2017 San Francisco International Arts Festival Lineup Announced
By: BWW News Desk Feb. 01, 2017
The 2017 San Francisco International Arts Festival will feature a brilliant 11 day program co-presented with, and held exclusively at, the Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture.
The Festival will feature 100 presentations by 65 ensembles and individual performing artists travelling from 15 other countries and the United States. It is a gathering that celebrates diversity, multiculturalism, curiosity and the value of otherness-a commitment that advocates for experiencing the cultural expressions of different societies and civilizations as a way to help understand and embrace them.
Festival director, Andrew Wood, heralded the significance of the program, "The recent national elections were an anathema to most people in the Bay Area. In the face of adversity it is our job to stand up and declare that San Francisco remains an international city that welcomes a full and healthy dialogue with the rest of the world. We are inviting artists from a spectrum of countries to present their work alongside their American peers in a global celebration that honors the enduring sanctity and belief in the value of the human spirit. Some people in other areas of the country may want to cloak themselves in a veil of intolerance, but we are different. San Francisco and California will lead by example and continue to embrace the people of the world. We invite all those who want to share in these sentiments and who still believe in America's multicultural promise to join us for an occasion that is powerful, provocative and beautiful."
The Festival will also, for the first time, be opening its doors as a platform to promote the work of local and International Artists as part of an industry marketplace. SFIAF will invite arts presenters from throughout the country to attend the Festival for the purposes of seeing (and potentially booking) artistic work that they see on the Festival's seven stages.
As such the California Presenters association (attended by up to 150 arts presenters from the western states) will be holding its annual conference in San Francisco during the Festival and a number of its members will head to the Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture.
Wood said of this significant development, "When we started the Festival in 2003 the goal was to create a uniquely San Francisco version of the great Festivals of the world that combined presenting brilliant performances from across the globe with an industry gathering that included a discreet marketplace dimension. It took our current partnership with the Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture that began with the 2015 Festival to allow us to build a program density to finally achieve this goal."
Opening night will feature multiple performances including the spectacular GuGu Drum Group from Shanghai, China and from France the US debut of Stereoptik who perform an ingenious shadow puppet play Dark Circus with the ominous tagline, "Come for the Show, Stay for the Woe!".
Also headlining this year's Festival is the award winning play from Moscow's Teatr Doc with the Meyerhold Theatre Center produced US Premiere of the English language version of One Day We Will All Be Happy.
They will be joined by a revolutionary young contemporary choreographer from China named Gu Jiani with the west coast premiere of her hauntingly beautiful piece Right and Left. Gu Jiani's work is part of a dance program that contemplates a Pirouette with Asia and includes JJBro, Scarabe and Victor Fung Dance from South Korea, Japan and Hong Kong respectively.
Scotland based Estonian choreographer Eve Mutso will make her US debut with Unknown alongside the Bay Area's Levy Dance and Alyce Finwall Dance Theater. There will also be the US debut of choreographer Tabea Martin from Switzerland and the Bay Area debut of pianist Pablo Estigarrabia from Argentina.
The Festival will also feature the return of old friends such as improviser and pianist Shih YAng Lee from Taiwan, this time with his ensemble Ka Dao Yin, choreographer Myriam Gourfink from France with noise music aficionado Kasper Toeplitz and Trio Balkan Strings from Serbia.
International collaborations include the Bay Area's Richard Marriot with Made Subandi from Bali, ABADÁ Capoeira in collaboration with dancers from Brazil, Europe and Canada and Latifa Medjdoub with Haco from Japan.
The Festival is also pleased to announce a series of programs suitable for families with children featuring Stereoptik, GuGu Drum Group, ABADA Capoeira, Aswan Dancers, Fanfare Zambaleta, Vishwa Shanthi Performing Arts, Abhinaya Dance Company, Amy Lewis, Latifa Medjdoub with Haco and Chris Carlsson.
The full Festival lineup with project descriptions is as follows (projects listed chronologically by discipline: dance, music, performance art and theatre).
Dance
Abhinaya Dance Company of San Jose (USA), Sanchaari - Elaboration
Friday May 26, 8:00pm, Cowell Theater (Festival Family Program)
Tickets: $25 General admission. Duration: 90 min. without intermission
The traditional framework of the 2000 year old classical Bharatanatyam dance has engendered many interpretations through its renaissance period of the early 20th century to the present time. This concert Sanchaari - Elaboration presents Abhinaya Dance Company's creative expression of the ancient classical dance technique.
STEAMROLLER Dance Company (USA), Siamese Dream (1997)
Thursday May 25 8:00pm, Saturday May 27 7:30pm, Sunday May 28 3:30pm. Firehouse
Tickets: $25 General admission. Duration 60 minutes without intermission.
