Yes, we May. . . .
Festivals
The San Francisco International Arts Festival runs from 30 April to 11 May, presenting dance/poetry/film/music/drama in various manifestations in various Mission District venues; click here for the calendar.
Theatrical
Theatre Lunatico’s Shoebox Shakespeare gives us Romeo and Juliet, directed by Michael Barr, playing from 26 April to 18 May at La Val's Subterranean.
San Francisco Playhouse presents The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, based on the novel by Mark Haddon as adapted by Simon Stephens; it is directed by Susi Damilano & runs from 1 May to 21 June.
From 2 to 18 May, the Oakland Theater Project performs Ironbound by Martyna Majok, directed by Emilie Whelan, about the life of a working-class immigrant woman in a run-down New Jersey town.
Berkeley Rep presents the world premiere of The Aves by Jiehae Park, directed by Knud Adams, from 2 May through 8 June.
From 9 May to 8 June, the New Conservatory Theater Center presents To My Girls by JC Lee, directed by Ben Villegas Randle, about a group of gay men reuniting for a weekend in Palm Springs & what happens when "the inflatable swans are tossed aside, and the truth is laid bare"; also at the NCTC, the High School Performance Ensemble presents Arsenic & Old Lace from 1 to 4 May.
Shotgun Players present David Henry Hwang's Yellow Face, directed by Daniel J Eslick, a "semi-autobiographical comedy" inspired by the casting of the original Broadway production of Miss Saigon; that opens 10 May & runs through 8 June.
BroadwaySF presents the touring company of Parade, Jason Robert Brown's musical about the Leo Frank lynching, at the Orpheum from 20 May to 8 June.
From 23 May to 29 June, Berkeley Playhouse presents The Sound of Music, directed by Danny Cozart, with music directed by Michael Patrick Wiles & choreography by Allison Paraiso.
Talking
City Arts & Lectures has a full month (all events at the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco): on 2 May, poet & essayist Ross Gay will be in conversation with Aracelis Girmay; on 13 May, sociologist/genderist/journalist Anna Malaika Tubbs will be in conversation with Jamira Burley (this is described as "A City Arts & Lectures Salon", & I have no idea how that differs from the usual City Arts presentations); on 21 May, biographer Ron Chernow will be in conversation with Jonathan Bass, I assume mostly about his new biography of Mark Twain; & on 27 May, writer & graphic novelist Alison Bechdel will appear.
Operatic
If you missed, or would like to revisit, Ars Minerva's delightful production last November of La Flora by Antonio Sartorio & Marc’Antonio Ziani, you can go to the Roxie in San Francisco on 4 May to see it on film.
The San Francisco Conservatory of Music Chamber Opera program presents a double-bill of Errollyn Wallen’s Anon & Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Riders to the Sea (the latter based on the play by JM Synge), directed by Heather Mathews & Sergey Khalikulov & conducted by Dana Sadava & Curt Pajer, on 8 & 9 May.
The Lamplighters present Gilbert & Sullivan's The Sorcerer on 16 - 18 May at the Presidio Theater in San Francisco.
On 21 May at the Presidio Theater, Music of Remembrance presents After Life, with music by Tom Cipullo to a libretto by David Mason which "imagines a confrontation between the ghosts of Gertrude Stein and Pablo Picasso over the responsibility of artists in a troubled world. This expanded version opens with a musical soirée set in the home of Stein and Alice B. Toklas, with selections by composers they might have hosted at one of their legendary gatherings"; the opera is conducted by Alastair Willis & directed by Erich Parce; Cipullo & Mason will appear in conversation with Mina Miller.
West Bay Opera presents Verdi's Otello, directed by Richard Harrell & conducted by José Luis Moscovich, with John Kun Park as Otello, Julia Behbudov as Desdemona, & Robert Balonek as Iago, at the Lucie Stern Theater in Palo Alto on 23, 25, & 31 May & 1 June.
