From a high-flying, world-class pianist to a roomful of blues legends and the return of Zorro (in a new opera), there is a lot to see and do in the Bay Area this weekend.
Here’s a partial rundown.
Here comes Hiromi
It’s been a fantastic spring for jazz music in the Bay Area, with such massive talents as Brad Mehldau, Kenny Barron and Terence Blanchard performing at our local venues.
And the trend joyfully continues as Hiromi returns to the Bay Area to play seven shows in five nights.
That adverb used above — joyfully — was very carefully chosen, given that few artists exhibit more pure joy during their concerts than Hiromi. Combine that aspect with the fact that she’s a first-tier jazz piano virtuoso — who can amaze with her fleet finger work and high-flying solos — and you’ve really got a performer worth catching in concert.
Fans have five chances to do just that as Hiromi celebrates the release of the new album “Out There” with her Sonicwonder quartet — featuring trumpeter Adam O’Farrill, bassist Hadrien Feraud and drummer Gene Coye — at SFJAZZ Center in San Francisco today through Sunday. Tickets start at $30; sfjazz.org. Hiromi’s Sonicwonder also performs at 7 and 9 p.m. Monday at Kuumbwa Jazz Center in Santa Cruz. Tickets start at $31.50; kuumbwajazz.org.
— Jim Harrington, Staff
Concert benefits blues Walk of Fame
Blues musicians are gathering to support efforts to restore “The Music They Played on 7th Street Oakland” Walk of Fame to its former glory.
The West Coast Caravan of All Stars, Oakland Blues Divas, J.C. Smith, Alvon Johnson, Mississippi Chuck Wallace and Fillmore Slim are among the many blues talents set to perform at the Walk of Fame benefit concert on April 21 at Yoshi’s in Oakland.
Proceeds will go towards replacing the 40-some plaques that were forcefully removed from the ground by thieves a few months back. The theft occurred on the stretch of the installation that runs along Seventh Street between Wood and Willow streets in West Oakland, according to Ronnie Stewart, Bay Area Blues Society founder and executive director. Stewart spearheaded the Walk of Fame project to honor artists and other individuals who have contributed to the mighty musical legacy of the East Bay.
Installing new plaques is expected to cost around $150,000, says Stewart, who will also be performing at the benefit as part of the West Coast Caravan of All Stars. Other performers booked for the show Dee Simon, Mike Skinner, Karl Bracy, Silk-E and more.
Details: Showtime is 7:30 p.m.; $30; yoshis.com.
— Jim Harrington, Staff
Classical picks: ‘Zorro,’ Evgeny Kissin, Kronos Quartet
A bi-lingual opera based on Zorro, the return of Russian pianist Evgeny Kissin, and a three-day festival by the Kronos Quartet are highlights of upcoming events on April’s classical music calendar.
A swashbuckling opera: Remember Zorro? The mysterious hero of page and screen takes the stage this month to star in Opera San Jose’s new production of “Zorro.” Composer Héctor Armienta has set the opera in the early 1800s, and it’s sung in English and Spanish, with English and Spanish supertitles. Featuring Chilean tenor Xavier Prado in the dramatic title role, “Zorro” is directed by David Toro and conducted by Jorge Parodi as the final production of the company’s 41st season.
Details: Saturday through May 4; California Theatre, San Jose; $58-$215; operasj.org.
Solo Kissin: Evgeny Kissin returns to perform a solo recital in Davies Symphony Hall as part of the San Francisco Symphony’s Great Performers Series. The award-winning Moscow-born pianist will play a program featuring works by Bach, Chopin, and Shostakovich.
Details: 7:30 p.m. Sunday; Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco; $325-$399; sfsymphony.org.
Kronos’ spring fest: “Good Medicine” is the title of the Kronos Quartet’s spring festival, which features “a weekend-long dose” of the acclaimed quartet’s musical innovation. Featured composers on the three-day lineup include Terry Riley, Gabriella Smith, and Hamza El Din, but check the complete calendar for all events.
Details: April 25-27; tickets $20-up; kronosquartet.org, sfjazz.org.
— Georgia Rowe, Correspondent
Startup Art Fair returns
For folks who like to shop for art while lavishing in a 1950s motor lodge in San Francisco, the funky Startup Art Fair is taking place over one weekend in April.
The art fair went on hiatus in 2020 and is now making its glorious return at the retro Hotel del Sol in the Marina District. More than 60 artists are will be setting up shop — transforming rooms into exhibition galleries — to offer their work to collectors, curators and general lookie-loos. There’s a healthy events schedule, too: To comment upon “resilience and collapse in neoliberal systems,” one artist will practice endurance-sitting and falling on a precarious chair made of concrete, lard and other fragile materials.
