detail of The Crowning of Mirtillo by Ferdinand Bol, now in the Legion of Honor
Mirtillo is a young shepherd disguised as a woman so he can be near his beloved Amarillis; he has won the kissing contest she suggested & she is crowning him/her victor
25 August 2025
22 August 2025
West Edge Opera: Wozzeck
The final opera in this year's West Edge Opera Festival was Alban Berg's Wozzeck, with Hadleigh Adams in the title role & Emma McNairy as Marie, conducted by Jonathan Khuner & directed by Elkanah Pulitzer. I am always glad for a chance to hear anything by the Second Viennese School composers, & this powerful, rich, & resonant score is always welcome, & though I had some reservations about some aspects of the production, on the whole this was a strong performance of a modernist classic.
My reservations mostly had to do with some aspects of the staging. The single set is a bank of chairs, with a clinical greenish look, as if we were in an operating theater or a lecture hall. You get a sense of surveillance, often with an educational veneer, & pedagogic techniques made omnipresent & intrusive – all very well, but the seats weren't actually used much. People rarely sat in them or watched from them, so it was more of a potential metaphor than an actual piece of stagecraft. There was a large drain in the center of the stage that was used for a number of things (the site of experiments on Wozzeck, when water is poured on him; the site of Marie's murder, when buckets of symbolic blood are emptied on her; the site of the pond in which Wozzeck dies) & it is, again, suggestive of lives going down the drain, of wasted resources & abilities, but it wasn't quite the centerpiece of the staging that I was expecting.
This brings us to the topic of what we've heard about a production before we see it & how it influences our viewing; I had been told that the drain was absolutely essential & that the use of it was the reason the opera was, against usual practice, performed with an intermission. Maybe I'm missing something (I say that sincerely) but I didn't see how its use made the intermission necessary, & though I was grateful for said intermission (the first time so I could move away from the people next to me – seriously, who brings a bag of crinkly snacks to Wozzeck? – & the second time so I could relieve the ache in my arthritic knees by standing & walking), it really does lower the dramatic temperature to have a break after only about half an hour.
We open of course with Wozzeck shaving his Captain (Spencer Hamlin), who berates him for pretty much anything he does, because he can, being a Captain & all, & then Wozzeck goes to the Doctor (Philip Skinner) who pays him pennies (to Wozzeck, essential income) for participating in bizarre experiments, such as not urinating (the need to urinate is purely mental!). Both the Captain & the Doctor, strongly sung, very present, are absurdly, cruelly funny in their limited vision & their way of berating & controlling their social inferior. Then the Drum Major (C Michael Belle), with whom Marie will have an affair, comes on. He is plump & preening & very very pleased with himself. The absurdist, cruel-edged humor should continue. Instead, this staging has the Drum Major smack Marie around & then sexually assault her. It's a shame they went for this generic, not to say cliched, approach to this character, as it removes one element of the strange acerbic comedy of the piece by making the Drum Major just another violent abuser instead of a self-satisfied Maker of Cuckolds. Someone like him wouldn't feel that he has to abuse a woman to win her over. And why is Marie attracted to him if he treats her so brutally? Yes, that could & does happen, but that's a different story, not the one the music tells here. (I'm guessing this is a directorial choice & Belle could have provided a different vision of the character.)
The staging, though often evocative & poetic – I particularly liked having the chorus of children coming in on all fours, backs arched, like the feral animals children are, before straightening up & doing their thing – is, as I realized when discussing it with some audience members who maybe hadn't seen the opera as often as I have, perhaps a production that works best if you're already very familiar with the action. The staging of Marie's murder & the discovery of her body is particularly confusing, as she gets moved away from the drain/lake but is still supposed to be in the forest so the children can go gawp at the dead woman – you really have to know the appropriate action already for the staging here to make sense.
McNairy is a commanding presence as Marie (making it even more puzzling that she would just continue accepting the Drum Major after he assaulted her), though it's believable that her life is so emotionally impoverished that the pompous Drum Major could win her with a few earrings. The handsome Hadleigh Adams is an affecting & unusually elegant Wozzeck, though perhaps a bit recessive. That's not an inappropriate choice for a character who is so dominated & beaten down by the world around him & its cagework of social systems, but when he breaks out in violence towards Marie at the climax it's undercut because we've already seen the Drum Major behaving the same way. It becomes just more of the same.
All that aside, any chance to hear this score (led with strength by Khuner) & to see these superb performers is a pleasure. Obviously I didn't agree with all the staging, but better a production that makes you ponder why you don't like something rather than one that makes you sit back & see just what you expect to see.
West Edge Opera: David & Jonathan
For those who love baroque opera as I do this is a bit of a golden age, but even so works of the French baroque are still a bit rare, despite their great beauty, & I assume it's because staging works originally financed by an absolute monarchy are more demanding on modern budgets than those paid for by the fickle audiences of London, so I was excited to have the opportunity to see Marc-Antoine Charpentier's David & Jonathan at West Edge Opera, directed by company director Mark Streshinsky & led musically by Adam Perl.
I decided to prep by listening to the recording I was sure I had, though as I dug through the boxes & boxes & piles of CDs (if you saw the quantity you would understand why I was so sure I had a recording already) I realized that somehow I had missed this one. Of course I forthwith bought a couple of recordings, one of which came with a blu-ray of a production done in Versailles, which is musically beautiful & gorgeous to look at but frankly incoherent even for someone familiar with the Bible & Handel's Saul. So let me say right off that Streshinsky & Pearl have shaped the work into something that made sense, had dramatic & emotional flow, & was extremely moving, so well done West Edge.
