San Diego’s Top Weekend Arts Events: From Balanchine To Science And Modified Children's Books

March 6, 2020 at 9:43 AM PST

Speaker 1: 00:00 Speaker 2: 00:34 Speaker 1: 01:01 Speaker 2: 01:04 Speaker 3: 01:48 Speaker 2: 01:50 Speaker 1: 02:00 Speaker 2: 02:20 Speaker 1: 02:43 Speaker 2: 02:46 Speaker 3: 03:21 Speaker 1: 03:21 Speaker 2: 03:30 Speaker 1: 04:01 Speaker 3: 04:14 Speaker 1: 04:26 Speaker 2: 04:50 Speaker 1: 05:01 Speaker 2: 05:08 Speaker 1: 05:55 This weekend preview is packed with music, art, and even science. We've got the city ballet presenting works from Balanchine, a pairing of science and music at the Salk Institute, plus a band raised in national city. And it's your last chance to catch a nostalgic and unsettling exhibition at the Anthony IOM. Joining me is KPBS arts editor, Juliet Dixon Evans with all the details. Julia, welcome. Hi Jade. So this weekend the city ballet of San Diego presents a, a program of Balanchine ballets. Tell us about Balanchine. So the famous George Balanchine is said to be one of the most influential choreographers and modern ballet. He was working roughly from the late 1920s through his death in the 80s. He founded the New York city ballet. And um, I'm trying to get to the bottom of who Balanchine was. I read an a UT article that a solo and one of his works is one of those springboard casting moments in a dancer's career. Kind of like playing Hamlet. So tell us about some of the work the city ballets will perform. So they'll perform to Balanchine ballets, including who cares, which Balanchine's started working on with Gershwin shortly before his death. And then it took Balanchine another 33 years to finally write the ballet using 16 Gershwin songs, including of course who cares, but also a bunch of other favorites like strike up the band sweet and low down and fascinating rhythm. So this is a recording of fascinating rhythm by George Gershwin [inaudible]. So this ballet, while it was choreographed in the late sixties it premiered in 1970 it really evoked that 1920s New York vibe. Yeah, sounds very lively. Like there are lots of PKS in there and the city ballet of San Diego performs tonight and Saturday at 8:00 PM and Sunday at 2:00 PM at Spreckels theater. I'm moving on. The sock Institute holds their quarterly science and music concert this Sunday afternoon. What can we expect? So these comments, it's, they pair a scientist who will give a talk for a general audience and it's peppered with some music. Who performs this Sunday? Well, let's start with the science. Danielle angle is faculty at the South cancer center. She studies pancreatic cancer. Trying to develop early detection and effective therapies by making miniature organoids in the lab. And I've been told she's a very dynamic speaker. Very interesting. And tell me about the music. So with Karen joy Davis on piano and Juliet Harlan on cello, they'll perform a wide repertoire of works. So there's a Brahms Rhapsody, a bunch of lively show, pawn Polish, and then Rachmaninoff's dynamic and dark Sonata for cello and piano and G minor [inaudible] the sulk Institute science and music concert takes place Sunday at 4:00 PM then what's happening in the world of local music this weekend? So national city locals, low shadows plays a show at soda bar on Sunday night. This band put out a full length album called not a safe space last fall and it's a really great lesson. They were raised on rap and hip hop, but eventually landed on a more unique Indy synth sound by way of discovering Nirvana and poetry when they were in middle school. Some of the songs are really atmospheric, kind of a bit cinematic and some of them are really catchy. Sounds like an interesting mix. Let's listen to 2:00 AM by Lowe's shadows [inaudible] so they're opening for LA based indie band cones who also have such a dreamy sound. It should be a really great show. All right. Yeah, it gives me 1980s vibes. So I like it. A low shadows and Cohen's play and soda bar on Sunday at 8:30 PM in your weekly PBS arts newsletter. You spotlight exhibitions or performance runs that are closing soon. What's closing this weekend? It's your last chance to see a pretty profound exhibition at the LA Jolla Athenaeum long time San Diego artists, Christine Oatman's, stories of innocence and experience closes on Saturday and this exhibition centers on altered mid century children's books. What can we expect? So each Tableau in her exhibition has a series of full-size classroom scenes with cardboard cutout children and then these children's books. Um, like a curious George book about going into outer space or the steadfast tin soldier. And she takes that sort of rosy optimism of the 50s and, and sheds light on it from, from the actual future, like Vietnam, nine 11, animal cruelty and lockdown drills. It sort of really spotlights the social structures in our nostalgia and it closes on Saturday. It does. And incidentally, the Athenaeum is on the San Diego arc architectural foundations free Oh tours this weekend, so be sure to include that on your plans for Saturday while the exhibition is still up. Steen Oatman stories of innocence and closes Saturday again at the Anthony, I'm music and arts library in LA Jolla. For more arts events, subscribe to the KPBS arts newsletter@kpbsdotorgslashnewsletterorvisitourartscalendaratkpbs.org I've been speaking with KPBS arts editor, Julia Dixon Evans. Julia, thanks so much for joining us. Thank you.

By KPBS Public Media

This weekend is packed with music, art and even science. We've got the City Ballet presenting works by Balanchine, a pairing of science and music at the Salk Institute plus a band raised in National City. And it's your last chance to catch a nostalgic — and unsettling — exhibition at the Athenaeum.