From a classic Golden Gate Park tradition to Cal Shakes and one Britpop’s biggest bands, there is a lot to see and do in the Bay Area this weekend.
Here is a partial rundown.
Flowers + pianos = awesome
Is there anything more jarringly delightful than stumbling across a huge concert instrument plunked, like a wood-and-metal buffalo, in a verdant meadow? That’s the theme of the Flower Piano festival, which spreads roughly a dozen pianos throughout the San Francisco Botanical Garden and invites anyone from the public to come and play.
Now in its ninth year, this collaboration between Sunset Piano and the Gardens of Golden Gate Park is double the duration of 2023’s event — 10 full days of tickling the ivories under the sun. There are scheduled performances from local acts like Lavay Smith and Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers, Martin Luther McCoy & the Robin Hodge Williams Gospel Choir, John Brothers Piano Company and the Sumi Lee Tango Collective. Then there are moonlighting concert pianists having fun, your neighbor’s “Chopsticks”-loving kid, unwashed-but-brilliant virtuosos and possibly yourself, tapping through what you remember of Chopin’s waltzes.
The heart of the action takes place in a scenic Flower Piano Lounge, with comfy seating and full-service bars with food and beverages. But visitors are encouraged to walk the garden’s lovely, winding paths, leaving it up to serendipity to stumble across something musically beautiful.
Details: Event takes place Friday through Sept. 22 with an opening night performance by Orquesta La Moderna Tradición at the San Francisco Botanical Garden, 1199 9th Ave., San Francisco; Flower Piano comes with Botanical Gardens admission with tickets available at gggp.org/flowerpiano.
— John Metcalfe, Staff
Classical picks: Opera San Jose, Cynthia Erivo, SF Opera
There’s nothing quite like the fall season to fill every date on the calendar, but here are three events classical music fans absolutely will not want to miss.
Family Opera Sundays: Opera San Jose is presenting three family-friendly performances of its season-opening “Magic Flute,” with composer-conductor Alma Deutscher back in the California Theater to conduct Mozart’s delightful comedy — and special prices for matinee performances designed to enchant young opera-goers.
Details: Through Sept. 29, with 2 p.m. performances on Sunday and Sept. 22 and 29; $10 for kids 18 and younger; $62.50-$222.50 adults; California Theatre, San Jose; operasj.org.
Erivo at the Symphony: Cynthia Erivo, who earned a Tony Award for her captivating performances in the Broadway production of “The Color Purple” — and is already earning raves for her much-anticipated performance as Elphaba in the film version of “Wicked” — comes to San Francisco Symphony to sing works by Jessie Montgomery and others. Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts.
Details: 7:30 p.m. Saturday; Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco; $175-$299; sfsymphony.org.
Verdi at San Francisco Opera: There’s still time to get tickets for San Francisco Opera’s fall production of “Un Ballo in Maschera,” featuring an excellent cast headed by tenor Michael Fabiano as King Gustav III and soprano Lianna Haroutounian as Amelia. Company music director Eun Sun Kim conducts.
Details: Today through Sept. 27; War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco; tickets start at $40; sfopera.com.
— Georgia Rowe, Correspondent
Trumpet titan joins SSV
Symphony San Jose detours from its customary venue at the California Theatre Saturday night for a “Symphony Under the Stars” outdoor performance at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga in collaboration with that giant of Latin jazz, Arturo Sandoval and his band. One of the world’s great trumpet players, the 10-time Grammy Award winner, whose previous partnerships have included gigs with as disparate a group of artists as Alicia Keys, Dizzy Gillespie, Josh Groban and Tony Bennett, was named a Kennedy Center Honors recipient in July. He and his fellow Lifetime Achievement Award winners (including Francis Ford Coppola, Bonnie Raitt and the Grateful Dead) will be celebrated with a tribute program at the Kennedy Center on Dec. 8 that will be filmed and broadcast on CBS on Dec. 23. Saturday night’s program in Saratoga begins at 7:30 p.m. and will include standards such as “Someone to Watch Over Me” and “Night in Tunisia.” Tickets, $45-$125 plus fees, must be ordered online through www.mountainwinery.com.
— Bay City News Foundation
Britpop stars headed to Bay Area
Pulp is back.
The sensational Britpop act, led by charismatic lead singer Jarvis Cocker, has embarked on its first North American tour in a dozen years.
And, fortunately, the trek is set to stop in the Bay Area.
Cocker and company — which includes keyboardist Candida Doyle, drummer Nick Banks and guitarist/keyboardist Mark Webber — performs Sept. 16 at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco. Escape-ism is the opening act. Showtime is 8 p.m.