The work's potential incoherence lies not only in the original libretto by the Jesuit priest François Bretonneau – as a work written by a priest for a Jesuit college, he doesn't need to spell out certain plot elements, such as the reason the Witch of Endor is startled & angry when she discovers Saul's identity – but also in its original performance circumstances, as it interlarded a spoken drama in Latin on the same subject that presumably clarified identities & relationships. To add to the confusion, Jonathan in our day is often played by a soprano, & though cross-gender casting is frequent in baroque opera, & even one of its appealing characteristics, it makes more sense to have a tenor play the role, as was done at West Edge (Aaron Sheehan was Jonathan & Derek Chester was David, & both performed with sweet sincerity & plangent beauty).
This version opens at the court of Saul, King of Israel (as everyone who knows the story knows, Saul is a plum dramatic role, intensely sung here by Matthew Worth). There is a celebration of David's victories; we start by seeing his defeat of Goliath re-enacted, to the delight of the court, by a giant puppet of the Philistine champion &, playing David, one of the four agile dancers prominently featured in this production (Marcos Vedoveto, Christopher Nachtrab, Max van der Sterre, & James Jared, & unfortunately I do not know which danced David; the choreography is by Benjamin Freedman & the puppet design by Paul Hayes). There is some initial comic by-play between the two combatants, including puppet Goliath literally knocking David over with his Big Swinging Dick, until the famous slingshot is produced & David beheads the puppet foe, to the delight of the court of Israel (& that of the West Edge audience).
This is a striking & clever opening, as it sets the tone for what we're going to see: a theatrical representation of a story that is already well known, played in a dramatic, stylish way in front of a court that is also theatrical & on display, with a cheerfully explicit sexuality. As David & Jonathan watch the battle, it is clear that they are in love with each other. This production is what would nowadays be termed joyfully queer. There is a certain element of fantasy to this approach – any dynastic power is going to demand at some point that its heir get together with someone who can produce a legitimate heir, & never in the history of royal favorites has any favorite, male or female, been greeted with the simple, clear, & genuine joy with which the court, as represented by the chorus, greets this pairing. But the approach makes basic emotional & dramatic sense & I went with it. (I heard some in the audience later criticizing what they felt were overly explicit moments in the staging but there was nothing that we haven't seen staged plenty of times with male/female couples.)
David & Jonathan go through a coupling ceremony, but David soon has to flee the court, as Saul's jealousy, suspicions, & instability grow. He goes incognito to see the Witch of Endor, who gives him an oracular & striking session (sung with smooth power by Laurel Semerdjian). I know this scene is supposed to take place at night, hidden away, but this was one of several moments when I wished the lighting had been a little brighter, if only so I could fully appreciate the wild black loops & Spanish-moss-like hangings of the Witch's outfit (Marina Polakoff designed the costumes). The Ghost of Samuel (Richard Mix) shows up in white, & gravely gives Saul the news he guesses & we already know: he has been jettisoned by Jehovah.
The helpful titles let us know that time has passed; David & Jonathan have been forced by circumstances to separate, & David has found refuge with the Philistines, now fighting for them & their king Achis (sung with easy presence by Wilford Kelly, & the queering of the story continues, as Achis is usually accompanied by handsome young men, in the shape of our dancers). Joabel (a strong Benjamin Pattison) of the Philistine court doesn't like or trust the arrangement with David, & works to incite a war that will end with the deaths of Jonathan & Saul. From there the story unfolds with grace & sorrow, & many of the gorgeous laments beloved of the baroque period; as David is crowned King of Israel, he sobs over the loss of the man he has loved. The story & its ending are both known, but reframed here in a powerfully emotional way.
A little re-arranging, a little re-visioning, & we have a dramatically successful work, beautifully staged. This year's West Edge Festival really went from strength to strength. I'm already looking forward to next season, which will include Handel's Rinaldo.
21 August 2025
West Edge Opera: Dolores
I went to all three operas at this year's West Edge Opera festival, seeing each one twice. First up is Dolores, centered on labor leader Dolores Huerta, with music by Nicolás Lell Benavides & libretto by Marella Martin Koch. I heard West Edge's preview of part of the opera two years ago (my post on that event is here, &, while I have your attention, here is my post on a New Century Chamber Orchestra concert with a different premiere from Benavides). I was very enthusiastic about the work then & after seeing it complete & fully staged I am even more enthusiastic; a few elements that gave me (minor) pause in the preview, particularly the extended victory speech for Senator Robert Kennedy. made sense to me once I saw the whole design. I go to as many new operas as I can & few of them have struck me as so musically & dramatically complete as Dolores. This is a meaty work that audiences will be pondering for quite a while.
I won't repeat (most of) the points I made in my earlier post, so I'll start by discussing the attention given to RFK in the second half of the opera. The day after the premiere, before the first performance of the festival's second opera, I ended up discussing this aspect of the work with someone who objected to the RFK material, wanting more Dolores. First, it's a tribute to the character that the audience wants more of her – much better than wanting less. It's in the spirit of Huerta to be collaborative & to share the spotlight with others, so the opera, by shifting focus, is enacting her personality. And the focus on RFK is necessary because you can't understand why his assassination was such a blow to the farmworkers' movement & to Huerta herself unless you understand the hope he offered: the sincerity, the compassion, the charisma. Though many in the audience clearly remembered the historical events, we are far enough from them so that you can't take for granted that people will grasp who RFK was & what he meant (especially when the name is now associated with the idiot destroying America's public health). When RFK is first mentioned, I heard in the brass subtle echoes of that Virgil Thomson / Aaron Copland "Americana" sound, giving an aural democratic halo to his arrival (though at the first performance – at this point, do I only hear with ironic ears? – I thought I detected a very subtle criticism in this music of the whole concept of "Americana" & political heroes).
