Arts Alive San Antonio

The end of October brings cooler weather and the first fall festivities, some of which have little to do with the arts and others that include an arts component.  We will try to focus on the latter.

URBAN-15’s Carnaval de los Muertos, is all about music and dance and spectacle, with lights embedded in dancers’ costumes, and drummers keeping everyone moving in slow rhythm. You’ll feel like joining them. The Carnaval has been part of Dia de los Muertos since 1985 and “…this procession of impressionistic apparitions carries both the pain and joy of this epoch,” says the press release, referring, we believe, to the time of COVID-19. Performances will be held at the official Day of the Dead Parade on the river on Oct. 29, 8 p.m., and Nov. 2 at Elmendorf Park at 7 p.m.  The latter will be a more “intimate” performance, and probably a more effective one. We remember seeing a similar procession some years ago in a park, among trees, as dancers swayed and floated by in the semi-darkness. It was quite memorable. You’ll be able to watch virtually at https://www.facebook.com/URBAN15/live_videos/ (For information call 210-736-1500 or email events@urban15.org)

Another arts event is scheduled for Nov. 2 on the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center’s campus, featuring the professional-level Guadalupe Dance Company, Mariachi Guadalupe and the Guadalupe Dance Academy. (Guadalupe St., 78207; 210-271-3151, www.guadalupeculturalarts.org)

Centro Cultural Aztlan, will host “Altares y Ofrendas Dia de los Muertos Exhibit and Celebration Nov. 2-8. It will be open for in-person viewing but also available online. (1800 Fredericksburg Rd., #103; 210-432-1896; https://centroaztlan.org

And Say Si’s Muertitos Fest 2021: Artes Curativas, scheduled for Nov. 2, will feature art by the students enrolled in the program, guest artists and artisan vendors. (www.saysi.org)

San Antonio is blessed with excellent and diverse chamber music ensembles and Agarita Chamber Players is one of them. Last year, the group introduced what they called Humble Hall, a series of concerts delivered from the back platform of a truck in the city’s neighborhoods. No reservation, no tickets required, just come and enjoy. According to the latest news, Agarita will continue delivering high quality music to makeshift “venues” around town between now and the end of the year. In fact, there will be six more such events. “At the time when classical music and the arts are needed even more to connect, we’re thrilled to continue to bring free concerts to San Antonio and throughout South Texas,” said executive director and violist Marisa Bushman. The goal is to present at least one concert per city district, and looks like they are going to reach that goal.

This weekend’s concerts: Oct. 30, 1 p.m., Castle Hills, The Commons, 207 Lemonwood Dr.; and 4 p.m. at Christus Santa Rosa Hospital, 2827 Babcock Rd. (bring chair or blanket; no seats are provided)

YOSA, the Youth Orchestra of San Antonio, is opening its new season this weekend with YOSA Zachry Series 1: Music in Motion, featuring the most advanced ensemble, the YOSA Philharmonic, conducted by Troy Peters. To be performed at theTobin Center, the concert will feature “an energetic program of music from around the world,” including lively dances by Marquez, Saint-Saens and Smetana, plus William Grant’s Still’s bluesy Symphony No.1, known as the Afro-American Symphony. The concert will also commemorate the 20^th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks with James Grant’s stirring Tribute.

 With the cancellations of San Antonio Symphony concerts due to labor disputes, YOSA offers the only orchestral performance in town. (Sunday, Oct. 31 at 3:30 p.m.; Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, 100 Auditorium Circle; tickets can be purchased at the Tobin box office or tickets@tobincenter.org, and at www.music.yosa.org/concerts.)

YOSA has also announced that it has hired a new executive director, Jerrod Price, “a music advocate, arts administrator and strategist” whose wife happens to be from San Antonio and a “proud YOSA alum.”

The Tobin Center will also host humorist David Sedaris Saturday for an evening featuring all-new stories, an audience Q&A and book signing. He’s a master of satire who observes and writes about human follies, needs and disguises. His latest book is Calypso, described as “darkly hilarious.” (Oct. 30 at 2 p.m.; Tobin Center; for tickets go to tickets@tobincenter.org or buy in-person at Tobin’s box office; see address above)

Another observer of human behavior is rapper and R&B artist Jack Harlow, who will be at the Aztec Theater Sunday, Oct. 31. Asked by an interviewer about his sources of inspiration, the 23-year-old artist from Shelbyville, KY, listed conversations with people and just observing what’s going on around him.
(Oct. 31 at 8:30 p.m.; Aztec Theater, 104 N. St. Mary’s; 210-812-4355; tickets $12- $300+; www.boxofficeticketsales.com)

Two days earlier, the Aztec will showcase the Argentinian duo, Pimpinela, that’s known and loved for its romantic songs in Argentina. (Oct. 29, 9 p.m.; tickets $49-$154 through www.boxofficeticketsales.com)

At the Paper Tiger, you can catch Julien Baker Saturday and Japanese Breakfast on Monday. The latter has nothing to do with food, it’s just the name singer/songwriter Michelle Zauner chose for her act. (Baker: Oct. 30, 8 p.m., tickets $20; Japanese Breakfast: Nov. 1 at 7 p.m.; tickets $25; Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St. Mary’s St.; www.papertigersatx.com)

And if you would rather be a participant than a spectator, here’s something fun for you: Hallow Swing, a special Halloween themed dance party on Saturday at the Hermann Sons Ballroom, downtown. The swingin’ music will be provided by the Dirty River Jazz Band, and dressing up is encouraged because a costume contest is part of the fun, too. (Oct. 30, 8 – 11:30 p.m.; Hermann Sons Ballroom, 525 S. St. Mary’s St., 78205; tickets $20 in advance, $30 at the door; https://www./eventbrite.com/e/hallowswingtickets)

Another participatory event is Oktobin FEST, a party at the Tobin Center featuring a polka and conjunto blast to be delivered by Flaco Jimenez and Los Texmaniacs, this Saturday at 2 p.m. on the Will Naylor River Walk Plaza. Additional pop-up performances will happen throughout the day. The idea is to have fun but also to learn about the German influence on conjunto music. Central to both is the accordion. A little history/ethnomusicology adds to the merriment. (free; 100 Auditorium Circle)

GALLERY NEWS: One of San Antonio’s best-known artists, Cesar Martinez, is having a solo exhibit at the Ruiz-Healy Art’s New York gallery, opening Nov. 4. Ruiz-Healy Art is celebrating its 15^th anniversary and to mark the occasion, its San Antonio gallery will present an exhibit featuring “artists significant to the gallery’s fifteen-year history.” That opening is scheduled for Nov. 17. Right now, the work of another San Antonio artist, Richard Armendariz, is being showcased by Ruiz-Healy at the IFPDA Fine Print Fair 2021 until the end of the month.

Art Gallery Prudencia would like to invite you to see its current exhibit “Two Women, Two Views” before it closes on Nov. 6. A closing reception is planned for that day. The two artists are Kim Collins and Mary James (2518 N. Main Ave., 78212; 210-422-8681; www.prudenciagallery.com)

And we would like to remind you that the Red Dot sales exhibit is still on view at the Blue Star Contemporary. The show is a major fundraiser for San Antonio’s oldest contemporary art center and gallery. (Blue Star Complex, 116 Blue Star; 210-227-6960, www.bluestarcontemporary.org)