There are some February events sprinkled in here, either because they weren't listed in time for my February preview (which is here), or, possibly, because I somehow just missed them; in either case, this is another month with a lot of possibilities. Go out & choose something that would piss off the fascists.
Theatrical
Broadway SF presents Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of The Temptations at the Golden Gate Theater from 25 February to 2 March.
Theater of Yugen presents a Kyōgen adaptation of Ben Jonson's Volpone, directed by Lluis Valls, & that's at Theater of Yugen's NOHSpace in San Francisco on 28 February, 1 - 2 March, & 7 - 9 March.
Night Driver, written & performed by Pearl Ong & directed by David Ford, asks the question "What’s a Hong Kong princess doing driving a cab in San Francisco? And what does her very proper mother make of it?" & you can find out the answers at The Marsh San Francisco from 1 March to 5 April.
Broadway SF revives the musical Chicago at the Golden Gate Theater from 4 to 9 March.
UC Berkeley's Theater, Dance, & Performance Studies Department presents Lysistrata: A Woman's Translation by Drue Robinson, directed by Timmia Hearn DeRoy, from 6 - 9 March in Zellerbach Hall's Room 7; the show is a " modern-verse translation of Aristophanes' classic comedy [blending] heightened language and 21st-century sensibilities to explore the power of the sex strike. Now set in a futuristic, drag-influenced, underground bar, this production will address issues of bodily autonomy, sexual and gender agency, and what we are willing to sacrifice in the face of continuous war".
New Conservatory Theater Center presents Wild with Happy by Colman Domingo, directed by ShawnJ West, about a man trying to grieve his mother's death while dealing with the realities of funerals & families, & that runs 7 March to 6 April.
Shotgun Players presents "Art", directed by Emilie Whelan, Yasmina Reza's celebrated play (translated by Christopher Hampton) about a man who buys an expensive piece of modern art & the resulting unexpected turn in two old friendships, & that runs at the Ashby Stage from 8 March to 6 April.
The African-American Shakespeare Company presents ShaXspeare Reimagined at the Taube Atrium Theater from 15 to 30 March; the show, which will have six directors, will be a "fantastic 90-minute voyage featuring scenes from some of Shakespeare’s iconic plays, such as A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Henry VI, and MacBeth [sic] mixed with movement and sound", all seen "through the lens of Black culture".
Angry Black Woman 101, written & performed by Kathryn Seabron & directed by Lynn Vidal, a look at "the microaggressions, tropes and misogynoir Black women are faced with in the workplace and in society at large", runs at The Marsh Berkeley from 15 March through 13 April.
The San Leandro Players present Count Dracula by Ted Tiller, directed by Dana Fry, from 15 March to 13 April, at the Auditorium of the San Leandro Museum, next to Casa Peralta.
San Francisco Playhouse presents Fat Ham, directed by Margo Hall, James Ijames's take on Hamlet, set at a southern Black family barbecue, & that runs from 20 March to 19 April.
The Great American Sh*t [sic] Show, written & performed by Brian Copeland & directed by David Ford, a one-man show about life under . . . don't make me write the name, but you know, inevitably, who is being referred to, that personification of the toxic worst in American life, plays at The Marsh Berkeley for one night only, & that night is 20 March.
The Afrosolo Arts Festival presents Let Freedom Ring! (Part 2), a "celebration of Black resilience through solo performances, at the Potrero Stage in San Francisco from 28 - 30 March.
Talking
On 19 March a the Sydney Goldstein Theater, City Arts & Lectures presents W. Kamau Bell, Dave Eggers, Michael Lewis, & Sarah Vowell in Who Is Government?: The Untold Story of Public Service, exploring & celebrating the little-known government employees who help run the country.
Operatic
The Livermore Valley Opera presents Mozart's Don Giovanni on 1 - 2 & 8 - 9 March.
Philharmonia Baroque, led by Peter Whelan, performs Handel's Alceste, with soprano Lauren Snouffer & tenor Aaron Sheehan, as well as the Philharmonia Chorale; the program also includes Handel's Concerto Grosso in G major, Opus 6, #1, & you can hear it on 5 March at Bing Concert Hall at Stanford, 7 March at Herbst Theater in San Francisco, & 8 March at First Congregational in Berkeley.
