Arts Alive San Antonio

Though Easter is the most significant Christian holiday, there are few arts events to honor and celebrate it. One we found is the concert by the Sonoro Ensemble, a 24-voice mixed group drawn from the members of the San Antonio Choral Society. Conducted by music director and organist, Jennifer Seighman, the choir will perform the rarely performed “St. John Passion” by Czech-German  composer, Christoph Demantius. It will be sung a cappella. (April 8, noon; at St. John’s Lutheran Church, 502 E. Nueva St., across from La Villita., free; followed by lunch by church volunteers for a $5 donation.)

Of course, beautiful Easter music will be part of Easter services throughout the city.

But there’s another chance to hear classical music: American soprano, Ilanah Lobel-Torres, who is currently living in Paris and working with the Opera National de Paris, will join pianist John Wilson and  CMI to present a program featuring the music of Clara Schumann, Franz Schubert, Richard Wagner, and Ernest Chausson. (April 7 at 7:30 p.m.; Carlos Alvarez Theater at the Tobin Center, 100 Auditorium Circle; Tickets are $15-$45 at tickets@tobibcenter.org or call 210-223-8624)

Another public Easter-related event is organized by The DOSEUM for children: Big Day to Play Egg-stravaganza.  Kids should have fun with egg hunts, painting with egg whites, and other egg-inspired activities. (April 8 at 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.; DOSEUM, 2800 Broadway, 78209; 210-212-4453; www.thedosem.org

“The explosive, inventive, provocative, witty and utterly unique” STOMP production will be at Tobin Center this weekend. It may be already familiar to a lot of people but it’s still fun. The eight-member troupe uses unconventional “instruments” to create a range of seductive and entertaining rhythm patterns. Anything will do: garbage cans, wooden poles, brooms, hubcaps, even matchboxes. We saw them years ago at the Majestic and were thoroughly entertained. (April 7-8, at 8 p.m.; tickets start at $27.60; tickets@tobincenter.org or call 210-223-8624)

Another upcoming stage event, Chicago the Musical, which will have several performances at the Majestic Theater. (April 14-16, Majestic Theater, 224 E. Houston; tickets $35-$125; 210-226-3333; www.majesticempire.com)

Some local theaters are opening shows this weekend, including The San Antonio College Theater that’s presenting Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” which is a good lighthearted choice. (April 6-7 at 7:30 p.m.; April 8 at 2 and 7:30 p.m.; April 13-15 at 7:30 p.m., and April 16 at 2 p.m. McCallister Auditorium,1300 San Pedro Ave., 78212; tickets are $5-$15; 210-486-0947; box office open every day through April 16.)

A new stage show, “Copper Angel,” will also open at the Boerne Community Theater. Written by Emily McLain, the work was selected for recognition by the Theater Network of Texas at its annual playwriting competition. It tells the story of the doctor who works with patients who have been disfigured in WWI. He designs masks for their faces to help them deal with healing. (To see the schedule of performances, go to www.boernetheatre.org; 830-249-9166; tickets are $18-$24.)

If you like well-crafted stories – and who doesn’t? – Texas Public Radio will host another story-telling session on Tuesday as part of its series, Worth Repeating: Como? Seven storytellers will have seven minutes each to share their best stories about confusing moments, language barriers, and other subjects. (April 11, 7-9 p.m.; Malu and Carlos Alvarez Theater and Studio, at TPR offices downtown, 321 W. Commerce St., 78205, 210-614-8977. You can also apply to read your own story in a future session.
www.tpr.org)

Speaking of literary matters: the new San Antonio Poet Laureate, Nephtali De Leon’s official investiture ceremony will take place April 10 in City Council Chambers. The event is part of National Poetry Month.
( April 10 at 6 p.m.; free)

There are things happening on the visual arts from, too. Two prominent galleries are opening new exhibits, one just before Easter, and the other just after.

Centro Cultural Aztlan is presenting Joe Lopez/el Gallista’s “Momentos en Tiempo/Moments in Time, which is opening Thursday, April 6. This will be the artist’s first exhibit in more than three years because COVID forced the closing of his last show before it opened. The Centro Aztlan images “capture the everyday lived experiences, identities, relationships, spiritual life and hard work of people whose lives are not often seen in mainstream cultural representations.”  The artist is quoted as saying: “I hope to bring joy and pride to all those who attend. I hope they can see their experiences reflected in my paintings.” (Opens April 6 with 6-9 p.m. reception; Centro Aztlan, 1800 Fredericksburg Rd. #103. A music performance by Manolo “Mano”Martinez  will be part of the opening. The exhibit is free and open to the public through April 27^th; 210-432-1896, https://centroaztlan.org/)

The other gallery is Ruiz-Healy Art that focuses on contemporary artists, many of whom are San Antonio-based. After closing a showcase of a range of prominent artists, it is now focusing on a single artist, the well-known Nate Cassie. According to the press release “Nate Cassie presents an array of objects evoking sentiments of transformation and change. In his corpus of work, cloud imagery is a hallmark that best captures these concepts. He says: “They signify transition, clouds moving across the sky. Depending on what they look like, it is a sign of change in the weather. I feel that analogy applies to contemporary life, our current moment.” Cassie has exhibited in prestigious museums and was a former Artpace International Artist in Residence. (Nate Cassie:A Knife Out of A Cloud, opens April 12 with a 6-8 p.m. reception; Ruiz-Healy Art, 201-A East Olmos Drive, 78212; 210-804-2219; www.euizhealyart.com)

Remember the Soy de Tejas exhibit presented by our city’s Arts & Culture Department? Curated by Rigoberto Luna, it is a state-wide survey of Latinx art, featuring 40 contemporary native Texas and Texas-based Latinx artists, and more than 100 works. If you haven’t seen the show, here’s a great reason to check it out. A Soy de Tejas Performance Night is planned for April 13. Performers include Dallas native, Christian Cruz, San Antonio-based Jose Villalobos and a musical performance by Brownsville’s Cande Aguilar. (April 13 at 6 p.m.; Centro de Artes, 101 S. Santa Rosa, 78207; free and open to the public. Cruz has a team of other artists doing her performance when she can’t be there in person. And, if no artist is available, a video of the performance is playing.)

We also want to tell you about two smallish but interesting exhibits at the Witte Museum, both connected to our history here in San Antonio and Central Texas.  Titled Kinship and Culture, the larger of the two, features paintings that depict and reflect life in these parts over a couple of centuries. Landscapes, work scenes, portraits, family activities, play – it’s all there. The Witte refers to this type of art as “Art for History’s Sake,” and it’s very important. Artists captured reality before photo and film cameras became available. We were especially impressed by the portraits.
The second exhibit is smaller but very relevant, too. It documents the work of the San Jose Tile Workshops and the artists and artisans who created the designs and made the tiles that were incorporated into a range of decorative and useful objects. These workshops are also part of our history.

If you haven’t yet visited the San Pedro Creek Culture Park, here’s an excuse to do so. A new mural by The Art of Four will be officially unveiled this coming Saturday. Artists Tyson Davis, Jocelyn Van Taylor, and Maria Williams will be present. The unveiling will be preceded by a talk with the artists at the Alvarez Blackbox Theater inside Texas Public Radio’s premises nearby. The unveiling will take place by the creek at Travis and Houston Streets, with refreshments at St. James AMEC Culture Crossing. (April 8, 1-3 p.m.; free and open to all.; Texas Public Radio is at 321 W. Commerce; the event is supported by the San Antonio River Foundation, https://sariverfound.org)