Museum Monday 2026/2

 

detail of The Red Table Cloth by Selden Connor Gile, now at the de Young Museum

Friday Photo 2026/2

 

windows at Saint Mark's Lutheran Church, San Francisco

What I read in 2025 (part 1)

I wrote one of these in 2023 (you can find it here) & figured I would do it again, though I feel as if I've had less time to read this year. I don't know if that's actually true, as I don't really track reading time, but it sure feels that way. Maybe it's because I've developed the habit (or this tendency has worsened) of starting a book & then reading it only in fits & starts, so it takes much longer to finish than you'd think it would, based on its length. Despite all that, this list will be long, but lots of the items are plays, which are, for obvious reasons, fairly short.

If you read the introduction to the 2023 list, you'll see I lay out the rules (books completed in the year, cover-to-cover, even if I started them earlier) & I mention some reading I do every morning: one chapter of the King James translation of the Bible & one poem by Emily Dickinson. I am now up to the epistles in the Bible, so nearing the end of the cover-to-cover read-through; when I finish, I might go back to hopping among the books, or maybe I'll just circle back to the beginning. I'm around poem #1500 for Dickinson, as since the edition I use contains 1,775 poems, I will finish it this year, at which point I will probably just go back to the beginning & start over. But maybe this time I'll read two or even three poems a day; time is running shorter for all of us. In 2023 I also mentioned reading a few pages of Finnegans Wake each day. After I went through it a few times, I decide to switch things up & moved on to Gertrude Stein: a few pages a day, two to six, usually. Those books will appear on this list, or at least some of them will, the ones I finished.

I'm also doing a simultaneous read of 13 different translations of Ovid's Metamorphoses, but I should probably do a separate entry on that. As you can imagine, that takes a while, & it's not something you'd want to slam through anyway.

There will be a lot of Shakespeare on this list, as I re-read his complete works this year. I read him regularly, as I have for decades, but this is the first time I read everything in a row, one thing after another. I came close in a college course, a two-quarter Shakespeare survey (taught by Janet Adelman at Cal) in which we read all the plays (except for the Merry Wives of Windsor, which she, like many lovers of Falstaff, disliked, as in it he is a buffoon & a gull & not the mighty character from the Henry IV plays) so she told us we could read it over the break if we wanted to but she wouldn't discuss it – of course I did read it over the break). But for that course we didn't read the sonnets or the narrative poems. Occasionally I will read all the history plays in a row. But last January I had picked up Macbeth again to read on BART. I always have a separate BART book; for a while, back when I worked in offices & went to many, many live performances, I did most of my reading on BART. But it's gotten increasingly difficult to read on BART, mostly because of device-related noise. People are, as we all know, idiots, & I do not understand why someone would think an entire car on a train should have to listen to whatever nonsense they're listening to (people, headphones exist!). But there it is. (Yes, I use earplugs, but they don't quite get the job done.) So I'm looking for something that fits easily into my satchel & that can be interrupted (I've read the plays so many times, yes I know that makes me sound unbearable, but I can pick them up & put them down at any point & not be lost). So I had Macbeth & thought, sure, let's just keep going. For years I read through the complete works, beginning, as I had the first time around, with Twelfth Night & ending with Hamlet (always smart to keep something excellent in reserve for the end). Eventually I realized / decided that I didn't need to read every play every time; I could read King Lear three times & read Merry Wives maybe once (I don't hate it, but it's not really a favorite). So there were a few I hadn't read in quite a while, until last year. But this year is already passing, so let's get to it:

Macbeth

Shakespeare

Really struck this time by the bird imagery; still working out the way it's used. I think I re-watched Throne of Blood in conjunction with this. I should post movie updates as well.

Walden

Henry David Thoreau

I had started re-reading this a couple of years earlier. I read it slowly, with long gaps, which is a good way to read this book in particular (though it's also increasingly the way I read everything). I had read it in college, for an American literature course. I was fascinated then by the reactions when people saw me carrying it around: ten years earlier it had been a touchstone book, but when I read it (in the late 1970s) every person said, Oh, I had to read that in high school, & I hated it. I could image their idealistic high school English teachers, assigning the significant books of their generation, to an ensuing generation that wasn't having it. Thoreau is always going to be thorny, I think, & controversial; I need to read more of him. A few years ago the New Yorker ran an article attacking him by a woman whose name I can't remember. It seemed to me she missed his point(s) completely. I remember she went on about how he doesn't give the exact depth of some body of water. In that American lit class, we had an entire lecture on how he doesn't give us the exact depth, & what that means. In short, she was a journalist & Thoreau was a poet & philosopher & she just didn't get him.