A humorous textile installation comments upon auto-corrected names, with opportunities to take selfies, and an artwork by the hotel’s pool celebrates 1940s female bodybuilder Abbye “Pudgy” Stockton. Plus: Craft cocktails, tasty treats from Oakland’s Crumble & Whisk patisserie and DJ nights by the poolside dance floor.
The show runs concurrent with the San Francisco Art Fair at Fort Mason ($35). So if you’re in the mood for even more art, it’s a short drive or 20-minute walk away.
Details: Hours are 2-10 p.m. Friday, noon-9 p.m. Saturday and noon-7 p.m. Sunday; 3100 Webster St., San Francisco; daily pass is $20 in advance ($25 at the door), www.startupartfair.com.
— John Metcalfe, Staff
Golden Gate Park Band is back
At a time when it seems like anything even remotely resembling stability in our world is being ripped up and tossed into the breeze like so many seeds, it’s nice to call attention to something fun and special that has been part of the Bay Area for nearly a century and a half. We’re talking about the Golden Gate Park Band, which at 4 p.m. Friday opens its 143rd season of performing free concerts in the park. According to the Friends of the Golden Gate Park Band, the outfit was formed in 1882 (the same year Jesse James was shot and killed by Robert Ford) featuring a dozen musicians. It was technically a branch of the California National Guard in those days. The band was an immediate hit with park visitors, and increased in size to 25 musicians in 1883, when a small wooden bandstand was erected. Today there are 30 professional musicians in the band, led by music director and conductor Dr. German Gonzalez. After Friday’s season opener, the band will perform free shows at 1 p.m. Sundays, from April 27 through Sept. 28, at the famed Golden Gate Park Bandshell – aka the Spreckels Temple of Music – which has been on hand since 1900. Friday night’s concert runs 4 to 7 p.m. and will feature classic Big Band Era tunes, so bring your dancing shoes. Future shows will take on a wide variety of genres, from pop/classical crossover to soul/R&B to Broadway show tunes and more.
Details: More on the band and its performance schedule can be found at goldengateparkband.org.
— Bay City News Foundation
Hooray for ‘Underpants’
Let’s face it, any show that features comedy from Steve Martin and is called “The Underpants” probably doesn’t need a whole lot of explanation. You can pretty much – ahem – size it up from the title and the author and know that it will be a silly affair with lots of sex jokes and some solid satire about life and society floating in the mix. The 90-minute show is actually an adaption of a 1911 German stage farce titled “Die Hose,” by Carl Sternheim, an Expressionist playwright and short story writer who delighted in poking fun at the moral sensibilities of his country’s emerging middle class. Steve Martin’s version is likewise booping the noses of society’s upper crust. Set in Dusseldorf shortly after the turn of the 20th century, the farce centers on one Louise Maske, an upper-cruster who is taking in a local parade when, out of the blue, her bloomers drop to the ground. We admit that we are hardly experts in the field of early 20th century undergarment design, and have no idea if this sort of thing was a frequent occurrence, but in “The Underpants,” it’s a game-changer. Although her husband Theo is convinced the couple’s standing will be tarnished forever, Louise instead becomes one of the most coveted women in town, with a variety of would-be suitors – bearing a variety of motives – line up hoping to move into the room the couple has recently put up for rent. Now San Jose Stage Company is presenting “The Underpants,” directed by Kimberly Mohne Hill, through April 27.
Details: Performances are at San Jose Stage, 490 S. 1st St., San Jose; $43-$62; www.thestage.org.
— Bay City News Foundation
Calling all kathak fans
Much of India’s cultural and artistic history is tied to dance. In the realm of Indian classical dance alone, there are nine different forms, including the Northern India genre known as kathak, which dates back to 4 BC and was so-named because the associated hand, body and facial movements were specifically designed to tell stories. Bay Area dance fans can catch the dance form live on Saturday when the acclaimed Leela Dance Collective comes to the Bankhead Theater in Livermore. The oft-touring Los Angeles-based troupe – headed by a triumvirate of artistic directors, Rukhmani Mehta, Seibi Lee and Rachna Nivas – is known for presenting slightly contemporized, theme-based kathak productions set to live music. On Saturday, the company is presenting the world premiere of “Encounters With Beauty,” a work inspired by and devoted to the country’s legendary 16th-century mystical poets … Kabir, Surdas, Meera and others. The choreography will be accompanied by contemporary and classical chamber music, North Indian classical singing and percussion. The main performance will begin at 8 p.m., but get there a little early for a short demonstration by the company’s Youth Dance Company.
Details: $25-$75; livermorearts.org.
— Bay City News Foundation