Once again, there's a lot to choose from around the Bay this month:
Theatrical
Golden Thread Theater presents What Do the Women Say?, featuring "the work of Middle Eastern women artists who are fighting against injustice through their art", & that's 8 March at Brava Theater Center in San Francisco.
San Francisco Playhouse presents Clue, a comic murder mystery based on the 1985 film (which was based on the familiar board game), directed by Susi Damilano, from 9 March to 22 April; I recently watched the movie, having heard that it was a hilarious cult film, & honestly . . . I don't get it. It has a terrific cast but was only, in my view, mildly amusing, & much of the humor has not aged well at all (lots of homophobic jokes) & it was just all around awkward. That doesn't mean it can't be revamped into a fun evening of theater, though!
The UC-Berkeley Drama Department presents Sarah Ruhl's Eurydice, directed by Peter Glazer, at Durham Studio Theater in Dwinelle Hall from 16 to 19 March.
BroadwaySF brings Bartlett Sher's revival of Fiddler on the Roof to the Golden Gate Theater from 22 to 26 March.
42nd Street Moon presents Sondheim's famously troubled "backwards" play, Merrily We Roll Along, from 23 March to 9 April.
Shotgun Players open their season with Marivaux's The Triumph of Love, translated by Stephen Wadsworth & directed by Patrick Dooley, beginning 25 March at the Ashby Stage.
The Oakland Theater Project presents Aleshea Harris's Is God Is, directed by William Hodgson, about young adult twins embarking on a quest after they receive a letter from a mother they thought was dead, & that runs from 31 March to 21 April.
ACT presents Qui Nguyen's Poor Yella Rednecks: Vietgone 2, directed by Jaime Castañeda, the second part of a "hip-hop trilogy about a Vietnamese family who swapped war-torn Saigon for rural ’70s Arkansas", at the Strand Theater from 30 March to 7 May.
Berkeley Rep presents the west coast premiere of Sanaz Toossi's English, directed by Mina Morita, about four adults preparing for their exam in English as a foreign language in Iran in 2008, & that runs from 31 March to 7 May.
Talking
George McCalman will discuss his new book, Illustrated Black History: Honoring the Iconic and the Unseen, a series of brief biographies & portraits, at the Berkeley Art Museum on 5 March.
Luanne Andreotti will give a lecture on Sargent & Spain, related to the Legion of Honor's current exhibit, on 22 March at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco; the lecture will be followed by a performance of Spanish music by guitarist Larry Ferrara.
Operatic
The San Francisco Conservatory of Music presents Menotti's The Consul, conducted by Donato Cabrera & directed by Patricia Racette, on 11 - 12 March.
Cal Performances presents the American premiere of William Kentridge’s Sibyl, inspired by the stories of the Cumaean Sibyl, with music by Nhlanhla Mahlangu and Kyle Shepherd, in Zellerbach Hall from 17 to 19 March. As part of Kentridge's residency at Cal, the Pacific Film Archive will be showing some of his opera films; see the listing below under Cinematic.
West Edge Opera, in partnership with Earplay, present their annual Snapshot program, previewing new operas-in-progress; this year, the program includes: Port City (music by Byron Au Yong, libretto by Christopher Chen); The Limit of the Sun (music by Luna Pearl Woolf, libretto by Andrea Stolowitz), When Purple Mountains Burn (music by Shuying Li, libretto by Julian Crouch), The Morpehus Quartet (music by Beth Ratay, libretto by John Glore), & L'Autre Moi (music by Matthew Recio, libretto by Stephanie Fleischmann), & that's 18 March at the Hillside Club in Berkeley & 19 March at the Taube Atrium Theater in San Francisco.
Pocket Opera presents its version of Die Fledermaus (not a work I'm fond of, but I think it would respond well to their treatment) on 19 March at the Hillside Club in Berkeley, 26 March at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, & 2 April at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco.
On 25 March at Herbst Theater you can see the world premiere of Prospero's Island, a chamber opera from Allen Shearer & Claudia Stevens based on The Tempest; Nathaniel Berman will conduct & Phil Lowery direct, & the cast includes Andrew Dwan, Shawnette Sulker, Bradley Kynard, Amy Foote, Sergio Gonzalez, Julia Hathaway, Angela Jarosz, & members of the San Francisco Girls Chorus as penguins.
The Wagner Society of Northern California will present Jeffrey McMillan (Public Relations Director of the San Francisco Opera), speaking on Bayreuth of the West: Wagner at San Francisco Opera. a look at the role Wagner's operas have played in the SF Opera's century of existence, & that's 25 March at the Jewish Community Center in San Francisco.