Timon of Athens

Shakespeare

This one has actually been staged a few times recently, which is interesting. This play, with its heedless millionaire turned misanthrope, seems to hit the current world in a suggestive way (I saw a staging in which Timon was, though I dislike this term, a tech bro – provocative, especially as I'd always pictures Timon as an older man, possibly influenced by the Milton Glaser cover for my Signet Classic Shakespeare edition). When I first read it decades ago, the consensus was that it was unfinished. Recently I looked for more current thinking, &, as collaboration is a big thing now (no more solitary genius expressing his vision!) Timon is presented as a co-written work. But that still doesn't explain some of the loose ends, like why Alcibiades makes a long speech begging for mercy for someone we don't know anything about, or why the amount of money Timon needs keeps changing.

Within a Budding Grove

Marcel Proust

I re-read Swann's Way at the end of 2024, but I'm being a purist & this list is only 2025. I re-read Proust about every 10 years (it was a bit over that this time). I've been doing this since the series was known by the evocative but less accurate title Remembrance of Things Past. It's one of the central books of my life. But as with stepping into rivers, you never read the same book twice. I was struck this time by how comical much of Proust is, but often in a very awkward way that maybe struck me when I was younger as almost too embarrassing to be funny. And of course one point of the novel is the shifting in perception: characters change throughout the book, & then they change in how we react to them. When I decided to re-read, I briefly considered picking up one of the newer translations, but I decided to stick with the Moncrieff, as revised by Kilmartin & Enright. It is one of the classic translations, & I already had all the volumes,, in lovely hardback Modern Library editions. But there were a few things (Britishisms, phrasing that's a bit outdated) that made me think I should explore some of the other translations, next time around.

Much Ado About Nothing

Shakespeare

I have to confess that I have increasingly complicated feelings about this play. There's something a bit desperate about the word play between Beatrice & Benedick: have you ever been in a relationship / friendship where you were always supposed to be "on", always "witty"? It can be grating & ultimately exhausting. As Shaw pointed out, much of what B & B say to each other is not particularly clever (in fact, much of it is downright rude); it's the phrasing that makes it magic. Of course breaking out of that endless "wit trap", or trying to, is what the play is about. Claudio is a fine example of one of Shakespeare's young men who is a romantic hero, officially, but not a particularly nice or admirable person. Years ago a friend of mine was understudying the part & he asked me about one of Claudio's lines: why does he ask if Hero is the only child? I pointed out that if Hero is the only child (meaning, there is no male heir), then her husband would inherit her father's estate entirely. Charming fellow! This play is quite popular now. I wonder if it's because of the Branagh film (which I had mixed feelings about), or is it just hitting the zeitgeist in some other way?

Pericles, Prince of Tyre

Shakespeare

Fabulous in every sense.

The Merchant of Venice

Shakespeare

Another play made more complicated by subsequent history. It's a mark of Shakespeare's genius as a playwright that though Shylock remains basically villainous, you can't help but sympathize with him. He's complicated (contrast that with Marlowe's Barabbas from the Jew of Malta, which will show up later on this list, who wins us over basically because of his zest in doing evil, but who lacks the emotional complications of Shylock – his love for his late wife Leah, not to mention his complicated emotions for his daughter & his ducats – but also his sophisticated justification for revenge in the famous "Hath not a Jew eyes" speech). Of course, Shylock sort of swamps the rest of the play, which has many lovely moments (see Berlioz's borrowing in Les Troyens's Nuit d'ivresse of the Act 5 flirtations between Jessica & Lorenzo). Interesting that the Victorians looked on it as a romantic comedy, & for us it's more of a problem play: but of course we live in a post-Shoah world.

Lucy Church Amiably

Gertrude Stein

So Gertrude Stein is making her first appearance. This book has the lovely subtitle "A Novel of Romantic beauty and nature and which Looks Like an Engraving" & that's pretty much it. I know Stein drives a lot of people crazy. My theory is that if you connect with her rhythms on a deep level (& apparently I do), you will love her. Otherwise, maybe not your cup of tea.

The Guermantes Way

Marcel Proust

Volume 3, in which the narrator explores high society. There are some reminders in these novels (the discussion, for instance, of "servants" who started calling themselves "employees") that this is all taking place in a very different world. The high society here, based on an aristocratic descent that is completely alien to an American, for whom money, inherited or not, is the main dividing line, is interesting exactly because it's so foreign. I can understand the romance of someone descended from Genevieve of Brabant; it's historical poetry, a glowing link to a golden past, though of course the actual people are . . .well, people.

The Two Gentlemen of Verona

Shakespeare

Quite a charming play, though, as is often noted, overshadowed by the later, greater romantic comedies.

The Wife of Bath: A Biography

Marion Turner

Fascinating & engaging history of the sources & offspring of Chaucer's celebrated Wife of Bath (including the intriguing thought that she was one of the sources for Falstaff).

Julius Caesar

Shakespeare

This used to be taught in American high schools, long ago, to show that "Shaespeare approved of democracy" (!!!!!) (& also the verse is not too knotty); it should have been taught as a perfect example of Shakespeare's technique, because no matter what you think of anyone in this play & his or her actions, the playwright forces you to confront another perspective.

