From a pair of shows by the reigning “Queen of Hip-Hop Soul” to a pack of animatronic dinosaurs and a tribute to a San Francisco legend, there is a lot to see and do in the Bay Area this weekend.
Here’s a partial rundown.
Bay Area getting much a-Bliged
Get ready for Mary J. Blige.
The reigning Queen of Hip-Hop Soul — who has won nine Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, four American Music Awards, 12 NAACP Image Awards and 12 Billboard Music Awards while selling millions upon millions of records during her phenomenal career — has two shows scheduled for Northern California.
Mary J. Blige hits San Francisco first, bringing her For My Fans Tour with Ne-Yo and Mario to Chase Center on March 7. One night later, she sets up shop at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.
And we’d totally understand why fans might be tempted to actually see both shows, given that Mary J. Blige has long ranked as one of the genre’s most powerful performers.
Plus, we expect great setlists on both nights, filled with such classic Mary J. Blige cuts as “Family Affair,” “Real Love,” “You Remind Me,” “Not Gon’ Cry,” “Just Fine,” “Everything,” “Be Without You” and, best of all, “No More Drama.”
And, of course, we fully expect the biggest crowd sing-alongs to occur when Blige steps up for “I’m Goin’ Down.”
Details: Showtime is 7 p.m. for both concerts; tickets start at $94 (subject to change); ticketmaster.com.
— Jim Harrington, Staff
Classical picks: Opera Parallele premiere; ‘Don Giovanni’
A world premiere opera in San Francisco and a classic work in Livermore highlight our classical music selections for the week.
Opera Parallele’s world premiere: The opera world continues to add new works to the repertoire, and Bay Area-based Opera Parallele is bringing one to the stage this weekend. “The Pigeon Keeper,” composed by David Hanlon with a libretto by Stephanie Fleischmann, begins when young Orsia and her fisherman father find a refugee boy adrift at sea. Aid comes from the mysterious title character; as the three navigate the way home and discover the transformative power of the kindness of strangers. The production stars soprano Angela Yam as Orsia and tenor Bernard Holcomb as The Pigeon Keeper.
Details: 7:30 p.m. March 7-8; 3 p.m. March 9; Fort Mason, San Francisco; $40-$160; operaparallele.org
The return of ‘Don G’: Livermore Valley Opera returns to the music of Mozart with its latest production, a new production of “Don Giovanni.” Sung in Italian with English supertitles, it stars Titus Muzi III in the title role. Come one hour early for the company’s pre-opera talk. The production plays through the weekend.
Details: 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Bankhead Theater, Livermore; $25-$110; 925-373-6800; Livermorearts.org.
Vienna Philharmonic’s run: the acclaimed Vienna Philharmonic’s mini-run at UC Berkeley continues tonight, featuring Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, “From the New World,” and Schubert’s Symphony No. 4, “Tragic.” Pianist Yefim Bronfman joins Nézet-Séguin and the orchestra on Friday to play Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3; Richard Strauss’s “Ein Heldenleben” completes the program.
Details: 7:30 p.m. March 6; 7 p.m. March 7; $120-$275; calperformances.org.
— Georgia Rowe, Correspondent
Dinosaurs on the prowl at Cal Academy
If you’ve ever watched that scene in “Jurassic Park” where the T-Rex surprises a guy in a porta-potty and chomps him like a Tic Tac, and thought: “I need more of THAT” — well, here’s the exhibit for you. “Dino Days,” running until Sept. 1, brings 13 animatronic dinosaurs to the outdoor gardens of San Francisco’s California Academy of Sciences. Tyrannosaurus rex, Deinonychus, Parasaurolophus and Pachyrhinosaurus — all your best scaly buddies are here. Heck, there are even dino eggs with cute little babies hatching from them, as if they won’t grow up to be frightening 5-ton beasts.
These replica reptiles move and roar, and children are encouraged to climb atop some of them. There’s a sand-filled fossil pit where kids can dig for cast dinosaur bones. But aside from all that, there is special programming going on through the exhibit’s run, including paleontologist seminars and an evening where you sip cocktails while hearing a live performance of John Williams’ “Jurassic Park” score. Plus, scavenger hunts, dino-trivia showdowns, a meet-and-greet with the T-Rex from the PBS show “Dinosaur Train,” and much roar – er, “more.”
Details: Show runs daily until Sept. 1; 55 Music Concourse Drive, San Francisco; www.calacademy.org.
— John Metcalfe, staff
Feinstein does Bennett
Tony Bennett, who died in 2023, was the kind of singer and entertainer that comes along maybe once a century. HIs singing voice, one of the most instantly recognizable tones in music history, was buoyed by his knack for impeccable interpretations of jazz and pop standards. His gentlemanly, self-deprecating demeanor only added to his overall sense of class.
Particularly loved in San Francisco because of that song, Bennett’s passing left a giant hole in music world — so much so that even paying tribute to the legend seems a daunting challenge that most singers should tackle with caution.
Michael Feinstein, however, is the kind of revered Great American Songbook singer and interpreter who could seemingly take a crack at it. And that’s just what he is doing with his touring concert “Because of You: My Tribute to Tony Bennett.” Backed by the Carnegie Hall Ensemble, Feinstein’s tribute features such songs as “Because of You,” “The Best is Yet to Come” and, of course, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.”
Feinstein brings his concert to the Bankhead Theater in Livermore on Friday.
Details: 8 p.m.; $95-$130; livermorearts.org.
