring Season 29 winner Kaitlyn Bristowe and season 30 fan favorite Amanda Kloots, along with Brandon Armstrong, Alan Bersten, Artem Chigvintsev, Sasha Farber, Daniella Karagach, Pasha Pashkov, Gleb Savchenko, Emma Slater, Britt Stewart and more.
The show includes all the dance styles seen on the show, along with new numbers that were created specifically for the live production. Dance styles include the cha-cha, salsa, tango, quickstep and foxtrot.
“Every show is different,” said professional dancer Daniella Karagach, a tour cast member. “You never really know how it’s going to go.”
Details: 8 p.m. Friday; San Jose Civic; proof of vaccination required and masks must be worn in the theater; $59.50-$89.50; sanjosetheaters.org, dwtstour.com.
— Mary Jo Fisher, Southern California Newspaper Group
Source: www.mercurynews.com