OK, that's Part 1.

Museum Monday 2026/1

 

detail of Hashi-Benkei (Benkei on the Bridge), a woodblock print by Tsukioka Kogyo from the series One Hundred plays of the Noh Theater (Nogaku kyakuban), seen at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco

Friday Photo 2026/1

 

seagull on a lamp overlooking Lake Merritt, from the terrace of the Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland

Another Opening, Another Show: January 2026

Here we go for January, so we're launching into the new year, though as I'm typing this the last few hours of 2025 are slipping away, &, like many of us, I won't be that sorry to see that year go. But our calendar divisions are, of course, arbitrary, & are we really expecting a better 2026? Well, hope springs eternal, so we can hope that no matter what is happening to us personally this year, maybe the congressional elections will help rein in the fascists (though that's nearly at the end of the year, & it's a long slog until then). Though January marks the beginning of the calendar year (& let me suggest maybe we should go back to marking the new year in March; January just continues the cold, the wet, & the dark from December, & though I like & often love those things, they maybe aren't the best setting for making a bold new start), this month is more of a halfway point in the performance year, & new season announcements will start dropping in the weeks ahead. In the meantime there's lots of already announced & scheduled stuff to look forward to, so let's stay positive & stay hopeful & support the arts by showing up for them, in a respectful & receptive way.

 
Theatrical   

The 23rd SF Sketchfest will take place in a variety of venues from 15 January through 1 February; click on the link for the line-up.

The ninth annual PlayGround Solo Performance Festival will run at the Potrero Stage from 16 January through 8 February; performances are free but donations are gratefully accepted; click here for the full line-up.

Not sure if this should go under Talking or Theatrical, but from 3 to 11 January, Berkeley Rep presents An Evening with David Sedaris; each night, Sedaris will read different selections from his forthcoming book of essays; there will also be Q&A with the audience & book-signings.

Takes All Kinds, written & performed by Dan Hoyle, directed by Aldo Billingslea & Michael Moran & developed with Charlie Varon, returns to The Marsh San Francisco from 10 January through 21 February.

BroadwaySF presents the musical The Book of Mormon at the Orpheum from 13 January to 1 February.

Spanish Stew, written & performed by Marga Gomez, which recently appeared at the New Conservatory Theater in a production directed by Richard A Mosqueda, has been adapted for The Marsh Berkeley by Gomez & will play from 17 January through 22 February.

On 20 January at The Marsh Berkeley, you can see 2 Women, 2 Mothers, written & performed by Vicki Dello Joio & Merry Ross, an exploration of the complexities of the mother-daughter relationship over generations.

From 21 January to 1 February at the Toni Rembe Theater, ACT presents A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, "created by Lucy Owen and Nick Westrate" & directed by Nick Westrate; this is, according to the website, a four-person, stripped-down, immersive production that gives the entire text, & I have no idea what "created by" means in this context, as the play was "created by" Tennessee Williams.

Berkeley Rep presents the world premiere of How Shakespeare Saved My Life, written & performed by Jacob Ming-Trent & directed by Tony Taccone, from 23 January to 1 March.

Vocalists

On 18 January at Hertz Hall, Cal Performances presents mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey, with pianist Myra Huang, performing Poulenc's Trois Chansons de Federico García Lorca, Schumann's Dichterliebe, Satie's La Diva de l’Empire Erik, Schoenberg's Gigerlette from Brettl Lieder, Charles Trenet's Boum!, Kurt Weill's Speak Low & his Youkali, & Cole Porter's So in Love.

Pianist Jeffrey LaDeur & mezzo-soprano Kindra Scharich will celebrate the legacy & 75th birthday of Lieder Alive!'s founder & director, Maxine Bernstein, with performances of Schumann's Liederkreis Opus 39 & selected lieder by Brahms on 25 January at Old First Concerts & 1 February at the Maybeck Christian Science Church in Berkeley.

On 31 January at Zellerbach Hall, Cal Performances presents Kelli O'Hara singing Broadway tunes & favorites from the American Songbook.

Orchestral

From 15 - 17 January, Edward Gardner leads the San Francisco Symphony in the Overture from The Wasps by Ralph Vaughan Williams, the Violin Concerto #1 by Max Bruch (with soloist Randall Goosby), & Holst's The Planets.

On 17 January at Zellerbach Hall, Cal Performances presents the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, led by Riccardo Muti, in Stravinsky's The Fairy's Kiss, Ravel's Boléro, & the Brahms 4.

On 18 January at Herbst Theater, Paul Schrage leads the SF Civic Symphony in the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto (with soloist In Sun Jang) & his Sixth Symphony; admission is free & RSVPs are appreciated.

