From a pair of frontline jazz saxophonists to SF Sketchfest shows to a new John Adams work, there is a lot to see and do in the Bay Area this weekend.

Here’s a partial rundown.

Pair of sax stars hit SFJAZZ

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Two fantastic saxophonists — Tia Fuller and Grace Kelly — are combining forces for one night in San Francisco.

The two talented musicians, who are also accomplished composers and bandleaders, perform a co-headlining show at SFJAZZ Center on Jan. 16.

Fuller is an award-winning instrumentalist whose many accolades include having earned the title of best alto saxophonist in the 2018 JazzTimes Jazz Critics Poll. That very same year, she was the Artist-in-Residence at the Monterey Jazz Festival.

She’s released a number of recordings as a bandleader and has played alongside such talents as Nancy Wilson, Dianne Reeves, Chaka Khan, Ledisi, Kelly Rowland, Dionne Warwick, Janelle Monáe, Aretha Franklin and Beyonce.

Kelly got an early start in the industry, having written her first tune at age 7 and then released her full-length debut, 2005’s “Dreaming,” at 12.

Since then, the saxophonist — who is also a gifted vocalist — has become a very recognizable name in the jazz world, thanks to a steady stream of well-received albums like 2009’s “Mood Changes” and 2011’s “Man with the Hat. “

Details: Showtime is 7:30 pm; $25-$85; sfjazz.org.

— Jim Harrington, Staff

‘Remembrance’ of colonialism

Evidence of Mumbai’s colonial past can be found in the city’s chawls, rickety tenement flats stacked upon each other like depressing LEGO blocks.
The structures sprung up around the city to house the poor working class, such as the laborers who contributed to the success of the East India Company through the 1800s. Chawls were typically crowded, unsanitary and structurally perilous – of course, the British merchants themselves lived in huge bungalows out of sight of such things.

Today in Mumbai you can still find chawls in poorer areas of the city. You can also find their influence in “A Forest of Remembrance,” Amol K. Patil’s fascinating new exhibit at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. India-born artist Patil has altered the museum walls to look rough and weathered, mimicking the layers of old paint in chawls. Hanging throughout are paintings and strange sculptures of blobby, organic masses, made from clay cast in bronze, with hands and feet jutting out as if in protest.

Through such alien yet familiar art, the museum writes, Patil “shines light on the social and political injustices these communities face and the dignity, creativity and resourcefulness with which they continue to fight for their rights.”
Details: Show is open 11 am-7 pm Wednesday-Sunday from January 18-April 27 at 2155 Center St., Berkeley; $18 general admission, bampfa.org

–John Metcalfe, Staff

Classical picks: New Adams work; NCCO, Bullock is back

The Bay Area’s classical music scene never seems to rest, and having put away December’s holiday treats, we once again have a full schedule before us. This week’s highlights include a new work by composer John Adams, and pianist Inon Barnatan featured in a program by the New Century Chamber Orchestra.

“After the Fall”: That’s the title of John Adams’ new piano concerto, receiving its world premiere at the San Francisco Symphony at Davies Symphony Hall this week in three performances featuring soloist Vikingur Ólafsson. A SF Symphony commission, the concerto is inspired by Ólafsson’s Bach performances; David Robertson, a new music specialist, will conduct. The program also includes Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana,” with soprano Susanna Phillips, tenor Arnold Livingston Geis, and baritone Will Liverman as soloists, joined by the combined power of the SF Symphony Chorus and SF Girls Chorus.

Details: 7:30 pm today and Saturday, 2 pm Sunday; Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco; $125-$250; sfsymphony.org.

“Musical Diversions”: Aptly titled, the New Century Chamber Orchestra has an engaging program on the calendar. Pianist Inon Barnatan joins the ensemble in CPE Bach’s dynamic Third Keyboard Concerto; Also on the program are Bartok’s “Divertimento,” filled with the composer’s beloved Hungarian folk rhythms; and Shostakovich’s first piano concerto, with the work’s trumpet solos provided by guest artist Brandon Ridenour of the American Brass Quintet.

Details: 7:30 pm Friday at First Congregational Church, Berkeley, 3 pm Saturday at Green Music Center, Sonoma, and 2 pm Sunday at Presidio Theater, San Francisco; $35-$100; ncco.org.

Bullock returns: If you were lucky enough to experience soprano Julia Bullock’s performance of  Olivier Messiaen’s “Harawi” last September at Cal Performances, you know why the she’s been called one of the essential artists of her generation. Now Bullock is set to return to Berkeley in her second engagement of the season. Joined by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, she’ll sing arias in Italian, French and English by Handel, Lully, Rameau, and Purcell. The program also features instrumental works by Bach, Vivaldi, Handel, and Pachelbel.

Details: 3 p.m. Jan. 19, Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley; $61-$106; calperformances.org

Game on in San Jose

City Lights Theater Company in San Jose kicks off 2025 with “In Love and Warcraft,” Madhuri Shekar’s R-rated rom-com that explores a variety of hot-button topics — especially the challenges of experiencing real-life intimacy in a world dominated by digital communications.

The action centers on Evie (played by Anna Kosiarek), a college student who is a fierce gamer and expert at online role playing. Meanwhile, she quietly runs a side-business immersed in the old-school practice of helping the romantically challenged write love letters. Of course, everything changes when she begins to fall in love for real.

South Bay native Shekar’s other stage works include “House of Joy,” “Queen,” “A Nice Indian Boy” and “Bucket of Blessings.” She’s also written for the Netflix show “Three Body Problem” and HBO’s fantasy series “The Nevers.”

American Conservatory Theater’s MFA program staged “In Love and Warcraft” in 2020, now it’s City Lights Theater’s turn.

