Looking up: Combining the thrill of a circus act and the artistry of ballet, aerial arts is a compelling dance form with a sizable following in the Bay Area. Several companies teach and perform aerial arts, in which one or more performers creates a movement routine while suspended via a rope or other means. Find out what it’s all about this weekend when the San Francisco Aerial Arts Festival unfolds at Fort Mason Center. The every-other-year event is hosted by the acclaimed performance troupe, Zaccho Dance Theatre. The festival will highlight the form’s stunning athleticism and its varied performance types, from thrill rides to thematic productions and site-specific art works. This year’s festival includes performances from youths and adults, and, for the first time, a film festival. Along with Zaccho Dance, the lineup includes Flyaway Productions, Gregory Dawson and dawsondancesf, Aeriosa Dance Society, Corporeal Imago, Kelsey na Gealai, Shannon Gray, Thai Lam, Megan Lowe & Roel Seeber, Sam Wilder, Joey the Tiger, and more. Performances are at 8 p.m. Friday; 1, 3 and 8 p.m. Saturday, and 3 and 7 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $10-$30; go to zaccho.org.
Freebie of the week: A lot was going with the Talking Heads when the band began work on its fourth album, “Remain in Light.” Leader David Byrne was suffering from writer’s block. Drummer Chris Frantz and bassist Tina Weymouth, by then a married couple, were debating leaving the band. Famed producer Brian Eno, who had worked on the Heads’ two previous albums, wasn’t sure he wanted in on this one. But what emerged from recording sessions in the Bahamas and New York in 1980 turned out to be an unqualified artistic and commercial success. With a sound that melded funk, pop, the Nigerian Afro-pop of Femi Kuti, electronic and more, and lyrical content touching on everything from African mythology to John Dean’s Watergate testimony, “Remain in Light” has been cited as one of the best and most influential albums of the era and a landmark in popular music. Now, Marin resident Jerry Harrison, the Talking Heads’ talented guitarist and keyboardist, is revisiting the release with a pair of concerts, teaming with guitarist Adrian Belew, who took part in the recording of the album. While David Byrne won’t be on hand with his wide-shouldered suits and herky-jerky stage manner, these shows are a great chance to hear some iconic and unique music. One concert, at 1 p.m. Saturday at China Basin Park in San Francisco, is free. The other, at 7 p.m. Friday at The Quarry in Santa Cruz, is ticketed ($61-$118). For tickets and information, visit tixr.com/groups/noisepop or remaininlight.net.
Living the daydream: Whether you want to relive one of the Bay Area’s most iconic musical eras or just listen to some awfully talented artists, McNears Beach Park in San Rafael is a good place to be on Sunday. The site is hosting Sunday Daydream Volume 4, a daylong family-friendly concert and celebration organized and curated by former Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh, who headlines with his band Phil Lesh & Friends. The “& Friends” include Taylor Goldsmith, Stu Allen, Holly Bowling, Griffin Goldsmith, Natalie Cressman, and Grahame Lesh (Phil’s son). The event will no doubt feature Dead-era tunes and serve as something of a consolation for fans of Phil Lesh’s Terrapin Crossroads, a popular concert joint and restaurant that closed in 2021. The event runs 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the park, 201 Cantera Way, San Rafael, and also features sets by Sam Grisman Project, featuring the son of bluegrass icon David Grisman and working of the deep and delightful catalog favored by David Grisman and Jerry Garcia in their legendary partnership; the popular Americana band Wolf Jett; and Marin singer-songwriter Jon Chi and his band the Pacific Syndicate. There also will be food and drink and kids’ activities. Tickets are $99 ($29 for ages 2-12). Go to sundaydaydream.com.
Strings but no bow: What the heck is a theorbo? It’s a lute on steroids. An instrument developed by Baroque musicians craving a lower, richer sound, the theorbo is a plucked string instrument with an extended neck and a soundbox with a curved back (like its ancestor the lute) that is typically 6 feet long and has about 14 strings. But let’s have an expert demonstrate; there will be two opportunities this weekend. Andrew Flory, a classical guitarist, theorbo player and lutenist from Rochester, New York, appears in recital at 7 p.m. Friday at Trinity Lutheran Church in Pleasanton and at 7 p.m. Saturday at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Walnut Creek. On his program are works by Alessandro Piccinini, G.G. Kapsberger and Robert de Visée. He will also perform favorite works for classical guitar. You will have no trouble determining which instrument is which! Donations of $20 are requested for the Pleasanton event at 1225 Hopyard Road, $5 for students with children admitted free, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds. The Walnut Creek recital at 1924 Trinity Ave. has a similar setup, with donations of $20 general, $10 students, but all are welcome. Register in advance at stpaulswc.org/concert-series, where you can link to view the full program. For a sample, hear Flory play “La Muzette” from the Suite in G Major, a work by Visée, here.
A grand night for singing: The Merola Opera Program brings its 2024 Summer Festival to a glorious conclusion at 7:30 p.m. Saturday on the War Memorial Opera House stage in San Francisco. With renowned conductor Steven White at the podium, the Merola Grand Finale will roll out a program in which all 29 enrollees in the apprenticeship program (singers, coaches and pianists) have participated. The repertoire includes arias, duets, trios, quartets and ensemble and theater pieces—selections from Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville” and “The Italian Girl in Algiers,” Donizetti’s “Don Pasquale” and “Lucia di Lammermoor,” Mozart’s “Cosi fan tutte,” Bellini’s “Norma” and “I Puritani,” Beethoven’s “Fidelio,” Mascagni’s “L’amico Fritz,” Gounod’s “Roméo et Juliette,” Blanchard’s “Fire Shut Up in My Bones,” Heggie’s “Dead Man Walking,” Tchaikovsky’s “Iolanta,” Young-Sup Choi’s “Longing for Diamond Mountain,” Johann Strauss’ “Die Fledermaus,” songs by Richard Strauss, Massenet’s “Werther,” Kalman’s “Die Csárdásfürstin” and, from the film “Bitter Sweet,” Noel Coward’s “I’ll See You Again.” Tickets, $10-$65, are available at merola.org or by calling (415) 864-3330, and there are also $85 tickets available for a reception after in the Green Room of the Veterans Building next door.
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