Choral
Paul Flight leads the California Bach Society in French Impressions, featuring works by Fauré (the Requiem, the Cantique de Jean Racine, & Madrigal), along with Lili Boulanger's Sous Bois & Hend Badings's Trois Chansons Bretons, & that's 3 March at Saint Mark's Lutheran in San Francisco, 4 March at All Saints' Episcopal in Palo Alto, & 5 March at First Congregational in Berkeley.
Sacred & Profane, in collaboration with the Circadian String Quartet as well as some additional string players, will perform Considering This Moment: Music With Strings, featuring works by Zanaida Robles, David Conte, Eric Whitacre, & the American premiere of Karin Rehnqvist’s Day is here!; & you can hear it all on 3 March at Saint John's Presbyterian in Berkeley & 4 March at Saint Mark's Lutheran in San Francisco.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo will appear at Freight & Salvage in Berkeley on 4 -5 March.
Clerestory performs Phoenix Rising, "a musical exploration of loss, longing, metamorphosis, and rebirth" including works by Tallis, Josquin, Elgar, Holst, Clara Schumann, Saunder Choi, & Stacy Garrop, on 4 March at the Noe Valley Ministry in San Francisco or 5 March at Chapel of the Chimes in Oakland.
Paul Flight leads Chora Nova in Holst's The Cloud Messenger (the American premiere of the chamber orchestra version) & Randall Thompson's Frostiana on 18 March at First Church in Berkeley.
Chanticleer & the San Francisco Girls Chorus join for Neighbor Tones; the program will include "a new, extended commission by Chanticleer’s ‘22-’23 composer in residence, Ayanna Woods", & that's 17 March at Herbst Theatre in San Francisco, 18 March at First Presbyterian in Berkeley, & 21 March at Mission Santa Clara.
Vocalists
The Schwabacher Recital Series presents two concerts this month, both in the War Memorial's Taube Atrium Theater: on 1 March you can hear soprano Meigui Zhang with pianist John Churchwell & on 22 March soprano Mikayla Sager, mezzo-soprano Gabrielle Beteag, & tenors Victor Cardamone & Edward Graves with pianist Marika Yasuda; the programs have not yet been announced.
There will be an International Women's Day Celebration of Holly Near (featuring Near herself as well as other singers) on 8 March at Freight & Salvage in Berkeley.
On 17 March at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, the Friction Quartet & soprano Cara Gabrielson will perform Hugo Wolf's Mignon Lieder (arranged by Otis Harriel), Michi Wianko's To Unpathed Waters, Undreamed Shores, Missy Mazzoli's Harp and Altar, & Noah Luna's The Highwayman (which was commissioned by the Quartet); the program will be repeated on 18 March at Saint Mark's Episcopal in Palo Alto.
Rosanne Cash will be at the SF Jazz Center with a Listening Party on 29 March & in performance on 30 - 31 March & 1 - 2 April.
Orchestral
On 1 - 2 March at Davies Hall, Esa-Pekka Salonen leads the San Francisco Symphony in the SFS premiere of Gabriella Smith's Tumblebird Contrails, Salonen's Nyx, & the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto 3 with soloist Yuja Wang.
The SF Jazz Center presents Maria Schneider & her big-band Orchestra at Herbst Theater on 2 March, performing selections from her latest recording, Data Lords.
On 4 March at Heron Arts in San Francisco, One Found Sound performs Beethoven's Coriolan Overture, Quinn Mason's Reflection On A Memorial, & the world premiere of Herbert Franklin Mells's 1938 Symphony #1 in D Minor, part of the group's Herbert Franklin Mells Project.
Daniel Stewart leads the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra in Gabriela Lena Frank's Apu: Tone Poem for Orchestra, the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto (with soloist Eunseo Oh, 2022 winner of the SF Symphony Youth Orchestra Concerto Competition), & the Beethoven 5, & that's at Davies Hall on 5 March.
Cal Performances presents the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra with conductor Christian Thielemann in Zellerbach Hall for three separate programs: 7 March, Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht for string orchestra & Richard Strauss's Eine Alpensinfonie; 8 March, Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture & his Symphony 3, the Scottish, as well as the Brahms 2; & on 9 March, the Bruckner 8.
On 12 March at Herbst Theater in San Francisco, Urs Leonhardt Steiner leads the Golden Gate Symphony in the Ravel Piano Concerto in G (with soloist Kymry Esainko), the Beethoven 3: the Eroica, & the world premieres of Jason Gibbs's Foray for Orchestra & Michael Kimbell's Lacrimae Symphony.