Opera Parallèle presents the world premiere of The Pigeon Keeper, a magical realist work with libretto by Stephanie Fleischmann & music by David Hanlon, & you can experience it 7 - 9 March at Cowell Theater at the Fort Mason Center for the Arts.
On 14 - 15 March, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music presents Candide, with music by Bernstein & lyrics by a dazzling array of contributors (mostly Richard Wilbur), directed by Frederic Wake-Walker & conducted by Edwin Outwater.
On 14 - 16 March in Zellerbach Hall, Cal Performances presents a work it co-commissioned, William Kentridge’s The Great Yes, The Great No, "a chamber opera set on a 1941 sea voyage from Marseille to Martinique. Conceived in collaboration with theater maker Phala Ookeditse Phala and choral conductor and dancer Nhlanhla Mahlangu, The Great Yes, The Great No fictionalizes the historic wartime escape from Vichy France by, among others, the surrealist André Breton, the anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss, and the Cuban artist Wifredo Lam—and adds a distinguished and colorful cast of characters to the passenger list, like Aimé Césaire, Josephine Baker, Leon Trotsky, and Joseph Stalin."
The Handel Opera Project presents Mozart's Magic Flute at Berkeley's Christian Science Church (the Maybeck building) on 23 March.
Choral
Magen Solomon leads the California Bach Society in From Tallis to Tavener: Five Centuries of British Choral Music, featuring works by Thomas Tallis, Britten, Imogen Holst, Vaughan Williams, Herbert Howells, & John Tavener; & you can hear it on 28 February at Saint Mark's Lutheran in San Francisco, 1 March at All Saints' Episcopal in Palo Alto, & 2 March at Saint Mark's Episcopal in Berkeley.
On 1 March in Zellerbach Hall, Cal Performances presents Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
Chanticleer presents Choodandi, a program put together by Chanticleer tenor Vineel Garisa Mahal, exploring the traditions & evolutions of music from India, featuring works " ranging from Thyagaraja to Sid Sriram", & you can hear it all 16 March at Saint John's Lutheran in Sacramento, 20 March at Mission Santa Clara, 21 March at Mount Tamalpais United Methodist in Mill Valley, 22 March at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, & 23 March at First Congregational in Berkeley.
Vocalists
The second Schwabacher Recital will take place on 19 March at the Barbro Osher Recital Hall in the SF Conservatory of Music's Bowes Center on Van Ness Avenue & will feature tenor Michael John Butler & baritone Olivier Zerouali along with pianists Julian Garvue & Ji Youn Lee performing music by Poulenc, Lee Hoiby, Hakjun Yoon, Young-shim Noh, Schumann, & Richard Strauss.
Orchestral
SF Musicians for LA: A Benefit for Fire Relief will take place on 8 March at Davies Hall; Edwin Outwater will lead the San Francisco Symphony & Chorus & the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Orchestra in Aaron Copland's The Promise of Living from his opera The Tender Land, the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto #2 with soloist Garrick Ohlsson, & the Dvořák 9, "From the New World"; net proceeds will be divided evenly & donated to the Entertainment Community Fund & to Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles: ReBUILD LA (you may also make a donation here).
On 28 February through 2 March, Robin Ticciati leads the San Francisco Symphony in Beethoven's Piano Concerto #4 (with soloist Francesco Piemontesi) & the Rachmaninoff 2.
On 1 March at Herbst Theater, Jessica Bejarano conducts the San Francisco Philharmonic in Dvořák's Cello Concerto in B minor (with soloist Amos Yang) & Ravel's orchestration of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition.
On 2 March at Freight & Salvage in Berkeley, Pete Nowlen, Artistic Director of the San Francisco Pride Band, leads the group in a "concert that celebrates all of the ways that music brings us together", featuring Vulnerable Joy by Jodie Blackshaw, V. O. C., Helmsman of the Sea, by Shruthi Rajasekar, Among My Souvenirs by John Philip Sousa, American Hymnsong Suite by Dwayne S Milburn, Crescent Moon Dance from Sound! Euphonium by Akito Matsuda, & Suite from Maria of Buenos Aires by Astor Piazzola.
On 5 - 7 March in Zellerbach Hall, Cal Performances presents the Vienna Philharmonic; led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, they will perform the Mozart 41, the "Jupiter" & the Mahler 1 (5 March); the Schubert 4, the "Tragic" & the Dvořák 9, "From the New World" (6 March); & the Beethoven Piano Concerto #3 in C minor, Opus 37 (with soloist Yefim Bronfman) & Richard Strauss's Ein Heldenleben (7 March).