Siamese Dream takes the classic Hollywood musical The King and I and the physicality of Hong Kong kung fu movies to create a fantasia of Asian Americana. Awash in the movement are such things as the music of Riyuchi Sakamoto and soundtracks from Hong Kong action flicks. Siamese Dream examines notions and media impinging on Asian American identity.
Alma Esperanza Cunningham Movement (USA),
She Went/Between Mars and Jupiter (World Premiere)
Friday May 26 7:00pm, Saturday May 27 2:00pm, Sunday May 28 5:30pm. Firehouse
Tickets: $25 General admission. Duration: 60 mins. without intermission.
She Went/Between Mars and Jupiter is an experimental performance installation shaped by the singular experience of being female; a compilation of movement essays that investigate art history, fashion and personal narrative to reframe and transform how we experience the female body in performance.
Levy Dance (USA), Alone Together (2016)
Friday May 26 8:00pm, Saturday May 27 6:00pm, Sunday May 28 4:00pm, Thursday June 1 7:30pm. Festival Pavilion
Tickets: $25 General Admission. Duration: 75 mins. without intermission
This immersive and experiential work explores the moments in our lives when loneliness and togetherness collide. Each scene is culled from the memories of the dancers and features innovative devices that were developed specifically for this production. Directed by LEVYdance Executive Artistic Director Garance Marneur in collaboration with the dancers and guest artists.
Joe Landini (USA), (IT WILL BE LOUD) (World premiere)
Friday May 26 9:30pm, Saturday May 27 9:30pm, Sunday May 28 8:30pm. Firehouse
Tickets: $25 General admission. Duration: 40 mins. without intermission.
(IT WILL BE LOUD) is a new performance installation incorporating elements of physical theatre and contemporary dance choreographed by Landini. (IT WILL BE LOUD) also features live performances by percussionist Joe Rayhbuck, videographer Mark McBeth and a cast of eight dancer/collaborators.
AguaClara Flamenco (USA), Agua de Mayo
Friday May 26, 9:30pm, Gallery 308
Tickets: $25 General Admission, $30-$35 Reserved Table Seating. Duration: 90 mins. plus intermission
AguaClara Flamenco presents Agua de Mayo in a celebration of the improvisatory spirit of flamenco performance, with a refreshing splash of the unexpected. Led by Oakland, CA-based artistic director Clara Rodriguez, both international and local flamenco artists collaborate in a production where the waters of spring merge with tradition, reviving and deepening their connection.
Amy Lewis / Push Up Something Hidden (USA), 16 Electras (World Premiere)
Saturday May 27, Saturday June 3, 2:00pm Black Battery Point.
Tickets: ADMISSION FREE. Duration: 30 minutes without intermission (Festival Family Program)
Amy Lewis presents 16 Electras, an embodiment of sixteen versions of the Electra myth. As the dancers move down the Black Point Battery trail, the myth of Electra is told through song lyrics. The lyrics, written by Lewis, are set to original music composed by Agnes Szelag.
Vishwa Shanthi Performing Arts (USA), Once upon a land...Stories from Magical India
Saturday May 27, 3:15pm, Cowell Theater (Festival Family Program)
Tickets: $25 General admission. Duration: 90 mins. without intermission
A dance performance filled with peacocks, snakes, demons and gods re-telling epic stories from ancient India. Demigods and demons are in constant competition for supremacy over the three worlds. The ensuing drama, obstacles, deceit, conflicts, and flirtatious romances unfold in magical tales filled with a cornucopia of Indian mythological characters.
burnsWork (USA), Opero Cado (World Premiere)
Saturday May 27 5:00pm, Sunday May 28 2:00pm, Firehouse
Tickets: $25 General admission. Duration: 60 mins. without intermission
Opero Cado will jettison the audience into the outer limits of improvisational/real-time dance and music creation. The name comes from Latin, opero (v. to labor) and cado (v. to fall). ChristIan Burns and his collaborators offer the audience a blueprint of 'free-fall and labor' to uncover relief, joy and meaning.
Eve Mutso (Estonia), Unknown (2016, US Premiere)
Saturday May 27 8:00pm, Sunday May 28 2:00pm, Cowell Theater (shared bill with Alyce Finwall Dance Theater and Levy Dance Company)
Tickets: $25 General admission. Duration 60 minutes
Eve Mutso is a former Principal Dancer with Scottish Ballet. Unknown explores the theme of creativity, uncertainty and the inescapable part that taking risk and accepting the possibility of failure has in life.