On 18 January at Davies Hall, the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra hosts (& participates in) the Bay Area Youth Orchestra Festival, whose other participants include the California Youth Symphony, the Marin Symphony Youth Orchestra, the Santa Rosa Symphony Youth Orchestra, & the Young People’s Symphony Orchestra; music performed include Verdi's Overture to Nabucco, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice by Dukas, the Academic Festival Overture by Brahms, the Allegro con brio from the Dvořák 8, Pinkillo Serrano from Apu: Tone Poem for Orchestra by Gabriela Lena Frank, the Allegro giocoso from the Prokofiev 5, & the Andante–Allegro from the Shostakovich 10.

From 22 to 24 January, John Storgårds leads the San Francisco Symphony in the American premiere of The Rapids of Life by Outi Tarkiainen, the Shostakovich Piano Concerto #1 (with soloist Seong-Jin Cho & trumpet soloist Mark Inouye), & the Beethoven 5.

Violinist Simone Porter leads the New Century Chamber Orchestra & students from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in Enlighten Me, a "musical tour of illumination" that includes Andrew Norman's Sabina, Bachianas Brasileiras #9 by Villa-Lobos, Bach's Violin Concerto in E Major (with Porter as soloist), O virtus sapientiae (O Divine Wisdom) by Hildegard von Bingen, Cathedral of Light by Juhi Bansal, Biber's Battalia à 10, & Mozart's Divertimento in F Major, & you can hear it all on 23 January at Bing Concert Hall at Stanford & 24 January at the Hume Concert Hall at the SF Conservatory of Music.

On 24 - 25 January at the Lesher Center in Walnut Creek, Donato Cabrera leads the California Symphony in instrumental excerpts from Mozart's Don Giovanni, the Friedrich Gulda Cello Concerto (with soloist Nathan Chan), & the Schubert 9.

On 25 January at First Congregational in Berkeley, Carolyn Kuan leads the Berkeley Symphony in Fables & Folklore, a program that includes Folk Songs for orchestra by Huang Ruo (whose opera The Monkey King was a smash at San Francisco Opera this past November), Clarice Assad's Concerto for Guitar and Chamber Orchestra, O Saci-Pererê (with soloist Marc Teicholz), & the Dvořák 8.

From 29 to 31 January, Jaap van Zweden leads the San Francisco Symphony in the Mozart Piano Concerto #25 in C major (with soloist Emanuel Ax) & the Bruckner 7.

Chamber Music

On 13 January at the Berkeley City Club, Berkeley Chamber Performances presents Jeffrey LaDeur & Friends, featuring pianist LaDeur, mezzo-soprano Kindra Scharich, & flutist Jessie Nucho performing Ravel's Shéhérazade. Germaine Tailleferre's Forlane pour flûte et piano, Poulenc's Sonate pour flûte et piano, Debussy's Syrinx, Ravel's Histoires Naturelles, & Chopin's Allegro de Concert Opus 46 (the same program will be performed on 10 January in Lafayette).

The San Francisco Early Music Society presents musicians from the Valley of the Moon Music Festival (Manami Mizumoto, violin; Tanya Tomkins, cello; Eric Zivian & Audrey Vardanega, fortepiano) performing music from the First Viennese School, including Mozart’s Violin Sonata in A Major, Haydn’s Piano Trio in E-flat major, Beethoven’s Variations on a theme from Mozart’s The Magic Flute in E-flat major & his Symphony #2 (arranged for piano trio by his pupil Ferdinand Ries), & that's 16 January at First Presbyteian in Palo Alto, 17 January at First Congregational in Berkeley, & 18 January at Saint Mark's Lutheran in San Francisco.

On 18 January as part of its Chamber Music Sundaes series, the Hillside Club in Berkeley presents the Navarro Trio​ (Tammie Dyer, violin; Jill Rachuy Brindel, cello; Marilyn Thompson, piano) performing Let’s get out of here by Martin Rokeach, the Piano Trio in C Major by Gaspar Cassadó, & the Piano Trio in A minor by Ravel.

On 18 January at the Gunn Theater in the Legion of Honor, the San Francisco Symphony presents a trio of its players (Alexander Barantschik, violin; Peter Wyrick, cello; Anton Nel, piano) performing Schubert's Notturno in E-flat major, Mozart's Violin Sonata in B-flat major, & the Brahms Piano Trio #1 in B major, Opus 8.

On 20 January at Noe Valley Ministry, Noe Music presents Noe After Dark: Nathalie Joachim and Decoda performing Joachim's Fanm d’Ayiti (Women of Haiti).

On 24 January at Noe Valley Ministry in San Francisco, the San Francisco Civic Music Association presents an afternoon of chamber music, featuring Thomas Lupo's Ardi e gela, Will Ayton's Salish Sea Images, Nickos Harizanos's A Day to the Circus, Miriam Hyde's Trio for Flute, Oboe and Piano, Astor Piazzolla's Las Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas (arranged for piano trio by José Bragato), Mendelssohn's Konzertstück #1 Opus113, & his Konzertstück #2 Opus114 ; admission is free & RSVPs are appreciated.

