From the return of a iconic conductor to La Catrina\u2019s arrival in Oakland, there are a lot of great shows and concerts to catch in the Bay Area this weekend.<\/p>\n
Here is a partial rundown.<\/p>\n
Classical picks: Nagano visits, Oakland Symphony<\/p>\n
Here are a pair of concerts classical music fans won\u2019t want to miss.<\/p>\n
Nagano returns: One of the Bay Area\u2019s most beloved conductors returns this week with a special East Bay concert. Kent Nagano, the\u00a0 Berkeley Symphony\u2019s longtime Music Director Laureate, will appear in the East Bay to conduct the ensemble in works by J. S. Bach and Felix Mendelssohn; pianist Mari Kodama joins Nagano in Mendelssohn\u2019s \u201cPiano Concerto No. 1,\u201d and the composer\u2019s Symphony No. 5, \u201cReformation,\u201d is also on the program.<\/p>\n
Details: 4 p.m. Oct. 18; Henry J. Kaiser Center for the Arts, Oakland; $25-$118; Berkeley Symphony.org.<\/p>\n
\u201cDefiance\u201d: That\u2019s the title of the Oakland Symphony\u2019s new program, and it\u2019s one with plenty of heat in it. Under Music Director Kedrick Armstrong, the evening will conduct\u00a0 works by composers Anthony Davis and Karim Al-Zand, along with a medley by Tracy Chapman and Lauryn Hill, and the powerful Symphony No. 11 by Shostakovich.<\/p>\n
Details: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 16; Paramount Theatre, Oakland; tickets $150 and up; oaklandsymphony.org.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Georgia Rowe, Correspondent<\/p>\n
Impressive La Catrina arrives in Oakland<\/p>\n
In the lead-up to this year\u2019s D\u00eda de Muertos, Oakland has a new guardian keeping watch: a 34-foot-tall La Catrina sculpture, made by artists in Mexico City and trucked to Oakland, where it\u2019s been erected in Fruitvale Village.<\/p>\n
Reportedly the tallest La Catrina right now in the U.S. \u2014 such figures are traditionally made to celebrate Day of the Dead \u2014 the massive, skull-faced creation was commissioned by the Unity Council (among others) and fabricated by artist Romain Greco, of the art collective Artsumex. It will be a centerpiece at Fruitvale\u2019s D\u00eda de Muertos Festival, taking place Nov. 1, which typically draws as many as 100,000 visitors with live music, Latin American art and altar installations.<\/p>\n
\u201cLa Catrina is one of the most recognized symbols of D\u00eda de Muertos, standing for remembrance, the celebration of life and the enduring connection between generations,\u201d writes the nonprofit tourism group, Visit Oakland. \u201cDesigned with outstretched arms, Oakland\u2019s La Catrina will serve as a powerful gesture of welcome and embrace \u2014 symbolically welcoming migrants into the Fruitvale community while expressing our shared values of inclusion, care, belonging and cultural pride.\u201d<\/p>\n
Details: On view at 3301 East 12th St., Oakland (next to the Fruitvale BART station); visitoakland.com\/la-catrina.<\/p>\n
\u2014 John Metcalfe, Staff<\/p>\n
Composer Luppi back with \u2018Wilma\u2019<\/p>\n
Daniele Luppi has a long and varied musical backstory.<\/p>\n
The Italian composer has scored a number of films, including the 2008 Bruce Willis comedy \u201cAssassination of a High School President,\u201d and otherwise had his music utilized in the likes of 2003\u2019s \u201cUnder the Tuscan Sun\u201d and 2007\u2019s \u201cThe Nines.\u201d\u00a0He\u2019s also no stranger to TV, having garnered Emmy nominations for his tuneful work on STARZ\u2019s \u201cMagic City\u201d and Netflix\u2019s \u201cMarco Polo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Luppi remains best known for the 2011 Danger Mouse collaboration \u201cRome,\u201d which featured Jack White and Norah Jones and reached as high as No. 11 on the Billboard 200 album chart. \u201cRome\u201d was inspired by the soundtracks of classic Italian spaghetti Westerns. Luppi has also worked with Red Hot Chili Peppers, Gnarls Barkley and Depeche Mode.<\/p>\n
Now this fascinating artist \u2014 who was born in the picturesque Venetian city of Padua \u2014 returns with the enjoyable new album \u201cWilma.\u201d The record finds Luppi collaborating with Mercury Prize-winner Michael Kiwanuka and R&B talent Orion Sun.\u00a0The multi-talented artist, who can play piano, organ, bass, trumpet and other instruments, draws mostly from never-before-heard recordings by top Italian session players of the \u201860s, \u201970s and early \u201880s to create a sonic love letter to Italian cinema.<\/p>\n
Details: Released on Verve\/slowplay label; available in most record stores and digital formats.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Jim Harrington, Staff<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s your freebie of the week<\/p>\n
