Arts Alive San Antonio

We told you last week about the interesting music festival, Forbidden & Forgotten produced by the Classical Music Institute. The name refers to works by composers who were either ignored (mostly We women) or composed music that the people in power did not approve of.

The concert series continues this weekend with Forbidden Exiles, featuring the music of Paul Hindemith, Kurt Weill and Erich Korngold. We were curious, so we briefly researched the “sins” of two of those composers. Hindemith angered the Nazi authorities who labeled his new-style music “degenerate,” with Joseph Goebbels himself calling him an “atonal noise maker.” Weill, too, became a target of the Nazis as a Jewish composer. He eventually went into exile in France and later built a successful career in America. Korngold ended up in the U.S. as well.

The concert’s program includes: Hindemith’s Sonata 1937; Weill’s Four Walt Whitman songs, Op. 10-34; and Korngold’s String Sextet in D major, Op. 10. (June 17 at 7:30 p.m.; Seddon Recital Hall, University of the Incarnate Word; tickets at tickets@tobincenter.org or 210-223-8624)

The Agarita Chamber Players will end the season with a bonus concert: a unique performance of J.S. Bach’s masterpiece, The Goldberg Variations. The ensemble will mix Dmitry Sitkovetsky’s String Trio arrangement with Bach’s original manuscript, on piano and harpsichord. This is Agarita’s variation on the famed Variations. Sounds interesting! (June 18 at 7:30 p.m., free and open to the public, as all Agarita concerts are; The Chapel of the Incarnate Word, 4503 Broadway, 78209; pre-concert talk will take place at 6:45 with Gerald Self, custom harpsichord maker.)

Coming up in a couple of weeks is the summer Cactus Pear Music Festival, the last one for founder Stephanie Sant’Ambrogio who is being succeeded by artistic-director-designate, Ryo Yanagitani. You can check out the schedule at https://www.cpmf.us.

The YOSA Philharmonic, the advanced ensemble of Youth Orchestras of San Antonio, is about to embark on a concert tour to New York, Boston and Philadelphia, starting June 19 at Mechanics Hall in Worcester, MA, and ending June 26 at Carnegie Hall in NYC, with a stop at the Temple Performing Arts Center in Philadelphia on June 22. Appearing with them will be pianist Adam Tendler in music by George Gershwin. Congratulations and Bon voyage!

Grammy-award winner, Colbie Caillat’s “COCO Live” 15th Anniversary Tour stops at the Empire Theater June 22. “COCO” was her first album but those songs are still her most popular. She will perform all of them during this show. (June 22 at 7:30 p.m.; Empire Theater; tickets start at $35.50, Majestic-Empire box office 210-226-3333, www.majesticempire.com)

Over at the Tobin Center, you can see The Blue Man Group, a stage production that combines all kinds of music and lots of drumming with high-tech stage effects, comic bits, clowning, audience interaction, etc. We saw them years ago at the Majestic Theater but this is a new version. “The men are still blue, but everything else is new.” (June 18 at 8 p.m., June 19 at 2.m.; Tobin Center, Auditorium Circle; tickets $49.50 – 94.50, tickets@tobincenter.org or call 210-223-8624)

The San Antonio-based metal band, Mourning Sun, will make an appearance at the Rock Box June 17.   (6 p.m. 1223 E. Houston; $10-$15; 210-772-1453, www.therockbox.com)

And another local band, Nothing More, which is currently on tour, will make a tour stop here at the Tech Port Arena. (June 18 at 8 p.m.; 3331 General Hudnell Drive; tickets $36-$61; 210-600-3699, www.techportcenter.com)

At the really big arena, the Whitewater Amphitheater, the Randy Rogers Band will offer fans something old-and something new. The band’s new single “Picture Frames” has become one of the top 10 hits on the Texas Country Music Chart. These guys have been playing together for 20 years now. (June 18 at 8 p.m.; Whitewater Amphitheater, 11860 FM 306, New Braunfels; tickets $29.50 -79.50; www.whitewaterrocks.com)

Juneteenth celebrations are planned across the city. One of them is planned for June 20 at the Tobin Center, hosted by County Judge Nelson Wolff and Commissioner Rebecca Clay-Flores. It will include a free screening of Juneteenth: Faith & Freedom, that takes viewers on a trip through Texas with black pastor Rasool Berry as they all “experience the story of Juneteenth.” (June 20 at 2 p.m.; The event will feature a panel discussion with historian Carey Latimore and musical performances.)