Jory Fankuchen leads the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra in String Serenades, a program featuring Jessie Montgomery's Strum, Evan Price's A Game of Cat and Mike, & Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings, Opus 48, & you can hear it all 7 March at Saint Mark's Lutheran in San Francisco, 8 March at First United Methodist in Palo Alto, & 9 March at First Congregational in Berkeley (concerts are free & RSVPs are encouraged but not required, if you feel like being spontaneous).
On 9 March, Radu Paponiu leads the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra in the Mozart 35, the "Haffner"; Gabriela Lena Frank's Elegía Andina; Richard Strauss's Suite from Der Rosenkavalier; & Arturo Márquez's Danzón #2.
On 13 - 15 March, Elim Chan conducts the San Francisco Symphony in music from Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake as well as his Symphony 6, the "Pathetique".
On 16 March at First Congregational in Berkeley, Joseph Young leads the Berkeley Symphony in Spring's Awakening, a program exploring our relationship to the natural world through the lens of Rautavaara's Cantus Arcticus - Concerto for Birds and Orchestra, Huang Ruo's Tipping Point, & the Schumann 1.
On 23 March at Zellerbach Hall, Cal Performances presents the Mahler Chamber Orchestra (with pianist & director Mitsuko Uchida, & concertmaster & leader José Maria Blumenschein), performing Mozrt's Piano Concerto in B-flat major, K 456 & his Piano Concerto in C major, K 467 (both featuring Uchida as soloist) as well as Janáček's Mládí.
On 23 March at Davies Hall, the San Francisco Symphony presents the Israel Philharmonic, led by Lahav Shani, with featured soloists Haran Meltzer on cello & Guy Eshed on flute, performing Prayer by Tzvi Avni, Kol Nidrei by Max Bruch, Halil by Leonard Bernstein, & the Tchaikovsky 5.
On 27, 29, & 30 March, Juraj Valčuha conducts the San Francisco Symphony in the Brahms Violin Concerto (with soloist Gil Shaham) & the Shostakovich 10.
On 28 March at the Paramount, Kedrick Armstrong conducts the Oakland Symphony in Gabriela Lena Frank's Three Latin-American Dances (alongside the Oakland Symphony Youth Orchestra), Forgiveness: Suite for Spoken Word & Orchestra, with music by Artist-in-Residence Daniel Bernard Roumain & words written & performed by Marc Bamuthi Joseph, & Ravel's orchestration of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition.
On 29 March at the SF Conservatory of Music, John Kendall Bailey leads the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony in Ravel's Daphnis et Chloé, Suite #2; Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra; Kurt Atterberg's Suite #3 for violin, viola, & strings, featuring Michael Long on violin & Ivo Bokulic on viola; & Avril Coleridge-Taylor's Sussex Landscape.
Chamber Music
On 28 February & 2 March at Old First Concerts, the Sixth Station Trio (Anju Goto, violin; Federico Strand Ramirez, cello; Katelyn Tan, piano) will performs Joe Hisaishi’s score for Miyazaki's Spirited Away (it sounds as if the movie will not be shown; the Trio is only playing the music).
On 1 March at Old First Concerts, the Pro Arte Quartet (David Perry & Suzanne Beia, violins; Sally Chisholm, viola; Parry Karp, cello) will perform Denys Lytvynenko's String Quartet #2, Germaine Tailleferre's String Quartet, & Fanny Mendelssohn's String Quartet in E-flat major.
On 2 March at Hertz Hall, Cal Performances presents the Brentano String Quartet (Serena Canin & Mark Steinberg, violins; Misha Amory, viola; Nina Lee, cello) performing the local premiere of a new work by Lei Liang as well as Beethoven's String Quartet in B-flat major, Opus 18, #6 & Brahms's String Quartet #3 in B-flat major, Opus 67.
On 2 March at Herbst Theater, Chamber Music San Francisco presents violinists Paul Huang & Danbi Um & pianist Albert Cano Smit performing Spohr's Grand Duo for 2 Violins in D Major, Opus 39, #1; the Saint-Saëns Violin Sonata #1 in d minor, Opus 75; the Grieg Violin Sonata #2 in G Major; selections from Glière's 12 Pieces for Two Violins; the first movement of Eugène Ysaÿe's Sonata for 2 Violins, & Sarasate's Navarra for Two Violins, Opus 33.