Alyce Finwall Dance Theater (USA), Almost Human (excerpt)
Saturday May 27 8:00pm, Sunday May 28 2:00pm, Cowell Theater (shared bill with Eve Mutso and Levy Dance Company)
Tickets: $25 General admission. Duration 60 minutes
Alyce Finwall's signature dance making styles can be athletic, sensuous and often surreal. Her work addresses contemporary culture as well as the richness and turbulence of interior lives through exuberant movement and meticulously crafted choreography. Almost Human will be created in collaboration with dancers Cooper Neely, Isabel Rosenstock, Katie Meyers and Khala Brannigan.
Levy Dance (USA),
Saturday May 27 8:00pm, Sunday May 28 2:00pm, Cowell Theater (shared bill with Eve Mutso and Alyce Finwall Dance Theater)
Tickets: $25 General admission. Duration 60 minutes
Aswan Dancers with the Caravan Band and Joweh Dance Troupe (USA),
The Magic Carpet (Festival Family Program)
Sunday May 28 3:00pm, Gallery 308.
Tickets: $25 General admission, $30-$35 Reserved Table Seating. Duration: 90 mins. without intermission
The Magic Carpet is a Middle Eastern Dance and Musical Adventure. The musical carpet will transport you to various countries across the deserts of North Africa, through Egypt, the Middle East and onto the Saudi Arabian Peninsula.
SAFEhouse for the Arts (USA), Summer Performance Festival Showcase (Preview)
Sunday May 28 7:00pm, Cowell Theater
Tickets: $25 General admission. Duration: 70 mins. without intermission
A SAFEhouse for the Arts' performance showcase featuring contemporary and post modern dance works by Bay Area based choreographer including Emmeline Gonzales BebonItoro, Linda Bouchard, Khala Brannigan, Marika Brussel, Carly Lave, Leigh Riley, Itoro Udofia / JosLynn Mathis Reed and Sienna Williams / Diana Kalaji.
Erica Essner Performance Co-Op (USA), 3 Marks of Existence (2016, West Coast Premiere)
Wednesday May 31 8:00pm, Friday June 2 9:30pm, Saturday June 3, 3:00pm. Firehouse
Tickets: $25 General admission. Shared bill with Sarah Bush Dance Project.
Duration: 60 mins. without intermission
Erica Essner Performance Co-Op's new work 3 Marks of Existence is a duet that reflects on the Buddhist doctrine that everything is impermanent. This poignant duet reflects on the nature of change and all that we cling to eventually dissolves, and rests in the temporary.
Sarah Bush Dance Project (USA), Rocked by Women (2014)
Wednesday May 31 8:00pm, Friday June 2 9:30pm, Saturday June 3, 3:00pm. Firehouse
Tickets: $25 General admission. Shared bill with Erica Essner Performance Co-Op.
Duration: 60 mins. without intermission
From baby steps to coming out, and first crush to lost love, music by women from the past four decades binds the story of many to one and one to many - transforming everyday memories to the history we all share. This work pays tribute to the women who rock us.
Compagnie Tabea Martin (Switzerland), Field (2016, U.S. Premiere)
Thursday June 1 8:00pm Cowell Theater, Saturday June 3 7:30pm, Sunday June 4 4:00pm, Firehouse
Tickets: $25 General admission. Duration: 55 minutes without intermission
Three bodies. One field. The 100 best love songs. A performance with three people who believe in the strength of being together.
punkkiCo/Roadmap10 (USA), A Room (Of Our Own), The feminist performance (world premiere)
Thursday June 1 8:00pm, Saturday June 3 9:30pm, Sunday June 4 2:00pm
Tickets: $25 General admission. Duration: 60 minutes without intermission
A Room (Of Our Own) is a live performance that incorporates moving body, film and art. It is a collaboration with choreographer, dance artist Raisa Punkki, filmmaker Pauliina Punkki and light designer Maria Ros Palmklint. Performers include Mihyun Lee, Meegan Hertensteiner, Fanni Miettinen and film character IT.
Gu Jiani (China), Right & Left (2014, West Coast Premiere)
Thursday June 1 9:00pm, Saturday June 3 8:00pm, Sunday June 4 5:30pm, Cowell Theater
Tickets: $25 General admission. Duration: 50 mins.
Right & Left is a haunting tribute to symmetry and its dissolution, ominous and beautiful in equal measure. Gu Jiani fuses incredible precision with an arresting mix of projection and light offering a jaw-dropping perspective on our oldest questions: Why do we love, and how do we stop it from destroying who we are?
