From widespread folk-rockers Mumford & Sons to large forest trolls and classical music with a Spanish twist, there’s a lot to see and do within the Bay Space this weekend and past.
Here’s a partial rundown.
Mumford’s the phrase on this tour
Mumford & Sons have their eyes set on the Bay Space.
The London folk-rock outfit — led by vocalist-guitarist Marcus Mumford and that includes bassist Ted Dwane and keyboardist Ben Lovett — is ready to carry out a two-night stand, June 9-10, on the Greek Theatre in Berkeley.
The band is touring in assist of its long-awaited fifth studio album, “Rushmere,” which is the primary full-length Mumford & Sons outing since 2018’s “Delta.” (The group did, nonetheless, launch the stay EP, “Delta Tour,” in 2020.)
Each reveals are bought out, underscoring that the band hasn’t misplaced any of its reputation throughout its time away from the studio. But, ducats can nonetheless be had on the secondary ticket market (suppose Stubhub, Ticketmaster, and so on.)
Fashioned in 2007, Mumford & Sons wasted little time in hitting it massive, because the 2009 debut “Sigh No More” reached the No. 2 spot in each the band’s native U.Okay. and the U.S.
The 2012 follow-up “Babel” was a chart-topper in a number of international locations (together with the U.S. and the U.Okay.) and bought tens of millions of copies. It additionally received the Grammy for album of the yr in 2013.
Particulars: Each reveals begin 7 p.m.; apeconcerts.com.
— Jim Harrington, Employees
Trolls take over Filoli
They’re big and bushy, have names like Ibbi Pip and Sofus Lotus and probably eat people. They’re Big Trolls, and so they’ll quickly be coming to a forest close to you.
On June 7, the exhibit “Trolls: Save the Humans” opens on the historic Filoli gardens in San Mateo County to run by means of early November. A half-dozen humongous creatures product of recycled supplies like building wooden will take up residence among the many redwood groves and meadow blooms. They’re the work of Danish artist and dumpster diver Thomas Dambo, who has “hidden” his trolls in at the very least 17 international locations together with Eire, Australia and China — there’s even one skulking round in a nature museum in Solvang, California, known as Lulu Hyggelig.
In keeping with the artist’s lore, these generally 15-foot abominations – sorry, magical creatures – are locked in an everlasting debate on whether or not to avoid wasting people regardless of their polluting, harmful methods, or (chomp chomp!) simply devour them. Once you take your youngsters to Filoli to fulfill the trolls, ask them which they’d choose.
“The outdoor exhibition will fuse fairytales, whims and monumental scale,” write the Filoli people, “to inspire visitors to explore themes such as recycling and reusing trash, the importance of plants and gardens, art and more.”
Particulars: Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. day by day at 86 Cañada Highway, Woodside; common admission $36; filoli.org.
— John Metcalfe, Employees
Classical picks: La Boheme; ‘Espana’ in San Jose
Summer season’s right here, and the music is gorgeous. These upcoming classical music occasions have a lot to supply, from the brilliance of “La Bohème,” now in efficiency at San Francisco Opera, to a efficiency of an iconic Spanish work in San Jose.
“Bohéme” bliss: Opera lovers by no means recover from the emotional influence of “La Bohème”; Puccini’s opera based mostly on Henri Murger’s 1851 novel, by no means fails to thrill. Now the opera about 4 younger bohemians residing for artwork in a cold Paris condo is again within the first of San Francisco Opera’s summer season productions. Carried out by Ramón Tebar and starring Karen Chia-ling Ho, Nicole Automobile, Pene Pati, and Evan LeRoy Johnson, it’s certain to heat your coronary heart and go away you with stunning recollections.
Particulars: Performances by means of June 21, Struggle Memorial Opera Home, San Francisco; tickets $28 and up; sfopera.com.
A Spanish Salute: Symphony San Jose has a giant season finale in retailer. Titled “España” and carried out by José Luis Gomez, this system options guitarist Rafael Aguirre in Joaquin Rodrigo’s thrilling “Concierto de Aranjuez.” Works by Ravel, Rimsky-Korsakov and Gabriela Lena Frank full this system. Arrive one hour early for pre-concert festivities.
Particulars: 7:30 p.m. June 7, 2:30 p.m. June 8; California Theatre, San Jose; $24-$121.50; symphonysanjose.org.
From the Left Coast: If it’s new music you crave, mark your calendars for the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble’s upcoming live performance. Titled “Spring Contrasts,” this system spans music by Bartók, Roberto Sierra, Mel Bonis, Kevin Day, and Hannah Kendall.
Particulars: 7:30 p.m. June 7 at Piedmont Heart for the Arts; 7:30 p.m. June 9 at Noe Valley Ministry, San Francisco; $5-$35; leftcoastensemble.org.
— Georgia Rowe, Correspondent
Freebies of the week: SFMOMA particular days
The San Francisco Museum of Trendy Artwork has two free choices this week. Let’s begin with Free First Thursdays, which runs on the museum midday to eight p.m. on June 5 and presents free admission to adults who stay within the nine-county Bay Space area (whereas it’s not technically required, it’s extremely really helpful that you simply reserve your free admission at www.sfmoma.org/free-days/#first-thursdays). The admission doesn’t embrace ticketed reveals, which implies you’ll be charged to view the Ruth Asawa assortment. However there’s nonetheless a lot to see without spending a dime, together with the “photopainting” works of Japanese artist Kunie Sugiura; Singapore artist Samson Younger’s otherworldly assortment of work and sculptures, accompanied by a soundscape; and famed painter/sculptor/set up and efficiency artist Yayoi Kusama’s 2023 work “Dreaming of Earth’s Sphericity, I Would Offer My Love.”
