Free ‘Hope” concert: The San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, known for performing for free and its mission to make classical music accessible and enjoyable for folks of all ages and backgrounds, plays a comforting year-end program this week in San Francisco, Berkeley and Palo Alto. Called “Celebration and Hope,” the concert includes Grażyna Bacewicz’s Concerto for String Orchestra; Camille Saint-Saëns’ Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso in A minor, Op. 28, and Havanaise in E major, Op. 83 featuring violinist Hiro Yoshimura; and Haydn’s Symphony No. 103, “Drumroll.” Principal conductor Jory Fankuchen, who took up the post this year, leads the performances at 7:30 p.m. Monday at the Taube Atrium Theater, 401 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco; 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way, Berkeley, and 3 p.m. Jan. 1 at First United Methodist Church, 625 Hamilton Ave., Palo Alto. Admission is free, but RSVPs are requested. Visit https://www.thesfco.org/main-stage.
Before they close ….: There’s still time, through the weekend, to catch two perennial Bay Area holiday favorites that can’t help but put you in a good mood. At the War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco Ballet presents “Nutcracker” in what’s technically the holiday staple’s 80th anniversary. It was in 1944 that the San Francisco Ballet Opera presented the first full-length “Nutcracker” in the United States, a programming choice that reportedly was at least partly because the company’s production of “Hansel and Gretel” the previous year bombed. What audiences enjoy today is a completely different rendition of the ballet: Former artistic director Helgi Tomasson’s lavish and acclaimed adaptation of “Nutcracker” set in San Francisco has been onstage for some 20 years now. Of course, the famed Tchaikovsky score remains at the helm. The production runs through Sunday, with no performances on Christmas Day; tickets are $19-$465 at sfballet.org. Meanwhile, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley is presenting its popular Jane Austen-fueled holiday show, “Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley.” The work was created by Bay Area playwrights Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon and is billed as a sequel to Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice,” this time focusing on the romantic fortunes of middle sister Mary Bennet. Performances run Thursday through Sunday at the Lucie Stern Theatre in Palo Alto. Tickets are $34-$115; go to theatreworks.org.
A Dickens of a Dickens show: San Francisco Mime Troupe’s holiday production of “A Red Carol” is not like most stage productions of the iconic Charles Dickens story. Nor is it typical of what’s often associated with a Mime Troupe show – a fast-paced bit of agitprop with guffaws lighting the way. No, “A Red Carol” is a harder-edged, somewhat darker appraisal of the story of a miser, which Mime Troupe members say is closer to Dickens’ original. Let’s face it, when everyone up to and including Mr. Magoo has had a crack at portraying Ebenezer Scrooge, the tale has been buffed too much. “Charles Dickens wasn’t trying to make people feel good, he was trying to show them a stark reality, scaring them into being more human,” says the Mime Troupe in its description of the show. “He wrote ‘A Christmas Carol’ to shake up society, and with ‘A Red Carol’ we are re-establishing his story as the revolutionary call-to-action he intended.” The show is based on Mime Troupe member Michael Gene Sullivan’s adaptation (he also directs) and musical arrangements and additional lyrics by fellow Troupe member Daniel Savio. It’s being performed through Sunday by a cast of six at the Z Space performance center in San Francisco. Tickets are $20-$50; go to sfmt.org.
Celebratory sounds for the new year: Continuing its 34th season, San José Chamber Orchestra closes out 2024 with “Celebration: Joys and Delights” in San José. The concert of music marking the changing of the year includes works by Bach, Chopin, Debussy and a world premiere by Bay Area composer Michael Touchi. Conductor Barbara Day Turner leads the proceedings, which include featured players, pianist Jon Nakamatsu (playing Chopin’s “Andante spianato et Grande polonaise brillante”); clarinetists Jon and Alec Manasse (playing an interpretation of Bach’s Double Violin Concerto); and Nakamatsu and Jon Manasse (playing Debussy’s “Premiere Rhapsodie.”) A reception and a sparkling toast will follow the performance, which is at 3 p.m. Sunday at St. Francis Episcopal Church, 1205 Pine Ave., San Jose. Tickets are $15-$75 at sjco.org and at the door.
An old friend returns: Until singer-songwriter-musician Vienna Teng released her two-song mini-EP “We’ve Got You” in the fall, it had been nine years since she had issued new music (the album “The Fourth Messenger” tied to a musical of the same name) and 11 years since her adventurous Detroit-themed album “Aims,” which she supported with a concert tour. If it seems like she has been writing music out of her life, the reality is more complicated. The Saratoga native has always had a lot of irons in the fire, and she maintains that she will release music and tour when she is inspired to do so, not because of recording or record company commitments. It was as a Stanford student and then an engineer for Cisco Systems in Silicon Valley that Teng began her music career. Inspired by such cerebral pop artists as Tori Amos and Paul Simon, Teng released several albums in the early 2000s before she enrolled in the Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise at the University of Michigan. She later joined the large consulting firm McKinsey & Company, working in renewable energy. Teng, long active in the issues of climate change and election fairness, is now based in Washington, D.C. and married with a 4-year-old daughter. Her being on the road again is a cause for celebration for her loyal fans. She performs at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Freight & Salvage in Berkeley. Alex Wong, a longtime collaborator of Teng’s, opens. Tickets are $49-$69; go to thefreight.org.
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