Myriam Gourfink & Kasper Toeplitz (France), Almasty (2015, US Premiere)
Friday June 2 & Sunday June 4 7:00pm, Saturday June 3 5:30pm. Firehouse
Tickets: $25 General admission. Duration: 60 mins. without intermission.
The dances of Myriam Gourfink explore the depths of the body and its secret, innermost perceptions with great precision, through slow micro-movements. For this solo, with original music by Kasper T. Tœplitz, the choreographer mixes three spaces: earth, air and the theatre in a search for the poetry of gesture.
Gamelan Sekar Jaya with Larry Reed's ShadowLight (USA and Bali),
In Visible Light (World Premiere)
Friday June 2, 7:00pm, Saturday June 3 2:00pm. Cowell Theater
Tickets: $25 General admission. Duration 60 mins. without intermission.
A work for shadow theater, dance, voice, and Balinese gamelan that paints a story of a mythic tyrant whose arrogance poisons the rivers of knowledge, arts and culture, casting the world into chaos. Saraswati, the goddess of arts, language and learning, fights a magnificent battle to restore balance. Featuring Emiko Saraswati Susilo and guest artist I Dewa Putu Berata.
JJBro (South Korea), Jimmy and Jack (2015, West Coast Premiere, West Coast Debut)
Friday Saturday June 4 9:30pm, Sunday June 4 7:00pm. Cowell Theater
Tickets: $25 General admission. Duration: 75 mins. without intermission
(Shared program with Victor Fung Dance and Scarabe)
Jimmy & Jack won the best choreography under unanimous agreement by Seoul Dance Collection in 2014. The piece is dedicated to people who are hidden and afraid of coming forward, simply because they are different from others. It features the unique wit and characteristic philosophy of the two dancers, JUN Heung-ryeol and PYO Sang-man.
Victor Fung Dance (Hong Kong), From the Top (2015, US Premiere, US Debut)
Friday Saturday June 4 9:30pm, Sunday June 4 7:00pm. Cowell Theater
Tickets: $25 General admission. Duration: 75 mins. without intermission
(Shared program with JJBro and Scarabe)
From the Top is a witty dance work that explores the power relations between performers and dance makers. Action on stage is juxtaposed with voiceovers and supertitles to reveal the politics between the ever-demanding choreographer and the dancers who continuously attempt to fulfill the choreographer's artistic "vision".
Scarabe (Japan), Sell Our Body (2014, US Premiere, US Debut)
Friday Saturday June 3 9:30pm, Sunday June 4 7:00pm. Cowell Theater
Tickets: $25 General admission. Duration: 75 mins. without intermission
(Shared program with Victor Fung Dance and JJBro)
The co-directors of Kansai based Scarabe, Yukio Miyahara and Mikiko Shinohara, perform their signature work Sell Our Body. Scarabe was founded in 2014 by ex dancers of the seminal Japanese experimental dance theatre company Noism including Miyahara, Shinohara and Fujii Izumi. Sell Our Body has been performed throughout Japan.
ABADÁ Capoeira San Francisco (USA and Brazil), Spirit of Brazil 17' - Quebrando Fronterias (Breaking New Frontiers) (Festival Family Program)
Saturday June 3 5:00pm, Sunday June 4 2:00pm, Cowell Theater
Tickets: $25 General admission. Duration: 90 mins. without intermission
Spirit of Brazil explores music, dance, and capoeira through a fusion of contemporary and traditional expressions. These arts, born out of a resistance to oppression, reminds us of the power of resistance-a message relevant today. Presented by an international cast, the dynamic acrobatic and athletic movements, history and tradition, and heart-thumping rhythms will leave audiences inspired!
Yaelisa & Caminos Flamencos (USA), Cafe Flamenco: Fiesta Flamenca
Saturday June 3, 9:30pm Gallery 308
Tickets: $25 General Admission, $30-$35 Reserved Table Seating. Duration: 90 mins with intermission
Cafe Flamenco is an experience. It is the expression, emotion and passion of a Romani art form that is rooted in the tradition of improvisation onstage between the finest flamenco artists, in this case the award-winning artists of Caminos Flamencos. Cafe Flamenco is an idea, where an audience surrounds the artists onstage and, as they do in Spain, participate, enjoy and feel the vibrations of flamenco at its best and most interactive.
Music
Latin Rhythm Boys (USA), Puerto Rico - History, Art & Culture
Thursday May 25 Doors & Exhibit: 5:00pm, Performances 7:00pm. Gallery 308
Tickets: $25 General admission, $30-$35 Reserved Table Seating. Duration: 90 mins. with intermission.