References to RFK increase during the first half, but we need to see, hear, & feel him in person, & that's why we need the extended victory speech, in which, along with random little jokes & banalities, you hear him reaching out to what we'd now call marginalized groups (the immigrant farmworkers, mainly Mexican & Filipino; the Black populace) with charm, grace, & inclusiveness. I'm old enough to remember the grape boycott that is a major feature of the opera (my family boycotted grapes, as my mother was a long-time subscriber to Dorothy Day's Catholic Worker paper), but I do not remember RFK & his assassination, or many of the participants in the story other than Cesar Chavez & Nixon. Before the audience can weigh the magnitude of the loss, we have to feel the weight of RFK's presence.
But there is some irony in the treatment of RFK & what is now called the mainstream media. We, attending an opera titled Dolores, know that she is the story here: Huerta, & Itliong, & Chavez, & the workers they fight for. We learn that they've been struggling for years, getting traction only slowly. When does the press show up? When a glamorous politician, a handsome man from a powerful family, shows up & teases running for the Presidency. That's the story the press cares about: the top levels of power, who's in, who's out, & not those toiling anonymously at the bottom of the pyramid. (There was a bit of this going on at the second performance, when State Attorney General Rob Bonta made an appearance, to much buzzing.)
So the events around the grape strike & the RFK assassination are clearly laid out, as prior knowledge cannot be assumed, but there is a certain memory-play aspect to the opera which works powerfully, freeing it from a documentary / straight narrative style into something more suggestively dreamlike, even, at moments, surreal. The dead RFK will appear to Huerta. There are elliptical suggestions of the lives going on out of view while the work gets done. The repeated choruses of No grapes / strike (in both English & Spanish) are a powerful way of suggesting the passage of time. And the on-goingnesss of any lengthy effort – the boycott has been underway for three years when the opera opens – is a difficult thing to convey theatrically, where activities that last for years, whose essence is their grinding, relentless dailiness, must necessarily be compressed into the two hours' traffic of the stage (this is a problem with pretty much every work-related drama I've seen). These chants rise fluidly from the music & action, from the emotions at play, rather than from specific situations; they echo throughout the action.
A good example of what I mean by the almost dreamlike aspect is the treatment of Tricky Dick. His scenes arrive like great slabs of weirdness in between the scenes of the union struggles. Initially he doesn't directly attack the Union or the boycott. Instead, he sings, in sinuous, insinuating tones, about the lovely tastiness of grapes. As he sings, the projection screens behind him show gloriously lit, sparkling, nearly erotic shots of green grapes. Maybe because of that imagery I kept picturing Tricky Dick as the snake in the garden. His music is sprightly, appealing, with a little touch of Weimar cabaret, & a bit of a lounge singer's louche seductiveness. It is indicative of what a powerful, disturbing creation he is that both times I saw the opera the audience, though clearly all-in for Huerta & the farmworkers, burst into applause at the end of his first scene.
Tricky Dick is on a platform, raised above the action. With each reappearance, his message gets a little more sardonic, a little more direct in attacking the Union, though he remains physically above the fray (he does have one appearance on "the floor" during the first act, but he is alone, spotlit on a darkened stage). By the end of the first act, he has grown more direct; he practically snarls in support of "the squares" & the "silent majority" & speaks with increasing stridency about the need for Order & Discipline. So when there is a moment in the second act, after RFK's assassination, when Tricky Dick & Huerta finally confront each other, face to face, down on the floor of the stage & we see what the opera has been building up to, the moment is breathtaking. She defies him with continued calls for a strike. And though we see him go on to become President, we see that she will continue to fight. As she says, the fight isn't over until we win.
The irony, of course, is that Tricky Dick uses words like Order & Discipline as code words for keeping down the people who are already down. They are, in fact, the ones who live lives of discipline & order: we've seen Huerta, a single mother of a large brood, struggling to support her family, pinching pennies, stretching dollars, continuing to work hard every day in the face of injustice & cruelty. That's real discipline, of a kind the politically scheming climber Tricky Dick doesn't understand, or appreciate despite his political success.
Calling the character Tricky Dick rather than Richard Nixon emphasizes the archetypal, recurring nature of the character: he's practically a trickster god, though on the side of complacency & evil. No matter what he does, the ultimate beneficiary is always meant to be himself (I've read Paradise Lost, I recognize the type.) The naming also allows for the freedom to add some Trumpery touches to the characterization: he holds a Bible, but upside down, as in the infamous Bible photo-op, & along with documentary photographs from 1968 we see video from recent No Kings rallies (just in case anyone was missing the sad fact that this opera, set in 1968, is frighteningly relevant now, in 2025).
Let me spring back to the beginning of the opera to look at the character of Dolores. The opera opens with quiet but tense music, as she is being driven (her car is in the shop & she can't afford to get it out until payday) by fellow labor leader Larry Itliong. She refers to her children, & says that her divorce has been hard on them. It's a normal, workaday conversation, & the only other (possible) reference we hear to the divorce is her passing comment later that her children have seen the effects of farm work, & the way farmworkers are treated, on their father. The opera does not give a Wikipedia-style bio of Huerta, but you will get a clear sense of who she is as a person: strong, resourceful, resilient. And very much a person who is about "people power": the power of unions, of uniting, of forming alliances & coalitions.
Her approach is subtly contrasted with that of her fellow leaders, Itliong & Chavez. Itliong is very much about his own ethnic group (the Filipino workers) & has a short fuse, which is sometimes amusing & satirical (as in his sarcastically chipper number about the politicians who talk-talk-talk, while on the screens behind him the jaws of various politicians waggle back & forth in time) & sometimes short-sighted (as in his angry explosions at Huerta & Chavez when things don't go the way he thinks they should). Chavez is a bit messianic, a bit of a loner (he decides on his hunger strike without consulting the others), very much immersed in Catholic ideas of redemption through self-sacrifice (there is an interesting Catholic undercurrent in the opera: as a link between Kennedy & Chavez, as the source of understanding & strength – Huerta calls on Our Lady of Guadalupe as well as Our Lady of Sorrows, for whom she is named).
