From an alt-rock icon to the acclaimed Silkroad Ensemble, there is a lot to see and do in the Bay Area this weekend.
Here’s a partial rundown.
‘Go Crazy’ with alt-rock icon
Bob Mould, a first-tier alt-rock pioneer, is out on the road supporting the newly released “Here We Go Crazy.”
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“On the surface, this is a group of straightforward guitar-pop songs. I’m refining my primary sound and style through simplicity, brevity and clarity,” Mould says in a news release. “Under the hood, there’s a number of contrasting themes. Control and chaos, hypervigilance and helplessness, uncertainly and unconditional love.”
The first single from the album is the striking “When Your Heart Is Broken.”
Fans will likely get the chance to experience “When Your Heart Is Broken” and other new album cuts — as well as hopefully some material from Mould’s days with Husker Du and Sugar — when the alt-rock icon performs at the legendary Fillmore in San Francisco on April 5.
Details: Showtime is 8 p.m.; tickets are $44; livenation.com.
— Jim Harrington, Staff
Giddens’ many gifts
Rhiannon Giddens has accomplished so much you can’t help but wonder if maybe there are four or five hyper-talented artists operating cooperatively under that name. She gained early-career fame as a member of the widely acclaimed folk/blues/old-time music revival band the Carolina Chocolate Drops. She also released several solo albums full of her unique brand of folk/blues/roots music and contributed to a number of well-received compilation recordings, including the T Bone Burnett-created album, “Lost on the River: The New Basement Tapes,” which married recently discovered Bob Dylan lyrics to new tunes.
Two years ago, she won the Pulitzer Prize for Music with Michael Abels for the new opera “Omar,” based on the memoir “The Life of Omar ibn Said,” a Muslim American slave. Giddens is also the artistic director of Silkroad Ensemble, the musical outfit created several years ago by Yo-Yo Ma. She’s also appeared on two seasons of the musical drama “Nashville” and written several kids books.
On April 4, Giddens brings the Silkroad Ensemble to the Bankhead Theater in Livermore to perform a program titled Uplifted Voices, which focuses on the music and origins of the group’s various musicians. The project is in keeping with Giddens’ longtime goal of shining a light on the world’s overlooked people and artists.
Details: The concert begins at 8 p.m.; $25-$90; livermorearts.org.
— Bay City News Foundation
Classical picks: Bach, ‘Prayer for Peace’
Here are a pair of concerts classical music fans should know about.
Sublime Bach: Under conductor Jeffrey Thomas, American Bach Soloists present their 36th season finale concerts. Three works by the group’s namesake are on the program, including the sacred cantata “Gottes Zeit die allerbest Zeit.” Vocal soloists include Elijah McCormack, Kyle Tingzon, Steven Soph, and David McFerrin.
Details: 8 p.m. April 4 at St. Stephen’s Church, Belvedere; 7 p.m. April 5 at St. Marks Episcopal, Berkeley; and 4 p.m. April 6 at St. Marks Church, San Francisco; $44-$110; americanbach.org.
“A Prayer for Peace”: Also this weekend, New Century Chamber Orchestra gives the West Coast premiere of this new concerto grosso for string orchestra co-commissioned with A Far Cry Chamber Orchestra. Works by Richard Strauss and Adolphus Hailstork complete the program.
Details: 7:30 p.m. April 4 at First Congregational Church, Berkeley; 2 p.m. April 5 at St. Marks Lutheran Church, San Francisco; and 3 p.m. April 6 at St. Stephens Church, Belvedere; $35-$80, ncco.org.
— Georgia Rowe, Correspondent
Paging all book lovers
Some people like to read books; others prefer to play with them. The transformation of reading material into beautiful, sometimes bizarre objects is the subject of a fascinating exhibition at the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, “Book Becoming Art.”
Running until April 27, the show presents about 40 handmade books from contemporary artists who are working in the Japanese aesthetic. (Many are actually from Japan.) There’s Yohei Nishimura, who subjects his materials to extreme heat to reveal hidden qualities. Here he offers a version of “Webster’s Third New International Dictionary” that looks like it’s arrived from the fires of hell. Veronika Schäpers infuses her books with the essence of Japanese street food; Kyoko Matsunaga paints over photos in white pigment to give a sense of awe and rebirth; and Hiroko Fukumoto turned a paperback book into a living mushroom farm.
