Some useful information as the performance season gets into full swing: you can check for rush tickets to the San Francisco Symphony by calling 415-503-5577 before the concert you're interested in (availability varies by week); and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music has many programs that are free & open to the public (reservations usually required), which you can check here; the programs are updated through the month, so it's worth checking more than once a month.
Theatrical
Ray of Light Theater revives the Rocky Horror Show, starring D'Arcy Drollinger as Dr Frank N Furter, in an immersive production at the Oasis Nightclub from 6 to 31 October; if you want to see the celebrated cult film as well, see the Curran's presentation (listed below under Cinematic).
At the Potrero Stage from 13 October to 4 November, Golden Thread Productions gives us ReOrient, an evening of six short plays from or about the Middle East, including Stamp Me by Yussef El Guindi (directed by Sahar Assaf), Closure by Arti Ishak (directed by Susannah Martin), The Suicide Bomber by Hamed Sinno (directed by Becca Wolff), A Massacre by Katrin Arefy (directed by Sahar Assaf & Amal Bisharat), Picture Bride by Judith Boyajian Strang-Waldau (directed by Amal Bisharat), & Data Queen by Adam Ashraf Elsayigh (directed by Adin Walker).
Z Space & Word for Word present Citizen by Greg Sarris, directed by Gendell Hing-Hernández, about Salvador, a young man born in the USA & raised in Mexico who returns to California to find his mother's family, & that's a Z Below from 18 October to 12 November.
The Curran Theater presents Anthony Rapp's Without You, a one-person musical in which Rapp discusses his early career & in particular his time with Rent, & that's from 19 to 22 October.
BroadwaySF presents Eddie Izzard in The Remix: The First 35 Years, in which she roams through & revisits her career, & that's from 19 to 21 October at the Orpheum.
Cutting Ball Theater presents Karel Čapek's Rossum’s Universal Robots, translated by Paul Selver & adapted & directed by Chris Steele, from 20 October to 12 November.
New Conservatory Theater presents the west coast premiere of Harrison David Rivers's we are continuous, directed by ShawnJ West, tracing the effects a young man's coming out has on his family, & that's 20 October to 26 November.
Theater Lunatico presents a double bill of Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, adapted & directed by Gendell Hing-Hernández, & Faulkner's A Rose for Emily, adapted by Joseph Robinette & directed by Tara Blau Smollen, in the Subterranean Theater below La Val's Pizza, from 21 October to 5 November.
From 27 October to 3 December, Berkeley Rep presents Eisa Davis's Bulrusher, directed by Nicole A Watson, about a multiracial girl found under mysterious circumstances near Boonville; an operatic version by Nathaniel Stookey, made with Davis's participation, is scheduled for West Edge Opera's 2024 Summer Festival, & it might be interesting to compare the two.
John Cameron Mitchell's Hedwig & The Angry Inch, directed by Richard Mosqueda & with music direction by Daniel Alley, opens at Shotgun Players on 28 October & runs through 3 December.
The African-American Shakespeare Company presents Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, directed by Ted Lange, at the Taube Atrium Theater from 28 October to 12 November.
Talking
Cal Performances presents Ezra Klein talking about A Liberalism That Builds at Zellerbach Hall on 5 October.
On 7 October at the Legion of Honor, Steven Tuck, professor of history & classics at Miami University, will speak about Gladiators at Pompeii: Roman Spectacle in a Small Town.
City Arts & Lectures presents George Saunders in conversation with Ingrid Rojas Contreras at the Sydney Goldstein Theater on 11 October.
City Arts & Lectures presents Jhumpa Lahiri in conversation with Peter Stein on 13 October at the Sy Sydney Goldstein Theater.
BroadwaySF's Unscripted series gives us local gal Rachel Maddow, speaking about her career, answering audience questions, & discussing Prequel, her new book (a copy of which is included with each ticket, courtesy of Book Passage), & that's 21 October at the Golden Gate Theater.
