From Outside Lands’ nighttime after-concerts to the SF Fringe Festival and Music @ Menlo, there is a lot to see and do in the Bay Area this weekend and beyond.
Here is a partial rundown.
OSL nighttime concerts come to SF
You’ve probably heard that the massive Outside Lands Music Festival is taking place Aug. 8-10 at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. That’s where you’ll be able to see Tyler, The Creator, Hozier and Doja Cat and more than 100 other acts (see our cover story for picks of 14 acts).
But did you know that the festival doesn’t just happen in the park? It also boasts a really cool Night Shows series, which features a number of enticing shows at local venues in the Bay Area.
Highlights include Moraga indie-pop artist Still Woozy at The Independent tonight; J-pop singer-songwriter-pianist Fujii Kaze at Bimbo’s 365 Club, also tonight; Los Angeles bass master Thundercat at The Independent on Friday; Canadian DJ/producer BLOND:ISH at The Independent Son Aug. 9; and South African DJ/producer Black Coffee at 1015 Folsom on Aug 10. (All of the venues are located in San Francisco.)
Details: For complete lineup and ticket information, visit sfoutsidelands.com.
— Jim Harrington, Staff
‘Wozzeck’ comes to West Edge Opera
Any list of groundbreaking operas must include “Wozzeck.”
Alban Berg’s 1925 expressionist masterwork, based on Georg Büchner’s 1837 stage play, “Woyzeck” tracks the trials of its title character, a soldier degraded by his captain, defiled by his doctor, and devalued by his partner, Marie. It’s man against the machine in this harrowing drama driven by Berg’s gripping expressionist score, long considered one of the defining works of the early 20th century and without question one of the most indelible stage works of all time.
West Edge Opera, which presented “Wozzeck” 10 years ago in an abandoned train station, returns to the opera this month with a new production directed by Elkhanah Pulitzer, conducted by company music director Jonathan Khuner and performed in German with English surtitles; the first-rate cast stars baritone Hadleigh Adams in the title role, with Philip Skinner as the Doctor and Emma McNairy as Marie.
Details: Performances Aug. 9-17; Oakland Scottish Rite Center, Oakland; single tickets $10-$170; westedgeopera.org.
— Georgia Rowe, Correspondent
Aloha Festival returns to San Mateo
Can’t finagle a flight to Hawaii right now? Then hula on down to the Bay Area Aloha Festival, taking place in August with Hawaiian and Tahitian music, arts and crafts and food vendors slinging everything that’s “ono.”
It’s the 30th anniversary of this lively event, which is put on by the Pacific Islanders’ Cultural Association at the San Mateo County Event Center. Music is a huge part of it this year: Tunes will be continuous through the fest with acts like the Manuia Polynesian Revue and Oahu’s Ten Feet, winner of multiple Hawaiian music awards. Needless to say, there will be hula dancing and ukulele jamming with free lessons (ukes provided).
More than a dozen restaurants will serve wok-fired noodles, sushi and sumptuous pork belly, Fiji-style hand pies and shaved ice. There are workshops devoted to things like flowery lei making and lomi-lomi massage, and 50-plus vendors offering local artwork, jewelry and apparel. This year there’s also a Keiki Korner for children, where the lil’ ones can receive temporary tattoos and fashion their own leis with candy. It’s enough aloha to last the rest of the year.
Details: Festival runs 10 a.m.-5 p.m. on Aug. 9-10; 1346 Saratoga Drive, San Mateo; free ($5 suggested donation); parking at the event center is $20; pica-org.org.
— John Metcalfe, Staff
The genius of Gilbert & Sullivan
“We sail the ocean blue, and our saucy ship’s a beauty; We’re sober men and true, and attentive to our duty.” Catchy, no? Just begs to be sung loud and lustily. And so it is, as the merry opening to “H.M.S. Pinafore,” the first big hit that W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan had back in 1878, now being brought to the stage by The Lamplighters Music Theatre.
Lowly sailor Ralph Rackstraw loves Josephine, the Captain’s daughter, but her loftier social status is a problem — that gets comically and happily resolved. The production stars Max Ary as Rackstraw, Syona Ayyankeril as Josephine, Carly Ozard as Sir Joseph Porter, Tony De Lousia as Captain Corcoran and Sarah Szeibel as Buttercup.
Lamplighters, the Bay Area’s go-to company for Gilbert & Sullivan light opera classics, is bringing the comedy to to the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts for performances on Aug. 9-10; hen it concludes at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, with performances Aug. 16-17.
Details: Tickets, $35-$95, are available at lamplighters.org.
— Bay City News Foundation
Freebie of the week
The summer continues to serve up a fun selection of free community concerts, with a wide-ranging variety in both musical styles and in locations. There are so many they should hand out a booklet that you can get stamped like a passport. On Thursday, head to Antioch’s Community Center Amphitheater to catch the latest offering in the city’s Rhythms by the River concert series. Performing from 6 to 8 p.m. will be Texas-born, Bay Area-based singer-songwriter Nzuri Soul. Having relocated here about a decade ago, Soul has found the time to perform in a variety of venues, from the Fox Theater in Oakland to the Empress Theatre in Vallejo, not to mention joints in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and New Orleans.