Huerta is the one who sees the need to keep the workers going with something more light-hearted than self-sacrifice & righteous anger. She suggests a mariachi band, which leads to some lively music & a contrast in dramatic mood, as well as to a lilting & extremely catchy setting of "Are you registered to vote?" It's very danceable; in face we see the three labor leaders dancing to it. It's so catchy that some political group ought to license the rights before the next election.
But there are also drawbacks to Huerta's collaborative approach: is it wise to put all the eggs in the Kennedy basket? There is a bleak chorus before RFK appears warning her not to count on him, that he will be killed the way his brother was. We hear the news of Dr Martin Luther King Jr's assassination, with a somber chorus to Aeschylus's words from Agamemnon about suffering into wisdom through the grace of God. This chorus will be repeated to powerful effect when RFK is shot (the reference to the great Greek tragedian deepens the sense of world-historical suffering & sorrow here).. After he has been shot but is not yet officially dead, Itliong already wants to come up with a new strategy. This is the sort of cold-blooded calculation politicians need. Huerta, though, cannot bring herself to recalibrate so soon. She is dealing with a deep personal as well as political blow – the loss of the first major politician who seemed genuinely willing to listen to them, include them, & help them with actions as well as words.
We get the social / political / community view of things, but there is also a powerful scene of Huerta's inward reckoning. As she prepares for bed, praying, she reflects, thinking of her children, wishing she were with them, knowing that she needs to keep fighting for them & others. The brass instruments have been commenting throughout the opera, sometimes inspirationally, sometimes satirically. But for this scene, they recede, & we have a string-heavy section, interior & searching, with a lovely solo violin floating above. Then as Huerta sleeps, the music changes as Tricky Dick appears again, looming on the platform directly above her, as in an evil dream.
There is another string-heavy scene with violin solo: the aria of the busboy Juan Romero, who cradled RFK right after the shooting. He sings of his recent arrival in America, & of how rare it was for him to be treated with the respect with which Kennedy had treated him the night before, when he delivered room service to him & his wife. This scene shows us the genuine empathy of RFK, the ability to connect with people (or just to notice people) that most others ignore. As with Dolores's nighttime reverie, it is meditative, complex, beautiful: the real life of people, as opposed to what the politicians say or the media report. It is in a generous spirit that this moving aria is given to someone who could be seen in the wider sweep of things as a minor character.
The entire cast is strong & deserved the enthusiastic cheers they received; I'm just going to list names: Kelly Guerra as Dolores Huerta, Phillip Lopez as Cesar Chavez, Rolfe Dauz as Larry Itliong, Alex Boyer as Senator Kennedy, Sam Faustine as Tricky Dick, Chelsea Hollow as Helen Chavez / Ethel Kennedy, Sergio Gonzalez as Juan / a Journalist, Caleb Alexander as Paul Schrade of the United Auto Workers: all superb, all memorable. The staging by Octavio Cardenas was masterly & Mary Chun conducted the score with power & tenderness. Dolores Huerta herself was there in person, & spoke after the two performances I saw. She is still powerful, still fighting; the opera ends with her resolution to continue fighting despite the loss of their great ally RFK, & the communal cries of Sí ,se puede ring out so bravely that I felt sure the audience was about to join in (maybe they did, it was hard to tell); the cries end somewhat suddenly, but with the feeling that they are actually still sounding around us. What a memorable event this was! Congratulations to all involved, to West Edge Opera for midwifing, & to Benavides & Martin Koch for producing such a powerful work.
20 August 2025
Another Opening, Another Show: September 2025
September, for what it's worth, is the start of the traditional performance calendar, though as my phrasing suggests, that's increasingly a distinction that doesn't make much difference, as events are now pretty much year-round, & the standard "season" ends only to give way to summer "festivals". We live in a year-round world now. Many years ago, when I first moved to Boston, someone I knew who had stayed in California said she hoped I could "get out of the city & go to the Cape for August", a remark which struck me even then as entitled & clueless (intentionally so), as I was not a character in an Edith Wharton novel but someone who had to grind it through in an office day after day. Anyway, I'm going to take advantage of this semi-official "beginning" of the performance year by pleading for respect for the arts, only this time I'm not talking about the Fascists & philistines currently running parts of our government, but audience members: yes, you! (And even me, though I already try to follow these rules.) Please show respect to the arts, the artists, & your fellow audience members. Put your goddamn phones away! Live performance is a privilege. Be in the transitory moment! Do not talk during the show – you will have plenty of time afterwards to say what you think. Do not step on the moment for everyone else. Do not wait until the music/acting starts to root through your bag looking for lozenges in crinkly cellophane. The program books are pretty much always set up in the same way: no need to wait until the performance starts to begin flipping through them (who knew a few sheets of paper could make so much noise?) looking for bios or lyrics or folding origami cranes out of the pages or whatever the hell it is people are doing. Watch your legs! Many theaters have limited leg room. Do not invade the space or kick the seat of anyone near you (pro tip: if your foot is touching something that isn't the floor, you're likely to be annoying someone else!). And keep your shoes on! (Yes, even in the Opera House.) Oh, there's more, much more, as people's ingenuity in inconveniencing others in the service of their own specialness is endless, but perhaps I should save all that for a separate post, so you have that to look forward to, my darlings, but in the meantime, here's some stuff to buy tickets to:
Theatrical
The Oakland Theater Project stages Hamlet, directed by Michael Socrates Moran, from 5 to 21 September; instead of their usual venue in Oakland, this show will be at the Marin Shakespeare Company in San Rafael.
