Bay Area arts: 10 great shows and concerts to catch this weekend

From classic ballet to a science-themed new musical to country music superstar, there is a lot to see and hear in the Bay Area this weekend and beyond. Here is a partial rundown.

Rock ‘n’ roll astronomy

It’s totally not fair! They have come up with rock musicals for all kinds of things, from bands like The Temptations to Green Day; to Greek gods and pinball players with special needs and a sweet transvestite from Transylvania. But where’s the love for scientists — the people who help us make sense of the universe?

Berkeley Repertory Theatre has taken care of that, thank goodness, with the world premiere of “Galileo,” opening this week. The musical — featuring all new songs by Michael Weiner and Zoe Sarnak and a book by two-time Emmy Award-winner Danny Strong — centers on the life and discoveries of Galileo Galilei, the Italian astronomer whose work was so revolutionary it irritated certain faith-based powers that be in Rome (and these are not the sorts of people you want to go around irritating).

“Galileo: A Rock Musical” is directed by famed stage hitmaker Michael Mayer (“American Idiot,” “Spring Awakening”) and stars the multi-award-winning actor Raul Esparza, who’s known for performances ranging from TV’s “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” to a wide range of stage productions, including “Company,” “Arcadia”  and the San Francisco-born “Seared.”

Details: Through June 23; Berkeley Rep’s Roda Theatre; tickets start at $22.50; www.berkeleyrep.org

— Randy McMullen, Staff

Classical picks: Marsalis, Cahill & Myers, youth is served

Symphonic works are the main attractions this weekend, as the Oakland Symphony, San Francisco Youth Orchestra and San Jose Chamber Orchestra present engaging programs; a concert of piano works featuring the inimitable Sarah Cahill is another weekend highlight.

Marsalis concerto at Oakland Symphony: The Oakland Symphony closes out its 2023-24 season Friday evening with Wynton Marsalis’s 2019 “Violin Concerto” — a jazzy score that boasts four movements titled  “Rhapsody,” “Rondo Burlesque,” “Blues,” and “Hootenanny.” Kyle Dickson conducts the performance, with Kelly Hall-Tompkins as soloist.  Also on the program: Copland’s moving “Canticle of Freedom,” featuring the Oakland Symphony Chorus, and Beethoven’s monumental Symphony No. 5.

Details: 8 p.m. May17; Paramount Theatre, Oakland; $68-$90; oaklandsymphony.org.

One piano, four hands: Pianists Sarah Cahill and Regina Myers team up on Saturday for an evening of piano music including “Tonk” by Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington, transcribed by Jed Distler; works by contemporary composers Hanna Kulenty, Colin McPhee, Mamoru Fujieda, Janice Giteck, and Riley Nicholson are also included.

Details: 7 p.m. Saturday; Dresher Ensemble Studio, Oakland; $10-$25; dresherensemble.org.

Young artists at Davies, San Jose

The 100 members of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra return to Davies Symphony Hall on Sunday afternoon to demonstrate their always-amazing level of prowess. Daniel Stewart conducts the ensemble in Mahler’s Symphony No. 5.

Meanwhile, 18-year-old violinist Audrey Goodner, who placed second at 38th Irving M. Klein International String Competition, joins San Jose Chamber Orchestra on Sunday for a program that includes “Hildegard” for string orchestra by Bay Area composer Anica Galindo, as well as works by Respighi and Mozart.

Details: Youth Chorus, 2 p.m. Sunday at Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, $20-$55, sfsymphony.org; San Jose Chamber Orchestra, 7 p.m. Sunday at St Francis Episcopal Church, 1205 Pine Ave., San José, $15-$75, sjco.org.

— Georgia Rowe, Correspondent

A pair of dance classics

New Ballet in San Jose and Diablo Ballet in Walnut Creek are presenting beloved classics this weekend.

New Ballet will offer perform a full-length take on “Cinderella” in four performances over the weekend. Company dancers Alysa Reinhardt and Jack Concordia will perform as Cinderella and the Prince, respectively (with substitutions in certain performances) and the production features choreography by company director and founder Dalia Rawson, along with Prokofiev’s beloved score.