On 24 January at Saint John's Presbyterian in Oakland, Four Seasons Arts presents clarinetist Jon Manasse & pianist Jon Nakamatsu performing the Brahms Sonata in E-flat Major, Opus 120, #2, Debussy's Premiere Rhapsody, Mendelssohn's Fantasy in f-sharp minor, Opus 28 (solo piano), Leonard Bernstein's Sonata for Clarinet and Piano, the 3rd movement from Gordon Goodwin's Four Views for Clarinet and Piano, Paquito D’Rivera's Bandoneon from Cape Cod Files, the 4th movement from Vivian Fung's Down and Dirty, & selections from John Novacek's Four Rags for Two Jons.

On 25 January at Hertz Hall, Cal Performances presents the Takács Quartet (Edward Dusinberre & Harumi Rhodes, violins; Richard O’Neill, viola, András Fejér, cello), who will perform Schubert's String Quartet in C minor, Quartettsatz, &, joined by violist Jordan Bak, Mozart's String Quintet in C major & his String Quintet in G minor.

On 26 January at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music's Hume Concert Hall, violinist Nancy Zhou & pianist Jeffrey Kahane will perform the Brahms Violin Sonata #1 in G Major, Opus 78, Three Romances, Opus 22, #2 by Clara Schumann, Bach's Violin Sonata #3 in E Major, & Busoni's Violin Sonata #2 in E Minor, Opus 36a.

On 31 January at Old First Concerts, the Circadian String Quartet (Monika Gruber & David Ryther, violins; Ed Wharton, viola ; David Wishnia, cello) will perform Footprints in the Snow, a program highlighting "[f]leeting impressions, dream-like color and hypnotic form in music for string quartet" through music by Hugo Kauder, Debussy (the piano preludes Ondine, Des pas sur la neige, & La danse de Puck, transcribed for string quartet), & Philip Glass's String Quartet #5.

Instrumental

On 4 January at the Piedmont Piano Company in Oakland, the Happy Dog Duo  (pianists Eric Tran & Nathan Cheung) will perform music for two pianos by composers including Rachmaninoff, Ravel, Mozart, & Happy Dog.

On 11 January at the Piedmont Piano Company, pianists Stephanie Trick & Paolo Alderighi will perform classic tunes from Broadway & Hollywood arranged for two pianos.

On 17 January, the Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland will host an organ recital by Eric Choate, featuring music by Conte, Adams, Venable, & himself.

On 21 January at Davies Hall, the San Francisco Symphony presents pianist Jaeden Izik-Dzurko in a solo recital; he will perform Scriabin's Fantasy in B minor, Opus 28; Franck's Prelude, Chorale, and Fugue; & Rachmaninoff's Ten Preludes, Opus 23.

On 23 January at Old First Concerts, pianist Sarah Cahill performs No Ordinary Light, the launch of "a new project combining classical and new compositions on the theme of homage and loss", featuring Ravel's Tombeau de Couperin, Prelude: Hammer the Sky Bright by Samuel Adams, Hommage a Fauré by Robert Helps, Homage to William Dawson by Zenobia Powell Perry, Fugue to David Tudor & Hommage à Milhaud by Lou Harrison, Holding Pattern by Maggie Payne, & Circle Songs by Danny Clay (the project title comes from Jawaharalal Nehru’s eulogy after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi: “The light has gone out, I said, and yet I was wrong. For the light that shone in this country was no ordinary light").

On 25 January at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music's Sol Joseph Recital Hall, cellist Carrie Tseng, will perform Nikolay Myaskovsky's Cello Sonata #2 in A Minor, Opus 81 & Rachmaninoff's Cello Sonata in G Minor, Opus 19.

Early / Baroque Music

On 4 January at Saint Mary Magdalen in Berkeley, the Cantata Collective continues its traversal of Bach's cantatas with Christum wir sollen loben schon, BWV 121, Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich, BWV 150, & Wo gehest du hin? BWV 166, with vocal soloists Amy Broadbent (soprano), Sylvia Leith (alto), Matthew Hill (tenor), & Edmund Milly (bass).

Music Director Emeritus Nicholas McGegan leads Philharmonia Baroque in Jews & Music – Jewish Nightlife, part of PBO's on-going Jews & Music series. McGegan, conducting & on harpsichord, joined by Francesco Spagnolo, Jews & Music Scholar-in-Residence, & Yair Harel, voice & percussion, as well as the Philharmonia Baroque Chamber Players & Chorale Quartet, will explore traditional Syrian & Moroccan songs, baroque works by Rossi & Boccherini, & modern revivals of piyyut (Jewish liturgical poetry), & you can hear it on 29 January at the Oshman Family Jewish Community Center in Palo Alto & 31 January at the Martin Meyer Sanctuary of Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco.

