detail of Buffet by Wayne Thiebaud in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
28 November 2022
25 November 2022
21 November 2022
Another Opening, Another Show: December 2022
The end of another year rolls around, & as usual holiday-themed performances make up a large part of this list. I've pulled out the "holiday" items (giving us a festive red-&-green set of headings), but of course that's a fluid category: the African-American Shakespeare Company's Cinderella would be a delightful seasonal treat, & by now is probably a family tradition for many, but it doesn't hang out the holiday flag as overtly as something like ACT's Christmas Carol (in fact, if you want to end your year on a more reflective note, you could consider Berkeley Rep's Remember This as the best way to end this somber year).
COVID, of course, is very much with us, though vaccinations & preventive measures have helped diminish its dangers, so check before you go for cancellations or postponements & for vaccination or masking requirements – many venues are easing up on those, so gauge your own level of comfort & risk with that.
& once again thanks to anyone who's stopped by during the year, & merry happy peaceful whatever you celebrate.
Theatrical
From 2 to 18 December, Berkeley Rep gives us Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski, by Clark Young & Derek Goldman (& directed by the latter), in which David Strathairn stars as a Polish Jew who escaped Warsaw to tell the democratic powers what was happening in Nazi territory, only to be met with indifference & disbelief.
The Lorraine Hansberry Theater presents the world premiere of Halie! The Mahalia Jackson Musical, by Wendy E Taylor & Darryl V Jones (who also directs) from 2 to 24 December.
The African-American Shakespeare Company presents its 20th annual production of Cinderella, at the Marines' Memorial Theater from 4 to 18 December.
Theatrical (Holiday)
This run actually started last month, but it would seem strange not to include it here as well: ACT revives its popular version of A Christmas Carol, adapted by Carey Perloff & Paul Walsh & directed by Peter J Kuo (based on Perloff's original direction), from 30 November to 24 December at the Toni Rembe Theater (formerly known as the Geary).
On 6 December at the Palace of Fine Arts Theater, you can enjoy A Drag Queen Christmas, which they assure us is suitable for all ages.
Cabaret artists Kiki & Herb bring their Do You Hear What We Hear? tour to the Curran Theater on 9 December.
At the New Conservatory Theater from 7 to 31 December, you can see the Kinsey Sicks, which bills itself as "America's Favorite (and only) ® Beautyshop Quartet" in Oy Vey in a Manger.
Operatic
You can catch the end of the San Francisco Opera's fall season on 1 December with Gluck's Orpheus & Eurydice, conducted by Peter Whelan & directed by Matthew Ozawa, with countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński (Orpheus), Meigui Zhang (Eurydice), & Nicole Heaston (Amor) & on 3 December with La Traviata, conducted by Music Director Eun Sun Kim & directed by Shawna Lucey, with the SF Opera debuts of Pretty Yende (Violetta), Jonathan Tetelman (Alfredo), & Simone Piazzola (the elder Germont).
The Future Is Now, the annual San Francisco Opera Adler Fellows concert, will take place 2 December, when Music Director Eun Sun Kim leads the current set of Adlers in arias & scenes from a variety of operas.
Choral
The San Francisco Opera Chorus, under its new director, John Keene, gives a concert performance of an as-yet unannounced program on 4 December in the Taube Atrium Theater at the War Memorial Complex.
Sacred & Profane performs Dreamscape: Realizing a Better World, including works by Sibelius, Vaughan Williams, Eric Whitacre, Melissa Dunphy, Derrick Skye, Trevor Weston, Jacob Mühlrad, & a premiere from Michael Bussewitz-Quarm; & you can hear all that on 9 December at Saint Mark's in Berkeley, 10 December at Saint Mark's Lutheran in San Francisco, & 11 December in Healdsburg.
On 10 December at Old First Concerts, Musae, led by Interim Artistic Director Joel Chapman, will perform works by Tonia Ko, Daniel McDavitt, Eric Tuan, Ysaye Barnwell, Imogen Heap, Gwyneth Walker, Rosephanye Powell. Carly Simon, & Meredith Monk.