Choral
On 9, 10, & 12 May at the Noe Valley Ministry, Resound Ensemble presents Soul Fire: A Radiant Concert for Dark Times, including works by Ysaÿe M. Barnwell, Antônio Carlos Jobim & Newton Mendonça, John Conahan, Thomas Morley, & Alvin Trotman.
Sacred & Profane offers Giving Voice: Settings of Speeches, choral settings by Anna-Karin Klockar, Dale Trumbore, Ēriks Ešenvalds, Trevor Weston, Joel Thompson, & Kirke Mechem, as well as world premieres from Adam Lange & Zanaida Robles, of celebrated speeches, & you can hear the results on 10 May at Saint Mark's Episcopal in Berkeley & 11 May at Noe Valley Ministry in San Francisco.
Clerestory presents Savor the Sound: A Musical Celebration of Food and Drink, ranging from "a Renaissance madrigal evoking the sounds of an open air food market in Paris, to the aroma of spicy chili in a Latin jazz arrangement", & you can hear it on 16 May at Saint Gregory of Nyssa in San Francisco & 17 May at Saint Mark's Episcopal in Berkeley.
The Golden Gate Men's Chorus, joined by Cantus, perform two programs this month, both at Mission Dolores Basilica in San Francisco: on 17 May, they will perform music by Cecilia McDowall, René Eespere, John August Pamintuan, Stacey Gibbs, Abbie Betinis, Steven Sametz, & others; & on 18 May, with additional guests the Ragazzi Boys Chorus, they will perform works by Alan Menken, Robert Sund, Emil Fredberg, Richard Rodgers, Paul McCartney, & Harold Arlen, as well as a world premiere from Saunder Choi, & "a special tribute to the 500th anniversary of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, featuring the iconic Gloria from Missa Papae Marcelli".
On 22 May at the Scottish Rite Center on Oakland's Lake Merritt, the San Francisco Girls Chorus will give its Spring Concert (repertory has not yet been announced).
On 24 May at First Congregational in Berkeley, John Kendall Bailey leads Chora Nova in Grant Us Peace, a program featuring Dona Nobis Pacem by Vaughan Williams, Verleih uns Frieden by Mendelssohn, Barber's Agnus Dei (most famous in its instrument-only setting as Adagio for Strings), Mark Miller's Dona Nobis Pacem, Bach's Komm, Süsser Tod (as arranged by Knut Nysted), & the Dona Nobis Pacem from Mozart's Coronation Mass.
Ming Luke leads the Berkeley Community Chorus & Orchestra in Sergei Taneyev's Saint John of Damascus & the Saint-Saëns Requiem on 30 - 31 May & 1 June at Hertz Hall on the UC Berkeley campus.
On 31 May at Saint Mark's Lutheran in San Francisco, the International Orange Chorale of San Francisco presents Estranged Together, a program centering "around themes of home, loss and belonging".
Vocalists
Cécile McLorin Salvant plays the SF Jazz Center from 1 to 3 May.
Lieder Alive! presents soprano Esther Rayo with pianist Peter Grünberg performing Schubert & "a plethora of their trademark Classical Spanish repertoire—highlights from their recent major recording", & you can hear them on 18 May at Old First Concerts in San Francisco & 25 May at the First Church of Christ Scientist (the Maybeck church) in Berkeley.
Orchestral
Violinist Daniel Hope, Music Director & Concertmaster of the New Century Chamber Orchestra, leads them in Dance, a program featuring the Dance of the Furies from Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice, the Anonymous Lamento e Rota di Tristano, Handels' Rigaudon from the Water Music Suite, a selection from a Concerto Grosso by Evaristo Felice Dall'Abaco, a Fandango by Nicola Conforto, Mozart's Rondo in B-flat Major for Violin and Orchestra, a selection of Schubert's Five German Dances, the Farandole from Bizet's L’Arlésienne Suite #2, Bartók's Romanian Folk Dances, the traditional tune Odessa Bulgar, Florence Price's Ticklin’ Toes, the Saint-Saëns Dance Macabre, Offenbach's "Can-Can" from Orpheus in the Underworld, the Act II Pas de Deux from Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, the Marche Chevaliers from Prokofiev's Romeo & Juliet, the Finale: Alla Tarantella from Schulhoff's Five Pieces for String Quartet, Piazzolla's Escualo, & Wojciech Kilar's Orawa, & you can hear all that on 1 May at First Congregational in Berkeley, 2 May at Saint Stephen's Episcopal in Belvedere, 3 May at the Presidio Theater in San Francisco, & 4 May at Bing Concert Hall at Stanford University.