On 8 March at Herbst Theater, San Francisco Performances presents the Calidore Quartet (Jeffrey Myers & Ryan Meehan, violin; Jeremy Berry, viola; Estelle Choi, cello) performing Beethoven's String Quartet #10 in E-Flat Major, the “Harp”; Jessie Montgomery's Strum; Schubert's String Quartet #12 in C-Minor (Quartettsatz); & Korngold's String Quartet # 3, Opus 34.
On 9 March at Herbst Theater, Chamber Music San Francisco presents violinist Corey Cerovsek, along with trumpeter Lucienne Renaudin Vary, accordionist Félicien Brut, & pianist Steven Vanhauwaert, in a program yet to be announced beyond the inclusion of works by Saint-Saëns, Piazzolla, Rossini, Milhaud, & Bernstein.
Chamber Music Sundaes return to the Hillside Club in Berkeley on 9 March, when violinist Tammie Dyer, clarinetist Roy Zajac, cellist Jill Rachuy Brindel, & pianist Marilyn Thompson perform Shostakovich's Piano Trio #2, E minor, Opus 67; Brian Scott Wilson's Elements: Fire, Air, Water and Earth, for Violin, Clarinet, Cello, & Piano; & Dvořák's Piano Trio #4, Opus 90, “Dumky”.
On 13 March at the Piedmont Piano Company in Oakland, Martin West leads members of the SF Ballet Orchestra in chamber music, including movements from Schubert’s Trout Quintet, Mozart’s Flute Quartet, a Piano Trio by Amy Beach, & an original oboe quartet by Vincent Russo; the concert is free but advanced reservations are required.
On 14 March at Herbst Theater, San Francisco Performances presents the Pavel Haas Quartet (Veronika Jarůšková & Marek Zwiebel, violins; Šimon Truszka, viola; Peter Jarůšek, cello) performing Dvořák's String Quartet #11 in C Major, Opus 61 & Tchaikovsky's String Quartet #3 in E-Flat Major, Opus 30.
On 15 March at Hertz Hall, Matthew Sadowski leads the UC Berkeley Wind Ensemble in a program that includes Luminance by Shuying Li, Meditation by Dwayne S Milburn, Three Odes by Tyler Mazone, Beacons by Peter Van Zandt Lane, & Shared Spaces by Viet Cuong,.
On 16 March at Davies Hall, a chamber-sized group of SF Symphony musicians will perform Duo for Harp and Percussion by Jeremiah Siochi, the Piano Quartet in A Minor by Mahler, & the String Quartet #15 in G Major, D887 by Schubert.
On 16 March at Herbst Theater, Chamber Music San Francisco presents the San Francisco debut of the Ulysses String Quartet (Christina Bouey & Rhiannon Banerdt, violins; Peter Dudek, viola; Grace Ho, cello), who will be performing Haydn's Quartet in E-flat Major, Opus 33, #2; Mozart's String Quintet in G minor, K 516 (with violist Anthony Bracewell); & Dvořák's Quartet in A-Flat Major, Opus 105.
On 15 March at Lafayette Library & on 18 March at the Berkeley City Club, Berkeley Chamber Performances presents cellist Jennifer Kloetzel & pianist Allegra Chapman performing Helene Liebmann's Cello Sonata in B-Flat Major, Opus 1; Libby Larsen's Juba; Mel Bonis's Cello Sonata in F Major, Opus 67; Nadia Boulanger's Trois Pièces for cello & piano; & Leokadiya Kashperova's Cello Sonata in e minor, Opus 1, #2.
On 21 March at Herbst Theater, San Francisco Performances presents the Tetzlaff Quartet (Christian Tetzlaff & Elisabeth Kufferath, violins; Hanna Weinmeister, viola; Tanja Tetzlaff, cello) performing Mendelssohn's String Quartet in A Minor, Opus 13; Jörg Widmann's String Quartet #2; & Dvořák's String Quartet in A Flat Major, Opus 105.
On 23 March at the Legion of Honor's Gunn Theater, members of the San Francisco Symphony will perform Mozart's Piano Trio in B-flat major, K502; Bach's Italian Concerto, BWV 971; & the Piano Trio #3 in C minor, Opus 101 by Brahms.