Joseph Young leads the Oakland Symphony in Lera Auerbach's Icarus, the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto (with soloist Rubén Rengel), & selections from Prokofiev's Romeo & Juliet (with participation from the Cal Shakes Theater Company), & that's 24 March at the Paramount.
Cal Performances presents the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, conducted from the violin by Daniel Hope, in Elgar's Introduction and Allegro for Strings, Mendelssohn's Concerto for Violin & String Orchestra in D minor, & Max Richter's Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi – The Four Seasons in Zellerbach Hall on 26 March.
Philharmonia Baroque, led from the fortepiano by Kristian Bezuidenhout, will perform Mozart's Piano Concerto 20, his Symphony 33, as well as pieces by Joseph Martin Kraus & JC Bach on 25 - 26 March at First Church, Berkeley, 29 March at First United Methodist in Palo Alto, & 31 March at Herbst Theater in San Francisco.
Former Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas will lead the San Francisco Symphony in the Mahler 6 on 30 - 31 March & 1 April.
Chamber Music
On 5 March at Herbst Theater, San Francisco Chamber Music presents the trio of violinist Paul Huang, violinist Danbi Um, & pianist Amy Yang performing music by Fauré, Moszkowski, Bloch, Amy Barlowe, & Sarasate.
On 6 March at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, clarinetist Jeff Anderle will join wind octet Nomad Session in Jonathan Russell's Nomad Concerto & Black Dog by Scott McAllister (arranged by Stephanie Rickard); the concert is also an album-release party for Nomad Session's first disc.
On 7 March, students from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music String & Piano Chamber department will perform works by Jonathan Bingham, Brahms, & Beethoven.
San Francisco Performances concludes this season's Saturday morning lecture/performance series, Music as a Mirror of Our World: Chamber Music at the Turn of the Twentieth Century, with musicologist Robert Greenberg & the Alexander String Quartet, on 11 March at Herbst Theater, this time centering on the UK & the music of Elgar & Vaughan Williams.
On 12 March at Old First Concerts, the Ives Collective will perform music by Grażnya Bacewicz, Amy Beach, & Dvořák.
Violinist Stella Chen & pianist Henry Kramer will perform pieces by Debussy, Schubert, Grieg, & Waxman for Chamber Music San Francisco on 14 March at Herbst Theater.
The Lang/Rainwater Project (William Lang, trombone, & Anne Rainwater, piano), dedicated to exploring & expanding the repertoire for trombone & piano, will perform works by Amy Beach, Alex Temple, Eli Greenhoe, Arvo Pärt, & others on 17 March at Old First Concerts.
On 19 March the Berkeley Symphony Chamber Series will be at the Piedmont Center for the Arts to perform pieces by Lili Boulanger, Astor Piazzolla, & Dvořák.
Cal Performances presents the Castalian String Quartet playing works by Haydn, Saariaho, & Schubert in Hertz Hall on 19 March.
San Francisco Performances presents violinist Nicola Benedetti, cellist Leonard Elschenbroich, & pianist Alexei Grynyuk performing trios by Schubert & Tchaikovsky on 22 March at Herbst Theater.
In Aftermath, soprano Heidi Moss, violinist Joel Pattinson, cellist Peter Myers, & pianist Paul Schrage examine the aftermath of 9/11 & the ensuing wars through music by Arson Fahim, William Harvey, & Ned Rorem, & that's on 24 March at Old First Concerts.
The Bernal Hill Players celebrate Forces of Nature for Old First Concerts on 26 March with music by Valerie Coleman, Jennifer Peringer, Toru Takemitsu, Davide Verotta, Lili Boulanger. Pauline Oliveros, Sarah Stiles, & Sally Davies.
Instrumental
Ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro will appear at the SF Jazz Center from 2 - 5 March.
On 10 March, the Asian Art Museum will present "a drum demonstration and concert with master musician Nishaant Singh playing the pakhawaj, an ancient barrel-shaped, two-headed drum. Rarely heard in performance in the United States, this drum forms the rhythmic backbone of Dhrupad, the oldest known vocal style of Indian classical music".
Cal Performances presents Zakir Hussain & Masters of Percussion in Zellerbach Hall on 11 March.
San Francisco Performances in association with the OMNI Foundation for the Performing Arts, presents guitarist Jiji on 11 March at Herbst Theater, where she will play pieces by Claudia Sessa, Albeniz, Frantz Casseus, Natalie Dietterich, Paganini, Michael Gilbertson (that one's a world premiere). Tania León, Krists Auznieks, & Gulli Björnsson.
At Old First Concerts on 11 March, pianist Gabriele Baldocci will perform works by Beethoven, David Winkler, Douglas Finch (the Winkler & Finch are American premieres), Michael Glenn Williams, & himself.