Operatic
At the San Francisco Opera, you can catch the final performance on 1 October of Il Trovatore, & the final two performances of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs on 3 & 7 October; Eun Sun Kim will lead Wagner's Lohengrin in the David Alden production, with Simon O'Neill in the title role, Julie Adams as Else, Brian Mulligan as Telramund, & Judit Kutasi as Ortrud, on 15, 18, 21, 24, 27 October & 1 November. In connection with Lohengrin, the Wagner Society of Northern California will present Professor Simon Williams speaking on Lohengrin: The Challenge of Production at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco on 14 October.
That local jewel Ars Minerva presents its latest modern world premiere of a work buried since its inception; this time it is Domenico Freschi's Olimpia Vendicata, directed by company Founder & Artistic Director Céline Ricci & conducted by Matthew Dirst, & that's at the ODC Theater on 20 - 22 October.
Opera Parallèle opens its season with The Emissary, with music by Kenji Oh & libretto by Kelley Rourke, based on a novel by Yoko Tawada, at the ODC Theater on 27 - 28 October.
Vocalists
SF Jazz presents a series of vocalists under the rubric Sing, Sing, Sing: on 12 October, Veronica Swift will perform songs from her new eponymous album; on 13 October, Carminho will explore old & new directions in fado; on 14 October, blues singer Shemekia Copeland will perform music from across her career, up to her latest album, Done Come Too Far; & on 15 October, Gretchen Parlato (vocals) & Lionel Loueke (guitar & vocals) will perform songs from their new album, Lean In.
On 15 October at the Paramount Theater in Oakland, SF Jazz presents Lila Downs in her annual celebration of Día de los Muertos, featuring folklorico dancing, visual projections, & of course singing.
San Francisco Performances gives us tenor Ian Bostridge & pianist Wenwen Du performing Schubert's Winterreise at Herbst Theater on 21 October; in conjunction with this performance, Bostridge will give a Master Class on 20 October at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
Bassist/singer/songwriter Meshell Ndegeocello, along with as yet unannounced special guests, will play music from her 2023 album The Omnichord Real Book at SF Jazz on 27 - 29 October.
Orchestral
Voices of Music performs music by Mozart (Exsultate, jubilate), CPE Bach, & Maddalena Sirmen, with soloists Liv Redpath (soprano), August McKay Lodge, & Shelby Yamin (both violinists), & that's 27 October at First Congregational in Berkeley, 28 October at First United Methodist in Palo Alto, & 29 October at Saint Mark's Lutheran in San Francisco.
Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen leads the San Francisco Symphony in the world premiere of an SFS-commissioned piano concerto by Anders Hillborg, with soloist Emanuel Ax, for whom the concerto was written; the program also includes the Brahms Variations on a Theme of Joseph Haydn & the Beethoven 2, & that program runs on 12 - 14 October.
Shiyeon Sung, joined by pianist Awadagin Pratt, leads the Oakland Symphony in Valerie Coleman's Seven O’clock Shout, Bach's Piano Concerto in A, BWV 1055, Jessie Montgomery's Rounds for Piano & String Orchestra, & Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances on 13 October at the Paramount Theater.
Music Director Joseph Young leads the Berkeley Symphony in American Kaleidoscope, featuring Barber's Essay for Orchestra #2, James P Johnson's Yamekraw: A Negro Rhapsody (written by Johnson in response to the Rhapsody in Blue; this performance features the Marcus Roberts Trio), Peter S Shin's Relapse, & then Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue (also with the Marcus Roberts Trio), & that's at Zellerbach Hall on 15 October.
On 21 October at the Paramount, the Oakland Symphony will present one of its Playlist concerts, this time featuring Angela Davis, who will "share the music that inspired her courage and her commitment" (the specific program is not listed on the website); the evening is hosted by W Kamau Bell & Rickey Minor is the conductor.
On 21 October, Edwin Outwater leads the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Orchestra in the world premiere of a new arrangement by Edmar Colón of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue (with piano soloist Lara Downes), along with the world premiere of Jameson Caps's Ruminations (winner of the 2022 Highsmith Composition Competition), concluding with Mason Bates's Anthology of Fantastic Zoology.