The City of San Antonio is starting a new Juneteenth event in Legacy Park this year, hosted by a fairly new entity, The Art of Four. The latter was started in 2019 to promote local black artists. The initiative selects four artists a year to be featured prominently in San Antonio exhibits. The Legacy Park event will feature jazz music, San Antonio poet laureate, Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson and others. (June 19, 6-10 p.m.; Legacy Park, 107 W. Houston St.)

Also, an art exhibit showcasing our city’s black artist has been installed at the San Antonio Airport. If we understand correctly, those artists were selected by the Eye of the Beholder Art Gallery & Studio, which focuses on San Antonio African-American artists exclusively.

The Sterling Houston Festival is coming to a close this weekend with a revival of Houston’s play “Le Griffon” produced by the Jump-Start Performance Co., which premiered the original staging many years ago. And the same director who directed it back then, Steve Bailey, returned to the Alamo City to work on the new version. We understand that brief videos of the original will be incorporated into the current show. (See last week’s NEWS ROUNDUP for the description of the play) (Friday-Saturday at 8 p.m., 3 p.m. Sunday, Little Carver Civic Center, 226 N. Hackberry; tickets 0-$25, your choice, www.jump-start.org, 210-227-5867)

A brand-new play will be presented by the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center – La Nina Girasol – which translates to “The Sunflower Girl.” Written by San Antonio actor/playwright, J. Cesar Duenas, the story “follows a brother and sister on a journey through their dreams to save their maternal line from being lost forever.” The press release also adds that the play is “a magical tale of family, history and the struggle to keep their roots alive.” We salute all efforts to write new plays. (Morning performances: June 22-23 at 11 a.m.; evening performances, June 24-25 at 7 p.m.; GCAC, 1301 Guadalupe St., 78207; tickets $12 adults, $6 teens & seniors; $2 kids under 13; 210-271-3151, www.guadalupecalturalarts.org)

Other theater news: the Classic Theater of San Antonio has just announced that Amanda Golden has been hired as the new director of development for the company dedicated to the classics of the thespian repertoire. She is expected to improve fundraising, community engagement, marketing and events. As part of the realignment of staff, the current executive/artistic director J. Robert “Jimmy” Moore, has assumed the new title of producing artistic director, while operations manager, Ruben Jauregui, has been named managing director.

The unique Summer Solstice Dance Performance, starring San Antonio dancer, Catherine Cisneros of URBAN-15, is going to happen again this year. It takes place at the airport at 2 p.m. on June 21, within the lighted squares of Christopher Janney’s “Passing Light” solar sculpture. The sculpture incorporates large plexiglass squares embedded in the ceiling that project a grid of colors onto the passage way. (In the Long-Term Parking Garage Nave.; you can also see it at www.events.getcreatuvesanantonio.com/events/urban-15s-summer-solstice-performance/

Poetry is alive and well in San Antonio but a new venue is always welcome. Such a venue is the Poetic Republic Coffee & Wine Co. on the South Side, which will host its first poetry event, featuring Gemini Ink’s director, poet Alexandra van de Kamp, reading from her recently published collection, Ricochet Script, and well-known San Antonio poet, Natalia Trevino, who will read from recent work. Their readings will be followed by other poets who sign-up to read, starting at 5:45 p.m. (June 17 from 6-8 p.m., 2330 S. Presa St., 78210; 210-900-2772)

Speaking of poets, we, unfortunately, also have some very sad news. The talented poet and former Gemini Ink executive director, Rosemary Catacalos is losing her battle with cancer and is currently in hospice care. Her close friends told us that one thing she still appreciates is hearing from people via CaringBridge. Those comments are read to her daily and “really help navigate this difficult transition.” Difficult indeed, the most difficult! So, poets and literary friends of Rose, and all friends that would like to share memories, stories, poetry, photos and tributes, with her, please use the following link: https://www.caringbridge.org/public/rosemarycatacalos.