On 23 March at Herbst Theater, Chamber Music San Francisco presents the San Francisco debut of the Keonkoro String Quartet (Jonathan Schwarz & Amelie Wallner, violin; Mayu Konoe, viola; Lukas Schwarz, cello), who will be performing Haydn's Quartet in F Major, Opus 50 #5 “The Dream”; Berg's Lyric Suite, & Mendelssohn's Quartet in E minor, Opus 44 #2.
Instrumental
On 2 March, the San Francisco Symphony presents Yuja Wang & Víkingur Ólafsson in a Duo Piano Recital, during which they will perform Berio's Wasserklavier; Schubert's Fantasia in F minor, D940; John Cage's Experiences #1; Conlon Nancarrow's Study #6 (arranged by Thomas Adès); John Adams's
Hallelujah Junction; Arvo Pärt's Hymn to a Great City; & Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances, Opus 45.
On 9 March at Old First Concerts, pianist Utsav Lal & saxophonist George Brooks present their fusion of Indian classical music, jazz, & minimalism.
On 9 March in Hertz Hall, Cal Performances presents violinist Benjamin Beilman, with pianist Steven Osborne, performing Clara Schumann's Three Romances for Violin and Piano, Opus 22; the Brahms Violin Sonata in G major, Opus 78, Regensonate; Lili Boulanger's Two Pieces for Violin and Piano; & Franck's Violin Sonata in A major.
On 11 March at Herbst Theater, San Francisco Performances presents violinist Midori, with pianist Özgür Aydin, performing the Brahms Sonata #1 in G Major, Opus 76; Poulenc's Sonata for Violin and Piano; Ravel's Kaddish (arranged by Garban) & his Tzigane; & the west coast premiere of Che Buford's Resonances in Spirit. (On 12 March, Midori will be conducting a Master Class at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.)
On 13 - 14 March at the SF Jazz Center, Paolo Angeli plays his 18-string Sardinian guitar, "a prepared Sardinian guitar of his own invention, a fantastical 18-string hybrid combining elements of guitar, cello and drums".
On 14 March at the Hillside Club in Berkeley, pianists Audrey Vardanega & Eric Zivian perform music for four hands by Schubert (the Rondo in A Major), Debussy (Six épigraphes antiques), & Stravinsky (a piano four-hand arrangement of The Rite of Spring).
On 16 March in Hertz Hall, Cal Performances presents pianist Evren Ozel in Music of the Night, a program featuring Beethoven's Piano Sonata in C-sharp minor, Opus 27, #2, the "Moonlight"; Debussy's Images, Book 2; Bartók's Out of Doors; Schumann's Fantasiestücke, Opus 12; & Ravel's Gaspard de la nuit.
On 20 March at Herbst Theater, San Francisco Performances presents pianist Jan Lisiecki in an all-Prelude performance, featuring works by Bach, Rachmaninoff, Górecki, Szymanowski, Messiaen, & Chopin (including the complete Préludes Opus 28).
The 2025 Dewing Piano Recital at Mills College (Littlefield Concert Hall) features Iyad Sughayer, who will perform Helen Ottaway's Levantina, Schubert's Drei Klavierstücke D 946. Sibelius's Impromptus, Opus 5, & Khachaturian's Piano Sonata; the event is free but it is requested that attendees register in advance.
On 25 March at Herbst Theater, San Francisco Performances presents pianist Louis Lortie in an all-Ravel program, featuring Menuet Antique; Pavane pour une infante défunte; Jeux d’eau; Gaspard de la nuit; Sonatine; Valses Nobles et Sentimentales; & La Valse.
On 28 March at Herbst Theater, San Francisco Performances presents violinist Johan Dalene, with pianist Sahun Sam Hong, performing Schumann's Sonata #1 in A Minor, Opus 105; Rautavaara's Notturno e Danza; Ravel's Tzigane; Lutosławski's Partita for Violin and Piano; & Grieg's Sonata #2 in G Major.
On 29 March at Saint Mark's Lutheran in San Francisco, San Francisco Performances in association with the OMNI Foundation for the Performing Arts presents lutenist Thomas Dunford performing music by Dowland (A Dream; The King of Denmark’s Galliard; Melancholy Galliard; Mrs. Winter’s Jump; Lachrimae; Frog Galliard) Satie (Gymnopédie 1 & Gnossienne 1, arranged by Dunford), Marais (Les voix humaines in D Major from Suite #3 & L’americaine from Suite d’un goût etranger, arranged by Dunford), Bach (Suite for Cello in G Major BWV 1007, arranged by Dunford), Kapsberger (Toccata VI from Primo Libro d’intavolatura de lauto), & Dalza (Calata alla Spagnola, from Quarto Libro d’intavolatura de lauto).