And of specific curiosity to Bay Space images lovers would be the exhibit dedicated to Group f.64, a collective of Bay Space photographers (together with Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, and Edward Weston) who banded collectively within the early twentieth century to counter the burgeoning apply of “pictorialism,” which favored inventive compositions (together with manipulated images) over works strictly rendered by a digital camera. The f.64 artists believed that their pure images may rival something that pictorialists may manufacture — and so they got down to show it.
The artists’ works, historical past and ties to the Bay Space are lined within the exhibit. And on Thursday, there’s a 6 p.m. panel dialogue within the Wattis Theatre dedicated to f.64 and its artists. In the meantime, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, there are free Household Day occasions and actions in addition to entry to varied reveals (once more, excluding Ruth Asawa). Extra info is at www.sfmoma.org/occasion/free-family-day-hometown-heroes. And for common information on the museum, go to www.sfmoma.org.
Killer intercourse farce 2.0 lands in Lesher
In case you missed it, the one musical comedy within the Bay Space to concern itself with frisky seniors, homicide and a curious influencer has modified homes. We’re speaking, in fact, about Min Kahng’s world premiere manufacturing “Happy Pleasant Valley: A Senior Sex Scandal Murder Mystery Musical.” The present is a co-production by Palo Alto’s TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, the place it ran earlier this yr, and Heart Repertory Firm, the place it’s taking part in by means of June 29.
If the title itself makes you chuckle, then that is most likely the manufacturing for you. To explain “Pleasant Valley” as having broad humor would doubtless be an understatement. However that is on no account a criticism; there’s nothing fairly like a comedy – be it on stage or on display screen – that tromps throughout its material like an inebriated elephant, particularly when the performers are in on the joke. “Pleasant Valley” pokes enjoyable at just about each scorching matter there’s, today – intercourse, cancel tradition, our unusual worship of influencers, ageism and extra. And it does so with a proficient forged of comedian actors and the acclaimed and well-traveled director Jeffrey Lo. Performances are on the Lesher Heart for the Arts in Walnut Creek; tickets are $66-$95. Go to www.centerrep.org.
Neil Diamond’s ‘Beautiful Noise’
A Broadway touring present opening this week on the Golden Gate Theatre in San Francisco payments itself as “the untold story” of Neil Diamond’s rise from a shy delicate Brooklyn singer-songwriter to a world famous person. This, in fact, is absolute poppycock — Diamond’s story is well-known all over the world and has been for a while. However that doesn’t imply that Diamond and his story and music aren’t tailored for the type of jukebox musical that we’ve seen for the likes of Frankie Valley and the 4 Seasons, Carole King, and numerous others. He has a well known and very talked-about music catalogue that features such singles as “I am … I Said,” “Sweet Caroline,” “Cracklin’ Rosie,” “Song Sung Blue” and lots of, many extra. It’s attention-grabbing that the present’s title, “A Beautiful Noise,” comes from Diamond’s tenth album, which was generally known as an try, helmed by the Band’s Robbie Robertson, to revive some crucial acclaim to a music profession that had been rising extra commercially oriented (learn: tacky).
However Diamond’s profession — type of like Phil Collins’ — has lengthy been a mixture of true expertise and schmaltz. The person has written and sung a number of the greatest hits in modern pop music historical past and has been heralded as a lyricist who captures the gamut of human emotion in phrases everybody can join with. Then once more, one among his greatest hits truly consists of the road “I am I said/to no one there/And no one heard at all/Not even the chair.” (And let’s not even get into the truth that he starred in a remake of “The Jazz Singer” film that retained the unique title regardless that it CONTAINS ABSOLUTELY NO JAZZ MUSIC!!).
However that doesn’t imply we Neil Diamond followers love him any much less or aren’t past stoked to see the “Beautiful Noise,” which is taking part in in S.F. by means of June 22.
Particulars: Tickets are $75.47-$236.93 (topic to vary); www.broadwaysf.com.
An S.F. Symphony packed program
Two richly orchestrated tone poems by Richard Strauss about reprobate characters — one a mischievous miscreant and the opposite a complete cad — a extremely uncommon remaining symphony by the good Finnish composer Jean Sibelius and the San Francisco Symphony’s first fee from Berkeley-born composer Gabriella Smith comprise this system for the penultimate sequence of live shows Esa-Pekka Salonen will lead earlier than his much-bemoaned departure as music director from the rostrum.
Going down at 7:30 p.m. June 6-7 and a couple of p.m. June 8 in Davies Corridor, the live performance opens with “Don Juan,” Strauss’ description of the amorous pursuits and supreme demise of the notorious libertine, and ends, appropriately sufficient, with “Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks,” which follows the titular prankster by means of a sequence of capers resulting in his vividly orchestrated demise by hanging. Sibelius’ Symphony No. 7 intervenes, singular for causes that embrace the truth that it’s performed by means of as a single motion, adopted by Smith’s “Rewilding,” a piece that’s impressed by the younger composer’s dedication to ecological restoration.
Particulars: Tickets, $49-$179, can be found at sfsymphony.org.
