This weekend in the arts, you'll find plenty of fantastic classical music — all of it online — plus, a production of the late '90s play, "Harlem Duet," an exhibition of youth art at the San Diego Museum of Art that you can check out in person, and more.
'Young Art 2021: My World, Our Planet'
Visual Art
Opening Friday at the San Diego Museum of Art, this year's annual youth exhibition features works by K-12 students on topics of environmental sustainability.
The works are incredible, ranging from paintings to drawings to mixed media collage (don't miss one 5th grader's "Seagull with Goldfish" work that includes a rumpled Goldfish cracker bag). They'll inspire you on many levels, whether it's the students' awareness of our planet's fragility, or the sheer creativity and artistic skill — and at the very least give you a little hope for the future.
The works will be on view on the museum's first floor, and even the materials used to construct the exhibition reflect a commitment to sustainability — from wall labels made from recycled t-shirt fibers and renewable panel materials.
Details: On view Friday through May 9. For hours and admission, go here. San Diego Museum of Art, 1450 El Prado, Balboa Park.
More visual art: This year's Escondido Arts Partnership art auction is online, which means even the least fancy, non-auction-attending of us can browse the options and view some art online. The auction is underway, and runs through March 27. View the works — which include a rad signed sticker by Niki de Saint Phalle — online here. Sure, the sticker is up to $1,750 at the time of this writing, but you can also find works for $40.
Melissa Evans Tierra: 'Compassion For A Modern World'
Music
Local pianist Melissa Evans Tierra will livestream a set of music all composed by living writers this weekend, including a world premiere. Tierra is a fantastic performer, and I love the selection of works — it's like a cheat sheet of contemporary composers we all should be paying attention to.
She built the program around a work called "Compassion" by Manhattan-based composer Julia Wolfe, about witnessing 9-11 from her apartment. This work is alternatingly jarring, abrasive and lamentingly beautiful.
Tierra will kick off the concert with a talk, giving us more information about each piece and each composer. One of which is her husband, Chetan Tierra. His works, "Hyperspace Sonata Mvt. 1" and "Wistful Slumber" will be part of the program. Also featured are "Modetudes" by Dobrinka Tabakova and "Two Impromptus" by Lowell Liebermann.
Details: Saturday at 11 a.m., or on-demand afterwards. Online. Free.
More music: Streamed by ElectricLouieLand from the Avant Garde Music Co. studio in Chula Vista, the Matt Hall Quartet will deliver what I'm guessing has been missing from your week thus far: trombone. Hall is a great performer and composer, and ElectricLouieLand shows are always a delight. Sunday at 4 p.m. Donation based.
Coronado Playhouse Presents 'Harlem Duet'
Theater
When Coronado Playhouse was putting together this year's season, they approached director Kandace Crystal — who was instrumental in the development of the Theatre Alliance Roundtable series — and asked her to choose a work to direct. From a note in the program, Anthony Zeilig (VP of the Playhouse's board of directors) said, "For the first time in our history, we are producing a show by a Black author, directed by a Black director, with a Black cast and a mostly BIPOC production team. Was 75 years too long for this to happen? Absolutely."
The play functions as a kind of unstuck-in-time prequel to Shakespeare's "Othello," and it was written by Djanet Sears and premiered in Canada in 1997. The script jumps around in time — contemporary Harlem, an 1860s plantation, the Harlem Renaissance — and follows the messy love that unravels between Othello and his first wife, the complicated Billie. The inclusion in the crew of an "intimacy choreographer" (Natalie Griffith Robichaux) definitely caught my eye, so expect some adult situations.
Danielle Bunch is Billie, Malachi Beasley is Othello, and the full cast in this filmed, staged production includes Carla Banu DeJesus, Heather Barton Tjalma, Ahmed Kenyatta Dents and Andrea Acuna.
Details: On-demand through April 18. Online. $25.
'A Shimmer Of Strings'
Music
This month's streaming show from the Symphony features three works for strings, including one of my favorites, Dvoŕák's "Serenade for Strings," which is an emotional and kind of devastating work that deftly cycles through five relatively short movements. Plus, they play Mozart's lively "Divertimento in B-Flat Major" and a work by the late contemporary Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki, the "Adagio for Strings" from his third symphony. Penderecki, who passed away last year, was a significant figure in contemporary music — not just in avant garde symphonic compositions, but also in conducting, educating, and in film. His compositions appeared in "The Shining" and "The Exorcist," among others. "Adagio for Strings" is a curious and lovely work — definitely more troubled than its name twin by Samuel Barber but no less magnificent.
Details: Streams Friday at 7 p.m., but ticketholders can view the stream through June 30. $20.
'Wild: Act 1'
Dance, Film
Don't miss the filmed production of "Wild: Act 1," which is available to stream just through April 4. Black Iris Project was founded by San Diego native Jeremy McQueen, and this work is about imagination, systemic racism and incarcerated youth. The title is rooted in "Where The Wild Things Are," by Maurice Sendak. You can read my feature here.
For more arts events, or to submit your own, visit the KPBS/Arts calendar here. And be sure to sign up for the weekly KPBS/Arts newsletter here.