On 31 March at Herbst Theater, Chamber Music San Francisco presents pianist Yeol Eum Son, who will perform Franz Bendel's Improvisation on Brahms’s “Wiegenlied”, opus 141; Pauline Viardot's Mazourke, Tchaikovsky's Romance in F minor, opus 5; Liszt's “Am stillen Herd” from Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg; & Beethoven's Hammerklavier.
Early / Baroque Music
The San Francisco Early Music Society presents In Bocca al Lupo in Mundus Inversus, a combination of old & new pieces that "explore the chaos and disarray of our modern times", & you can hear the results on 28 February at First Presbyterian in Palo Alto, 1 March at First Congregational in Berkeley, & 2 March at Saint Mark's Lutheran in San Francisco.
On 16 March at Old First Concerts, you can hear the Junior Bach Festival (specific repertory has not yet been announced).
On 19 March at Zellerbach Hall, Cal Performances presents Les Arts Florissants with violinist Théotime Langlois de Swarte in Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons at 300, a program featuring a transcription of Monteverdi's Adoramus te, Christe, SV 289, Uccellini's Aria sopra la Bergamasca, Opus 3; Geminiani's Concerto Grosso #12 in D minor, La Follia (after Corelli); as well as Vivaldi's titular Seasons & his Concerto for Strings in D minor, Madrigalesco, RV 129; his Concerto in D minor, RV 813; his Overture to La fida ninfa, RV 714, & a movement from his Violin Concerto in B-flat major, RV 370.
The San Francisco Early Music Society presents Quicksilver in a concert exploring the stile moderno; specific composers or pieces are not listed, but you can find out what they are on 24 March at First Congregational in Berkeley.
On 21 March at First Congregational in Berkeley, Nicholas McGegan leads the orchestra & chorus of the Cantata Collective in Bach's Saint Matthew Passion, with soloists Thomas Cooley (tenor, Evangelist), Paul Max Tipton (bass-baritone, Jesus), Sherezade Panthaki (soprano), Reginald Mobley (countertenor), James Reese (tenor), & Harrison Hintzsche (baritone).
The San Francisco Early Music Society presents Ensemble Affect in Home Away from Home, a program exploring the immigrant experience through the music of Baroque composers who traveled from their native lands & enriched both traditions by mixing their home styles with those of their new lands; composers performed include Georg Muffat, Scarlatti, Biagio Marini, Godfrey Keller, Teodorico Pedrini, Gaspar Fernandes, Antonia Bembo, & Maria Grimani; you can hear the results on 28 March at First Presbyterian in Palo Alto, 29 March at First Congregational in Berkeley, & 30 March at Saint Mark's Lutheran in San Francisco.
Voices of Music presents L’Amorosa Ero: The Hero of Love, a program for viola da gamba consort, with soprano Danielle Reutter-Harrah, exploring Italian madrigals & their influence on English composers, with music by Monteverdi, Marenzio, Ferrabosco the Elder, Dowland, Byrd, Ward, Ferrabosco the Younger, & Coperario, & you can hear it 28 March at First Congregational in Palo Alto, 28 March at Old First in San Francisco, & 30 March at First Congregational in Berkeley.
See also Handel's Alceste, listed above under Operatic, & lutenist Thomas Dunford's (mostly) baroque program, listed above under Instrumental.
Modern / Contemporary Music
This looks interesting & fun: on 22 February at the Dandelion Chocolate Factory (2600 16th Street in San Francisco), Earplay & Dandelion Chocolate collaborate in Schoenberg...and Chocolate?, the program that asks the questions Do you like chocolate? Do you like dark chocolate? Do you like new music?; "Earplay Board member and composer, Ben Sabey, has a theory about the relationship between those questions, and we're delighted to offer this special collaboration with San Francisco's acclaimed Dandelion Chocolate to explore his premise. / Discover complex flavors and powerful emotions in Dandelion’s single-origin chocolate – made with just two ingredients – paired with arch abstract expressionist Arnold Schoenberg's famed String Trio, Op. 45 — performed deftly by the Earplay String Trio. With music professor Ben Sabey and Dandelion’s curriculum director Stephen Durfee as your guides, you will embark on a journey through beautiful and challenging internal landscapes as you creatively and interactively engage with a wide variety of flavors, feelings, temperatures, and textures. Then end the evening with a palate-cleansing performance of Mozart’s Divertimento and a sweet treat!"; all that's left to add to that is that the Earplay String Trio is Terrie Baune on violin, Ellen Ruth Rose on viola, & Thalia Moore on cello.