Ray of Light Theater presents 9 to 5: The Musical, with music & lyrics by Dolly Parton, from 5 to 27 September at the Victoria Theater.
SFBATCO & Z Space present the world premiere of The Day the Sky Turned Orange, an "R&B and Hip-Hop musical from Julius Ernesto Rea, Olivia Kuper Harris, and David Michael Ott" about living through 2020 (& the day when wildfire smoke caused the sky to turn a peculiar & memorable shade of orange), & that's at Z Space's Steindler Stage from 5 September through 5 October.
The San Francisco Neo-Futurists present HOLE, a new full-length (one hour) "experimental theater piece by Amy Langer and Bahaar Taj in collaboration with the SF Neo-Futurists"; this is a site-specific work that will "run the first three Sundays in September, at 2:00 PM & 5:00 PM each date, at a MUNI-accessible outdoor SF location. Exact site will be shared with RSVP—a few days before the event, you will receive an email with further instructions about location and what to bring to the show"; & if that sounds interesting you can RSVP here.
The Berkeley Playhouse presents The Addams Family musical from 5 September to 5 October.
Berkeley Rep presents The Reservoir by Jake Brasch, directed by Mike Donahue, about a "hot mess of a queer twenty-something" whose strategy for getting his life under control involves his four grandparents, & it runs from 5 September to 12 October.
At the Marsh Berkeley Cabaret on Sundays from 7 September to 12 October, you can see Lesbo Solo: My Gay History Play, written & performed by Terry Baum, directed by Sarah Albertson & Bill Peters, a personal history of the changing experiences of gays & lesbians over the past half century,/
BroadwaySF presents Shucked, a musical comedy with book by Robert Horn (Tootsie), score by Brandy Clark & Shane McAnally, & direction by Jack O’Brien, & that plays 9 September to 5 October at the Curran.
The Lorraine Hansberry Theater presents Sunset Baby by Dominique Morisseau, directed by Margo Hall, about a contemporary woman in Brooklyn whose estranged father, a former Black Panther, re-appears in her life, & that's at the Magic Theater in Fort Mason, San Francisco, from 11 to 28 September.
Crowded Fire Theater presents limp wrist on the lever by Preston Choi, directed by Becca Wolff, a comedy about a trio of queer teens escaping from conversion camp, from 11 September to 4 October at the Potrero Stage.
Shotgun Players present The Motion by Christopher Chen, directed by Patrick Dooley, from 13 September to 12 October; the drama starts with a debate on animal testing, & since this is a Christopher Chen play, I'm sure it spirals out from there into unexpected & interesting directions.
ACT presents Kim's Convenience by Ins Choi & directed by Weyni Mengesha, about a Korean immigrant's corner store in Canada, from 18 September to 19 October at the Toni Rembe Theater.
The Hot Wing King by Katori Hall, directed by ShawnJ West, plays at the New Conservatory Theater Center from 19 September to 19 October.
At the Marsh Berkeley Mainstage from 20 September to 25 October, you can see Oy, What They Said About Love, written & performed by Steve Budd & directed by Mark Kenward & Kenny Yun, & the title neatly sums up the show.
At the Marsh San Francisco Mainstage from 20 September to 25 October, you can see Batt and Bass on the Road, written by Brian Thorstenson, devised with Brad Anderson-Smith, directed by Tracy Ward, & performed by Thorstenson & Anderson-Smith, about two old friends who hit the road & decide to keep on hitting it.
On 24 September at The Marsh San Francisco, you can see You’ve Been Served, written & performed by Noemi Zeigler & directed by David Ford, about Zeigler's attempt to become a professional singer, a circuitous path that involves an ayahuasca trip, a cult, perimenopause, & jail.
BroadwaySF presents Les Misérables at the Orpheum Theater from 24 September to 5 October.
Michael Frayn's beloved backstage farce, Noises Off, directed by Bill English, holds the stage at the San Francisco Playhouse from 25 September to 8 November.
Talking
City Arts & Lectures presents Samin Nosrat, author of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, discusses her new cookbook, Good Things, as part of a conversation with Hrishikesh Hirway; the 13 September discussion is sold out, but tickets are available for 12 September, & that's at the Sydney Goldstein Theater.
On 15 September at the Sydney Goldstein Theater, City Arts & Lectures presents environmentalist Bill McKibben in conversation with Lauren Markham about his new book, Here Comes the Sun, & other matters.
On 19 September at the Sydney Goldstein Theater, City Arts & Lectures presents Arundhati Roy discussing her new memoir, Mother Mary Comes to Me, as well as other topics, with Deepa Fernandes.
Operatic
The San Francisco Opera opens its season with Verdi's Rigoletto, conducted by Music Director Eun Sun Kim & staged by Jose Maria Condemi, with Amartuvshin Enkhbat in the title role, Adela Zaharia as Gilda, Yongzhao Yu as the Duke, Aleksey Bogdanov as Monterone, J’Nai Bridges as Maddalena, & Peixin Chen as Sparafucile, with performances on 5, 10, 13, 16, 19, 21, 24, & 27 September (please note that the performance on the 5th is Opening Night; you will know if that's something you would enjoy or not).
Next up at SF Opera is Dead Man Walking, with music by Jake Heggie & a libretto by Terrence McNally based on Sister Helen Prejean's memoir, which had its world premiere in San Francisco 25 years ago, & is being revived with Patrick Summers conducting, Leonard Foglio directing, & Jamie Barton as Sister Helen, Ryan McKinny as Joseph DeRocher, & Susan Graham as his mother, & performances are on 14, 17, 20, 23, 26, & 28 September. The Opera has panel discussions, lectures, & other presentations related to this season's operas, & you can find them listed on their calendar.