Modern / Contemporary Music

On 6 January at Herbst Theater, the ARTZenter Institute partners with the SF Contemporary Music Players in another concert from their Emerging Composer program, this time featuring Forever, Until/Until, Forever by Anak Baiharn, Pulse by SiHyun Uhm, Lichtenberg Figures by Brady Wolff, & Composition No. 0136 by Trevor Zavac; as usual, the concert is free, & no reservations are required.

On 8 January at the Littlefield Concert Hall of Mills College at Northeastern University in Oakland, Other Minds presents pianist Amy Williams performing Triadic Memories by Morton Feldman, in celebration of the composer's centennial.

Earplay opens its 41st season on 19 January at Noe Valley Ministry in San Francisco, with a program featuring The Unanswered Question by Charles Ives, arranged by Bruce Bennett, along with the world premiere of Emma Logan's What Lies at Dream's End (an Earplay commission), John Harbison's Prelude–Variations & his Chaconne, & Roger Reynolds's Shadowed Narrative.

On 25 January at Piedmont Piano in Oakland, Ensemble for These Times (soprano Nanette McGuinness, cellist Megan Chartier, & pianist Margaret Halbig, who will be joined by violinist Maya Victoria) presents After Sleepwalking: Music by Women and Nonbinary Composers, a program featuring Divide and Concur by Elisa Kain Johnson (the winner of E4TT's Call for Scores with Luna Composition Lab alums), along with A Thousand Mornings by Anna Clyne, Joan Tower's Tres Lent & her Wild Run, For the Sleepwalkers by Jungyoon Wie, Cinq petits morceaux by SA Workman, & The Light After by Andrew Yee.

San Francisco Performances presents its annual PIVOT Festival, curated this time by Andy Meyerson of  The Living Earth Show, from 30 January to 1 February, mostly at Herbst Theater; on 30 January, for the program Legacies, "vocalist Tanner Porter joins The Living Earth Show guitarist Travis Andrews and percussionist Andy Meyerson in performances of works by Sleeping Giant composers group members and their protegés. Featured will be music by Timo Andres, Christopher Cerrone, Jacob Cooper, Ted Hearne, Robert Honstein, and Andrew Norman"; on 31 January, for the program Satellite, expect an "evening of music and movement, including Bucket List (Mark Applebaum, Travis Andrews, Andy Meyerson) and KoollooK (Babatunji, Travis Andrews, Andy Meyerson) and Trust Me (Lynnee Breedlove, Travis Andrews, Andy Meyerson)"; & on 1 February, for the program Parallel Play (which will be in the Taube Atrium Theater instead of Herbst), "choreographer/dancer Myles Thatcher and percussionist Andy Meyerson offer a contemporary take on the classical ballet pas de deux. Their program will include John Cage’s Child of Tree, with choreography by Merce Cunningham, a work that hasn’t been performed publicly since Cage’s death; Nicole Lizée’s The Filthy 15, with choreography by Rex Wheeler (aka Lady Camden), inspired by songs were at the center of a censorship battle in the 1980s; and a world premiere by Myles Thatcher, with music by Bach."

On 31 January at the Tabue Atrium Theater, the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players present American Reflections: Fire - and Lightening, a program featuring the west coast premieres of Fire by Chen Yi, through depths and shadows by Justin Weiss, & Mosaic by Elliott Carter (performed by harpist Amy Ahn), as well as Electric Aroma by Viet Cuong & Lightenings by Elizabeth Ogonek  (the concert is preceded by SFCMP's annual fundraiser, Sound & Wine; if you want more information on that, you may find it here).

Left Coast Chamber Ensemble presents Metamorphosen, a program featuring Metamorphosen by Richard Strauss (for septet), Luciano Berio's Sequenza XIVb for double bass, Tounen for solo flute by Hendel Almetus, & Sonitudes by Robert Hughes, on 31January at the First Church of Christ, Scientist in Berkeley & on 1 February at Noe Valley Ministry in San Francisco.

Jazz / Roots

Trumpeter Chris Botti will play the SF Jazz Center from 5 to 11 January.

Freight & Salvage in Berkeley hosts a two-day Django Reinhardt Birthday Celebration: on 16 January you can hear the Pino Noir Quartet featuring Natalie Hanna Mendoza, the Hot Club of San Francisco, & the Michael Joseph Harris Trio: Ultrafaux Ensemble, & on 17 January, the Hot Club of Baltimore featuring Leah Zeger, the Hot Club of San Francisco, & the Modern Jazz Hot Club.

Saxophonist Melissa Aldana & pianist Taylor Eigsti will perform at the SF Jazz Center on 17 January.

