Freebie of the week: The 122-year-old Golden Gate Park Bandshell, one of the oldest and largest of its kind in North America, is known for many things. With its Italian Renaissance architecture, it’s among the most distinctive landmarks in a park that is full of them. It is also distinguished as one of the city’s most valuable gifts: The bandshell is officially named the Spreckels Temple of Music in honor of sugar magnate Claus Spreckels, who donated the $80,000 structure (in 1900s dollars) to the city at the urging of his son, Adolph B. Spreckles, who was Parks Commission president at the time. Mostly, however, the bandshell is known for annually hosting more than 100 free concerts, ranging in genre from jazz to classical to roots music, rock, R&B and more. This weekend, the bandshell kicks off its 2025 season with a free gig featuring Bay Area jazz/blues/soul singer and activist Christie Aida and The Free Press; Afro-Latin band Batuki; ecologically minded singer Anna Karney; NorCal singer-songwriter Ben Lang; and the Stephanie Woodford Duo. Reportedly, some (or all) will perform covers of Beatles/Paul McCartney songs, in celebration of the exhibition “Paul McCartney Photographs 1963-64: Eyes of the Storm,” which opens this weekend at the de Young Museum. The concert runs from noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday; it’s followed by a reggae show at 4:20 p.m. Sunday headlined by DJ Guidance. The concerts are organized by the San Francisco arts/recreation nonprofit Illuminate. More information about the bandshell and the concert series is at illuminate.org
Bad ideas are funny: Endgames Improv is a scrappy San Francisco troupe that offers comedy and improv classes as well concept-driven comedy shows big on audience participation. The company’s overriding goal is to train lots of young funny entertainers and then put them on a stage where people don’t have to pay a lot. Probably Endgame Improv’s best known regular show is “Your F***ed Up Relationship,” which takes folks’ real tales of relationship woes and uses them as inspiration for improv comedy bits. You can catch the roughly one-hour show at 9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Endgames is also serving a once-a-month show that sounds like a blast: Go Tech Yourself,” in which comedians act out audience members’ descriptions of, as organizers put it, the “craziest, absurd and most unnecessary app ideas” people can come up with. The show returns to Endgame Improv’s theater, 2965 Mission St., San Francisco, at 8 p.m. Thursday. Tickets are $17.35; go to endgamesimprov.com.
Harp tradition: Harmonica player Mark Hummel, 70, has had a substantial impact on the local music scene, and blues, since settling in the East Bay in the early 1970s. He’s collaborated with icons Charlie Musselwhite, John Mayall, Elvin Bishop, Country Joe McDonald, Duke Robillard and Angela Strehli, has released more than 20 albums under his name and contributed to countless others. But perhaps his most beloved accomplishment, at least among blues fans, is the annual Blues Harmonica Blowout concert he founded and has been running since 1991. Hummel never fails to attract A-list musicians. This year’s edition is no exception. Guest artists include the extraordinary musician and blues/soul singer Curtis Salgado; the acclaimed Alligator Records duo Nick Moss and Dennis Gruenling; Marta Suñé, aka Sweet Marta; guitarist Bob Welsh and more. You can catch the 2025 Harmonica Blowout at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Freight & Salvage Coffee House in Berkeley. Tickets are $54-$59. Go to thefreight.org/shows.
Downfall of the don: Many of Mozart’s operas are frothy delights, with some semi-serious themes expertly woven in—“The Marriage of Figaro” being a hallmark case in point. But his hugely popular, almost as frequently performed “Don Giovanni” is a different breed altogether. It’s a tragedy in the classic Greek tradition, where the protagonist’s fatal flaw brings about his own undoing, that is nonetheless shot through with some truly comedic episodes. Livermore Valley Opera brings the composer’s masterwork to life at the Bankhead Theater this weekend for four performances with that duality fully in mind. American baritone Titus Muzzi III makes his LVO debut in the title role of the swaggering, lecherous nobleman whose proud and stubborn defiance of authority leads to his spectacular and fiery demise. And at his side through much of the opera and providing most of the comic relief is his long-serving servant Leporello, sung by bass-baritone Samuel Weiser, whose hilarious “catalogue” aria about the Don’s multitude of amorous conquests is a decided highlight of the work. Cuban-American soprano Meryl Dominguez sings as Donna Anna, and soprano Cara Gabrielson is Donna Elvira, both making their LVO debuts. Kirk Eichelberger returns to the LVO stage to deploy the thunderous bass that ultimately drags the doomed Don down. The opera’s run kicks off at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, with repeat performances at 2 p.m. Sunday and 2 p.m. March 8-9. Find tickets, $25-$110, at livermorevalleyopera.com.
A crush of lush music: Two highlights of the Romantic era of music are on tap this weekend, as guest conductor Robin Ticciati, the current music director of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, steps to the podium in Davies Hall to lead the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra through performances of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s popular Symphony No. 2 and Ludwig van Beethoven’s exquisitely beautiful Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major. On the bench for the Beethoven, which was completed in 1806, is Swiss pianist Francesco Piemontesi, making his San Francisco Symphony debut. Tickets for all three performances are available in limited amounts. They take place at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets, $49-$225, are at sfsymphony.org.
The post Best Bets: GG Park Bandshell concerts, Endgames Improv, Blues Harmonica Blowout, ‘Don Giovanni,’ Ticciati conducts Rachmaninoff appeared first on Local News Matters.