She has a particularly fruitful relationship with Yoshi’s iconic nightclub in Oakland, where she has performed several shows, including a special Women’s History Month concert in which she paid tribute to such legendary singers as Aretha Franklin, Josephine Baker, Gladys Knight, Beyonce and more. With talent and versatility enough to cover legends as well as perform her own originals, Soul and her band should serve up a fine show on Thursday evening. There will be plenty of food and drink on hand.
Details: More information is at www.antiochca.gov/summer-concert-series.
— Bay City News Foundation
The Fringe marches on
San Francisco’s downtown core, as well as its theater scene, have both seen some tough times in recent years. But if all that gets you down, consider this one tidbit: the annual Fringe Festival is still on. Exit Theatre, which saw one of its principal Tenderloin venues shuttered in 2022, is presenting the 34th iteration of a festival that has always wonderfully matched its environs — a little rough and a little ramshackle, but a magnet for the kinds of artists and audiences who thrill in the energy, passion and unpredictability of live performance.
This year’s festival runs Aug. 8-24, with performances at the Taylor Street Theatre, 277 Taylor St. The collection of solo and small-group performances in the Fringe Festival range from the hilarious to the harrowing. Among the shows are “Saturday Night Live” alum Molly Shannon’s solo show “Oh Johnny,” about a down-on-her-luck mystic and medium who ventures into the spirit realm looking for answers. It’s described as a “clown play,” reflecting on Shannon’s background as a clown performer. Also on tap is popular solo artist Kurt Bodden performing his third solo show “I’m Mad as Hell and I’m Going to Take It Just a Little Bit Longer,” in which the self-help satirist “cheerfully draws from an inner wellspring of unresolved rage.” Yes, the Fringe Festival is always a bit of a crap shoot, but if you’re a fan of live theater, it doesn’t get much more, um, live-theaterish than this.
Details: Most shows run $15-$20; www.theexit.org.
— Bay City News Foundation
‘Two Gentlemen’ in town
Free Shakespeare in the Park, presenting free, in-person outdoor theater performances, is turning 43! This year’s presentation is an adaptation of the classic romantic comedy “The Two Gentlemen of Verona.” It’s about the journey of two young men from a small, simple, traditional Midwestern town, to California, with its alluring promise and impending challenges. The friends “confront their inner conflicts as they are seduced by the possibilities of love, success and reinvention,” say organizers of the show, which is directed by Ely Sonny Qrquiza.
Upcoming performances are in Red Morton Park in Redwood City at 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Aug. 16-17 and Aug. 23-24. The show then moves to San Francisco’s McLaren Park on Aug. 30-Sept. 1 and Sept. 6-7; then to San Francisco’s Sue Bierman Park near Embarcadero Plaza on Sept. 13-14 and Sept. 20-21.
Details: More information is at sfshakes.org
— Bay City News Foundation
Famed music fest hits final weekend
Music@Menlo’s venerable chamber music festival is winding down for this summer, but there is one more impressive program on its lineup for two performances. This year’s iteration has previously presented music composed for duos, trios, quartets and quintets, so it comes as no surprise that the programs designed for the final performances at 7 p.m. Aug. 7 in the Stent Family Hall and Saturday in the Spieker Center for the Arts, both in Atherton, are dubbed “Six to Eight,” because they bring us compositions for sextet and octet. Brahms’ magisterial String Sextet in B-flat Major kicks things off, followed by Jorg Widmann’s “180 beats per minute” from 1993 (which sounds like it might be a rather lively work), with Mendelssohn’s String Octet in E-flat Major bringing things to a close.
Performers include Benjamin Beilman, a winner of major international prizes at competitions in Montreal and Indianapolis, who will be joined by fellow violinists Erin Keefe, Jessica Lee, Kristin Lee, Richard Lin, Julian Rhee and Arnaud Sussman; violists Paul Neubauer and Masumi Rostad; and cellists Dmitri Atapine, Nicholas Canellakis, David Finckel and Clive Greensmith.
Details: Tickets are $25-$87; music@menlo.org.
— Bay City News Foundation
Going for Baroque at American Bach
For those who gravitate to the music that was all the rage in the 17th and first half of the 18th centuries, American Bach has just launched a festival with five concerts Wednesday through Sunday that will fully satisfy your cravings. Led by artistic director and conductor Jeffrey Thomas, the American Bach Soloists present works by that great master of the Baroque era and many of his contemporaries – Telemann, Vivaldi, Geminiani, Handel and Purcell among them – in two venues at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the Sol Joseph Recital Hall and the Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall. Participating musicians include violinist Tatiana Chulochnikova, flautist Bethanne Walker, harpsichordist Corey Jamason, cellist Joseph Howe and many others, and at the finale in the Hume hall on Sunday, the ensemble will be joined by students of the American Bach Academy for a program that will include three Bach cantatas.
Details: Performance times are 7:30 p.m. except for the finale, which is a 4 p.m. matinee; tickets, $20-$65, available at www.americanbach.org.
— Bay City News Foundation