News Roundup Feb. 26, 2021
Agarita Chamber Players will record a Spanish-themed program at the Spanish Governor’s Palace tonight, to be streamed virtually on the organization’s website, www.agarita.org at 7:30 p.m. Produced in partnership with San Antonio’s World Heritage Organization, the concert will highlight the history of the old residence with music from Spain, including Casarrubios, Montsalbatge, Leoz and Boccherini, who was born in Italy but spent a big part of his life in Spain, where he benefitted from the patronage of royalty and nobility.
On Saturday, Feb. 27, Agarita will present Postcards from the Border, a collaborative event with photographer Joel Salcido and writer Oscar Casares. These two travelled “the length of the Rio Grande river” taking a series of pictures which were published last year in Texas Monthly. The chamber quartet will pair music to the poignant images and Casares will serve as narrator. Sponsored by, and recorded at the Mexican Cultural Institute, the concert will include music by Ravel, Biber, Paul Wiancko, Liszt and Guastavino. It, too, will be streamed only at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Both concerts are free.
Later in March, when the weather gets warmer, the four Agarita members – Marisa Bushman (viola), Daniel Anastasio (piano), Ignacio Gallego (cello) and Sarah Silver Manzke (violin) will stage one of their innovative Humble Hall concerts, which will be performed outside on a platform that juts out of their truck, hence the name: Humble Hall. (More about that in late March.)
Another highly promising concert, Harp vs. Harp, is part of Musical Bridges Around the World’s season that, under normal circumstances, would be performed at the San Fernando Cathedral. As it is, it will be yet another virtual broadcast. Despite the clever title, the two musicians featured do not play the same instrument. Colombian Edmar Castaneda is a master of the actual harp while his companion for this event is Swiss-born harmonica player, Gregoire Maret. Both are said to be at the top of their game and both live in the U.S. now. And both have made original contributions to contemporary jazz music. (Sunday, Feb. 28 at 7 p.m., free; to watch: https://musicalbridges.org/watch/
Fans of Broadway musicals will be delighted to hear that the Majestic Theater will reopen in September with a full season of Broadway hits, starting with the classic My Fair Lady, and including The Lion King; Hamilton; Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; Tootsie; Summer: The Donna Summer Musical; Jesus Christ Superstar; Mean Girls; Rent, and Beautiful: The Carol King Musical. For ticket packages and more info go to www.majesticrmpite.com.
Two tribute shows are taking place this weekend at Sam’s Burger Joint: first the Cheap Sunglasses Bandtonight pays tribute to ZZ Top (tickets: $40-$110), and then the San Antonio-based Mothership Band on Saturday which will play Led Zeppelin material (tickets $80-$250). All seating is at socially distant tables so tickets are limited. Get tickets through Eventbrite that you can access through the club’s website
www.samsburgerjoint.com
And there’s always something going on at Gruene Hall in New Braunfels which reopened for business months ago. This weekend it’s the “American Original” Junior Brown and his band. (Saturday 9 p.m.; Doors open at 7; Gruene Hall, 1281 Gruene Rd., New Braunfels; seating at tables with distancing; $$90 – $330; www.gruenehall.com)
The virtual Jaston Williams’s solo show, I Saw the Lights, that we wrote about several weeks ago, is being brought back by the Tobin Center, probably because people asked for it. Williams, whose name will forever be associated with the Greater Tuna comedies, is a very funny guy, indeed. In I Saw the Lights, he pokes fun at the inhabitants of Lubbock who saw strange lights in the sky one day, back in 1951. (Will be available for streaming Friday- Sunday at www.tobincenter.org; tickets are $25-$35.)
The little-known theater company, Teatro Audaz, is presenting Frida Vice Versa, a play about the famed Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo, teaching an unconventional art class and inspiring her students to live life with passion. Twenty percent of ticket sales will be donated to artist Maria Ibarra who is currently undergoing cancer treatments. Directed by Laura T. Garza, the play features Actress Victoria Gutierrez as Frida. (Streamed: Feb.26-March 7; tickets $15-$20; www.teatroaudaz.com; 210-733-7258)
San Antonio’s Writing Arts Center, better known as Gemini Ink is inviting you to join its Zoom Virtual Open House that will feature the Gemini Ink spring faculty members, including National Book Award finalist Reginald Gibbons; New York City poet Patricia Spears Jones; award-winning authors Jen Knox, Nan Cuba, Jasminne Mendez and Sarah Colby, as well as the organization’s president Charles Massiatte. The event will end with a reading and a Q&A with San Antonio scholar and writer Norma Cantu. The event is scheduled for Thursday, March 4 at 6:30 p.m. To respond: www.geminiink.org/events/in-just-spring-open-house/
Literati may also want to help celebrate the release of writer Marisol Cortez’s first novel, Luz at Midnight, published by Flowersong Press. The book tells a climate change story unique to S. Texas, “challenging regional histories of environmental injustice while weaving a universal story of love and longing.” The book has been referred to as “eerily prescient” in its depiction of the rolling blackouts like the ones we just experienced last week.
The online book launch is scheduled for March 5 at 6 p.m. via Zoom. In addition to readings by Cortez, it will also include conversation and readings by three guest artists who helped “bring the book into the world”: poets Mobi Warren, Kamala Platt, and artist David Zamora Casas who designed the book’s cover art. If you purchase Luz at Midnight before the March launch event, Flowersong Press will enter your name into a raffle for several prizes. The drawings will be held at the event. (www.flowersongpress.com; 956-739-2206; To attend the Zoom launch go to https://bit.ly/2NJ5aTB)
In Brief
The McNay Art Museum is opening a new exhibit, Limitless: Five Women Reshape Contemporary Art, on March 4. The press release talks about “trailblazing installations,” “floor to ceiling art” and “a fan-favorite Infinity Mirror Room.” We’ll tell you more after we see it.
Contemporary Art Month is just around the corner. Check out the calendar at www.contemporaryartmonth.org/events-1
The SOLI Chamber Ensemble has postponed its March 4 concert, Electrified Air, to March 17. However, its Contemporary Classical Open Mic Night will be livestreamed on Feb. 28 at 7:30 p.m. on Texas Public Radio.