One of the special things about the monthly South First Fridays event — which Brian Eder and Cherri Lakey at Anno Domini gallery started in downtown San Jose more than 16 years ago — is that it really does seem to have something for everyone.
This Friday’s edition includes not only the regular art walk, when galleries and other venues are open late and often open new exhibitions, but also the summer street market. More than three dozen artists and arts organizations will be setting up booths along South First Street in the arty SoFA district, and a beer garden at Parque de los Pobladores will feature local brews from Clandestine Brewing, Fox Tale Fermentation and Strike Brewing along with music by Big Lee & Guiña from On the Corner Music. It all starts around 5 p.m.
Anno Domini will host an opening reception for “Live at Buff Hall,” a solo show of recent work by Polish painter Rafal Karscz, and KALEID gallery will have a reception for “Constructed Realism,” an exhibition of work by East Bay photographer Robert D. Chavez III.
San Jose Opera’s Veronika Dafoe plays accompaniment for singers performing a free mini-concert, Friday, Feb. 3, 2023, in the lobby of the California Theatre in San Jose, Calif., part of the SoFa District’s South First Friday’s art walk. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
The MACLA gallery is opening “Un Puente Sobre el Río San Juan: A Story of Borders,” which features two San Jose artists, Irene Carvajal and Imara Osorno, exploring the contentious issues around the border between Nicaragua and Costa Rica. There’s also a free performance in MACLA’s Castellano Playhouse by Cristal Chains, a San Jose record collector who is the host of Domingueando on public radio station KKUP 91.5 FM, where she plays a variety of music from around Latin America. She’ll be curating music at 7:30 and 8:30 p.m.
And Opera San Jose will again be setting up at the California Theatre, providing fans with a preview of selections from “The Magic Flute,” which the company will open Sept. 14, with young composer Alma Deutscher, who charmed Opera San Jose fans with her version of “Cinderella, conducting the orchestra.
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Organist Jerry Nagano will perform favorite tunes on the California Theatre’s mighty Wurlitzer organ starting at 5:30 p.m., before Opera San Jose artists perform highlights from “The Magic Flute,” accompanied by pianist Veronika Agranov-Dafoe. Magician and mentalist David Martinez will entertain the audience at 7 p.m. with a bit of magic before Nagano closes things out on the Wurlitzer.
“First Friday performances are my favorite community events that Opera San Jose participates in, and our first one for the upcoming season is sure to delight the young and the young at heart as we showcase our thrilling production of ‘The Magic Flute,’” Opera San Jose General Director Shawna Lucey said.
Of course, there’s a lot more, as South First Fridays has expanded to include galleries in the Historic District (Works/San Jose and Chopsticks Alley) and Martha Gardens (Art Ark Gallery and Machu Picchu gallery). You can check out the full lineup and get a printable walking map at www.southfirstfridays.com.
