From the always incredible Cowboy Junkies to “Sweet Charity,” a wild Mozart opera and the S.F. Jazz Festival, there is a lot to see and do in the Bay Area this weekend and beyond.
Here is a partial rundown.
Cowboy Junkies land in Bay Area for trio of gigs
There is no voice in all of popular music that we love more than the one belonging to Cowboy Junkies singer Margo Timmins.
It’s one that conveys so many shades of emotion and mood — from quiet desperation and resigned sadness to burning passion and, on the rare Cowboy Junkies recording, unbridled joy. It comes across as fragile and oh-so-very human in one moment, then bold, big and otherworldly in the next.
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It’s a voice that fans first latched onto in the late ’80s, thanks to the landmark folk-pop-country-blues outing “The Trinity Session,” which carried with it the Cowboy Junkies’ startlingly different and impactful version of the Velvet Underground’s “Sweet Jane.”
It’s a voice that has continued to speak to listeners — through the words that her brother Michael writes — on such stellar albums as 1996’s “Lay It Down,” 2007’s “At the End of Paths Taken” and, most recently, 2023’s “Such Ferocious Beauty.”
And it’s a voice that fans will get to enjoy once again as the vocalist and the rest of the brilliant Cowboy Junkies — guitarist Michael Timmins, drummer Peter Timmins and bassist Alan Anton — perform three shows in Northern California.
Details: 8 p.m. June 18 at Freight & Salvage, Berkeley; 7:30 p.m. June 19 at Uptown Theatre in Napa; 8 p.m. June 20 at Center for the Arts in Grass Valley; ($46-$77); cowboyjunkies.com.
— Jim Harrington, Staff
Classical picks: Mozart, Beethoven, Salonen’s swan song
The Bay Area classical scene this week brings an early Mozart opera, a masterful Beethoven symphony, and the final San Francisco Symphony performances led by departing music director Esa-Pekka Salonen.
“Ideomeneo”: It’s OK if you’ve never seen a production of “Idomeneo”; Mozart’s opera isn’t often performed, but it’s a thriller. Set during the Trojan War, the opera’s title character survives battles, shipwrecks, and more. But can he survive a fateful promise to the god Neptune? With a top-notch cast featuring tenor Matthew Polenzani in the title role, and a supporting cast featuring Daniela Mack, Ying Fang, Alek Shrader, and Elza van den Heever, expect great results. And check the company’s website for details on its upcoming Pride Concert (June 27), livestreams, pre-concert talks, and more.
Details: June 14-25; War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco; $28 and up; sfopera.com.
Oakland Symphony wraps with Beethoven: Throughout his tenure as its music director, conductor Kedrick Armstrong has brought a vibrant sense of revival to the Oakland Symphony. This week at the Paramount Theater, he’ll close out the orchestra’s season with a performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, one that features the Oakland Symphony Chorus and a quartet of vocal soloists led by soprano Hope Briggs. The program also includes Errollyn Wallen’s “Mighty River.”
Details: 8 p.m. June 13; Paramount Theatre, Oakland; $25-$90; OaklandSymphony.org.
Salonen’s countdown: This month, Bay Area music lovers are saying their farewells to San Francisco Symphony Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen, now making his final appearances in his last month with the organization. Tickets are mostly sold out, but check the Symphony box office for his official farewell event: a June 14 concert featuring a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2.
Details: June 12-15; Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco; $145-$399; www.sfsymphony.org.
— Georgia Rowe, Correspondent
South Bay stage: ‘Sweet Charity’; ‘Lights Up’
Bay Area Neil Simon fans will likely find a ‘Sweet’ time at San Jose Stage through June.
“Sweet Charity,” featuring a book by the legendary playwright, as well as a score by Cy Coleman and lyrics by Dorothy Fields (not to mention original choreography by Bob Fosse) is playing at the South Bay theater company, directed by Kenneth Kelleher and featuring Ruby Day in the iconic role as the lovable, hard-luck dance-hall hostess Charity Hope Valentine. The musical comedy with a ’60s-flavored score and storyline inspired by Federico Fellini’s “Nights of Cabiria” has had a number of storied productions and revivals since its 1966 debut, and was adapted for the big screen in 1969, starring Shirley MacLaine.
Details: Through June 29; San Jose Stage, 490 S. 1st St.; $47-$66; www.thestage.org
Meanwhile, City Lights Theater in San Jose on Saturday is hosting “Lights Up,” a new-play festival featuring readings of “The Soulmate Play” by Anthony Doan, directed by Jacob Yoder-Schrock (1 p.m.) and “Helicopter Typhoon Carabao! or To Survive an Apocalypse Now,” by Amanda L. Andrei and directed by Mark Anderson Phillips (5 p.m.). There will also be a makers fair at the theater beginning at noon.
Details: Event begins at noon; City Lights Theater, 529 S 2nd St., San Jose; $20; cltc.org.