The International Orange Chorale presents Sleeping While Dreaming, contemporary music on nocturnal themes (including works by Rich Campbell, Eriks Esenvalds, Susan LaBarr, Ily Matthew Maniano, Jaakko Mantyjarvi, Joseph Noyon, Alvin Trotman, & Eric Whitacre, as well as the world premiere of Variation on the Word Sleep by Sam Maurer) on 3 December at Christ Church East Bay in Berkeley & 10 December at Saint Matthew's Lutheran in San Francisco.
On 12 December, the San Francisco Girls Chorus returns to Davies Hall with a world premiere (& SFGC commission) from Susie Ibarra, along with works by Ron Kean & Katerina Gimon.
Choral (Holiday)
Paul Flight leads the California Bach Society in Christmas in the British Isles: Music of England, Scotland, Wales, & Ireland, featuring traditional carols (in Welsh & Gaelic as well as English) along with newer works by Britten, John Tavener, John Rutter, & Ann Burgess, & you can hear that 2 December at Saint Mark's Lutheran in San Francisco, 3 December at All Saints' Episcopal in Palo Alto, & 4 December at Saint Mark's Episcopal in Berkeley.
Clerestory performs Sweet Was the Song on 4 December at Noe Valley Ministry in San Francisco & 6 December at the Berkeley City Club, a program ranging from Old Masters like Tallis, Josquin, & Lassus to 20th century Masters like Britten, Howells, & Rutter, on to several contemporaries, in a century-spanning exploration of the Christmas story.
The Young Women’s Chorus of San Francisco, led by Interim Artistic Director Dr. Martín Benvenuto, will perform Carols by Candlelight on 9 December at Old First Concerts, including not only traditional carols but original seasonal works by Eric Tuan and selections from Shawn Kirchner’s The Light of Hope Returning, accompanied by violin, cello & alto sax.
On 11 December at Old First Concerts, Ragazzi Boys Chorus will sing about Magnificent Wonders, in a holiday program of pieces both familiar & fresh.
At Freight & Salvage in Berkeley on 11 December, you can enjoy the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus Holiday Spectacular! (the exclamation point is theirs, but in the spirit of the holiday season I won't disagree).
Chanticleer gives us a Chanticleer Christmas from 11 to 23 December in various Bay Area locations (the key ones from my point of view are 11 December at the Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland, 17 - 18 December at Saint Ignatius in San Francisco, & 23 December at First Church in Berkeley, but some of the other locations – Santa Clara, Petaluma, Carmel, & Sacramento – might be more convenient for others).
The Handel Opera Project presents its annual Christmas Concert on 18 December at the Maybeck-designed First Church of Christ, Scientist in Berkeley.
At Old First Concerts on 18 December, Kitka Women's Vocal Ensemble will present its annual Wintersongs concert, which this year will feature seasonal Ukrainian songs both sacred & secular (the concert will help raise funds for organizations currently helping Ukraine in its struggle against the brutal Russian invasion). (There are also performances in Oakland on 16 - 17 December at Saint Paul's.)
Golden Bough (Margie Butler, Paul Espinoza, & Kathy Sierra) will give you a Celtic-inflected Christmas / Solstice season on 23 December at Old First Concerts.
Vocalists
Soprano Ying Fang's recital at Cal Performances was rescheduled due to illness; the new date is 11 December at Zellerbach Playhouse, this time with pianist Myra Huang, & they will be performing music by Bach, Schubert, Richard Strauss, Hahn, Debussy, Chausson, Argento, Yuanren Zhang, Rui Zhang, Yi Zhou, Zaiyi Lu, & Qing Liu.
Ruthie Foster will bring her blend of gospel, blues, jazz, folk, & soul to Freight & Salvage on 16 December.
Orchestral
At the San Francisco Symphony, on 1 - 3 December Xian Zhang leads the SF Symphony premieres of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's Ballade, Opus 33 & Michael Abels's Emerge, along with the mighty Beethoven 9, with soloists Gabriella Reyes (soprano), Kelley O’Connor (mezzo-soprano), Issachah Savage (tenor), & Reginald Smith, Jr (bass).