Presiding over the exhibit (literally) is Maki Aizawa’s free-form “book” made from pieces of mulberry paper, stitched by 35 women in her hometown in the wake a devastating earthquake and tsunami. You might not be able to read it in the traditional sense, but it speaks volumes about the human condition.
Details: Open 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday; 551 Broadway, Sonoma; $10 general admission (free on Wednesday); svma.org.
— John Metcalfe, Staff
JCC hosts ‘Broken Seder’
On Oct. 7, 2023, the world of Judaism – the religion itself, its relationship to Palestinians, and its complicated standing in Middle East politics and history – was forced to reset. Again. The Hamas attacks and Israel’s response – and the resulting Gaza war – has opened a violent new chapter in a saga that seems to have no end and continues to cry out for new responses in the world of politics, religion and art. On Thursday through Sunday, visitors to the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco can view one such new response, from Bay Area artist Day Schildkret and his free immersive exhibit “The Broken Seder.” Described as an exploration of “the impact of Jewish identity in a post-Oct. 7 world,” the exhibit is timed to the Jewish holiday of Passover (April 12-20), a time that is meant to instill togetherness, storytelling and tradition. Yet, as the title makes clear, many Jews are experiencing a more troubling and complicated range of emotions, from range and betrayal to a fear of what the Jewish/Palestinian landscape holds in store. As organizers put it, “The ritual became a rupture, revealing deep fractures – political, personal, spiritual and generational. For Schildkret, what sounds like a metaphorical response is also in fact literal. The exhibit consists of a series of seders that are broken in half in a variety of ways, representing a variety of emotional responses to current events.
Details: Exhibit open 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. April 3, 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. April 4, 1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. April 5, and 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. April 6; free but visitors must reserve a one-hour viewing time during its run, more information and reservations available at www.jccsf.org.
— Bay City News Foundation
A timely debut by NCCO
Something we need now more than ever, “A Prayer for Peace,” a concerto grosso for string orchestra by San Francisco composer Jungyoon Wie, a Korean immigrant to the U.S., makes its West Coast debut April 3 at 7:30 p.m. in the First Congregational Church in Berkeley. Co-commissioned by a Far Cry Chamber Orchestra of Boston and the Bay Area’s own New Century Chamber Orchestra, the work will be given three performances by NCCO with music director Daniel Hope, for whom it was a passion project, in the lead. The search for peace also informs the rest of the program, which opens with composer Adolphus Hailstork’s Sonata da Chiesa for String Orchestra. The concert concludes with Richard Strauss’ famous “Metamorphosen,” with its “solo” parts for 23 individual string players, which was composed just after the conclusion of World War II. Repeat performances take place at 2 p.m. April 5 in St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in San Francisco and 3 p.m. April 6 in St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Belvedere.
Details: Tickets, $35-$80, are available at ncco.org.
— Bay City News Foundation
Back to the basics for ABS
The American Bach Soloists close out their 36th season with “Bach’s Paradise,” a triumphant return to the sort of programming that established their reputation as preeminent historically accurate interpreters of the music of the Baroque era. Conducted by artistic director Jeffrey Thomas, the instrumental ensemble and vocal soloists will perform the composer’s “Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit,” (God’s time is the very best time), an early cantata that expresses Bach’s vision of paradise. Also on the program are the Easter cantata “Christ lag in Todesbanden,” the Palm Sunday piece “Himmelskönig, sei willkomen” and the gorgeous Brandenburg Concerto No. 6.
Details: Performances are at 8 p.m. April 4 in St. Stephen’s Church in Belvedere, 7 p.m. April 5 in St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Berkeley, 4 p.m. April 6 in St. Mark’s Church in San Francisco and 7 p.m. April 7 in Davis Community Church. Find tickets, $44-$111, at americanbachsoloists.org.
— Bay City News Foundation
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