Opera Meets the Old West
What better way to spend a winter weekend afternoon than with a movie, featuring a crafty criminal, a suspicious sheriff, and a tough frontier woman with a tender heart? This dramatic love triangle is set during the Gold Rush.
No, it's not an Clint Eastwood, but a Giacomo Puccini.
The San Francisco Opera is presenting a kid-sized version of Puccini's opera, the classic Western The Girl of the Golden West.
Created from San Francisco Opera’s 2010 production of the same name, this one-hour movie is a perfect way for families to learn about the magic of opera. The company’s education department produced the movie specially for Bay Area school and community programs.
This free performance, in Italian with English subtitles, is recommended for ages 8 and up.
The movie will be screened at 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. on Feb. 25 and 26 at Herbst Theatre. Advance registration is required, and is available at sfopera.com/girlmovie and you can read more about the event on SFCV.
TASP Presents: Music and Dance Festival
Eight teens will present an enriching program looking at how music has evolved in African-American culture at a unique Mini African-American Festival this Friday at the San Francisco Main Library. The event is one of the hallmark programs of the library's Black History Month commemoration.
The annual Tenderloin After School Program (TASP) music and dance celebration, from 4 to 5:30 p.m., will feature presentation by students and community members, says Zeyda Garcia, program coordinator of TASP.
"The entire program was put together by the teenagers," Garcia says. "Not only does it teach them important skills like public speaking, it allows them to delve into their heritage and different cultures."
TASP — part of the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Coalition — offers programs that are culturally and linguistically appropriate and strive to demonstrate a respect and understanding of the students cultural identity, beliefs, and values.
The event is free, and will be held at the Main Branch at 100 Larkin Street. For more information, visit sfpl.org
New Website on Mission to Save Music Education
A coalition of musicians and music educators in California are Standing Up for Music.
Last year, leaders of The California Arts Project and the California Association of Music Education organized a summit of sorts with musicians, organization directors, and music educators statewide to address the many issues facing music education in California — the quality of instruction, access, and the overall health of this vital field. Out of that historic meeting, says CMEA director Norman Deas, was the creation of StandUp4Music.org, a website that will help advocate for music education with state lawmakers, support the efforts of other musicians, and encourage the public to donate to music education causes. "Stand Up 4 Music provides a collective voice for the many who believe that music education is an essential and powerful learning experience," he says.
Check it out: StandUp4Music.org.
Groove With the Oak Grove Family Bluegrass Band
They don't drive a colorful bus, or have a handler named Reuben, but despite that, the Schwartz Family Band is a sort of modern-day Partridge Family.
That is, if the Partridges played bluegrass.
For seven years, this Walnut Creek family of musicians — called the Oak Grove Family Bluegrass Band — has performed throughout the East Bay at farmers markets, community events, and various concerts — including an upcoming one March 10 at Walnut Avenue Methodist Church in part as a fund-raiser for the Mount Diablo Music Education Foundation.
While talented young musicians aren't a rarity in the Bay Area, the fact that this family band plays bluegrass is. "There are not very many kids playing bluegrass these days in the East Bay, but the kids have done a good job of introducing a lots of people to this traditional style of music," says proud papa Bob Schwartz, who plays guitar and sings harmony vocals in the band. His wife Gail sings and plays upright bass, but Schwartz says that it is his three kids who are the standout musicians.
In fact, sons Nate (a Northgate High School junior) and Max (a Foothill Middle School eighth grader) are two of the top bluegrass musicians in the country, he says. They've been invited to play in Nashville a couple of times, and Nate is currently the California Bluegrass Association's "teen ambassador." He plays the mandolin and guitar, while Max's instruments are banjo, upright bass, and fiddle. Rounding out the band is 8-year-old Tessa, one of the top young fiddlers in her age group in Northern California.
"We are one of a handful of family bluegrass bands in Northern California — where every family member plays an instrument and shares responsibility for a vocal part," Schwartz says. The family released a CD three years ago, and are currently working on another one.
Why bluegrass and not something more traditional? For Max, it's easy: Bluegrass is the sort of music that is easy to play in groups — and that's something he and his family love. And unlike many teens, he says it doesn't embarrass him to play with his parents. "Unless, of course, they do something to embarrass me," he says.
Oak Grove Family Bluegrass Band will be playing this Sunday, Feb. 26, at Walnut Creek's Whole Foods Market, as well as the Second Saturday Concert on March 10. For more information, visit oakgrovebluegrass.com.