Jory Fankuchen leads the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra in Gratitude & Commemoration, a program consisting of Florence Price's Andante Moderato for String Orchestra, Shostakovich's Chamber Symphony in C minor, Opus 110a, & the Mendelssohn 3, the Scottish; & that's 20 October at Saint Mark's Lutheran in San Francisco, 21 October at First United Methodist in Palo Alto, & 22 October at First Congregational in Berkeley.
On 21 - 22 October, former Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas leads the San Francisco Symphony in Olly Wilson's Shango Memory & the Beethoven 9, with soloists Angel Blue (soprano), Tamara Mumford (mezzo-soprano), Ben Bliss (tenor), & Dashon Burton (bass).
Daniel Harding leads the San Francisco Symphony in the Symphony premiere of Vaughan Williams's On Wenlock Edge (with tenor soloist Andrew Staples), along with Holst's The Planets, on 26 - 28 October. [UPDATE: Harding has withdrawn from this program & Elim Chan will now conduct; she retains The Planets but Staples will now be singing Britten's Les Illuminations instead of the Vaughan Williams.]
Thomas Green leads the UC Berkeley Philharmonia Orchestra in the Dvořák 8 at Hertz Hall on 27 October.
Chamber Music
On 2 October at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, you can experience Octubafest, a celebration of brass featuring Schumann's Adagio and Allegro, Opus 70 with Massimiliano Castor on tuba & Margaret Halbig on piano; Bach's Sonata for Flute in E-flat Major, BWV 1031, with Seth Cook on tuba & Sophia Kim Cook on piano; Mozart's Concerto for Horn #4 in E-flat Major, K 495, with Jeffrey Anderson on tuba & Margaret Halbig on piano; & Christer Danielsson's Concertante Suite for Tuba and Four Horns, with Massimiliano Castor on tuba & Jaxson Padgett, Seth Shumate, Yolanda Zheng, & Drew Patterson on horn.
The San Francisco Symphony's chamber trio (Alexander Barantschik, violin; Peter Wyrick, cello; & Anton Nel, piano) will perform music by Hummel, Mozart, & Shostakovich at the Legion of Honor's Gunn Theater on 8 October.
San Francisco Performances presents the Calder Quartet with guest pianist Timo Andres, performing Andres's Machine, Learning; The Great Span (Piano Quintet), Schubert's Rosamunde Quartet, & Ann Southam's Remembering Schubert, at Herbst Theater on 10 October.
The San Francisco Symphony presents violinist Lisa Batiashvili, cellist Gautier Capuçon, & pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet performing piano trios by Haydn, Ravel, & Mendelssohn on 15 October at Davies Hall.
Cal Performances presents mandolinist Avi Avital & accordionist Hanzhi Wang performing works by Fritz Kreisler, Stravinsky, Bach, Bartók, Pablo de Sarasate, Manuel de Falla, & Saint-Saëns at Hertz Hall on 15 October.
As part of his week-long residency at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, pianist Inon Barnatan will join Conservatory students in a chamber music program on 17 October, featuring Amy Beach's Piano Quintet in F-sharp Minor, Opus 67 & Beethoven's Piano Trio in E-flat Major, Opus 1, #1.
Old First Concerts on 22 October presents Cornelius Boots & The Wood Prophets (Kevin Chen, Karl Young, Hiromi Inaba, Darrell Hayden, all playing the bass shakuhachi, a style of Japanese bamboo flute) in an album release party for Bigfoot Revelation.
The JACK Quartet will be performing works by John Luther Adams for San Francisco Performances at Herbst Theater on 26 October.
San Francisco Performances once again presents a Saturday morning lecture series at Herbst Theater, with musicologist Robert Greenberg as host & lecturer & the Alexander String Quartet providing the musical examples; the theme this year is Music as a Mirror of Our World: The String Quartet from 1905 to 1946 & the first lecture, on 28 October, centers on Austria & will feature performances of Schoenberg's String Quartet #1 & Webern's Langsamer Satz & his Five Movements for Strings.