On 18 January at Freight & Salvage in Berkeley, you can experience an MLK Tribute Concert: Fight the Power!, curated by Zoë Ellis & Mark Montgomery French, "a narrated musical and visual tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr." that will feature Ellis & French as well as Leberta Lorál (vocals), B DeVeaux (guitar & vocals), Tammy Hall  (piano & vocals), Dave Ellis (saxophone), Deszon Claiborne (drums), Steve Hogan (bass), & Javier Navarrette (percussion).

Dance

On 23 - 25 January at Zellerbach Hall, Cal Performances presents the Mark Morris Dance Group in the west coast premiere of MOON, a lunar meditation involving dancers, of course, as well as "video, animation, and photo stills of the Moon" & "live and recorded music that includes popular American songbook tunes, as well as excerpts from NASA’s Golden Record . . .[t]he live music features selections from Marcel Dupré’s 24 Inventions, Opus 50 and György Ligeti’s Musica ricercata, performed on piano, organ, and double bass."

From 23 January to 1 February, Sa Francisco Ballet presents the world premiere of a new version of Eugene Onegin, with choreography by Yuri Possokhov & music by Ilya Demutsky.

Mostly Museums

Theresa Hak Kyung Cha: Multiple Offerings, the first retrospective in 25 years of the Korean-American artist, opens at BAM/PFA on 24 January & runs through 19 April. In conjunction with this exhibit, artist Jesse Chun performs 시( )nawi( )fugue (an improvisation, an offering, a reading) on 24 January.

Drawn to Venice, featuring Renaissance to Rococo drawings & prints from the Veneto region, opens at the Legion of Honor on 24 January & runs through 2 August.

The wonderful Art of Manga show at the de Young closes on 25 January.

Lee ShinJa: Drawing with Thread, the absorbing exhibit of the Korean textile artist's work, closes at BAM/PFA on 1 February.

Cinematic

On 3 January at the Orinda Movie Theater, a new series of Disney Studio restorations launches with 1950's Cinderella; personally, I find this film a boring misfire, but Disney completists or those curious about any restored film will want to check it out. When I saw it a few years ago, I realized I had never seen it before, I just thought I had because of the many clips, references, & parodies. I asked a friend why people liked it. She paused & responded, "It's the dress." So there's that. (Please note the Disney restoration series is of films now owned by the Disney Studios, not limited to their own classic animated features.)

On 11 January at the Orinda Movie Theater, host Matias Bombal launches their new Wide Screen Roadshow series with Lawrence of Arabia, a film that truly needs to be seen on a big screen.

Swedish Silent Cinema: Victor Sjöström & Mauritz Stiller, a treasure-trove of great films, runs at BAM/PFA from 16 January through 28 February.

Laura Truffaut on François Truffaut, in which the late director's daughter will introduce some of his films (sadly not including my favorite, L'Histoire d'Adele H), & lead post-film discussions at BAM/PFA, opens 17 January & runs through 28 February.

On 20 January at the Curran, BroadwaySF presents Blade Runner LIVE; the 2007 "Final Cut" edition of the film will be shown on "a vast HD screen while Vangelis's iconic, synthesizer-led score is performed live in sync with the film by The Avex Ensemble".

This month's Classic Movie Matinee at the Orinda Theater is An American in Paris, shown on 27 January.

Robert Beavers: Filmmaker in Residence, visiting the avant-garde filmmaker's body of work, runs at BAM/PFA from 30 January through 7 February.

Museum Monday 2025/52

 

detail of Orpheus Charming the Animals by Aelbert Cuyp, now at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Friday Photo 2025/52

 

chicken ascending a staircase

Museum Monday 2025/51

 

detail of Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin by Rogier van der Weyden, now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Orinda Theater Classic Movie Matinee: Bell, Book, & Candle

The Orinda Theater's Classic Movie Matinee this past October was 1958's Bell, Book, and Candle, one of those "I married a witch: no, really, a literal witch" stories, which is seasonal for the end of October, of course, but as the film also contains several Christmas scenes, it fits in with my posting month of December as well.

As usual, the Matinee was genially hosted by Matías Bombal, who also chooses the apt shorts, newsreels, cartoons, & coming attractions that accompany each feature (the idea is to recreate an earlier movie-going experience, when you'd get all those things as part of the show).There were a couple of cartoons, including the delirious & delightful Skeleton Dance, one of the early Disney Silly Symphonies (animated by Ub Iwerks). I've seen it many times, but this was my first time seeing it on the big screen, where it is just as marvelous as ever. We also had Bewitched Bunny, in which Bugs Bunny tries to save Hansel & Gretel from Witch Hazel. (I found the children repulsive, though comically so, & would have been happy to let the witch have her snack.) At the cartoon's end, Witch Hazel has transformed herself into a sexy & beautiful young thing, & Bugs leaves with her, but not before turning to the audience & letting us know he knows, says "Ah sure, I know, but aren't they all witches inside?" – a line that drew plenty of audible gasps from the matinee audience, & not necessarily in a disapproving way. After the feature I chatted in the lobby with a group that included several women who didn't come right out & say they identified as witches, but it was pretty clear they were, at least, sympathetic, so maybe they felt Bugs was just acknowledging their power.