On 2 May at Hertz Hall, Thomas Green & Noam Elisha lead the UC Berkeley Philharmonia Orchestra in Ravel's Le Tombeau de Couperin & the Sibelius 2.
On 2 - 3 May, Giancarlo Guerrero leads the San Francisco Symphony in Saariaho's Asteroid 4179: Toutatis, the 1947 version of Stravinsky's Petrushka, Respighi's Fountains of Rome, & his Pines of Rome.
On 3 May, Edwin Outwater leads the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Orchestra in Joaquin Rodrigo's Fantasia para un gentilhombre (with featured soloist on guitar Samuel Liang, winner of the SFCM's concerto competition) along with the Maher 6, the Tragic.
Donato Cabrera leads the California Symphony in the Schubert 8, the Unfinished, & the also unfinished Bruckner 9, & that's 3 - 4 May at the Lesher Center in Walnut Creek.
On 9 & 10 May in Hertz Concert Hall, David Milnes leads the UC Berkeley Symphony Orchestra in Chen Yi's Landscape Impression & the Mahler 7.
The SF Bach Choir, with the Jubilate Baroque Orchestra & vocal soloists Clarissa Lyons (soprano), Adore Alexander (alto), Ben Pattison (tenor), & Curtis Streetman (bass), present A Night in Vienna, a program which includes not waltzes but Mozart's Requiem, Mass #2 by Marianna Martines, & short works by Michael Haydn, & you can hear them on 10 May at First Congregational in Berkeley & 11 May at Calvary Presbyterian in San Francisco.
On 15 - 17 May, Dalia Stasevska leads the San Francisco Symphony in the world premiere of a cello concerto by Anna Thorvaldsdottir. Before we fall (with soloist Johannes Moser), along with the Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis by Ralph Vaughan Williams & the Sibelius 5.
On 16 May at the Paramount Theater, Kedrick Armstrong leads the Oakland Symphony in Paul Robeson: Here I Stand, with music by Carlos Simon to a libretto by Dan Harder, featuring bass Morris Robinson & the Oakland Symphony Chorus, along with Jasmine Barnes's Sometimes I Cry & the Brahms 2.
On 18 May, Radu Paponiu leads the SF Symphony Youth Orchestra in Anna Clyne's This Midnight Hour, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's Petite Suite de concert, & Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique.
Departing Music Director (already his future absence is being mourned) Esa-Pekka Salonen leads two programs at the San Francisco Symphony this month: on 23 - 25 May, he conducts Magnus Lindberg's Chorale, the Berg Violin Concerto (with soloist Isabelle Faust), & Stravinsky's The Firebird; on 29 - 30 May & 1 June, he conducts the Beethoven 4 & his Violin Concerto (with soloist Hilary Hahn).
Chamber Music
On 2 May, the Berkeley Hillside Club Concert Series presents The Melodiya Chamber Ensemble (violist Sergey Rakitchenkov & pianist Arkadi Serper) performing Beethoven's Romance for Violin and Orchestra #2 in F Major, Opus 50 & his Romance for Violin and Orchestra #1 in F Major, Opus 40 (both transcribed for viola & piano), Schumann's Toccata in C Major, Opus 7 for piano solo, his Pictures from Fairyland, Opus113 for viola & piano, Hindemith's Sonata for viola solo, Opus 25, #1, William Bolcom's Grateful Ghost Rag for piano solo & Norman Dello Joio's Lyric Fantasies for viola and chamber orchestra (in a reduction for viola & piano).