Instrumentalists
Cal Performances presents pianist Tom Borrow in Hertz Hall on 1 October, when he will play works by Debussy, Chopin, Rachmaninoff,& Prokofiev. [UPDATE: From a Cal Performances press release: ". . . pianist Tom Borrow has withdrawn from his season-opening recital scheduled for Sunday, October 1, 2023, on the advice of his doctor following a bicycle accident; the performance will be rescheduled at a later date. Pianist Jeremy Denk will replace Borrow in a concert program that includes Mozart’s Piano Sonata No. 8 in A minor; Ligeti’s Études, Book 1, Bach’s Keyboard Partita No. 6 in E minor, and Beethoven’s Piano Sonata in E major.]
San Francisco Performances gives us pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason performing music by Haydn, Fanny Mendelssohn, Schumann, & Chopin in Herbst Theater on 6 October.
On 6 October at Old First Concerts, pianist/composer Utsav Lal, with guests Nilan Chaudhuri on tabla & George Brooks on saxophone, will perform traditional as well as adapted versions of Indian classical ragas.
Guitarist Stephanie Jones will visit Saint Mark's Lutheran on 7 October under the auspices of San Francisco Performances, where she will perform music by Bach, Richard Charlton, Ross Edwards, Jakob Schmidt, Quique Sinesi, Rostislav Holubov, Pazzolla, & Jobim (as arranged by Roland Dyens).
On 15 October, Old First Concerts presents pianist/composer Monica Chew in Best Friends, a program juxtaposing pieces that she feels belong side by side, including music by Stacy Fahrion, Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou, Ali Osman, Shostakovich, Lucrecia Kasilag, Joshua Uzoigwe Ukom, Ulvi Cemal Erkin, & Chew herself.
Cal Performances presents pianist Michelle Cann in Hertz Hall on 29 October, when she will play works by Ginastera, Joel Thompson, Ravel, Florence Price, & Liszt.
Early / Baroque Music
Please note the latest Ars Minerva production, listed above under Operatic.
On 8 October at Old First Concerts, lute & theorbo player Zachary Donaldson will explore Renaissance music for lute from Spain, Italy, France, & England, including pieces by Luís Milán, Francesco da Milano, John Dowland, Alessandro Piccinini, Giovanni Kapsberger, Josquin des Prez & others.
Paul Flight leads the California Bach Society in the Mass in B Minor on 13 October at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, 14 October at Saint Mark's Episcopal in Palo Alto, & 15 October at First Congregational in Berkeley.
Richard Egarr leads Philharmonia Baroque, joined by countertenor Tim Mead & dramaturg Reginald Mobley, in Garden of Good & Evil, an exploration of Handel's theatrical music, along with new pieces by Errollyn Wallen & PBO Composer-in-Residence Tarik O'Regan, & that's 18 October at Bing Concert Hall at Stanford, 19 October at Herbst Theater in San Francisco, & 21 October (both matinee & evening performances) at First Congregational in Berkeley.
The San Francisco Early Music Society presents El Mundo, led by guitarist & lutenist Richard Savino, in an exploration of the archives of the Cathedral of Guatemala City, "where classical 16th-century polyphony blended with secular indigenous dances to create a unique Hispanic style"; the composers include Juan Iribarren, Sebastián Durón, & Jose de Torres of Spain along with Guatemalan composers Manuel José Quiroz & Rafael Antonio Castellanos, & you can hear them all on 27 October at First Presbyterian in Palo Alto, on 28 October at First Congregational in Berkeley, & on 29 October at the First Unitarian Universalist Society in San Francisco.
Cal Performances presents the Los Angeles Master Chorale in Schütz’s Musikalische Exequien (which they translate as Music to Accompany a Departure, though I've also seen Funeral Music as a rendition), conducted by Grant Gershon & staged by Peter Sellars, on 28 October in Zellerbach Hall.
