March 15-17, Mondavi Center, Davis: Cashore Marionettes. If you missed this amazing performance a year-and-a-half ago, when it was in Berkeley, here’s another chance, though for many it would mean a bit of a drive. While the fantasy element is strong and entertaining, what’s really amazing in this show is the precision in the puppets’ movements.
March 17, Saturday, First Presbyterian Church, Oakland: Junior Bach Festival concert. The Junior Bach Festival continues this weekend and next, with a wide variety of instrumentalists and (needless to say) some of the greatest music ever composed. Founded by a teacher inspired by the Carmel Bach Festival, the Junior Bach is now in its 60th year of sponsoring concerts by musicians under 21 years of age. The coming concerts have everything from orchestras to marimba ensembles, and a whole lot of Bach.
March 17. Sunday. 7 p.m. Kohl Mansion (Burlingame). Gala celebration concert. Not for young children, but for serious music students. Manasse-Nakamatsu Duo — Jon Manasse, clarinet; Jon Nakamatsu, piano. Program is Brahms/ Clarinet Sonata Op. 120, No. 2; Weber/Grand Duo Concertante; Lowell Liebermann, Elegy; Poulenc / Sonata for Clarinet and Piano; and John Novacek / Four Rags for Two Jons. Manasse talks, Nakamatsu stays mum and plays — they’ve got a little Penn & Teller thing going on that makes this more fun than an average chamber music concert.
March 18, Monday, 7:30, Congregation Emanu-El (Lake St.): Jean Hartman Memorial Concert, with David Burgess. If you’re into guitar, this is a must-attend; he’s terrific. Program includes Garoto: Raphael Rabello; Yamandu Costa, and, of course, Antonio Carlos Jobim. In fact, on Burgess’s website you can hear him play Jobim’s Sambo Do Aviao. Tickets: $22 to $25.
March 27, Wednesday, 7:30, Mission Cultural Center: Luna Negra & 35th Anniversary Magazine Performance Party. A night with dance, music, poetry, video, and visual arts. Including the celestial harp of Amelia Romano, with Flamenco dancers Kenensa deMars and Nora Dinzelbacher. But above all, Nina Serrano: acclaimed poet — former director of San Francisco’s Poetry in the Schools — storyteller, former Alameda County Arts commissioner, and co-founder of the Cultural Center for Latino Arts in the Mission Distrct. She is one of the great renaissance women in the Bay Area.