An arts exhibition and live music concert focusing on Puerto Rico's contribution to salsa and the cultural enrichment of the U.S. Latin Rhythm Boys is a third-generation Puerto Rican band the brainchild of brothers Earl and Henry Miranda Jr. The group has evolved into a powerhouse of high-energy Puerto Rican music that includes salsa as well as their specialty Jíbaro sound.
GuGu Drum Group (China), (Festival Family Program)
Thursday May 25 8:00pm. Cowell Theater
Tickets $25 General Admission. Duration: 90 mins. with intermission
This award winning and top rated drum group from Shanghai offers a theatrical drum drama depicting historical and culturally significant drum compositions that present profound insight into unity, human evolution, awareness, wisdom, social commitment, and communication through percussive movements.
MO'FONE (USA)
Friday May 26, 7:00pm Chapel (shared bill with The Amber and Sharman Duran Trio)
Tickets: $25 General admission. Duration: 90 mins. without intermission
With its surprising and highly combustible line-up of two saxmen and one drummer, MO'FONE has thrilled audiences with some of the funkiest jazz and jazziest funk being played today. Powering its way through inventive high-energy original compositions, MO'FONE explores its unique instrumentation with a relentless adventurousness, creating a huge sound that belies its compact size.
The Amber (USA)
Friday May 26, 7:00pm Chapel (shared bill with MO'FONE and Sharman Duran Trio)
Tickets: $25 General admission. Duration: 90 mins. without intermission
The Amber is the California roots collaboration of singer-songwriters Libby Lavella and Ryland Shelton. Known for their complex, modern interpretation of harmony music and bold incorporation of new stylistic elements, they have recorded for Melomania Productions (The Amber EP) and played some of the most exciting venues and festivals for independent music in America.
Sharman Duran Trio (USA)
Friday May 26, 7:00pm Chapel (shared bill with The Amber and MO'FONE)
Tickets: $25 General admission. Duration: 90 mins. without intermission
Sharman Duran is a vocalist/pianist/songwriter comfortable with the musical complexities of jazz. Though rarely the musical style employed as the vehicle for social commentary, Duran has crafted songs that turn a spotlight on the human condition. The result is a product that through good music and intelligent lyrics amuses, enchants, and makes you think.
Pablo Estigirrabio (Argentina), Tango for Piano (2015, US Premiere)
Saturday May 27, 6:00pm Gallery 308
Tickets: $25 General Admission, $30-$35 Reserved Table Seating. Duration: 60 mins. without intermission
Estigarribio presents Tangos for Piano, music from his Gardel prize 2015 award-winning album with a virtuosic twist to the music of Buenos Aires. He brings a fresh approach by combining classical textures and jazz harmonies to the traditional rhythm and structure of Argentine tango.
Voodoo Cabaret World Music (USA), Rise Above Racism
Saturday May 27, 9:00pm. Gallery 308
Tickets: $25 General Admission, $30-$35 Reserved Table Seating. Duration: two hours without intermission
This installation of the The Voodoo Cabaret celebrates the diversity of music and religious icons of the Diaspora. This evening brings hymns celebrating the Black Madonna, songs of the Underground Railroad and original songs dedicated to the Orishas and Loas of Santeria and Voudou interwoven with spoken word and storytelling.
Gautam Tejas Ganeshan (USA), New Carnatic Music with Gautam Tejas Ganeshan
Sunday May 28 3:00pm. Chapel
Tickets: $25 General admission. Duration: two hours without intermission
Gautam Tejas Ganeshan's authentic voice breathes new life into an old musical tradition. He has performed widely in the Bay Area since 2004. He is the founder and director of the Sangati Center, a non-profit chamber music concert series that has hosted more than 400 public chamber concerts in San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley.
Trio Balkan Strings (Serbia), Fly by Balkan carpet with the guitar family from Belgrade
Sunday May 28, 7:00pm, Chapel Duration: 90 mins. plus intermission (Festival Family Program)
Tickets: $25 General Admission
Trio Balkan Strings will present a fusion of Romani Swing, Classical music, asymmetrical rhythms and original guitar interpretations of world famous standards. The result is Balkan Swing-World Fusion--the perfect choice for lovers of Balkan, jazz, swing, ethno, classical music or guitar music.
Moe! Staiano Ensemble (USA), Away Towards the Light
Sunday May 28, 7:00pm, Gallery 308
Tickets: $20 General Admission. Duration: 40 mins. without intermission
Moe! Staiano is a composer/drummer whose large ensembles, Moe! Staiano Ensemble and Moe!kestra!, have performed in Europe and the United States. Moe's composition, Away Towards the Light, is an exploration of tonal interplay and contrasting rhythms for nine electric guitars, bass and drums composed in three movements.