On 2 May at 405 Schrader, the Friction Quartet (Otis Harriel & Kevin Rogers, violins; Mitso Floor, viola, Doug Machiz, cello) will perform two String Quartet #2s, one by Prokofiev & one by Borodin.
On 4 May (known to some as Star Wars Day) at Hertz Hall, the UC Berkeley Wind Ensemble, either augmented by or hosting guest ensemble BD Winds, directed & conducted by Katilin Bove, will perform a space-themed program, featuring selection from John Williams's Star Wars Trilogy as well as Anthony Barfield's Red Sky & Katahj Copley's DOPE.
Berkeley Chamber Performances presents Dancing with Ravel, featuring pianist Gwendolyn Mok along with violinist Florin Parvulescu & cellist David Goldblatt performing the Valses nobles et sentimentales, a selection from Daphnis et Chloe, the Forlane, the Menuet, & the Rigaudon from Le Tombeau de Couperin, & the Trio for violin, cello and piano, & that's 6 May at the Berkeley City Club & 10 May at the Lafayette Library.
On 7 May at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music's Barbro Osher Recital Hall, piano & string students at the Conservatory will perform Mendelssohn's Piano Quartet #3 in b minor, Opus 3, Prokofiev's String Quartet #2 in F Major, Opus 92, & Beethoven's String Quartet Opus 95.
On 10 May Saint John the Evangelist Episcopal in San Francisco presents Silence & Song, an "informal evening of healing music and reflections. Bring your heart and your hurt and sit with us. Let us find lightness together through music and community. We invite you to bring a yoga mat or a cushion (the venue will have pews)"; admission is "by free-will donation (cash, venmo, or zelle) at the door; no one turned away for lack of funds"; the featured performers include Sidney Chen (music box), Victoria Fraser (harmonium, voice), Bethany Hill (dulcimer, voice), Jennifer Paulino (voice), Celeste Winant (voice), Katrina Zosseder (fiddle), & Nick Smith, leading guided meditation.
On 10 May at Saint John's Presbyterian in Berkeley, Four Seasons Arts presents its 2025 Founder’s Concert: Commemorating Dr. W. Hazaiah Williams ("one of the first African-American presenters of classical music in the United States. Beginning in 1958, he was dedicated to the racial and cultural integration and expansion of the classical music audience and of the concert stage"), featuring violinist Tai Murray & pianist Kyunga Lee, who will be performing A Nostalgic Piece by Elena Kats-Chernin, Pieces of Light (for solo violin) by Daniel Kidane, Five Pieces, Opus 81 by Jean Sibelius, Valses Nobles et Sentimentales, #6 & #7 by Ravel (arranged by Jascha Heifetz), Suite Opus 6 by Britten, No-Man’s Land Lullaby or No Man’s Medley by Eleanor Alberga, Cleaning (for solo violin) by Katherine Balch, & Aus der Musik zu “Viel Larmen um Nichts” Four Pieces by Erich Wolfgang Korngold.
On 11 May, the Hillside Club in Berkeley continues its Chamber Music Sundaes series with Lukàš Janata's Reciprocity for cello and bass, Andrés Martin's Tres Tangos for cello and bass, & the Butterfly Lovers Concerto for cello and bass by Zhanhao He & Gang Chen (with cellist Amos Yang & bassist Charles Chandler) & Shostakovich's String Quartet #3 in F Major, Opus 73 (with violinists Polina Sedukh & Olivia Chen, violist Leonid Plashinov-Johnson, & cellist Yang).
The San Francisco Early Music Society presents Ensemble Constantinople, performing with Persian Setar master Kiya Tabassian & Senegalese & Kora master & Griot, Ablaye Cissoko, supported by percussionist Patrick Graham, in Traversées, an exploration of the "crossroads of artistic encounters; drawing from the heritage of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, from Europe to the Mediterranean and the Middle East", & you can travel along on 9 May at First Presbyterian in Palo Alto, 10 May at First Presbyterian in Berkeley, & 11 May at Saint Mark's Lutheran in San Francisco.