Despite being credited as perhaps the sunniest neighborhood in all of San Francisco, as well as having some of the best views of downtown and the bay, Potrero Hill never seems to gain a massive amount of attention \u2013 even in these days of a real estate frenzy over any Bay Area zip code. But for 51 years now, the neighborhood in the southeast section of the city \u2013 bordered by Route 101, 16th Street and the soon-to-be-renamed Caesar Chavez Street \u2013 has hosted the lively Potrero Hill R&B Festival. And it returns this weekend with a pretty impressive lineup. The event, which serves as a fundraiser for the Daniel Webster and Starr King elementary schools as well as several area kids programs, runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 17 along 20th Street between Wisconsin and Missouri streets. You\u2019ll find booths representing a wide variety of artwork, stuff to eat and drink and community organizations as well as music on two stages. Performers include JC Smith \u2013 one of the Bay Area\u2019s best blues guitarists \u2013 and his band (1 p.m.), Mitch Woods & His Rocket 88s dealing New Orleans-style R&B (2:30 p.m.), R&B\/soul act Andre Cruz & Chris Lujan (1:30 p.m.) and R&B\/blues\/soul singer But-tah Butterfly (1:30 p.m.) among others.<\/p>\n
Details: Admission is free; go to potrerofestival.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2014 Bay City News Foundation<\/p>\n Lage and in charge<\/p>\n If you were around the Bay Area, or in touch with its music scene, about 30 years ago, you might remember the emergence of a young guitar prodigy from Santa Rosa named Julian Lage, whose mighty talents and keen understanding of music drew the attention of luminaries ranging from David Grisman to Gary Burton. He was the focus of an Oscar-nominated documentary, \u201cJules at Eight\u201d; performed at the Grammy Awards at age 13 and was a member of the Stanford Jazz Workshop faculty at age 15. Some artists who break out at such an early age tend to phase out by the time they reach adulthood. Lage is not one of them. Now 38 and based in New York City, he has kept his career thriving while expanding his repertoire into country, blues and other genres. He has maintained his Bay Area connections as well, and last year served for a time as an SFJAZZ artistic director. In January, Lage released his latest album, \u201cScenes from Above,\u201d on the Blue Note label and this weekend he returns to the Bay Area with his new quartet, including Jorge Roeder on bass, drummer Kenny Wollesen, and the phenomenal John Medeski on keyboards.<\/p>\n Details: He performs 7:30 p.m. Oct. 18 at the UC Davis\u2019 Mondavi Center ($42-$72, www.mondaviarts.org<\/a>), 8 p.m. Oct. 19 at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco $65-$135, www.sfjazz.org<\/a>) and 7:30 p.m. Oct. 21 at Stanford University\u2019s Bing Concert Hall ($50.76-$78.84; (live.stanford.edu<\/a>).<\/p>\n \u2014 Bay City News Foundation<\/p>\n Last side, now, for Judy Collins<\/p>\n Judy Collins, one of the more acclaimed and influential singers\/musicians in folk music history, has embarked on a farewell tour that lands in Berkeley this weekend. Despite releasing more than 50 albums over a six-decade career, and despite her dogged involvement with a variety of social causes, she remains best known for two hits that were not-particularly-rabble-rousing covers of others\u2019 songs: \u201cBoth Sides, Now\u201d (Joni Mitchell) and \u201cSend in the Clowns\u201d (Stephen Sondheim). She\u2019s been blessed with one of the most purely gorgeous singing voices in popular music history, which is one reason why her rendition of \u201cAmazing Grace\u201d was inducted into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as a culturally significant performance. Renowned artists ranging from Rufus Wainwright to Shawn Colvin to the late Leonard Cohen and Dolly Parton have cited her singing brilliance and influence, and all contributed songs to the tribute album \u201cBorn to the Breed: A Tribute to Judy Collins.\u201d Organizers say her farewell concerts will span the whole of her career and will include a few stories and asides about her legendary musical journey. Even if your knowledge of Collins and catalogue doesn\u2019t go much beyond \u201cSend In the Clowns\u201d and \u201cBoth Sides Now,\u201d this weekend\u2019s concert will likely serve up some utterly transcendent moments.<\/p>\n Details: Collins performs 3 p.m. Oct. 18 at UC Berkeley as part of the Cal Performances series. Tickets are $50-$119; go to calperformances.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2014 Bay City News Foundation<\/p>\n A double dose of TQ<\/p>\n Berkeley Chamber Performances is hosting the renowned Telegraph Quartet at two different East Bay venues, bringing them first to the Lafayette Library at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 18 and re-engaging them for a repeat recital at the Berkeley City Club at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 20. On their program is the \u201cElegy\u201d and \u201cPolka,\u201d which Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich wrote in a single night in 1931, basing them both on two of his earlier works \u2013 an aria from his opera \u201cLady Macbeth of Mtsensk\u201d and a dance from his ballet \u201cThe Golden Age.\u201d An 18-year-old Felix Mendelssohn gave his String Quartet No. 2 the title \u201cEst is wahr?\u201d (Is it true?), quoting from the first line of a song he had written a few months earlier.<\/p>\n The final work on the program is Austrian-born American composer Erich Korngold\u2019s String Quartet No. 3 in D Major, which quotes liberally from music written after he became a titan among Hollywood composers in the 1930s and \u201840s, including the love theme from 1941\u2019s \u201cThe Sea Wolf.\u201d<\/p>\n