{"id":376530,"date":"2026-06-26T23:48:26","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T23:48:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/376530\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T23:48:26","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T23:48:26","slug":"best-bets-circus-bella-fountain-blues-and-brews-oakland-interfaith-gospel-choir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/376530\/","title":{"rendered":"Best Bets: Circus Bella, Fountain Blues and Brews, Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir"},"content":{"rendered":"

Freebie of the week:\u00a0While so much of today\u2019s entertainment is on\u00a0phones,\u00a0tablets\u00a0and other screens,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0great to be able\u00a0to\u00a0rely on\u00a0the good-old-fashioned\u00a0circus\u00a0for\u00a0live fun and thrills.\u00a0Folks in the Bay Area should be\u00a0especially thankful\u00a0for\u00a0Circus Bella, which\u00a0happens to be both\u00a0very\u00a0good\u00a0at what it does\u00a0as well as\u00a0free!\u00a0The performance troupe was founded 19 years ago\u00a0by\u00a0David Hunt and Abigail Munn\u00a0as something of a 21st-century answer to iconic Bay Area troupes\u00a0such\u00a0as the Pickle Family Circus.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Though Circus Bella offers a\u00a0more\u00a0compact production than\u00a0Cirque du Soleil or Ringling Brothers,\u00a0its\u00a0talented jugglers,\u00a0aerialists\u00a0and acrobats \u2014 not to mention clowns \u2014\u00a0make magic doing their thing. The troupe,\u00a0amid\u00a0its annual summer tour of free shows, appears three\u00a0times\u00a0in \u201cAh Ha!\u201d written and directed by Munn,\u00a0this weekend at the Great Lawn at Yerba Buena Gardens, on Mission Street between\u00a0Third and\u00a0Fourth streets\u00a0in San Francisco.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Performances are\u00a0noon on Friday and noon and 2:15\u00a0p.m.\u00a0Saturday. The shows are part of the all-free Yerba Buena Gardens Festival that runs\u00a0into\u00a0October.\u00a0Other\u00a0upcoming\u00a0Circus\u00a0Bella\u00a0shows include July 4 at Burgess Park in Menlo Park and July 9 at Lincoln Square Park in Oakland.\u00a0More\u00a0information is at\u00a0\u00a0www.circusbella.org<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0ybgfestival.org.<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Blues guitar great Eric Gales headlines the Fountain Blues and Brews Festival in San Jose, appearing on the main stage at 6:30 p.m. June 27. (Eric Gales via Bay City News)<\/p>\n

Fountain of blues:\u00a0While the Artful Observer\u00a0might suggest\u00a0that\u00a0blues music \u2014 electric and\/or acoustic\u00a0\u2014 in and of itself\u00a0is\u00a0a terrific form of entertainment,\u00a0if someone insists on adding world-class brews, tasty delicacies and arts and crafts,\u00a0it wouldn\u2019t\u00a0be hard to object.\u00a0That\u2019s\u00a0the case with one of San Jose\u2019s favorite events,\u00a0the Fountain Blues and Brews Festival, which returns this weekend to Plaza de Cesar Chavez. <\/p>\n

Performers include Eric Gales, the guitarist and onetime child prodigy who received a much-deserved boost from the blues-and-blood infused film \u201cSinners\u201d;\u00a0Chicago stalwart Ronnie Baker Brooks; revered vocalist Ruthie Foster; and a Blues Explosion showcase featuring the Bay Area\u2019s own Dynamic Miss Faye Carol and Fillmore Slim along with Lady Bianca, Alvon Johnson and more. True to the event\u2019s title, there will be a wide selection of beers,\u00a0wine\u00a0and non-alcoholic drinks to sip, plenty of barbecue and other culinary offers, arts and crafts vendors, an instrument petting zoo and other fun stuff. <\/p>\n

The event runs from noon to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Plaza de Cesar Chavez in downtown San Jose. Tickets and ticket packages run from $30-$200\u00a0at\u00a0fountainblues.com.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"The Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir brings its Juneteenth mini-tour to Livermore\u2019s Bankhead Theater on June 27. (Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir via Bay City News)<\/p>\n

You\u00a0gotta\u00a0have faith:\u00a0The\u00a0Grammy-winning Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir, known for its rich and passionate performances,\u00a0brings its\u00a0Juneteenth\u00a0show\u00a0to\u00a0the Bankhead Theater in Livermore\u00a0this weekend.\u00a0Led by dynamic music director Terrance Kelly,\u00a0the singers\u00a0promise\u00a0\u201ca high-energy, spirit-lifting performance\u201d of black gospel and spiritual music. <\/p>\n