Formed in 1978 in Sheffield, England, Pulp released its first album, “It,” way back in 1983. Yet, it wasn’t until the ’90s that the group achieved mainstream success, thanks to a cherished trio of albums — “His ‘n’ Hers,” “Different Class” and “This Is Hardcore” — released during that decade. The latter two were No. 1 hits in the U.K.
“Different Class” was a particularly big success for the band, going quadruple platinum in the U.K. in large part due to the incredibly popular single “Common People.”
Expect to hear lots of the classics on this tour, especially given the continued dearth of new material. After all, the band’s most recent full-length remains 2001’s “We Love Life.”
Details: Tickets start at $88 (subject to change); apeconcerts.com.
— Jim Harrington, Staff
The lights are back on at Bruns
Bay Area theater lovers celebrated earlier this year when a do-or-die fund drive for the financially struggling California Shakespeare Theater succeeded in keeping the company afloat and preserving its 2024 production of the Bard’s “As You Like It.”
After all, the company has for years been a beloved fixture in the summer/fall outdoor theater season, presenting high-quality productions of new and classic plays under the stars at Bruns Amphitheatre, a lovely venue nestled in the scenic Orinda hills.
But after a COVID-canceled 2020 season, Cal Shakes presented truncated seasons in 2021 and 2022, and this year found itself in a $350,000 shortfall that threatened to scrap the company’s sole production in its 50th anniversary season. But after a successful community fundraising campaign, which drew donations from some 700 people, as well as contributions from such luminaries as Oakland native and Cal Shakes alum Zendaya, “As You Like It” opens this week, helmed by veteran Bay Area actor and director Elizabeth Carter. Although Cal Shakes’ future is by no means guaranteed, for 2½ weeks, armed with one of Shakespeare’s most popular romantic comedies, it can remind us of the theatrical magic it has long brought to the Bay Area.
Details: Sept. 12-29; Bruns Amphitheatre Highway 24, Orinda; $25-$85; calshakes.org.
— Randy McMullen, Staff
2 freebie festivals
It’s the of the year when free-admission outdoor gatherings of all types are available and this weekend is certainly no exception. Head to Marston Campbell Park at 17t and West streets in Oakland, for example, and you’ll find the Black-Eye Pea Festival. No, it is not named for the hit-happy pop/hip-hop band, but the “pea, the whole pea and nothing but the pea,” say organizers. Specifically, the beloved bean in this case is “a metaphor for what is resilient, creative and collaborative about African American culture,” says Wanda Ravernell, executive director of the Omnira Institute, which runs the festival. The event is also meant to be a reminder of when the 7th Street corridor was considered “the Harlem of the West.” To that end, performances will be served up by members of the Omnira Institute, percussion group Wakan Wiya, vocal group Moon Candy, MJ’s Brass Boppers with Dimensions Dance Theatre, and the acclaimed Cajan accordionist Andre Thierry. There will also be lots of kids activities, arts and crafts and food and drink options. The event runs 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday; more information is at www.oakbepf.com. Meanwhile, art lovers can check out the Portola Valley Arts Festival from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 3300 Alpine Road, Portola Valley, which also offers lots of food and drink, music and literature readings and more sites.google.com/view/portolavalleyartsfest/home).
— Bay City News Foundation
What’s brewin’ at Smuin: One of the staples of fall arts season is a new touring dance program from Smuin Contemporary Ballet. That program arrives this week and is extra special in that it represents the first full show from the company under new artistic director Amy Seiwert, who is well-known to dance lovers in the Bay Area and beyond for her already-impressive career as a dancer, prolific choreographer and director of companies in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Sacramento. Smuin Ballet, founded in the early ‘90s by revered late choreographer Michael Smuin, has been pivoting in recent years toward a more contemporary catalog, and Seiwert has been adept in helping to usher new works to the company. The troupe’s new program, titled Dance Series 1, features a world premiere and a company premiere. The world premiere is acclaimed, in-demand choreographer Jennifer Archibald’s fate-vs.-chance-themed work “ByCHANCE”; the company premiere is Matthew Neenan’s work “The Last Glass,” set to music by the world music/indie-folk band Beirut. Also on the program is Seiwert’s own “Renaissance,” set to the gorgeous and ethereal sounds of Bay Area a cappella group Kitka, and inspired by the historic 2019 “Women’s Wall” protest in India.
Details: Performances are Sept. 13-15 at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts; Sept. 27-28 at Walnut Creek’s Lesher Center for the Arts, and Oct. 11-20 at Fort Mason’s Cowell Theatre in San Francisco. Tickets are $25-$92; go to www.smuinballet.org.
— Bay City News Foundation