Orchestral (Holiday)
The San Francisco Symphony has its by now traditional line-up of events: on 4 December, Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser conducts Deck the Halls, a family concert featuring Christmas music, mostly secular, along with nods to other traditions (klezmer, Kwanzaa); on 6 - 7 December, the Colors of Christmas, with Gail Deadrick conducting vocalists Oleta Adams, Peabo Bryson, Ruben Studdard, & Jody Watley, along with the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir, in Christmas music both sacred & secular; on 11 December, Daniel Stewart leads the SF Symphony Youth Orchestra in Prokofiev's Peter & the Wolf (with narrator W. Kamau Bell), along with other Christmas favorites; on 13 December, Steven Reineke conducts Cool Yule Christmas, with vocalists Capathia Jenkins & Tony DeSare, & the page for this concert is illustrated with drawings of Frank Sinatra & Ella Fitzgerald, so that's the vibe there; on 15 December, Edwin Outwater conducts & co-emcees Holiday Gaiety, with an as-yet unannounced program, but in addition to the other co-emcee, Peaches Christ, there will be several other drag performers as well as vocalists Jimmie Herrod & Nikola Printz (who is also listed as an aerialist!) & comedian Marga Gomez; on 20 December, Outwater conducts Holiday Brass, in another as-yet unannounced program; on 23 December, there's a Merry-achi Christmas, featuring Mariachi Sol de México® de José Hernández; & then, moving more towards a New Year's Eve atmosphere, we have Harry Connick Jr & his band on 24 December & Seth MacFarlane singing on 31 December.
The Berkeley Symphony presents a Holiday Brass Quintet in Holiday Blast on 4 December at the Piedmont Community Hall.
On 10 December at the Swedish American Hall in San Francisco, One Found Sound offers its first ever holiday spectacular (which they put in all caps with three exclamation points, so spectacular it must be!), Holiday Pop Rox!
On 11 December at the Paramount Theater the Oakland Symphony presents its annual holiday concert, Let Us Break Bread Together, this time featuring the music of Earth, Wind, & Fire.
Chamber Music
San Francisco Performances presents the Junction Trio (Stefan Jackiw on violin, Conrad Tao on piano, & Jay Campbell on cello) performing works by pianist Tao, Ives, & Ravel, on 1 December at Herbst Theater.
On 2 December at Old First Concerts, the Sierra Quartet will perform a Haydn quartet to be named later, Eleanor Alberga's String Quartet 2, & the Bartók String Quartet 4.
The San Francisco Symphony will present a trio of their players – violinist Alexander Barantschik, cellist Peter Wyrick, & pianist Anton Nel – in a chamber program of works by Hummel, Mozart, & Shostakovich on 4 December at the Legion of Honor's Gunn Theater.
On 4 December at Hertz Hall, Cal Performances presents the Takács Quartet performing works by Haydn, Fanny Mendelssohn, & Beethoven.
At the San Francisco Conservatory of Music on 6 December, the Miró Quartet joins with Conservatory faculty & students to perform Beethoven's Piano Quartet in Eb Major, Opus 16, excerpts from Caroline Shaw's Microfictions [Volume 1], & the Brahms String Sextet in G Major, Opus 36.
The San Francisco Symphony has another chamber music concert, this time at Davies Hall, on 18 December, when you can hear works by André Jolivet, Frank Bridge, Britten, & Mendelssohn.
Instrumentalists
San Francisco Performances, in association with the Omni Foundation for the Performing Arts, present An Evening of Spanish Guitar with Andrea González Caballero & Grisha Goryachev on 3 December at Saint Mark's Lutheran in San Francisco.
Cal Performances presents pianist Seong-Jin Cho on 8 December in Zellerbach Hall, where he will play pieces by Handel, Brahms, & Schumann – I heard Cho at San Francisco Performances last spring when he accompanied Matthias Goerne, & can say this concert is sure to be worth hearing.