San Francisco Opera's annual Opera in the Park concert will take place on 7 September; as with Opening Night, you will know if this is the kind of thing you would enjoy or not.
Opera San José presents Mozart's & da Ponte's Così fan tutte, conducted by Joseph Marcheso & directed by Alek Shrader, featuring Emily Michiko Jensen as Fiordiligi, Joanne Evans as Dorabella, Ricardo Garcia (on 14, 19, & 21 September) & Benjamin Ruiz as Ferrando (on 26 & 28 September), Ricardo José Rivera as Guglielmo, Nicole Koh as Despina, & Dale Travis as Don Alfonso, & you can hear them on 14, 19, 21, 26, & 28 September.
Livermore Valley Opera presents Verdi's La Traviata, conducted by Alexander Katsman & directed by Candace Evans, with Avery Boettcher as Violetta, Brad Bickhardt as Alfredo, & Krassen Karagiozov as Father Germont, & that's 27 - 28 September & 4 - 5 October at the Bankhead Theater in Livermore.
For the conclusion of its salon series, Festival Opera presents Bel Canto Forever! Famous Duets for Virtuosic Voices, featuring soprano Shawnette Sulker & contralto Sara Couden, with Zachary Gordin on piano, performing works by Rossini, Bellini, Delibes, & Meyerbeer, & that's 28 September at the Piedmont Center for the Arts.
Choral
The Golden Gate Men's Chorus presents All You Need Is Love (specific contents unspecified) on 6 - 7 September at Saint Matthew's Lutheran in San Francisco (near Mission Dolores).
Chanticleer celebrates the diversity of American voices with Our American Journey, a program featuring a premiere from Trevor Weston, "demonstrating the link between traditional American hymnody and African American spirituals"; other pieces will explore "the progression of the American choral tradition from Black gospel quartets to shape-note singing to barbershop quartets and vocal jazz" as well as traditional bluegrass & folk songs & some contemporary classics, & you can join the journey on 20 September at First Church in Berkeley, 21 September at Saint John's Lutheran in Sacramento, 23 September at Mount Tamalpais UMC in Mill Valley, 25 September at Mission Santa Clara, & 28 September at Hume Hall at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
Vocalists
Broadway leading man Brian Stokes Mitchell performs at the Presidio Theater on 20 - 21 September.
On 26 September at Herbst Theater, San Francisco Performances presents tenor Mark Padmore & pianist Paul Lewis in an all-Schumann program, featuring Hans Christian Anderson Lieder, Opus 40 (Märzveilchen, Muttertraum, Der Soldat, & Der Spielmann); Eichendorff Liederkreiss, Opus 39; & Dichterliebe (16 Song Version), Opus 48.
On 27 September in Hertz Hall, Cal Performances presents countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen with pianist John Churchwell performing Uncharted, a program featuring Oh Children: Three Poems by Margaret Atwood by Jake Heggie (a west coast premiere of a Cal Perf co-commission) as well as songs by Korngold, Harrison Leslie Adams, Florence Price, Handel, Clara Schumann, Brahms, Max Janowski, Ravel, & Robert Schumann.
Orchestral
The San Francisco Symphony opens its season on 12 September with Jaap van Zweden conducting Short Ride in a Fast Machine by John Adams, Pines of Rome by Respighi, & Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto #1 (Yuja Wang, soloist); be warned that the Symphony uses surge pricing, so expect "gala"-level prices.
On 14 September at First Congregational in Berkeley, Dina Gilbert leads the Berkeley Symphony in Visions of Elysium, a program including Samy Moussa’s Elysium, Alyssa Weinberg’s Caligo & Tchaikovsky’s Pezzo capriccioso (both with cello soloist Gabriel Cabezas), & the Beethoven 3, the Eroica.
On 18 - 20 September, James Gaffigan leads the San Francisco Symphony in Carlos Simon's The Block, Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F (with soloist Hélène Grimaud) & his An American in Paris, & Duke Ellington's Harlem.
On 26 September at Hertz Hall, David Milnes leads the UC Berkeley Symphony Orchestra in Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man, Takemitsu's A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden (which is the best title in this month's orchestral listings), Khachaturian's Flute Concerto (with soloist Nathan Haghgoo), & Copland's Symphony #3.
On 26 - 28 September, Donald Runnicles leads the San Francisco Symphony in Berg's Seven Early Songs (with mezzo-soprano Irene Roberts) & the Mahler 1.
On 27 September at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music's Hume Concert Hall, Edwin Outwater will lead the SFCM Orchestra in David Conte's Sinfonietta for Classical Orchestra, Debussy's Iberia & his Prélude à l’après-midi d’une faune (the latter led by student conductor Chih-Yao Chang), & Lutosławski's Concerto for Orchestra.
On 27 - 28 September at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek, Donato Cabrera leads the California Symphony in Ravel's Boléro, Gershwin's An American in Paris, & Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition (in Ravel's orchestration).
Chamber Music
On 9 September at Old Saint Mary's in San Francisco, Noontime Concerts presents the Berkelium Quartet (violinists Dan Flanagan & Karen Shinozaki Sor, violist Jacob Hansen-Joseph, cellist Michael Graham); the program has not been announced.
Lieder Alive! presents pianists John Parr & Peter Grünberg performing works by Mozart, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Brahms, & Richard Strauss at Old First Concerts on 14 September; on 21 September at the Maybeck First Church of Christ Scientist in Berkeley they will perform a similar program, with the addition of special guest tenor Thomas Kinch.
The Sixth Station Trio (Katelyn Tan, piano; Anju Goto, violin; Federico Strand Ramirez, cello) return to Old First Concerts on 20 - 21 September to perform Joe Hisaishi’s score for the Studio Ghibli classic Howl’s Moving Castle.
