Freebie of the week: Free First Thursday on the San Francisco Museum of Fashionable Artwork is at all times an excellent deal, however this week it’s additionally an awesome reminder that there’s not far more time to catch the enjoyable, family-friendly exhibit “Get in the Game: Sports, Art, Culture.” Billed as a “collection of stories that show how sports impacts our culture and our psyches,” it options some 150 works and points of interest pertaining to every thing from distance swimmer Diana Nyad, the primary particular person to swim from Cuba to Florida and not using a protecting shark cage; to Billie Jean King’s triumphant “Battles of the Sexes” tennis match in opposition to Bobby Riggs; to the profession and pop-culture legacy of NBA famous person Kobe Bryant. There are also interactive treats: Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan’s foosball desk for 22 gamers and Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco’s ping-pong desk with a fishpond. Additionally on view are an unique pair of Air Jordan sneakers and works by Ernie Barnes, the professional soccer participant who turned an acclaimed painter identified for his distinctive type depicting elongated figures and motion. Additionally included is Hank Willis Thomas’ “Guernica,” a re-creation of Picasso’s famed portray of the identical title, created from recycled sports activities jerseys. Catch these enjoyable and compelling points of interest without spending a dime from midday to eight p.m. Thursday. In any other case, the exhibit, on the museum’s seventh ground, runs by means of Feb. 18. SFMOMA is on Third Avenue, between Mission and Howard streets. Hours are 10 a.m. to five p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday and noon-8 p.m. Thursday, and closed Wednesday. Admission is $23-$30. Go to sfmoma.org.
The World Ballet Firm brings “The Great Gatsby Ballet,” on its world premiere tour, to Campbell and San Francisco this weekend. (Courtesy World Ballet Firm)
Gatsby en pointe: F. Scott Fitzgerald’s basic novel “The Great Gatsby,” with its tragic story of doomed love set among the many flamboyance of the Jazz Age, is the premise of “The Great Gatsby Ballet” onstage within the Bay Space this weekend. On a world-premiere tour of the U.S., the piece is choreographed by acclaimed Russian dancemaker Ilya Jivoy, who has been primarily based in Los Angeles since he and his Ukrainian spouse fled Russia at first of the Ukrainian warfare. The rating is by Anna Drubich, who’s primarily a movie and TV composer, making her ballet debut. “Gatsby” is being carried out by the World Ballet Firm, which is predicated in Los Angeles, however resides as much as its title with a relentless touring schedule that has introduced it to some 300 cities, together with locations the place ballet performances are few and much between. Count on an emotion-packed manufacturing (as is reportedly Jivoy’s calling card) with lavish surroundings from the two-hour manufacturing. It’s onstage on the Heritage Theater in Campbell at 7 p.m. Saturday and San Francisco’s Curran theater at 6 p.m. Sunday. Tickets, from $51 to $106, and extra info are at worldballetcompany.com.
Geoff Sobelle brings his newest present “Food” to Stanford College for a run on Feb.5-8. (Geoff Sobelle by way of Bay Metropolis Information)
‘Food’ for thought: The final time Geoff Sobelle introduced a present to the Bay Space, audiences actually watched a home get constructed onstage. That was in “Home” at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, a manufacturing exploring the idea of what a house is whereas weaving in bigger themes akin to migration, gentrification and homelessness. That’s Sobelle’s energy and calling card: bringing folks collectively for a meaty and significant take a look at points that have an effect on us all. Now he’s again with a brand new work with a equally large attain, titled “Food.” Reportedly offered to an viewers that joins Sobelle at a big banquet desk, “Food” explores what we eat, how we eat it and who actually pays for all of it. Organizers describe it as absurdist and immersive theater that’s “at once common and strange, human and surreal, universal and personal.” “Food” performs at Stanford College’s Memorial Auditorium this week, with performances at 7:30 p.m. at the moment by means of Friday and 1:30 and seven:30 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $38-$75; go to stay.stanford.edu/.
Pipa soloist Wu Man seems with the San Francisco Symphony to usher within the 12 months of the Snake within the Lunar New 12 months live performance in Davies Corridor in San Francisco on Feb. 8. (Courtesy Sebastian Schutyser by way of Bay Metropolis Information)
Slithering into 2025: The San Francisco Symphony celebrates the Lunar New 12 months, because it has yearly since 2001, with a preconcert celebration in Davies Corridor at 4 p.m. Saturday with all method of treats and festivities honoring the 12 months of the Snake. Then at 5 p.m., conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong picks up the baton to guide the orchestra by means of An-Lun Huang’s “Saibei Dance” from the “Saibei” Suite No. 2, Tian Zhou’s “Indigo” from the Grammy-nominated Concerto for Orchestra and the world premiere of a San Francisco Symphony-commissioned piece from composer Shuying Li. Additionally on this system is assistant principal cellist Amos Yang serving as soloist for picks from Chen Gang and He Zhanhao’s “The Butterfly Lovers,” impressed by an historic story about two lovers who needed to remodel into the winged creatures to remain collectively. Famend pipa participant Wu Man brings her plucked instrument to the stage to carry out Zhao Jiping’s Pipa Concerto No. 2, and the live performance concludes with Huan-Zhi Li’s “Spring Festival” Overture. Discover tickets, $99-$199, at sfsymphony.org.
The Alexander String Quartet performs its closing recital because the quartet in residence for San Francisco Performances on the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco on Feb. 8, 2025. (Martyn Selman by way of Bay Metropolis Information)
A string quartet swan music: Ending a contented collaboration that has endured for the final 36 years, the celebrated Alexander String Quartet will give its final recital because the quartet in residence for San Francisco Performances’ Saturday Morning Collection at 10 a.m. Saturday in San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre. Violinists Zakarias Grafilo and Yuna Lee, violist David Samuel and cellist Sandy Wilson have just some different performances within the present season earlier than they retire. On their program on the Herbst, which shall be launched by lecturer and musicologist Robert Greenberg, are two Haydn quartets, the C Main Op. 76, No. 3, referred to as the “Emperor,” and the G Main, Op. 77, No. 1. Tickets, $60-$80, can be found at sfperformances.org or by calling (415) 392-2545. San Francisco Performances and Greenberg will proceed the Saturday Morning Collection, with particulars a few new ensemble coming quickly.