The San Francisco Symphony presents a recital by violinist Joshua Bell, with pianist Peter Dugan, on 11 December at Davies Hall, where they will perform violin sonatas by Beethoven, Schumann, & Debussy.
Messiah
San Francisco Symphony's Messiah will be performed on 9 - 10 December, conducted by Masaaki Suzuki with soloists Lauren Snouffer (soprano), Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen (countertenor), Leif Aruhn-Solén (tenor), & Jonathon Adams (baritone).
The Golden Gate Symphony, led by Urs Leonhardt Steiner, with soloists Yi Triplett (soprano), Lisa van der Ploeg (alto), William Wiggins (tenor), & Andrew Thomas Pardini (bass) presents a Sing-It-Yourself Messiah on 8 December in Benicia & 12 December at Herbst Theater in San Francisco.
Jeffrey Thomas leads American Bach Soloists in their annual Grace Cathedral Messiah on 15 - 16 December, with soloists Maya Kherani (soprano), Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen (countertenor), James Reese (tenor), & Christian Pursell (bass-baritone).
Richard Egarr leads the forces of Philharmonia Baroque, with soloists Stefanie True (soprano), Rihab Chaieb (mezzo-soprano), Andrew Tortise (tenor), & Joshua Bloom (bass) in Messiah on 14 December at Bing Concert Hall at Stanford, 15 December at Herbst Theater in San Francisco, & 17 - 18 December at First Church, Berkeley.
Early / Baroque Music (Holiday)
Get a jump on the new year when the San Francisco Early Music Society presents Calextone in Januario – Music for the New Year, featuring works by Guillaume Dufay, Antoine Busnois, Jacob Obrecht, Baude Cordier, & selection from the Carmina Burana (the original, of course, not Carl Orff's); & you can hear that 2 December at First Presbyterian in Palo Alto, 3 December at First Church in Berkeley, & 4 December at Saint Mark's Lutheran in San Francisco.
American Bach Soloists, led by Jeffrey Thomas, offers A Baroque Christmas on 14 December in Grace Cathedral, with soloists Maya Kherani (soprano), Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen (countertenor), James Reese (tenor), & Christian Pursell (bass-baritone), & a program including the Christmas section of Messiah as well as the Hallelujah Chorus & works by Valentini, Pez, & Charpentier.
On 31 December at Herbst Theater in San Francisco, Jeffrey Thomas leads the American Bach Soloists in A Baroque New Year's Eve at the Opera, where you can hear soloists Liv Redpath (soprano) & Alex Rosen (bass) perform arias & duets by Handel, Perucell, Rameau, & Vivaldi.
Modern / Contemporary Music
At the Center for Contemporary Music on 3 December, the Ghost in the House Collective pays tribute to former members Richard Waters, Tom Nunn, & Kinji Hayashi, incorporating films & dance as well as music.
The San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, featuring Richard Worn on double bass, collaborate with UC Berkeley’s Center for New Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT) on 4 December at The Lab in San Francisco, where they will perform works by Hans Werner Henze, Eda Er, Kevin Lo, Iannis Xenakis, Aine Nakamura, & Richard Worn.
Jazz & Country
On 1 December at Freight & Salvage there will be a tribute to the life & music of the late, great Loretta Lynn; backing band Crying Time will be joined by Maurice Tani. Cindy Emch, Laura Benitez, Margaret Belton, Hank Maninger & Lynne Maes, Beckylin, Clean Heat (the duo of Evie Ladin & Lila Goehring), Aireene Espiritu, Lisa Marie Johnston, & Leigh Crow & Ruby Vixenn.
The SF Jazz High School All-Stars Winter Concert (with special guest to be named later) takes place at the SF Jazz Center on 11 December.