I had never seen Bell, Book, & Candle before (the 1950s are not really my movie decade), though I had heard of it vaguely & was curious about it. It's quite delightful, & has quite a cast: Kim Novak as the female lead, with Elsa Lanchester, Hermione Gingold, Jack Lemmon, & Ernie Kovacs in supporting roles. The male lead is Jimmy Stewart. I am not a fan, though I found him less grating than usual (in fact, downright acceptable) in this role. And I give him credit for realizing he had aged out of romantic leads; this was the last such role he played. Still, it seemed a stretch for the gorgeous Novak to fall in love with him as he passes her shop (he's a neighbor & her feelings are rooted in his looks, not his personality, as she hasn't actually talked to him yet) & I kept wondering what the part would be like with, say, Montgomery Clift in it. Novak is, as I said, gorgeous, but I was mesmerized by her eyebrows, which were done in some kind of heavy brown paint – obviously something stylish at the time, though a touch bizarre today (though that's not unsuitable for an uncanny character).

Lanchester, as Novak's aunt, is appealingly & reliably loopy, & I found Kovacs, as a writer on witches who knows less than he thinks, & drinks more than he should, actually funny (I know he's supposed to have been a comedy genius, & maybe I just haven't seen the right shows, but when I saw his stuff years ago I didn't find it amusing at all, which might be my fault). Hermione Gingold, as a rival witch, doesn't have all that much to do; I wondered if the part was bigger in the original play, as what was in the film didn't seem to warrant hiring that big a name. But maybe the idea is that she's outsized enough so that she brings weight to a role that doesn't take up much actual screen time & so might get lost in the narrative shuffle. I shouldn't neglect the scene-stealing cat, Pyewacket. When I mention this film to people, the usual response is something about the cat.

Jack Lemmon is Novak's younger brother; he is a warlock who plays bongos, beatnik-style, at the Zodiac Club in Greenwich Village. A friend of mind said he'd heard that Lemmon's character was "gay-coded" but he didn't see it, which I found . . . surprising. This is a 1950s film, & the usual subtexts apply. There most definitely is a gay subtext (I've come to realize that the mere mention of "Greenwich Village" in this period constitutes queer subtext): there's a secret society, a bit dangerous, extremely suspect, feeling themselves a bit superior to as well as set apart from normal society, & these odd, marginal, dangerous people meet in clubs in Greenwich Village, where they listen to weird music. . . . There's also a hint of an "un-American activities" subtext; at one point Stewart asks Novak if she's a Communist (yes, I'm using the names of the actors instead of the characters, but it's easier to keep them straight & visualize them that way).

I was fascinated by the décor of the film, & the role of modern art: not just jazz, but painting. Stewart's fiancée, played by Janice Rule. must, as is the way of the person who is initially engaged to the lead only to get dumped for the headliner, straddle the line between being acceptable as a mate for the lead but abrasive enough so that we don't mind seeing her or him dumped. Rule fills the role well; she's attractive, polished, & cultured enough so that she's plausible as a girlfriend for a publisher like Stewart, but she's also a bit cold, & unpleasantly snobbish & dismissive towards anyone she perceives as different (like Lemmon &, in their college days, Novak). We're not sorry to see her go. But there is a scene in which Stewart tries (briefly & unsuccessfully) to reunite with her, & we see her painting a very Joan Miró-like picture. But the modernist isn't contrasted with a cozier, kitschier "normal" style. Is it just meant to indicate a certain type of person & class? And the walls in everyone's apartments are dark blue or a similar shade, with carefully arranged artworks. The look was mesmerizing. Initially, Novak's character sells African mask (presumably some link to magic traditions is intended). By the end, she has moved to selling fanciful "bouquets" made of seashells. But they also seem a bit strange & mysterious, though we're clearly meant to see that Novak's love has changed her: for one thing, instead of sharply cut black outfits, she's wearing all-white.

Maybe I should issue a spoiler alert, but I've already said this film is from the 1950s, & it has what is meant as a happy ending, so you can guess what happens: by falling in love, Novak has lost her powers, & become a normal woman. She is fine with the change, but given a choice between casting spells on my enemies & a life with Jimmy Stewart, I know which I would take. After the movie ended, as we stood & brushed popcorn off our laps, I turned to my friend & after asking how she liked the movie (she did, very much) I said I did too, except for the unhappy ending. She laughed & I said, "I'm not kidding." I'd be much happier married to someone with magical powers; who wouldn't be? Imagine facing yet another of life's boring, stupid, annoying inconveniences & problems & being able to turn to your extremely hot partner & say, "Honey, can't you cast a spell or something?"