OIGC,\u00a0celebrating its 40th anniversary, has\u00a0delivered hundreds of raise-the-rafters\u00a0concerts jammed with artists ranging from MC Hammer to Linda Ronstadt to The Muppets. It\u2019s also earned\u00a0a variety of music honors\u00a0and been the subject of an acclaimed 2018 documentary titled \u201cOne Voice.\u201d\u00a0The Bankhead show is at 8 p.m.\u00a0Saturday; tickets are $35\u00a0at\u00a0livermorearts.org<\/a>.\u00a0The group also appears as the opening act for\u00a0Tower of Power\u00a0on July 2\u00a0at the Alameda County Fair\u00a0in Pleasanton. The\u00a0concert starts at 8 p.m.; tickets are $48.50, not including fair admission.\u00a0Go to\u00a0annual.alamedacountyfair.com<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Soprano Elena Pankratova (Cory Weaver\/San Francisco Opera via Bay City News)<\/p>\n

Last chance:\u00a0The word is out:\u00a0San Francisco Opera\u2019s current production of Richard Strauss\u2019 thundering masterpiece \u201cElektra,\u201d based on the ancient Greek myth of human sacrifice, murder and bloody revenge, is indeed electrifying. That word and \u201cincendiary\u201d both pop up in the reviews, and there\u00a0remains\u00a0only one more chance\u00a0to enjoy (or endure) the hair-raising experience. <\/p>\n

The final performance of this revival of the acclaimed Keith Warner staging, which sets the action in a contemporary museum where the title character has been trapped, takes place at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at War Memorial Opera House. <\/p>\n

It stars Russian soprano Elena Pankratova in her San Francisco\u00a0Opera debut, singing the demanding role she has\u00a0excelled in\u00a0many times before on stages all over Europe. Soprano Elza van den Heever stars as Elektra\u2019s sister\u00a0Chrysothemis; Michaela Schuster is their mother Klytemnestra, guilty of conspiring to put their sibling Iphigenia to death; and bass-baritone Kyle Ketelsen is their brother Orest, architect of the final avenging act. <\/p>\n

Music director Eun Sun Kim leads the huge complement of musicians, an orchestral assemblage that\u00a0required\u00a0an expansion of the pit when the opera was first performed here in 1938. <\/p>\n

Find tickets, $29-$447, at\u00a0sfopeera.com<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"St\u00e9phane Den\u00e8ve, music director of the St. Louis Symphony, is the guest conductor of San Francisco Symphony concerts on June 25-27 featuring the Ruffatti organ in two major works. (San Francisco Symphony via Bay City News)<\/p>\n

All the pipes pumping:\u00a0San Francisco Symphony\u2019s mighty\u00a0Ruffatti\u00a0organ, 8,264 pipes strong, takes the metaphoric center stage this weekend as guest conductor\u00a0St\u00e9phane Den\u00e8ve, music director of the St. Louis Symphony, leads our Bay Area orchestra through two\u00a0pieces composed for the instrument.<\/p>\n

After opening the concerts with the first SF\u00a0Symphony performances of Guillaume Connesson\u2019s 2012 work \u201cFlammenschrift,\u201d\u00a0Den\u00e8ve\u00a0delves into c\u2019s 1938 Organ Concerto, with Olivier Latry on the bench as guest soloist. Also on the program is Camille Saint-Sa\u00ebns\u2019 Symphony No. 3, \u201cOrgan,\u201d which was a huge hit when it premiered with the composer conducting it himself in 1886. <\/p>\n

Performance times are 2 p.m. Thursday and 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Tickets, $30-$189, are available at\u00a0sfsymphony.org.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

The post Best Bets: Circus Bella, Fountain Blues and Brews, Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir, \u2018Elektra,\u2019\u00a0SF Symphony organ showcase<\/a> appeared first on Local News Matters<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Freebie of the week:\u00a0While so much of today\u2019s entertainment is on\u00a0phones,\u00a0tablets\u00a0and other screens,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0great to be able\u00a0to\u00a0rely on\u00a0the good-old-fashioned\u00a0circus\u00a0for\u00a0live…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376531,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[143,145,144],"class_list":["post-376530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}