Chamber Music San Francisco presents pianist Angela Hewitt performing music by Scarlatti, Bach, & Brahms at Herbst Theater on 19 March.
The San Francisco Symphony will present pianist Alexander Malofeev in a solo recital at Davies Hall on 22 March, playing Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, Mieczysław Weinberg's Piano Sonata 4, & Rachmaninoff's Piano Sonata 2.
The San Francisco Symphony presents pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet in a solo recital at Davies Hall on 26 March, when he will perform Debussy's Préludes, Books 1 & 2.
Early / Baroque Music
The San Francisco Early Music Society presents a collaboration between Archetti Baroque Strings & Dance Through Time, tracing the influence of the music & movement of Spain's new world colonies on Spanish & then European court life, with music including works by Diego Ortiz, Gaspar Sanz, Tarquinio Merula, Vivaldi, Marin Marais, & Lully, & that's 3 March at First Presbyterian in Palo Alto, 4 March at First Church in Berkeley, & 5 March at Saint Mark's Lutheran in San Francisco.
Cal Performances presents The English Concert, led by Harry Bicket, joined by the Clarion Choir (Steven Fox, Artistic Director) in Handel's Solomon, with soloists Ann Hallenberg (mezzo-soprano), Miah Persson (soprano), Elena Villalón (soprano), Brandon Cedel (bass-baritone), James Way (tenor), & Niamh O’Sullivan (mezzo-soprano) on 5 March in Zellerbach Hall.
Pianist Neil Rutman will play Bach's Goldberg Variations for Noontime Concerts at Old Saint Mary's in San Francisco on 7 March.
Jeffrey Thomas leads the American Bach Soloists in A Musical Feast, featuring festive works by Georg Muffat. Maurice Greene, Telemann, Vivaldi, & Bach, & you can hear it on 10 March at Saint Stephen's in Belvedere, 11 March at Saint Mark's Episcopal in Berkeley, 12 March at Saint Mark's Lutheran in San Francisco, & 13 March at the Davis Community Church in Davis.
The San Francisco Symphony presents violinist Hilary Hahn in an all-Bach solo recital at Davies Hall on 12 March, when she will perform the Sonata #1 in G minor, BWV 1001, the Partita #1 in B minor, BWV 1002, & the Partita #2 in D minor, BWV 1004.
As part of its ongoing series Jews & Music, Philharmonia Baroque presents Diaspora: Jewish Music of Longing & Celebration, led by Jeannette Sorrell, on 15 - 16 March at the Taube Atrium Theater in San Francisco & 17 March at Bing Concert Hall at Stanford.
On 20 March, the Cantata Collective, led by for the occasion by Nicholas McGegan, will celebrate Bach's 338th birthday with a performance of his mighty Mass in B Minor, with soloists Sherezade Panthaki (soprano), Rhianna Cockrell (alto), Thomas Cooley (tenor), & Paul Max Tipton (bass) at First Congregational Cburch in Berkeley. On 19 March there will be an afternoon symposium with performances held at the Shattuck Plaza Hotel in Berkeley; the symposium is free but you must make a reservation by e-mailing bachrsvp@gmail.com.
Modern / Contemporary Music
On 4 March at the Center for New Music, Roxanne Nesbitt & Ben Brown play symbiotic instruments (which are a collection of resonant ceramic objects made by Nesbitt; in addition, she will play the piano & Brown the drums).
On 11 March at the Center for New Music, Jim Haynes, Joshua Churchill, & Konrad Steiner will present The Decoration of Hard Time, exploring corrosion & decay in sound & image.
At Old First Concerts on 19 March, pianist Ann DuHamel offers Prayers for a Feverish Planet: New Music About Climate Change, featuring pieces by Erick Tapia, Karen Lemon, Frank Horvat, Laura Schwendinger, Chris Williams, Darío Duarte, Ian Dicke, Daniel Blinkhorn, Clifton Callender, Alex Burtzos, & Gunter Gaupp.
Aine Nakamura & Srayamurtikanti will perform solo works & a new collaborative work at the Center for New Music on 24 March.
Jazz & Folk
The Preservation Hall Jazz Band brings Pass It On: 60th Anniversary Musical Celebration to Cal Performances & Zellerbach Hall on 2 March.
San Francisco Performances in association with the OMNI Foundation for the Performing Arts present Dreamers' Circus (Nikolaj Busk, piano; Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen, fiddle; Ale Carr, guitar) at Herbst Theater on 3 March.
On 5 March at the Center for New Music, Chris Brown, Ben Davis, & Marshall Trammell will celebrate the release of their double CD Tremble Trove.