On 11 May at the Legion of Honor's Gunn Theater, San Francisco Symphony musicians Alexander Barantschik (violin), Peter Wyrick (cello), & Anton Nel (piano) will perform Haydn's Piano Trio in G major, Frank Bridge's Phantasie for Piano Trio, & Mendelssohn's Piano Trio #2 in C minor, Opus 66.
On 16 May, the Berkeley Hillside Club presents Sarah Wood (violin), Elaine Kreston (cello), & Lisa Maresh (piano) in Living For Art, featuring Clara Schumann's Piano Trio in G minor, Opus 17 & the unrevised 1854 edition of Brahms's Piano Trio in B Major, Opus 8.
On 18 May at the Piedmont Center for the Arts, musicians from the Berkeley Symphony will perform Connections, a program selected by flutist Stacey Pelinka, consisting of Saariaho's Dolce Tormento, Chris Castro's Forms and Doubles, Jay Rhie's …in the dreams of another…, Jen Wang's Among Their Empty Names, & Louise Farrenc's Trio for Flute, Cello, and Piano Opus 45.
The Friction Quartet (Otis Harriel & Kevin Rogers, violins; Mitso Floor, viola, Doug Machiz, cello) will perform Folklore, a program featuring Jessie Montgomery's Source Code, Yevgeniy Sharlat's RIPEFG (featuring violist Floor on the melodica), Sarang Kim's Two Hearts (a Friction commission). & Prokofiev's String Quartet #2, & you can hear it 23 May at Noe Valley Ministry in San Francisco & 24 May at Saint Mark's Episcopal in Palo Alto.
Instrumental
On 3 May at Herbst Theater, San Francisco Performances in association with OMNI Foundation for the performing arts presents guitarist Manuel Barrueco, who will perform his own trancription of Bach's Suite in D Major, BWV 1007, Manuel Ponce's Sonata Clásica, Hommage à Fernando Sor, Piazzolla's Tango-Étude Number 2 in C Major & his Tango-Étude Number 3 in A Minor (transcribed by Barrueco), Villa-Lobos's Chôros #1 & his Prelude #1, & Joaquin Turina's Sonata for Guitar, Opus 61.
On 4 May at the Presidio Theater, San Francisco Performances presents cellist Christopher Costanza performing Britten's Cello Suite #2, Opus 80 & Bach's Cello Suite #6 in D Major, BWV 1012.
On 4 May at Wu Performance Hall, the UC Berkeley Music Department presents pianist Hélène Papadopoulos performing the world premiere of Carmine-Emanuele Cella's Piccoli preludi lirici, inspired by Schubert's last piano sonatas, along with Bach's Four Duets & his Overture in the French Style in B Minor.
On 6 May at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music's Cha Chi Ming Recital Hall, Conservatory students in the duo piano class will perform Rachmaninoff's Suite # 2 for Two Pianos, Opus 17, Dvořák's Slavonic Dance for Four Hands, Opus 72, # 2, Mozart's Sonata in D Major for Two Pianos & his Sonata in F Major for Four Hands, Schubert's March Militaire in D Major for Four Hands, Opus 51, #1, Piazzolla's Libertango for Four Hands, & Poulenc's Concerto for Two Pianos in d minor.
On 11 May at Herbst Theater, Chamber Music San Francisco presents the Beijing Guitar Duo (Meng Su & Yameng Wang) performing Franck's Prelude, Fugue et Variations, Opus 18, Debussy's Petite Suite, Radamés Gnattali's Suite Retratos, Tan Dun's Eight Memories in Watercolor, Opus 1, the Valses poéticos by Enrique Granados, & Piazzolla's Tango Suite.
On 21 May, the San Francisco Symphony presents pianist Tony Siqi Yun, who will perform Theme and Variations in D minor, Opus 18b by Brahms, Beethoven's Appassionata sonata, Busoni's Berceuse from Elegies, & Schumann's Symphonic Etudes, Opus 13.