Ancient Future (USA), Guitar - Sitar Jugalbandi
Thursday June 1, 8:00pm Chapel
Tickets: $25 General admission. Duration: 90 mins. plus intermission
This jugalbandi, a classical North Indian musical duet (literally "tied together"), is unusual because Matthew Montfort is a scalloped fretboard guitar pioneer who's studied sitar, and Pandit Habib Khan is "the Jimi Hendrix of the sitar" according to Beirut's L'Orient le Jour. They are accompanied by tabla master Ferhan Qureshi.
Ka Dao Yin (Taiwan), Four Characters (2015, US Premiere, US Debut)
Thursday June 1 8:00pm, Gallery 308
Tickets: $25 General admission, $30-$35 Reserved Table Seating
Duration: 90 mins. with intermission
Founded by pianist Shih-YAng Lee and saxophonist Klaus Bur, Ka Dao Yin are key to a burgeoning improvised music movement in Taiwan. Four Characters (the group's first CD) has a double meaning: each piece carries the name of a Chinese proverb and the group itself is a quartet improvising at the junction of Chinese and Western music.
Edward Schocker's Crossing Ensemble (USA), The Crossing
Friday June 2 7:00pm, Gallery 308
Tickets: $25 General admission, $30-$35 Reserved Table Seating. Duration: 60 mins. with intermission
Shared bill with Shih YAng Lee
The Crossing is a long-term project lead by Edward Schocker that creates a new form of ecstatic group improvisation through investigating ancient Asian musical genres, such as Japanese Gagaku and Korean shamanist ritual music, with the goal reaching a state of communication with a "spirit" world.
Shih YAng Lee (Taiwan), Improvised Solo Piano
Friday June 2 7:00pm, Gallery 308
Tickets: $25 General admission, $30-$35 Reserved Table Seating. Duration: 60 mins. with intermission
Shared bill with Edward Schocker's Crossing Ensemble
Composer, pianist and improviser Shih YAng Lee, who last appeared at the Festival in 2015 with performances with Horse Dance Theatre and Melody of China, returns to share an experimental concert with some of the Bay Area's finest improvisers and experimental musicians.
Linda Bouchard with Addleds (USA), All Caps No Space (2015)
Friday June 2, 9:30pm, Gallery 308
Tickets: $25 General Admission, $30-$35 Reserved Table Seating. Duration 50 mins without intermission
All Caps No Space is an interactive multimedia work for live musicians and live video. The work explores the amplified solitude we experience in a society in which we are flooded by information and exposes the role of free speech and free press. The performance will be followed by a Forum Discussion on Free speech
Mariah Parker Indo Latin Chamber Jazz Quintet (USA)
Saturday June 3, 6:00pm, Gallery 308
Tickets: $25 General admission, $30-$35 Reserved table seating. Duration 90mins. plus intermission
According to Latin Beat Magazine, "Parker and friends blend the rhythmic syncopations of Latin jazz music with the entrancing, asymmetrical meters of East Indian rhythms resulting in first-class world music. Intriguing melodies that draw musical inspiration from... Brazil, Cuba, India and Spain make for an uplifting serene yet passionate musical journey..."
ViBO Simfani (USA)
Saturday June 3 6:00pm, The Chapel
Tickets $25 General admission. Duration: 60 mins. without intermission
World music at its best, ViBO Simfani bridges cultures from around the globe by fusing elements of Latin jazz, folk, classical and Brazilian styles such as Bossa Nova and Choro. The end result is romantic, fun and mystical all at once. With the impeccable performance and arrangements of strings, woodwinds, guitar and percussion, ViBO Simfani reinterprets the traditional repertoire with an original sound.
Richard Marriott with I Made Subandi (USA and Bali), VOYAGE (World Premiere)
Saturday June 3 9:30pm, Sunday June 4 2:00pm, Southside Theater
Tickets: $25 General admission. Duration: 70 mins. without intermission
VOYAGE is a ritual music drama, composed by Richard Marriott and Made Subandi, with Pamela Z, Carla Fabrizio and Sarah Willner, utilizing video and interactive electronics. VOYAGE follows the structure of a Balinese ritual called Calonarang, and is about crossing over the boundaries between nations, the crossroads between cultures, and the territory between life and death.
Fanfare Zambaleta (USA)
Sunday June 4 3:00pm, Gallery 308. Duration: 90 mins. with intermission
Tickets: $25 General admission, Reserved table seating $30-$35. (Festival Family Program)
Fanfare Zambaleta is a juggernaut of a band featuring some of the Bay Area's most exciting young players and seasoned veterans. Emulating the great Balkan brass bands of the past and present, they play Romani, Serbian, Macedonian and Greek brass band music with passion and dedication.
