There’s A LOT going on in the Bay Area for music, dance and theater fans this weekend. Here’s a partial rundown.
If you’re headed out to a show, it’s still a good idea to check the venue or production website for the latest COVID updates and safety precautions before you go.
A wide world of dance
Several widely varying dance performances are in the offing in the Bay Area this weekend. Here’s a look.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater: The renowned New York-based company has been a regular presence at UC Berkeley’s Cal Performances arts series for decades. but because of the pandemic, local fans have been deprived of the company’s live shows for two years. That changes this weekend as Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, celebrating Robert Battle’s 10 year as artistic director, is in Berkeley for a residency running through April 3. The stop features five different programs offering a total of more than 20 widely different works.
Details: Tickets range from $37-$110; calperformances.org.
Robert Moses Kin: The contemporary dance company headed by renowned San Francisco choreographer Robert Moses is known for its provocative multi-media works focusing on issues of race, gender and identity, is back with a new work, “The Soft Solace of a Slightly Descended Lost Life (Suck It).” The immersive performance melds dance, music, spoken word, lighting effects and suspended sculptural installations in a work that addresses “the fractured heritage, risk, and theft of solace and safety from everyday life,” as organizers put it.
Details: 7:30 p.m. April 1-2; 2:30 p.m. April 3; Presidio Theatre, San Francisco; $15-$45; www.robertmoseskin.org.
Fast Forward fest: The Silicon Valley-based New Ballet company presents an evening of brand new works by choreographers Amy Seiwert, Duncan Cooper, Marika Brussel, Mariana Sobral and Dalia Rawson.
Details: 7:30 p.m. April 2; Hammer Theatre Center, San Jose; $10-$250; newballet.com, hammertheatre.com.
ODC Dance: The San Francisco company is celebrating its 50th anniversary as it opens its annual Dance Downtown recital series, which runs through next weekend and features two world premieres as well as several works by founder and co-artistic director Brenda Way.
Details: Performances March 31-April 3 and April 7-10; Yerba Buena Center for the Arts; $25-$150; odc.dance.
David Herrera Performance Company: The troupe’s new work “Tip of My Tongue” explores how non-English American communities rely on native language to preserve their culture. Performances were rescheduled from January. Details: 8 p.m. March 31 through April 2; Z Space, San Francisco. $30-$75; www.zspace.org.
Leela Dance Collective: The company presents co-founder Seibi Lee in “The Voice Within,” which adapts Chinese and Japanese folk tales in a performance of Kathak Indian classical dance.
Details: 7:30 p.m. today; Taube Atrium Theaetre, San Francisco; $25-$50; leela.dance or www.eventbrite.com (search for Leela Dance).
— Randy McMullen, Staff
Classical highlights: Barton, Wang, American masters
Here are some concerts and recitals Bay Area classical music fans should know about.
Barton & Heggie: The dazzling mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton and composer-pianist Jake Heggie come to Cal Performances Sunday afternoon with a program highlighting selections from their recent recording, “Unexpected Shadows,” as well as the West Coast premiere of Heggie’s “What I Miss the Most…,” a song cycle incorporating texts by Joyce DiDonato, Patti LuPone, Sister Helen Prejean and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Details: 3 p.m. April 3; Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley; $68; calperformances.org.
Another look at “Figaro”: Presented by Stanford University’s Department of Music, “Figaro’s Wedding, or the Count Curtailed” promises a “bite-sized version” of Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro.” With a running time of about 90 minutes, featuring highlights of Mozart’s indelible score, the show stars baritone Eugene Brancoveanu in the title role.
Details: 7:30 March 1-April 2; 2:30 p.m. April 3; Dinkelspiel Auditorium, Stanford University; $13-$28; tickets.stanford.edu.
Wang at Davies: Pianist Yuja Wang has always performed brilliantly in her appearances as soloist with the San Francisco Symphony orchestra. This weekend, she returns to Davies Hall for a solo recital, with the program to be announced. Prepare to be dazzled, whatever she plays.
Details: 7:30 p.m. April 3; Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco; $90-$250; www.sfsymphony.org.
American Masters in San Jose: Symphony San Jose returns to the Center for the Performing Arts this weekend to perform a COVID-delayed program titled “American Masters,” featuring American classical and jazz standards. The program includes Aaron Copland’s “Appalachian Spring,” Gershwin’s “An American in Paris,” Bernstein’s “Three Dance Episodes” from the musical “On the Town,” and Duke Ellington’s “Black, Brown and Beige.” Tito Muñoz conducts.
Details: 8 p.m. Saturday; 2:30 p.m. Sunday; $55-$115; www.symphonysanjose.org
— Georgia Rowe, Correspondent
A weekend of jazz royalty
Since 1982, the National Endowment for the Arts has been awarding Jazz Masters fellowships to musicians considered to have reached an “exceptionally high standard of achievement.” Besides the monetary award, the designation is considered one of the highest honors a jazz musician can receive.
The 2022 awards will be celebrated on March 31 with a tribute concert at the SFJAZZ Center in San Francisco honoring this year’s recipients — bassist Stanley Clarke, drummer Billy Hart, singer Cassandra Wilson and saxophonist/educator Donald Harrison Jr. – and featuring such stars as singer Dianne Reeves (who’s also hosting the show), Jeremiah Collier, Joe Dyson, Ethan Iverson, Dan Kaufman, Salar Nader and more, as well as the SFJAZZ Collective.
The 7:30 p.m. show is sold out but a late batch of tickets will be sold at the SFJAZZ Center box office 6-7 p.m. You can also live-stream the show on the venue’s website, www.sfjazz.org. It’s free but registration is required. Meanwhile, the sensational Reeves, a 2018 Jazz Master, will perform at SFJAZZ Center at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 7 p.m. Sunday.
Details: Dianne Reeves tickets are $50-$115; proof of vaccination is required and masks must be worn in the theater; www.sfjazz.org.
— Bay Area News Foundation
Brentwood beckons book lovers
Brentwood will be a hotspot for books fans this weekend, as the city hosts a Literary Stroll that will find authors of all types positioned in downtown sites to discuss, sell and sign their publications.
Ten fiction and nonfiction authors will be set in restaurants and other businesses, including Tamim Ansary, Steven Burchik, Joey Garcia, Carol Jensen and Sarah Sundin, among others.
And lovers of kids lit should head to the Brentwood Public Library Community Room, where authors Carolyn Joyce Dodds, Claudia Hull and Phelicia Lang will be based.
Details: 1-4 p.m. April 3; start at Brentwood Library, 104 Oak St. to receive your wristband; $5; go to Brown Paper Tickets, m.bpt.me, and search for Brentwood Literary stroll; More information at www.brentwoodlibraryfoundation.org.
— Randy McMullen, Staff