Jazz, Roots, & Folk (Holiday)
The SF Jazz Center is offering mostly holiday-centered concerts this month (many of these have the dance floor open, so keep that in mind, depending of course on whether you want to dance): vocalist Martin Luther McCoy does his thing 1 December; the Jazz Mafia Holiday Heist perform from 1 to 4 December; the Marcus Shelby New Orchestra, featuring vocalist Tiffany Austin, will perform Duke Ellington’s Nutcracker Suite on 2 December; on 3 December, pianist Adam Shulman pays tribute to Vince Guaraldi's beloved soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas; vocalist Paula West & her band celebrate with "Christmas classics old and not-so-old" on 4 December; the Erik Jekabson Quintet, featuring vocalist Kalil Wilson, do their holiday thing on 8 - 9 December; vocalist Tracy Cruz & her band will perform songs of the holidays on 10 December; for a holiday concert that isn't Christmas-centered, guitarist Jeremiah Lockwood offers a solo turn dedicated to his recent album A Great Miracle, eight blues-inspired versions of traditional Chanukah songs, & that's on 11 December; the effervescent Pink Martini takes over from 13 to 18 December; & then, to launch you into what we all hope will be a better year, Monsieur Periné brings their mix of the jazz manouche style (à la Django Reinhardt) with dance-based Latin American rhythms from 29 December to 1 January 2023.
Kalani Pe‘a’s Hawaiian Christmas show, with special guest Patrick Landeza as well as dance groups Kumu Hula Mahealani Uchiyama & Hālau Ka Ua Tuahine, will be at Freight & Salvage on 4 December.
On 15 December at Freight & Salvage, Karla Bonoff with special guest Livingston Taylor will bring you Home for the Holidays, with a program featuring old favorites & new holiday songs by Bonoff.
The Klezmatics perform Woody Guthrie's Happy Joyous Hanukkah on 17 December at Freight & Salvage.
Produced by Sligo fiddler Oisín Mac Diarmada, Irish Christmas in America comes to Berkeley's Freight & Salvage on 21 December.
Painting & Suchlike
Delightful Luxury: The Art of Chinese Lacquer opened at the Asian Art Museum on 17 November.
Cinematic
The San Francisco Silent Film Festival has resumed its annual Day of Silents, following the pandemic hiatua, & they have quite a line-up for 3 December at the Castro Theater: the first program will be three shorts by Buster Keaton (The High Sign, The Electric House, & The Goat) with live music by Wayne Barker; then Forbidden Paradise, a Lubitsch comedy starring Pola Negri, with live music by Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra; then Pour Don Carlos, co-directed & starring Musidora (best known as Irma Vep in Les Vampires), with live music by the Sascha Jacobsen Ensemble; then Cecil B DeMille's The Cheat, starring Sessue Hayakawa, with live music by Wayne Barker; then the delightful Marion Davies comedy Show People, directed by King Vidor, with live music from the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra; concluding with Anna May Wong in The Toll of the Sea, with live music by the Sascha Jacobsen Ensemble.
Dance
Cal Performances presents Camille A. Brown & Dancers in ink from 14 to 16 December in Zellerbach Playhouse.
Nutcrackers & Other Holiday Dance
ODC/Dance presents The Velveteen Rabbit, directed & choreographed by KT Nelson, from 26 November to 11 December at the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco.
The San Francisco Ballet's celebrated Nutcracker, choreographed by Helgi Tomasson, plays from 8 to 27 December.
The Oakland Ballet Company gives us Graham Lustig’s The Nutcracker, accompanied by the Oakland Symphony & the Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir, at the Paramount for three performances on 17 - 18 December.
The World Ballet Series, which is apparently "a multinational cast of 50 professional ballet dancers", perform The Nutcracker at the Palace of Fine Arts Theater in San Francisco on 21 & 22 December.
Smuin's The Christmas Ballet returns to Smuin Ballet with some new dances by young choreographers added to Michael Smuin's original; the San Francisco performances will be at the YBCA Theater from 14 to 24 December.
18 November 2022
14 November 2022
11 November 2022
07 November 2022
Museum Monday 2022/45
detail of a Mayan Stela with Ix Mutal Ahaw, now in the de Young Museum of San Francisco (Ix Mutal Ahaw means "a royal lady of Mutal", mutal being a powerful Central American dynasty)
04 November 2022
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