Early / Baroque Music
On 2 May at First Congregational in Berkeley, Cal Performances presents The Tallis Scholars, led by Peter Phillips, in Palestrina 500, featuring the birthday boy's Missa Ut re mi fa sol la, his Laudate pueri, his Tribulationes civitatum, & his Tu es Petrus, as well as Orlando di Lasso's Media vita & his Timor et tremor (the Tallis Scholar concerts tend to sell out; there are a few tickets left as I type this, but move quickly if you're interested).
Magen Solomon leads the California Bach Society in a program exploring the way Bach borrowed & transformed works by other composers & his own earlier works as well as traditional tunes, with performances of the Missa Brevis in G Major, the double-choir motet Der Geist hilft, & his Cantata #4, Christ lag in Todesbanden; the program also includes performances of some of the source music, & you can hear it all 2 May at Saint Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal in San Francisco, 3 May at All Saints' Episcopal in Palo Alto, & 4 May at Saint Mark's Episcopal in Berkeley.
On 3 - 4 May at Calvary Presbyterian in San Francisco, Robert Geary leads the San Francisco Choral Society and the Orchestra of the Cantata Collective in Bach’s Mass in B Minor, featuring soloists Michele Kennedy (soprano), Heidi Waterman (mezzo-soprano), Shauna Fallihee (mezzo-soprano), Michael Jankosky (tenor), & Wilford Kelly (bass baritone).
Sven Edward Olbash leads Tactus SF in Arise, my Love II, a new program based on a previous theme: motets from the Song of Songs, in settings by Praetorius, Melchior Franck, & Jacob Handl, & you can hear them on 17 May at Saint Matthew's Lutheran in San Francisco & 18 May at Saint Columba Catholic in Oakland.
On 25 May at Saint Mary Magdalen in Berkeley, the Cantata Collective will perform Bach's Ich glaube, lieber Herr, hilf meinem Unglauben, BWV 109, & his Ich habe meine Zuversicht, BWV 188, with vocal soloists Tonia D’Amelio (soprano), Jay Carter (alto), Nicholas Phan (tenor), & Edward Vogel (bass).
Modern / Contemporary Music
On 9 May at the Community Music Center in San Francisco & as part of the SF International Arts Festival, Ensemble for These Times presents Mujeres Ahora, a program of music by 21st Century Latina composers, including pieces by inti figgis-vizueta, Gabriela Lena Frank, Tania León, Carla Lucero, Claudia Montero, Angélica Negrón, & Gabriela Ortiz.
On 10 May at Brava Theater, the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players present Shared Rituals, a program featuring music by Latin composers including Paul Mortilla's Paradiso: Weavers of Light (featuring members of the Friction Quartet & pianist Sun Chang), the Bay Area premiere of Tania Léon's Indígena, Gabriel Lena Frank's Lamento del Panaca for solo guitar, the American premiere of Ana Lara's Y los oros la Luz, & the west coast premieres of Miguel Chuaqui's Tiempo Norte, Tiempo Sur & Gabriella Ortiz's Corpórea; before the concert, there is one of SFCMP's "Under the Hood" talks, featuring Artistic Director Eric Dudley in conversation with members of the Friction Quartet & Chuaqui.
On 19 May at Noe Valley Ministry, Earplay gives us the world premiere of Benjamin Sabey's Dream Suite (for sextet in six, cyclic, attacca movements). along with Edna Alejandra Longoria's El bailongo (for flute, cello, violin, & piano. Longoria is the winner of the 2024 Earplay Vibrant Shores Composition Competition), Mei Fang Lin's Friction (for flute and viola; an Earplay commission), & Carolyn Chen's Stomachs of Ravens (for solo flute).
Jazz / American Songbook / Bluegrass
On 1 May, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music's Roots, Jazz, and American Music department will present a Big Band Concert featuring bass player & composer Rufus Reid.
From 2 - 4 May, Freight & Salvage presents the Berkeley Bluegrass Festival; you can go to individual concerts or buy a series pass; click here for details.