Harpist Brandee Younger plays some of her new compositions with the New Century Chamber Orchestra at the SF Jazz Center on 6 - 9 March.
On 8 March at Zellerbach Playhouse, Cal Performances presents yMusic performing the world premiere of a Cal Performances co-commission, Aquatic Ecology by Gabriella Smith, along with Ryan Lott's Eleven, & Three Elephants, Whosay, Cloud, & The Wolf by the yMusic ensemble.
On 15 March at the Community Music Center in San Francisco, the Friction Quartet (Otis Harriel &
Kevin Rogers, violins; Mitso Floor, viola; Doug Machiz, cello), joined by percussionists Haruka Fuji & Anne Szabla, will perform Tell es-Sakan by Davide Verotta, a concert-length piece motivated bv the war in Gaza (the title comes from the oldest known settlement in the area).
On 21 March, the Hillside Club in Berkeley presents Daggerboard & the Erik Jekabson Orchestra, giving us "eight world premieres for new music for Chamber Orchestra + Jazz Quartet, plus a celebration of the release of Erik Jekabson's album Breakthrough. The music is composed by the group Daggerboard (Gregory Howe and Erik Jekabson) and Erik Jekabson"; the ensemble will be conducted by Charith Premawardhana, & the concert will be recorded for a forthcoming album.
On 23 March at the Piedmont Piano Company in Oakland, singer & music-box maven Sidney Chen offers Songs & Stories, a program in which he discusses pandemic life with "his DIY hand-crank music boxes, as well as his perspective on ensemble music-making as essential practice for empathetic and compassionate living with others"; the presentation is followed by an audience Q & A hosted by vocalist Sharmila G Lash.
On 24 March at Noe Valley Ministry, Earplay will perform Undiluted, a program featuring world premieres by Andrew Conklin & Brien Henderson along with pieces by Jeffrey Mumford, Kate Soper, & Ursula Mamlock.
On 26 March at Littlefield Concert Hall (Mills College, Oakland), Other Minds presents pianists Gloria Cheng & Ralph van Raat celebrating Boulez at 100 with selections from his Structures Books I & II, along with pieces by John Cage, Morton Feldman, Frank Zappa, Magnus Lindberg, & Igor Stravinsky.
On 28 March, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music presents a composer portrait concert of faculty member David Conte, featuring the world premiere of Two Settings of Donald Jeffrey Hayes with the San Francisco Girls Chorus, Sonatine for Piano performed by Daniel Strebulaev, Two Settings of Ogden Nash with soprano Ellen Leslie & pianist Kevin Korth, & The Young Mother with baritone Enrico Lagasca & the Friction String Quartet.
Here's what's going on at the Center for New Music this month; on 6 March, Aaron Larget-Caplan gives a solo Modern American Guitar Celebration, featuring works by the performer as well as John Cage, Ken Ueno, Daniel Felsenfeld, Douglas Knehans, Ian Wiese, & Richard Cameron-Wolfe's micro-opera Heretic, inspired by Artur Mach's horror novel The Hill of Dreams; on 7 March, the Ben Goldberg / Scott Amendola Duo perform electronics- & Thelonious Monk-influenced jazz; on 8 March, the Accidental Composers Collective presents new music for Trio and soprano (the composers include Allan Crossman, Alden Jenks, Vance Maverick, Davide Verotta, & Shawne Workman; the soprano is Hailey Gutowski; the trio is Stephen Zielinski on clarinet, Maki Ishii Sowash on violin, & Vicky Ehrlich on cello); on 23 March, Aerocade Music gives itself a 10th Birthday Concert, featuring Nick Norton with a "live spatial mix of his new piece for four harps, recorded by Elizabeth Huston"; soprano Chelsea Hollow & pianist Taylor Chan with selections from Cycles of Resistance; Elizabeth Robinson performing Death Whistle for solo piccolo by Nicole Chamberlain. Isaac Io Schankler premiering "some nascent works for accordion + electronics"; & Alchymie & Gregg Skloff performing TRITION: Echoes from the Ice Moon, an "improvisational performance weaving deep drone, ambient textures, and ethereal soundscapes to evoke the mysterious beauty of Neptune’s largest moon".