Details: In previews today and Friday; main run is Saturday through Feb. 9; City Lights Theater, San Jose; $31-$70; cltc.org.

— Randy McMullen, Staff

Art Week returns to Bay Area

If you want a chance to experience how vast and varied the Bay Area’s art museum/gallery scene is, San Francisco Art Week is the event for you. Running Saturday through Jan. 26, SFAW features special events and programs at some 70 art museums and galleries in the city, East Bay, South Bau and Marin County. And practically all of them are free.

The event officially kicks off 6 p.m Saturday with a celebration at the Institute of Contemporary Art’s new downtown location, although there will be events throughout the day at the Institute of Contemporary Art in San Jose, the San Francisco Museum of Modern and the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. Several venues are hosting special events on Monday tied to SF Art Week as well as the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. These include the Museum of the African Diaspora, which will include a performance by the great Bay Area composer and musician Marcus Shelby and his Youth Orchestra as well as the young members of the Prescott Circus. Mostly, however, the event gives us all a chance to see how impressive the Bay Area museum/gallery offerings are. For a complete lineup and more information, go to sfartweek.com

— Bay City News Foundation

New Century teams with famed pianist

Music director Daniel Hope and the New Century Chamber Orchestra are harnessing the talents of renowned pianist Inon Barnatan, who will join the ensemble as a featured soloist on the two major works on the program. C.P. E. Bach’s Keyboard Concerto No. 3 in D minor is a Baroque masterpiece that will be paired with the 20th century’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in C minor by the great Dmitri Shostakovich, and Barnatan finds “fascinating connections” between the two, including the “bold, unpredictable twists” they both deploy. “I love how these pieces speak to each other across time,” Barnatan says, “ and I hope the audience hears both the contrasts and the unexpected common ground between them.”

One unusual facet of the Shostakovich work is that it also calls for a solo trumpet to engage in a sort of duel with the piano, and Brandon Ridenour from the American Brass Quintet will step into that role. The program will close with Béla Bártok’s Divertimento for String Orchestra.

Details: Concerts are 7:30 p.m. Jan. 17 in Berkeley’s First Congregational Church, 3 p.m. Jan. 18 in Sonoma State University’s Green Music Center in Rohnert Park and 2 p.m. Jan. 19 at Presidio Theatre in San Francisco; $35-$80, www.ncco.org.

— Bay City News Foundation

Dinner date from hell (or heaven!)

If you can’t find something at San Francisco’s annual comedy explosion known as SF Sketchfest that tickles your funny bone, your funny bone is either non-functioning or you’re someone like Vladimir Putin, who probably giggles at chemical weapons explosions. Sketchfest was founded in 2001 by Bay Area comedians David Owen, Cole Stratton and Janet Varney as a showcase of the Bay Area comedic talent and has developed over the years into one of the world’s most extensive and impressive comedy festivals. It runs Jan. 16 through  Feb. 2 and features nearly 200 shows at a variety of mostly San Francisco venues.

The events run from standup comedy to celebrity Q&As to film screenings with special guests to pretty much anything that isn’t a chemical weapons explosion (sorry, Vlad). There is obviously too much going on to describe it all here but one event that looks really promising is an improv comedy event titled “Dinner Date.” It features Rachel Bloom, Dan Gregor, John Ross Bowie and Jamie Denbo on a fake, extemporaneous dinner date that, as organizers say, “could end in anything from murder to polygamy depending on the suggestion.” You can catch the show at 7 p.m. Friday and 9:30 p.m. Saturday at the Great Star Theater in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Tickets are $45-$57. Go to sfsketchfest.com for tickets and more information on Sketchfest.

— Bay City News Foundation

Listen and Laugh at Porchlight

San Francisco’s long-running Porchlight storytelling series has seized a spot on this year’s SF Sketchfest comedy extravaganza, and is booked for a gig at the Great American Music Hall, 859 O’Farrell St., from 8 to 9:30 p.m. on Friday. Porchlight co-founders Arline Klatte and Beth Lisick are in the lineup of actors, writers and musicians who will stand in front of the microphone without benefit of notes or teleprompters and attempt to entertain the audience with a full 10 minutes of witty monologue. Others participating are musician Merrill Garbus of the Tune-Yards band, actor-writer-producer Michael Hitchcock, “MythBusters” co-host Adam Savage, writer Ayelet Waldman, composer-arranger-producer Marc Capelle, TV and movie actor Gary Anthony Williams and funk musicians Dawn Silva and Gail Muldrow.

Details: Tickets are $38 including service fee; www.sfsketchfest.com.

— Bay City News Foundation

She’s taking a bow

Not every comedian in the Bay Area this week is here for Sketchfest. Take Isabel Hagen, for example. The New York City-born entertainer lands at Stanford University on Thursday for two performances, part of the Stanford Live performance series. Some of you might recognize Hagen from her other main pursuit: She is a classically trained violist who has performed with several contemporary classical and new music outfits as well as a pit orchestra member for several Broadway productions, including “Lion King,” “Fiddler on the Roof” and “Les Miserables” (and here’s where we don’t make an inappropriate wisecrack about classical music lovers needing a sense of humor). While she was a sophomore at the Juilliard School, Hagen posted a comedic video titled “How to Convince People You’re Really Good at Chamber Music,” and the positive response she received convinced her she might have a knack for comedy. And when she was sidelined from playing music for a time because of an injury, she hit a series of comedy joints’ open mic nights and found more success. Perhaps her biggest mainstream breakthrough came in 2020, when she performed on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon,” and made her viola part of her routine. It’s a practice she continues today. You can find out for yourself Thursday when she performs two sets at The Studio at Stanford University.

Details: Performances are 7 and 9 p.m.; tickets, $15-$45, are going fast; live.stanford.edu

— Bay City News Foundation