San Francisco Performances continues its popular Saturday morning Herbst Hall lecture / concert series, with returning host / lecturer Robert Greenberg & the Esmé Quartet (Wonhee Bae & Yuna Ha, violins; Dimitri Murrath, viola; Yeeun Heo, cello) replacing the now-retired Alexander String Quartet; the theme this time around is Schubert, & the series launches 27 September with the String Quartet #14 in D Minor, Death and the Maiden.
On 30 September at Old Saint Mary's in San Francisco, Noontime Concerts presents the NCCO Quartet, featuring players from New Century Chamber Orchestra (violinists Iris Stone & Stephanie Bibbo, violist Jenny Douglas, cellist Evan Kahn) performing works by Fanny Hensel Mendelssohn, Dobrinka Tabakova, Mozart, Britten, Tchaikovsky, & Piazzola:.
Instrumental
On 2 September at Old Saint Mary's in San Francisco, Noontime Concerts presents pianist Mira T Sundara Rajan, whose "pursuit of music is informed by the Indian aesthetic concept of “rasa”: the quest for the “essence, juice, taste, water, blood, elixir, beauty, [or] sentiment”, performing works by Scriabin.
From 12 - 14 September, the Presidio Theater hosts ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro.
On 16 September at Old Saint Mary's in San Francisco, Noontime Concerts presents guitarist Mak Grgić, playing as-yet unspecified works, though he is a big proponent of new music, so I'd expect some of that.
On 20 - 21 September at the Great Star Theater in San Francisco's Chinatown, you can hear Over the Moon: A Piano & Guzheng Concert, a "celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival through the poetic dialogue between piano and guzheng . . . From Debussy’s Clair de Lune to Chinese classics like 彩云追月 and 酒狂, each piece evokes the serenity, romance, and mystery of moonlight"; Fang Yi plays the guzheng & the pianist is Irene Long.
On 23 September at Old Saint Mary's in San Francisco, Noontime Concerts presents violinist Patrick Galvin, performing as-yet unspecified repertory.
On 28 September in Zellerbach Hall, Cal Performances presents pianist Daniil Trifonov playing Taneyev's Prelude and Fugue in G-sharp minor, Opus 29, Prokofiev's Visions Fugitives, Opus 22, Myaskovsky's Piano Sonata #2 in F-sharp minor, Opus 13, & Schumann's Piano Sonata #1 in F-sharp minor, Opus 11.
The San Francisco Symphony presents TwoSet Violin (violinists Brett Yang & Eddy Chen) on 29 - 30 September at Davies Hall (the Symphony does not appear); the program has not yet been announced.
Early / Baroque Music
On 16 September at The Conservatory at One Sansome in downtown San Francisco, Philharmonia Baroque is offering the third & final concert in a new series, Coffee Concerts, this time featuring Bach Before Noon, a program including Schein's Canzon á6 in A minor, Schelle's Nun komm der Heiden Heiland (instrumental), Bach's Ricercar á6 from The Musical Offering, CPE Bach's Symphony in B minor, Clara Schumann's Prelude and Fugue in E minor, & the Finale of Mendelssohn's Octet in E-flat major, Opus. 20; the concert runs from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM, is free & open to the public, & includes free coffee & pastries.
On 21 September at Saint Mary Magdalen in Berkeley, the Cantata Collective continues its traversal of the Bach cantatas, this time featuring Herr, wie du willt, so schicks mit mir, BWV 73; Der Friede sei mit dir, BWV 158; & Tue Rechnung! Donnerwort, BWV 168, with soloists Tonia D’Amelio (soprano), Heidi Waterman (alto), Brian Giebler (tenor), & Harrison Hintzsche (bass); as usual, the performance is free.
Modern / Contemporary Music
The next concert in the collaboration between the ARTZenter Institute Emerging Composer Program & the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players will take place 5 September at Herbst Theater, featuring new works for chamber orchestra by Viskamol Chaiwanichsiri, Pablo Martinez Teutli, Jaebong Rho, & David Vess; as usual the concert is free & open to the public.
On 7 September at the Littlefield Concert Hall at Mills College at Northeastern University in Oakland, as part of its PastForward series, Other Minds presents Blue + Bob, featuring pianists Sarah Cahill & Joseph Kubera performing works by “Blue” Gene Tyranny & Robert Ashley, including Tyranny’s two-piano Decertified Highway of Dreams & Letters from Home & Ashley’s Viva’s Boy & Details (2b), along with solo pieces; "Kubera and Cahill worked on these scores with both composers, and will perform pieces that Tyranny dedicated to each of them, including The Drifter and Spirit".
Here's what's currently listed at the Center for New Music, & it's good to see more bookings than they've had in recent months: on 7 September, Harold Carr (bass, compositions, poetry), Bruce Ackley (sax), Andrew Voigt, Flavia Cervino-Wood (violin), & Derek Coombs (piano) will improvise music together; on 14 September, flutist Meerenai Shim will give a show based on her forthcoming album, The Audacity, including works by Brent Miller & Janice Misurell-Mitchell, along with performances of Whispers on the Wind by Elizabeth A Baker & Vermont Counterpoint by Steve Reich; on 20 September, Alex Heigl presents California Gold, original compositions "augmented by historical images and recordings drawn from the Library of Congress’ collection “California Gold: Northern California Folk Music from the Thirties"; & on 28 September you can hear Motoko Honda’s wonderfully named Simple Excesses Quartet, featuring Honda (pianist-composer), Cory Wright (multi-woodwinds), Jordan Glenn (drums), & Matt Small (bass), performing a "blend of classical chamber music, jazz, free jazz, and experimental sound".