The San Francisco Conservatory of Music Baroque Ensemble, led by Corey Jamason & Elisabeth Reed, will play music by Vivaldi, Telemann, Albinoni, & Graupner on 29 October.
Modern / Contemporary Music
On 6 - 7 October at Davies Hall, Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen leads the San Francisco Symphony in the world premiere of an SFS commission, Convergence by Jesper Nordin, featuring violin soloist Pekka Kuusisto; the piece involves Nordin's Reactional Music platform, which is related to video-gaming technology, & allows for "unprecedented interaction between live performers and technology as gestures inspire the surrounding musical atmosphere"; there are also projections, & then to round out the evening the Orchestra will also perform John Adams's Naïve and Sentimental Music. (I believe this is the first time I've put an entire SF Symphony concert under this rubric; usually the new pieces are ten minutes or so before we get to the standards, so consider this a step in the symphonic right direction.)
Mills College presents the Darius Milhaud Concert, honoring his time at the College, in the Jeannik Méquet Littlefield Concert Hall on 6 October, with a program featuring soprano Shauna Fallihee & pianist Miles Graber performing Milhaud's Poems Juifs, 3 Poems de Lucile de Chateaubriand, & Poulenc's Banalites & baritone Roco Córdova & pianist Brett Carson performing Milhaud's Quatre Poèmes de Paul Claudel, Trois Poèmes de Jean Cocteau, & Debussy's Beau soir & his Deux romances: Le Cloches.
On 20 October at the Piedmont Piano Company in Oakland, the Friction Quartet & pianist/composer Helen Sung will perform music from her new album, Quartet+, which includes original music by Sung as well as her arrangements of pieces by Geri Allen, Mary Lou Williams, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Carla Bley, & Marian McPartland.
Jazz
Wynton Marsalis brings his Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra to the SF Jazz Center on 1 - 2 October.
You can celebrate the Disney Centennial with a jazz tribute to the Disney Songbook at SF Jazz; When You Wish Upon a Star plays on 7 October & features Sean Mason on piano, vocalists Sasha Dobson & Kim Nalley, & other players to be named later.
Jazz flutist Christian Artmann brings his quartet (the others are Laszlo Gardony on piano, Jeff Denson on bass, Yoron Israel on drums), along with special guest vocalist Elena McEntire, to the California Jazz Conservatory on 7 October to celebrate the release of his new album, The Middle of Life.
The Electric Squeezebox Orchestra brings its big-band sounds to the California Jazz Conservatory on 8 October.
The SF Jazz Center will again hold its annual birthday celebrations for the great Thelonious Monk; on the day itself (10 October), Marcus Shelby leads his New Orchestra, joined by pianists Gerald Clayton & Benny Green, "in an evening inspired by Monk’s legendary 1959 Town Hall concert"; on 12 October, the Aaron Bennett Trio (Bennett on tenor saxophone, Dan Seamans on bass, & Smith Dobson Jr on drums) perform music from Monk's 1958 album Thelonious in Action; on 13 October, the SF Jazz Collective will partner with the SF Conservatory of Music's Roots, Jazz, & American Music (RJAM) program, in a concert featuring vocalist Carmen Bradford, bassist Matt Brewer, & drummer Matt Wilson; on 14 October, pianist Larry Vuckovich & his Trio will perform pieces by Monk & from the Great American Songbook; & on 15 October, guitarist John Schott will lead a group of "exploratory musicians" in a six-hour version of his evening-length meditation on Monk’s ’Round Midnight.
Bassist Jeong Lim Yang & her Zodiac Trio (the other two are pianist Santiago Leibson & percussionist Gerald Cleaver) visit the Center for New Music on 14 October with their recreation of Mary Lou Williams's 1945 Zodiac Suite.
Clarinetist Anat Cohen, joined by drummer Mark Ferber, pianist Frank Martin, & bassist Jeff Denson, will perform original music by Cohen as well as Brazilian & jazz standards at the California Jazz Conservatory on 13 -14 October.