Details: 2 and 7 p.m. Saturday; 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Sunday; Hammer Theatre Center, San Jose; $12.50-$65; newballet.com.

Meanwhile, Diablo Ballet is presenting a new take on the iconic “The Firebird,” the ballet originally created in 1910 for Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. This production features new choreography by Brian Enos set to Stravinsky’s score. This weekend’s performances includes opportunities to meet the performers and even enjoy a specialty cocktail.

Details: 7:30 p.m. Friday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday; Lesher Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek; $26-$54; diabloballet.org.

— Randy McMullen, Staff

The force is with this Luke

Luke Combs released his debut album, “This One’s for You,” in 2017. And his career has been on fire ever since. To the point where he ranks as one of the top artists not only in the country genre — but in all of music.

Want proof? Just turn out to Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara this weekend, where Combs is set to headline two huge shows. Yes, that’s the same number of shows that the mighty Taylor Swift played at the venue in 2023. It’s also the same number that Elton John performed there on his farewell tour in 2022.

That’s what happens when you release one chart-topping radio hit after another, year after year. His His stable of No. 1 recordings includes such platinum-plus-selling offerings as “Hurricane,” “When It Rains It Pours,” “She Got the Best of Me,” “Beautiful Crazy,” “Beer Never Broke My Heart” and last year’s smash cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car.”

Combs brings his tour in support of his fourth studio album, 2023’s “Gettin’ Old,” to Levi’s Friday and Saturday.

Details: 5:45 p.m. each night; single-day tickets start at $51.50; two-day tickets start at $91(both subject to change); ticketmaster.com.

— Jim Harrington, Staff

CAAMFest serves up some winners

Exceptional female-focused features drive this year’s slate of films at CAAMFest, the annual Center for Asian American Media festival that co continues through Sunday in San Francisco and Oakland. Here are two films to catch this weekend.

“Girls Will Be Girls:” I was fortunate to catch this CAAMFest Centerpiece selection virtually at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, where it won the audience award for world narrative feature. Director-screenwriter Shuchi Talati’s feature debut sensually and authentically focuses on the sexual stirrings of 16-year-old student leader Mira (Preeti Panigrahi) as well as her complicated relationship with her mother (Kani Kusruti) in North India.

“Owl”: Oakland filmmaker Julian Pham’s promising directorial debut is a character-driven drama set in her East Bay hometown. Restless daughter Jean (Marica Petrey, an Oakland actor, producer and musician) returns home to help her ailing father and pinch hit for him at his locksmith business. But a customer call leads her into the maw of an ethical dilemma.

Details: “Girls Will Be Girls” screens 2:35 p.m. Saturday at SFMOMA, with filmmaker Talati slated to attend. “Owl” screens 6:30 p.m. Sunday at New Parkway Theater, Oakland; $18-$20 each film; caamfest.com/2024/.

— Randy Myers, Bay City News Foundation

A symphonic swan song

Daniel Stewart, who has been the Wattis Foundation Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra (which he was a member of in his own fairly recent youth) for five years, is bowing out this Sunday afternoon with a concert featuring a great masterpiece, the Symphony No. 5 in C minor by Gustav Mahler.  The magnificent, five-moment work comprises the entire program Stewart will lead his young musicians through in Davies Hall at 2 p.m. Sunday. It’s a challenging piece for any orchestra, but this group, young men and women ages 12 through 21 from all over the Bay Area, have tackled many impressive works under Stewart’s baton before, including Beethoven’s Fifth, Stravinsky’s “Le Sacre du printemps” and Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet.”

Furthermore, during the month of April, the SFSYO members have had a chance to prepare the Mahler in side-by-side rehearsals with members of the San Francisco Symphony. Meanwhile, Stewart, who has conducting credits with major orchestras such as the St. Louis Symphony and the Metropolitan Opera, will continue his music directorship of the Santa Cruz Symphony. His replacement will be announced in June.

Details: $20-$25; sfsymphony.org.

— Bay City News Foundation