On 11 May, the Chan National Queer Arts Center & the San Francisco International Arts Festival present Brock & Spencer: The Queer American Songbook, & that's singer Jason Brock & pianist Dee Spencer, who will not only perform classics by Gershwin, Porter, & Rodgers & Hart "while sharing stories of the legendary LGBTQ+ performers who brought these songs to life over the years" but also "contemporary songs from the 1980s and 1990s"; the cabaret-style performance will be at the Chan.
On 18 May, Jon Batiste brings his Maestro tour to Davies Symphony Hall.
On 20 May, Keith Lockhart will lead the San Francisco Symphony, joined by featured soloists pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet & pianist / singer Michael Feinstein, for a jazz-inflected evening of what used to be called standards.
On 24 May at the Paramount Theater, SF Jazz will present Louis, a "modern reimagining of early silent film in the Chaplin tradition", telling the tale of the very young Louis Armstrong in 1907 New Orleans, with a score by Wynton Marsalis, performed live by Marsalis on trumpet, Cecile Licad on piano, & "an all-star 11-piece jazz ensemble conducted by Andy Faber"
On 25 May at Freight & Salvage, you can hear 4 Pianists: Mary Watkins, Barbara Higbie, Tammy Lynne Hall, & Adrienne Torf, "celebrating the music and friendship of four pianist/composers [who have worked] over 5 decades in Jazz, Classical, Gospel, Folk, New Age and Women’s Music".
Dance
San Francisco Ballet brings back Frankenstein (choreography by Liam Scarlett, music by Lowell Liebermann) through 4 May.
The Margaret Jenkins Dance Company presents Wheel, "an exploratory voyage of movement, memory, and visual transformation as we investigate the universality of the wheel - the wheel of time, of chance, of seasons, of currents and of lies", with live music by Paul Dresher and Joel Davel, visual design by Jack Beuttler, text by Michael Palmer, & costumes by Mary Domenico, at ZSpace on 1 - 4 May.
On 4 May at the Paramount, the Oakland Ballet presents the Angel Island Project (A Dancing Moons Festival Production), in collaboration with the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation, featuring works by Natasha Adorlee, Phil Chan, Lawrence Chen, Ye Feng, Elaine Kudo, Ashley Thopiah, & Wei Wang, with live musical accompaniment by Del Sol Quartet & Volti (with conductor Wei Cheng).
The State Ballet Theatre of Ukraine performs Swan Lake at the Palace of Fine Arts Theater on 6 May.
Cal Performances presents the marvelous Mark Morris Dance Group in the return of Pepperland, his setting of Sergeant-Pepper-era Beatles songs as arranged by Ethan Iverson, & that's 9 - 11 May in Zellerbach Hall.
The Alonzo King Lines Ballet presents its spring season from 10 to 18 May at Yerba Buena, featuring the world premiere of King’s "first-ever collaboration with legendary jazz trumpeter and composer Ambrose Akinmusire, performing live with LINES Ballet" as well as King's Scheherazade, with a score by the late tabla master Zakir Hussain.
Art Means Painting
The Fifty-Fifth Annual UC Berkeley Master of Fine Arts Exhibition, featuring works by Viviana Martínez Carlos, Priyanka D’Souza, Arianna Khmelniuk, Jasmine Nyende, bryant terry, & Zekarias Musele Thompson, opens at BAM/PFA on 14 May & runs through 27 July.
Mary Blair: Mid-Century Magic, exploring the designer/art director best known for her work with Walt Disney, opens at the Walt Disney Family Museum on 22 May & runs until 7 September.
Printing Color: Chiaroscuro to Screenprint, exploring "technological and artistic revolutions in color printmaking from the 16th century through today", opens at the Legion of Honor on 24 May.
Cinematic
Love Streams, Gena Rowlands & John Cassavetes runs at BAM/PFA from 2 to 14 May.
The Roxie is running Three by Charles Burnett starting 4 May.
CAAM (Center for Asian American Media) Fest runs at the Roxie in San Francisco from 9 to 11 May.
The San Francisco Silent Film Festival presents Murnau's Nosferatu, with live musical accompaniment by the Sascha Jacobsen Quintet, on 23 May at Grace Cathedral.
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