Jazz
As part of its Discover Jazz series, the SF Jazz Center presents Continuum of Courage: Afrofuturism Then and Now (Part II), led by Tammy L Hall; the lectures are available individually or as a series, & the topics are: 5 March, The Spiritually Transcendent Vision of Alice Coltrane (with Brandee Younger); 12 March, Transfixed & Transformed: Afrofuturist Fashion Icons (with Renee Wilson); 19 March, The More Things Change: Afrofuturist Literature & Music (with Skip the Needle); & 26 March, Space Is the Place! The Legacies of Sun Ra & George Clinton (with Shaunna Hall).
The Dynamic Miss Faye Carol, with a special guest trio featuring Joe Warner on piano, David Ewell on bass, & Dennis Chambers on drums, sings for you at the SF Jazz Center on 6 - 7 March.
On 8 March at the Piedmont Piano Company in Oakland, you can hear the Gabriel Schillinger-Hyman Quartet in Ode to the Piano, in which pianist Schillinger-Hyman presents his arrangements of "some of the most moving yet chronically underplayed masterpieces of Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Thelonious Monk, Dr. Don Shirley, Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea and more"; the other members of the quartet are his twin Eytan Schillinger-Hyman on bass, Alexandra Ridout on trumpet, & Michael Mitchel on drums.
On 11 March at Freight & Salvage in Berkeley, you can spend An Evening with Branford Marsalis & his Quartet.
On 13 - 14 March at the SF Jazz Center, the Joshua Redman Group (Redman on tenor saxophone, Aaron Parks on piano, Joe Sanders on bass, & Brian Blade on drums), with guest vocalist Gabrielle Cavassa, perform music from his album Where Are We.
On 21 March at the Piedmont Piano Company, pianist Taylor Eigsti offers a solo performance.
On 22 March at the Piedmont Piano Company in Oakland, Allan Harris presents The Poetry of Jazz, in which he sings & recites classic poetry with trio Freddie Bryant on guitar, Doug Miller on bass, & Sylvia Cuenca on drums.
Pianist Tammy L Hall & her Trio perform at the SF Jazz Center on 22 - 23 March.
On 28 March, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music presents Memories Unleashed: Jazz and Brain Health, featuring a performance Elijah Rock followed by a panel discussion with brain health specialists from UCSF.
Dance
San Francisco Ballet gives us two programs this month: first up, from 1 to 8 March, is what the Ballet describes as Tamara Rojo's "bold reimagining" of Raymonda, with direction & choreography by Rojo after Marius Petipa, with music by Alexander Glazunov; then, from 20 to 26 March, Frankenstein, with choreography by Liam Scarlett & music by Lowell Liebermann.
Art Means Painting
Paul McCartney Photographs 1963–64: Eyes of the Storm opens at the de Young on 1 March & runs through 6 July.
Wayne Thiebaud: Art Comes from Art, exploring his on-going relationship to the expanse of art history, opens at the Legion of Honor on 22 March & runs through 17 August.
Cinematic
BAM/PFA launches a number of film series this month: Swedish Outsider: The Films of Mai Zetterling, exploring her work as both performer & director, runs from 1 March to 8 May; the African Film Festival 2025 runs from 6 March to 6 April; Todd Haynes: Far from Safe runs from 8 March through 12 April; Ukrainian Cinema: Poetry and Resistance runs from 21 March through 13 April.
The Roxie in San Francisco is running In Dreams: A Tribute to David Lynch this month; check here for the specific films & dates.
On 9 March at Freight & Salvage in Berkeley, you can see Dee Mosbacher's Radical Harmonies, a documentary exploring the Women's Music movement of the 1970s & 1980s & onward, featuring Meg Christian, Holly Near, Mary Watkins, Indigo Girls, Ani DiFranco, Bitch and Animal, & Melissa Ferrick; the film also "highlights the whole infrastructure that made possible the recording, production, and dissemination of the work of these talented performers".
On 11 March at the Roxie, you can see Robert Florey's 1932 Murders in the Rue Morgue, a pre-Code horror film starring Bela Lugosi & the influence of The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari.
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