— Randy McMullen, Staff
Jazz Fest returns to roots
When the SFJAZZ Center opened in San Francisco in 2013 it was something of a marvel, and a risk: A state of the art, multi-theater music venue in the heart of the city’s entertainment district devoted to (gulp!) just jazz? Well, the center with its top-notch year-round programming has emerged as a big winner for the city, and proved that even a so-called dying musical art form can thrive if you put it in a desirable venue and book the right kinds of artists. Thanks to the savvy leadership of Executive Artistic Director Terence Blanchard and others, SFJAZZ is delivering a concert schedule worthy of its digs. But with A-List year-round programming, the annual San Francisco International Jazz Festival has kind of gotten lost in the mix. Until now.
This weekend, Blanchard and SFJAZZ are bringing back the Jazz Festival as a real, honest-to-gosh festival (Blanchard is a New Orleans native, so he knows a music festival when he sees one.) From Friday through Sunday, the SFJAZZ Center and its surrounding neighborhood will host 35 shows on a series of stages. Performers include the SFJAZZ Collective (natch!) with Kurt Elling, Don Was, legendary sax man Charles Lloyd, trumpeter Nicholas Payton, bass ace Stanley Clarke with pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba, revered bassist Dave Holland, African vocalist Somi, and many more.
Details: Performances are 2 to 9 p.m. June 13; 1-10 p.m. June 14-15; single tickets and packages run from $50-$650. Go to www.sfjazz.org.
— Bay Area News Foundation
A Fountain of blues
San Jose will be bathing in the blues this weekend at the San Jose Fountain Blues and Brews Festival. It’s one of the region’s best and perhaps more under-appreciated music events, and it returns to the Plaza de Cesar Chavez in downtown San Jose on June 14-15. The packed lineup includes blues stars and emerging artists. The headliners are a pair of incendiary blues guitarists: Christone “Kingfish” Ingram (6:30 p.m. June 14), who appears in the recently released Ryan Coogler film “Sinners,” and Walter Trout (6:30 p.m. June 15), known for his explosive licks and passionate vocals. Another favorite in the lineup is San Jose’s own Aki Kumar, aka “The King of Bollywood Blues.” True to his moniker, the singer and harmonica player, who performs at noon on June 15, serves up a potent mix of traditional blues and Bollywood music. And another South Bay regular, blues/jazz/soul/rock singer Lauren Halliwell, brings her band The Dirty Sound, to the fest at 1:15 p.m. on June 15.
Details: The music runs from 11:15 a.m. to 8 p.m. on each day. Single tickets are $31.50-$121.50; two-day general admission passes are $51.50. Go to fountainblues.com.
— Bay Area News Foundation
Chanticleer goes to church
As phenomenally popular as they are throughout this country and abroad, it seems like a woefully rare occasion when we get to hear the Bay Area-based a cappella ensemble Chanticleer in their home environment. But we get one more chance June 13 at the First Congregational Church in Berkeley, when these 12 polished singers conclude their Bay Area Series with a program called “Chanticleer and the Fox.” They invoke their wily namesake, that clever rooster we first heard about from Chaucer, who has to outwit a fox to save his animal friends, to present a theatrical program of Renaissance madrigals and motets that is designed for the whole family to enjoy. To that end, children 12 and under who are accompanied by a paying adult will be admitted free.
Details: 6:30 p.m.; $30-$71; chanticleer.org or cityboxoffice.com.
— Bay Area News Foundation
Montclair fest returns
The fair and festival season in the Bay Area is pretty much up and running, which means that on any given weekend these days, there is something way more fun to do than whistling while you wash your car to fool yourself into believing you are actually enjoying it. This weekend, for example, serves up the 11th annual Montclair Beer, Wine & Musical Festival, running from noon to 6 p.m. June 14 in Montclair Village, Mountain Boulevard and La Salle Avenue, in Oakland.
They’re not fooling about the beer aspect – you’ll find more than 50 different brands of craft beer and ales, not to mention a wide array of artisan wines, and many other alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, as well as a variety of street-food trucks and vendors. As for activities, the Play-Palooza Fun Zone will offer a variety of crafts and artisan booths, such activities as bracelet-making and other artistic pursuits, lawn games, and a wide variety of retail stores and booths to peruse. The famed Oakland Fire Department Parade Fire Engine will also be on hand. And live performances will take place all day by performers with Oakland’s Woodminster Summer Musicals theater series, as well as by the Khalil Abdullah Quartet, Namoradas Da Lua and headliners Dos Four, the Bay Area Latin band led by Cuban native and onetime pro basketball player Leyder Chapman. And the Flair Travel & Adventure Zone will present a series of immersive experiences meant to the excitement of world travel.
Admission is free, but you can purchase food and drink tasting packages. In all, we practically guarantee you will have more fun than if you decide to stay home and wash your car.
Details: More information is available at montclairvillage.com.
— Bay Area News Foundation
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