On 19 October at SF Jazz, Brazilian pianist/composer/singer Eliane Elia, accompanied by bass player Marc Johnson, will play music of Bill Evans & Antonio Carlos Jobim along with other Brazilian & American jazz classics, & on 20 -22 October she & her quartet will perform music from her two most recent albums, Mirror Mirror & Quietude.
On 27 October at SF Jazz, bassist & singer Aneesa Strings performs in celebration of the release of her new album.
Tuba player Theon Cross brings his London-based sounds to SF Jazz on 28 - 29 October.
Dance
Alonzo Kings Lines Ballet presents moments from King's work over the past 24 years, including passages from Suite Etta, Following the Subtle Current Upstream, Dust and Light, Writing Ground, Resin, & Child of Sky and Earth, & that's 12 - 15 October at Yerba Buena.
Art Means Painting
Por el Pueblo: The Legacy and Influence of Malaquías Montoya, presenting works by the Chicano artist & activist, as well as works by other artists he has influenced, opens at the Oakland Museum on 6 October & runs through 30 June 2024.
Duane Linklater: mymothersside, the artist's first major survey exhibit, will present his view of contemporary life for Indigenous peoples at BAMPFA from 7 October to 25 February 2024.
SFMOMA opens Yayoi Kusama: Infinite Love, featuring two of the artist's Infinity Mirror Rooms, on 14 October (running until 7 September 2024); in conjunction with that exhibit, the museum has also installed Kusama's Aspiring to Pumpkin’s Love, the Love in My Heart on a different floor.
SFMOMA also offers Pacita Abad, the first retrospective of the Filipina artist's work, on 21 October (running until 28 January 2024).
Deities, Paragons, and Legends: Storytelling in Chinese Pictorial Arts, featuring depictions of "well-known historical stories and love romances, tales of popular deities and heroic figures, and anecdotes of filial sons and celebrated scholars in Chinese art", will open at the Asian Art Museum on 12 October & run through 8 July 2024.
The Kehinde Wiley show, An Archaeology of Silence, will close at the de Young on 15 October, & it's worth the trek out there if you have not yet seen this powerful show; there will be a Grand Finale Concert all day on 14 October.
Contemporary Indigenous Voices of California’s South Coast Range, an exhibition of portraits by Kirti Bassendine of Indigenous peoples from the San Francisco peninsula through the Santa Cruz mountains, Monterey Bay, & lower Salinan Valley, accompanied by statements from Indigenous peoples, will open at the de Young on 7 October & run through 7 January 2024.
The second triennial de Young Open, featuring works from local artists, will, as the name suggests, be open at the de Young from 29 September through 7 January 2024. & you can compare & contrast that show with an alternate Bay Area local arts triennial exhibit when the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts opens Bay Area Now on 6 October (running until 5 May 2024).
Cinematic
Here are the film series launching at BAMPFA this month: the African Film Festival 2023 begins 1 October & runs through 16 November; the Mill Valley Film Festival at BAMPFA starts 7 October & runs through 15 October; an interesting-looking series of Chinese Musicals from 1957 to 1963 opens 19 October & runs through 28 October; & Artists on Film commences 22 October & runs through 5 November.
On 4 October, the Curran presents the 48th Anniversary Spectacular Tour of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, hosted by Brad himself, Barry Bostwick; if you want to see the live original show as well, check out Ray of Light's production (listed above under Theatrical).
The SF Jazz Center will screen the new documentary Zero Gravity, examining the life & music of the late Wayne Shorter, on 8 October, with a pre-screening conversation between SF Jazz Executive Artistic Director Terence Blanchard & film director Dorsay Alavi.
City Arts & Lectures & the Telluride Film Festival present Werner Herzog in conversation with Caterina Fake at the Sydney Goldstein Theater on 21 October.
SF Jazz presents its annual Halloween film at Grace Cathedral on 30 October; this year you can see the 1920 John Barrymore Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, with Dorothy Papadakos accompanying on the cathedral organ.
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