Collaborations / Jazz / Bluegrass / Gospel / American Songbook
On 30 August at the Greek Theater, Cal Performances presents Sarabande Africaine with Angélique Kidjo & Yo-Yo Ma, with Thierry Vaton & David Donatien & special guest Sinkane, all making music together.
The Blind Boys of Alabama will perform music from their album Echoes of the South at the SF Jazz Center on 6 - 7 September; keyboardist Cory Henry will open the show for them.
On 7 September at Old First Concerts, pianist Mike Greensill & some of his friends will hold their annual celebration of the American Songbook.
On 13 September at Davies Hall, Lyle Lovett & his Acoustic Group join with the San Francisco Symphony to celebrate the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival.
The Ron Carter Quartet (Ron Carter on bass, Jimmy Green on tenor saxophone, Renee Rosnes on piano, Payton Crossley on drums) will play the SF Jazz Center on 18 - 20 September.
Dance
Mia J Chong's Eight/Moves will perform its second season of works on 12 - 14 September at the ODC Theater, including the world premiere of Wasteland by Mia J Chong, THE END, a new duet by Tsai-Hsi Hung, & an expanded restaging of Steam, an ensemble work from Season 1 by by KT Nelson, Chong, & the dancers.
Alonzo King Lines Ballet presents Deep River, to a score by Jason Moran, at the Yerba Buena Center on 18 - 21 September.
Monsoon Dance Company presents Finding My Dha, a combination of kathak (a style of Indian classical dance) with contemporary dance, with concept & choreography by Karishma Sharma in collaboration with her dancers, & that's at the ODC Theater on 19 - 21 September.
Smuin Ballet starts its season with three company premieres: Partita (choreography by Justin Peck, music by Caroline Shaw), A Long Night (a take on A Midsummer Night's Dream with choreography by Amy Seiwert & music by Patsy Cline, Pink Martini, & Tom Waits), & Extremely Close (choreography by Alejandro Cerrudo, music by Philip Glass & Dustin O'Halloran); & you can see them on 12 - 14 September at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 19 - 20 September at the Lesher Center in Walnut Creek, & 26 September to 5 October at the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco.
Art Means Painting
The Ruth Asawa retrospective at SFMOMA closes on 2 September, before heading to MOMA in New York.
On 26 August, the de Young Museum opens its new installation, the first refresh in 20 years, of its Indigenous American Art galleries, centered on the theme Relationship to Place; as part of the re-installation, there will be a special exhibit running until 6 December, Rooted in Place: California Native Art, featuring works from the Karuk, Yurok, Hupa, Tolowa, & Wiyot peoples of northwestern California.
Object Oriented: Abstraction and Design in the BAMPFA Collection opens on 10 September, at, obviously, BAMPFA; on 11 September, there will be an Artists’ Conversation with four of the artists in the show – Tyler Cross & Kyle Lypka, Vincent Fecteau, & Léonie Guyer – moderated by Senior Curator Anthony Graham.
The Art of Manga, the first "large-scale exhibition in the Americas to explore manga as an art form, features artists Akatsuka Fujio, Araki Hirohiko, Chiba Tetsuya, Oda Eiichiro, Tagame Gengoroh, Takahashi Rumiko, Tanaami Keiichi, Taniguchi Jiro, Yamashita Kazumi, Yamazaki Mari, and Yoshinaga Fumi", including rarely seen original drawings, opens at the de Young Museum on 27 September & runs until 25 January 2026.
Cinematic
On 26 August at the Roxie in San Francisco, San Francisco Film Preserve (formerly part of the SF Silent Film Festival) will present the silent short The Love Fighter featuring Fearless the Dog along with the premiere screening of their new restoration of Black Lightning, with Thunder the Marvel Dog & Clara Bow; both films will have live piano accompaniment by Wayne Barker & the films are hosted by Rob Byrne & will be introduced by David Stenn, author of Clara Bow: Runnin’ Wild.
At the Orinda Movie Theater on 6 September, you can see the silent stop-motion adventure classic The Lost World with live musical accompaniment by the Grand Feature Film Orchestra.
Here's what's happening this month at the Pacific Film Archive part of BAMPFA: starting 3 September, you can see Alternative Visions, the Archive's annual series of experimental films both old & new, with a reach this year across a century of cinema; starting 6 September, you can see The Signature Cinema of Roy Andersson, highlighting the Swedish director who was been compared to Jacques Tati, Monty Python, a "slapstick Ingmar Bergman", & Andrei Tarkovsky; starting 13 September, you can see Cities & Cinema: Shanghai, a series exploring the tumultuous & significant history of the Chinese port; starting 18 September, you can see Cheryl Dunye Selects!, a series featuring not only works by Dunye, including her classic The Watermelon Woman, but films that she admires.
There's a lot going on at the Roxie in San Francisco this month, including the first ZYZZYVA Movie Matinee with Ingrid Rojas Contreras, in which an author (this month, Alexander Chee) chooses a film & discusses it briefly afterwards, & Chee's choice is Max Ophul's The Earrings of Madame de …, & that's on 6 September; there is a terrific series of Hong Kong Cinema Classics starting on 5 September with John Woo's A Better Tomorrow; there are movies from the Kurosawa Restored series that started last month; & Don Hertzfeldt’s Animation Mixtape plays on 23 September.
The Bay Area International Children's Film Festival plays at the Roxie in San Francisco on 21 September.
The Orinda Movie Theater's Classic Movie Matinee for this month is John Huston's The African Queen, starring Humphrey Bogart & Katharine Hepburn, & as usual that's on the last Tuesday of the month: 30 September.
18 August 2025
15 August 2025
Friday Photo 2025/33
a bench in Lincoln Park, on the way to the Legion of Honor – people leaving the museum have been decorating the bench with their blue centennial admission stickers
11 August 2025
08 August 2025
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