Ancient Future (USA), Global Guitar Summit
Sunday June 4, 3:00pm Chapel
Tickets: $25 General admission. Duration: 75 mins. without intermission
The Global Guitar Summit presents three international acoustic guitar virtuosos who will perform solo and ensemble pieces. The summit features American scalloped fretboard guitar and world fusion music pioneer Matthew Montfort, master Italian guitarist and musicologist Giacomo Fiore, and German fingerstyle guitarist extraordinaire Teja Gerken.
Melody of China with Swapam Chaudhuri and the Ali Akbar College of Music (USA)
Sunday June 4, 7:00pm Gallery 308
Tickets: $25 General admission, $30-$35 Reserved Table Seating.
Duration: 75 mins. without intermission.
The joint program will include mixed ensemble improvisation, a new work by Mr. Chaudhuri as well as Chinese and Indian traditional repertoire. The concert will also feature the world premiere of a new piece in the style of Beijing Opera by composer Gang Situ with Melody of China and a guest vocalist.
Voodoo Cabaret World Music (USA), Rise Above Racism
Sunday June 4, 6:00pm. The Chapel
Tickets: $25 General Admission. Duration: two hours without intermission
This installation of the The Voodoo Cabaret celebrates the diversity of music and religious icons of the Diaspora. This evening brings hymns celebrating the Black Madonna, songs of the Underground Railroad and original songs dedicated to the Orishas and Loas of Santeria and Voudou interwoven with spoken word and storytelling.
Performance Art, Spoken Word and Historical Walks
Embark Gallery (USA), Visions from the Pit (World premiere)
Thursday May 25, 8:00pm, Friday May 26 9:30pm, Saturday May 27 3:15pm The Chapel
Tickets: $25 General admission. Duration: 45-60 mins.with intermission
Visions from the Pit is a reflection on the trope of 'the Doom,' the medieval European painting genre dedicated to depicting the end of days. Repurposing this concept of the end times, Embark presents visions from the pit-vignettes on chaos, the monstrous and the apocalypse.
Latifa Medjdoub & Haco (USA & Japan), EURYTHMY
Friday May 26 7:00pm, Saturday May 27, 2:00pm, Gallery 308
Tickets: $25 General Admission. Duration: 50 mins. without intermission (Festival Family Program)
Eurythmy is a social performance inviting participants of all ages and condition to connect in real time using hand loomed fiber strings to translate through the tracing of a diagram, a geometric pattern flowing with harmony and unity in space. Facilitated by French Algerian visual artist Latifa Medjdoub in collaboration with avant-garde experimental sound artist, Haco from Japan.
Shaping San Francisco (USA), The Hidden Histories of Fort Mason, Black Point and the North Shore (Festival Family Program)
Saturday May 27, Noon, The Chapel (box-office check in only). Tickets: $13 General Admission. Duration: two hours without intermission
A walking tour with historian Chris Carlsson that begins in the shadow of the Fontana Towers at Van Ness and Bay and concludes at the Fort Mason gates. During the excursion participants traverse the grounds of the old military base and discover nearby histories of farms, soldiers, lost lagoons, water flumes and an epic World's Fair.
Niloufar Talebi (USA), Abraham in Flames (work-in-progress showing)
Wednesday May 31 8:00pm, Gallery 308
Tickets: General admission $12.50. Duration: 60 mins. without intermission
A staged reading of the libretto for a new opera inspired by the life and writings of the Nobel-prize-nominated Iranian poet, activist, translator, and folklorist Ahmad Shamlou (1925-2000). Audience feedback is sought in conversation with Ms. Talebi following the reading. Abraham in Flames is scheduled to premiere in 2018 and will be presented at the Festival in 2019.
Theatre
Stereoptik (France), Dark Circus (2015, US Premiere, US Debut). (Festival Family Program)
Thursday May 25 8:30pm, Friday May 26 7:00pm, Saturday May 27 4:30pm. Southside Theater
Tickets: $25 General admission. Duration: 60 mins. without intermission.
"Come for the show, stay for the woe." A sinister ringmaster invites the inhabitants of a small city to his circus tent where he presides over breathtaking but catastrophic acts! Paper, ink, sand and silhouettes spring into being in the skilled hands of two visual artists who draw and play music live to build a big top universe, their striking creations projected onto a large screen.