Saxophone & clarinet player Anat Cohen will be a resident Artistic Director at the SF Jazz Center this month: on 9 March she teams with pianist Fred Hersch; on 10 March, she is joined by guitarists Gilad Hekselman, Romero Lubambo, & Sheryl Bailey; on 11 March, she plays in a quartet, including long-time members Gilad Hekselman (guitar) & Joe Martin (bass), joined for this performance by Joe Dyson on drums; & on 12 March, she will be joined by a string section for selections from the Pan-American Songbook.
Singer & harpist Destiny Muhammad plays a tribute to Dorothy Ashby & Alice Coltrane at the SF Jazz Center on 10 March.
Kyiv’s DakhaBrakha celebrates Ukrainian culture old & new at the SF Jazz Center on 13 - 14 March.
Colm Ó Riain's St.Patrick's Day Extravaganza, exploring connections among Irish & other musical traditions, will take place on, of course, Saint Patrick's Day, 17 March, at the Great Star Theater in San Francisco.
Cal Performances presents jazz sextet Artemis – Music Director Renee Rosnes on piano, Ingrid Jensen on trumpet, Alexa Tarantino on alto saxophone & flute, Nicole Glover on tenor saxophone, Noriko Ueda on bass, & Allison Miller on drums – in Zellerbach Hall on 24 March.
Sammy Miller & the Congregation bring their self-described "joyful jazz" to the SF Jazz Center from 23 to 26 March.
Dance
As part of its Full series, on 7 March the Berkeley Art Museum presents Berkeley Ballet Theater & Post:ballet in excerpts from Still Be Here, a new collaboration featuring recordings from the Kronos Quartet's Fifty for the Future project.
The San Francisco Ballet has two programs starting this month: a mixed program, The Colors of Dance, runs 14 to 19 March & consists of 7 for Eight (music by Bach, choreography by Helgi Tomasson), Colorforms (music by Steve Reich, choreography by Myles Thatcher), & Blake Works I (music by James Blake, choreography & scenic design by William Forsythe); & then Cinderella, running 31 March through 8 April (music by Prokofiev, choreography by Christopher Wheeldon).
The Oakland Ballet Company & the Oakland Asian Cultural Center present the Dancing Moons Festival, featuring the world premiere of Exquisite Corpse, choreography by Phil Chan, Seyong Kim, & Elaine Kudo, based on the surrealist parlor game, & also featuring Phil Chan's Amber Waves, Caili Quan's Layer Upon Layer, & Ballet des Porcelaines or The Teapot Prince by Phil Chan (original 1739; reimagined 2021). & that's 16 - 18 March at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center on 9th Street & 7 - 8 April at the Presidio Theater in San Francisco.
ODC/Dance gives us Dance Downtown, with two different programs: Program A features Something About a Nightingale (choreography by Brenda Way), Witness (a world premiere, with choreography by Amy Seiwert), & Triangulating Euclid (choreography by Brenda Way, KT Nelson, & Kate Weare), & Program B features Impulse (choreography by Dexandro Montalvo), Collision, Collapse and a Coda (a world premiere, with choreography by Brenda Way), &, again, Triangulating Euclid; & that's 29 March to 2 April at the Yerba Buena Center.
If you're interested in early dance, please note Dance Through Time listed above under Early / Baroque Music.
Visual Arts
Kehinde Wiley: An Archaeology of Silence opens at the de Young Museum on 18 March & runs through 15 October.
Beyond Bollywood: 2000 Years of Dance in Art opens at the Asian Art Museum on 31 March & runs through 10 July.
Cinematic
Here's what's happening this month at the Berkeley Art Musem / Pacific Film Archive: as part of his residency at UC-Berkeley, we have Orchestrating Time: The Films of William Kentridge running from 9 March to 2 April; Pioneers of Queer Cinema runs from 3 March to 3 May; Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Cinema of Now runs from 10 March to 12 May; filmmaker Billy Woodberry will appear in person on 22 March with And when I die, I won’t stay dead & on 29 March with Bless Their Little Hearts; on 18 March, as part of a UC-Berkeley conference, we have Monique Wittig: Twenty Years Later / Monique Wittig: Vingt ans après, presenting two features responding to Wittig's novel Les Guérillères; Lizzie Borden’s New York Feminisms Trilogy runs from 17 to 19 March; & filmmaker Kelly Reichardt will appear in person from 24 to 31 March, with four of her films.
The Roxie in San Francisco presents The Buster Keaton Follies on 7 March, which, unusually for a Keaton retrospective, centers on work he did after his great silent films.
Enjoy!
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