— Randy McMullen, Staff
SFCO performs a love song — for free
The San Francisco Chamber Orchestra is presenting three free concerts this week, each of which is highlighted by a composition born out of love and friendship. At the center of it all is Grammy-winning Bay Area composer and violinist Evan Price, who in 2018 was approached by all-world mandolinists Mike Marshall and Caterina Lichtenberg about writing a piece for the pair, who are partners in music and life. As Price puts it, the piece had to reflect the full scope of their relationship, from the obvious affection they show for one another on and off the stage to the complimentary approach they take to their performances. “What makes their performances so engaging is that we have the pleasure of watching two masters of the same instrument,” Price says, “albeit from seemingly disparate cultures and musical traditions, inspiring and delighting in each other.”
The result was a composition titled “A Game of Cat and Mike,” which got its world premiere in San Jose last year. You have three chances to hear it this weekend, as the SFCO performs – with Marshall and Lichtenberg, of course – at 7:30 p.m. Friday at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, 1111 O’Farrell St., San Francisco; 7:30 p.m. Saturday at First United Methodist Church, 625 Hamilton Ave., Palo Alto; and 3 p.m. Sunday at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. Also on the program is “Strum for String Orchestra” by Jessie Montgomery, and Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings, Op. 48.
Details: There is no admission but you can reserve seats at www.thesfco.org.
— Bay City News Foundation
yMusic back in Berkeley
The talented and ever-adventuresome New York City sextet yMusic is headed back to the Bay Area this weekend to perform a climate change-themed new work created by Berkeley-born composer Gabriella Smith. The new music chamber outfit has a history of working with Smith, who has long been drawn to the connection between nature, sound and music. Smith has also had works performed by the San Francisco Symphony, Roomful of Teeth, Bang on a Can All Stars and Dover Quartet. For the new piece, titled “Aquatic Ecology,” Smith ventured with her recording equipment to coral reefs, tide pools, freshwater marshes and open beaches to capture a variety of sonic segments. The work, described by NPR as “Magnificent and mind-blowingly original,” features a mix of chamber music and pure and modified found sounds. Founded in 2008, yMusic has released nine studio albums and contributed to several more, while collaborating with such creative forces as Bon Iver, Paul Simon, Ben Folds. The outfit performs the world premiere of “Aquatic Ecology” at 8 p.m. Saturday at UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Playhouse, in a concert presented by Cal Performances.
Details: Tickets start at $48; go to calperformances.org.
— Bay City News Foundation
Dynamic Duo at SFJAZZ
Faye Carol – better known as “The Dynamic Miss Faye Carol” – has been wowing music fans in the Bay Area since she moved from Mississippi to Pittsburg in the 1960s and began belting out blues numbers in local nightclubs. Her mastery of jazz and blues remains as impressive as ever, and her performance schedule has hardly slowed a beat. This week, Carol co-stars in a concert series that should be a thrill for jazz fans. She’ll be performing with the revered jazz/rock/fusion drummer Dennis Chambers, who has turned in memorable studio and live sessions with artists ranging from Santana to John Scofield to Maceo Parker and Stanley Clarke. The pairing of Carol and Chambers was last seen during a memorable concert series titled “Give the Drummer Some” that unfolded at SFJAZZ Center during the 2022-23 season. On Thursday and Friday, Carol and Chambers will perform with pianist Joe Warner and bassist Essiet Essiet.
Details: Show times are 7 and 8:30 p.m. each night; $25; www.sfjazz.org.
— Bay City News Foundation
Music to aid L.A. fire victims
Tickets are going fast for a fantastic fund-raising concert the musicians of the San Francisco Symphony, joining forces with some of their counterparts in the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Orchestra, are mounting this weekend in order to bring some much needed relief to the victims of the devastating fires in the Los Angeles area. And they have enlisted the aid of both Edwin Outwater, former resident conductor of SFS and current music director of the Conservatory’s orchestra, and one of San Francisco’s favorite sons, the pianist Garrick Ohlsson. Under Outwater’s baton, Ohlsson will be the featured soloist for the ulta-popular Piano Concerto No. 2 by Sergei Rachmaninoff. Antonin Dvorak’s great Symphony No. 9, “From the New World,” is also on the program, which will open with Aaron Copland’s “The Promise of Living,” a hymn from his opera “The Tender Land,” with vocals from the San Francisco Symphony Chorus. The concert takes place at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Davies Hall. Tickets, $50-$100 are available at 415-864-6000 or sfsymphony.org. Net proceeds from all ticket sales will be evenly split between two L.A. organizations, the Entertainment Community Fun and Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles.
— Bay City News Foundation
A sneak peek for Opera fans
Composer Héctor Armienta’s “Zorro,” an opera based on the adventures of the swashbuckling masked man, is not set to make its Northern California premiere until mid-April, but the presenting organization, Opera San Jose, will bring its star, Chilean-born tenor Xavier Prado, and multiple others from the cast to a special preview at the historic Filoli estate for performances March 11, 12 and 13. The previews will take place in the newly restored ballroom at Filoli, 86 Cañada Road in Woodside. Other artists who will be singing include Maria Brea, Melissa Sondhi, Deborah Martinez Rosengaus, Courtney Miller, Jesús Vicente Murillo, Eugene Brancoveanu (March 11 and 13) and Michael Jesse Kuo (March 12). Performance time is 7:30 p.m. on all three dates. Tickets, $75-$105, are available at filoli.org and operasf.org. The opera will make its run from April19-May 4 in San Jose’s California Theater.
— Bay City News Foundation