Tango Con*Fusion (USA), Sex, Women and Tango (World Premiere)
Friday May 26 9:30pm, Saturday May 27 7:00pm, Sunday May 28 5:00pm. Southside Theater
Tickets: $25 General admission. Duration: 75-90 mins. without intermission.
When people think about Argentine Tango, it can immediately conjure up the pervasive iconic image of the macho-male and hyper-feminine woman as a classic standard of the form. Yet many feminists dance Tango socially and professionally. How can this be reconciled? Sex, Women & Tango challenges this outdated image to portray today's broad expression of gender roles in this dance genre.
Brenda Wong Aoki with Shoko Hikage (USA), Random Acts of Kindness (1997)
Saturday May 27 9:30pm, Sunday May 28 2:00pm, Saturday June 3 7:00pm, Southside Theater
Tickets: $25 General admission. Duration: 70 mins. without intermission
A true tale of a storyteller's life on and off the road in these United States, where she is haunted by Hanya, the demon woman who preys on life force, and hunted by the Religious Right, who believes she's a witch. Brenda Wong Aoki takes comfort in the historic restaging of Random Acts of Kindness.
Silvia Gallerano (Italy), La Merda (2012, US Premiere, US Debut)
Wednesday May 31 8:00pm, Friday June 2 7:00pm, Saturday June 3 9:00pm. Chapel
Tickets: $25 General admission. Duration: 60 mins. without intermission.
Silvia Gallerano brings her critically acclaimed award-winning performance of La Merda to audiences in the United States. Written by husband Cristian Ceresoli, La Merda is a treatise on ambition and the insidiousness of consumer culture. The piece trailblazes it's poetic and shocking stream of consciousness across and through the human condition.
Brian Copeland (USA), Not a Genuine Black Man (2004)
Wednesday May 31 8:30pm, Friday June 2 7:00pm, Sunday June 4 5:00pm. Southside Theater.
Tickets: $25 General admission. Duration: two hours including a 15 minute intermission
In 1971, The National Committee against Discrimination in Housing called San Leandro, California a 'racist bastion of white supremacy'. Newsweek magazine came to investigate. CBS aired a one hour television documentary. The Us Commission on Civil Rights conducted hearings. And then, we moved to town. ~ Brian Copeland.
Teatp Doc (Russia), One Day We Will All Be Happy (2012, US Premiere, US Debut). Thursday June 1 8:30pm, Friday June 2 9:30pm, Saturday June 3, 4:00pm. Southside Theater. Tickets: $25 General admission. Duration: 50 mins. without intermission
English language adaptation of an award winning Russian play by Yekaterina Vasilieva directed by Vyacheslav 'Sava' Chebotar and produced by the Meyerhold Theatre Center. The one-actor play, a confessional monologue of a schoolgirl, is deconstructed into parts for two actors; the story of the girl's difficult relationship with her mother, school and love that is in turn both comic and tragic.
Rotimi Agbabiaka (USA), Type/Cast (2016)
Friday June 2, 9:30pm Chapel
Tickets: $25 General admission Duration: 70 mins. without intermission.
A queer, black actor dreams of a dazzling career on the stage but faces an industry that isn't always welcoming to applicants who are neither white nor straight. In his latest solo show Rotimi Agbabiaka shape-shifts using monologue, song, dance, and drag to embody, explore, and expose the battles minority artists fight in the exclusive world of American theatre.
Nancy Wang of Eth-Noh Tec (USA), 10,000 Steps (staged reading)
Saturday June 3 2:00pm, Chapel.
Tickets: $25 General admission. Duration: 65 mins. without intermission
Locke, CA was home to 15,000 Chinese immigrant workers who cleared the swampland of the Deltas, building levees that reclaimed 88,000 acres. 10,000 Steps is the story of one feisty Chinese American woman's self-chosen mission to care for the remaining Chinese bachelors of Locke and fight for its citizens to own the land beneath their homes.
Decommissioned by the U.S. Army in 1962 and converted from a military installation into a nonprofit cultural center and national park site in 1977, Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture has long been host to a lively mix of arts, educational and cultural programming on San Francisco's northern waterfront. Each year, Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture provides over $2 million in support to local arts organizations, enabling groups to produce diverse and innovative art works at the historic waterfront campus. With a nearly four-decade history as an arts and culture destination, Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture is now focused on reinvigorating its programming and amenities to better serve and engage the evolving and dynamic Bay Area creative community. Central to this new vision is the commissioning and presentation of adventurous and unconventional art works best realized in nontraditional or historic settings.
In addition to strengthening its artistic programming, Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture has recently completed a $21 million renovation of Pier Two. Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture is also currently working with the San Francisco Art Institute to move its graduate program to the pier, which will open in June 2017.
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