ART MUSEUMS + GALLERIES

Museums

De Young Museum

During the fall season, the de Young will take viewers on historical journeys to explore two ancient cultures. In the first, the museum showcases the stunning portraits of 31 Māori leaders of the 19th Century painted by Bohemian ex-pat Gottfried Lindauer during the colonization of New Zealand. It's the first U.S. retrospective for Lindauer, highlighting his fascination with the indigenous Polynesian people. The second (and larger) show takes us to Mexico, specifically to Teotihuacan, the ancient Mesoamerican city located just outside Mexico City. The exhibition features 200 recently discovered pieces including ritual objects, mural paintings, ceramics, sculptures, and more from this ancient mega-city founded around 100 B.C. // The Māori Portraits: Gottfried Lindauer's New Zealand (Sept. 9, 2017–April 1, 2018); Teotihuacan: City of Water, City of Fire (Sep. 30 2017–Feb. 11, 2018); De Young Museum, 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, (Golden Gate Park) deyoung.famsf.org

Legion of Honor

Starting in October, The Legion of Honor will host two major exhibitions. Painter Gustav Klimt and sculptor August Rodin met only once, in 1902 during the 14th Vienna Secessionist exhibition, but that meeting started an inspiring and prolific correspondence. The show gathers together 33 Klimt pieces—including his popular "The Virgin" and the "Beethoven Frieze"—to display them alongside the Legion's own Rodin sculptures. From human gods to spiritual divinity, Gods in Color: Polychromy in the Ancient World will showcase 40 reproductions of classical sculptures from Egypt, Greece, and Egypt. If you thought ancient sculptures were either white or terra cotta, you're in for a Technicolor surprise. // Klimt & Rodin: An Artistic Encounter (Oct.14, 2017–Jan 28, 2018); Gods in Color: Polychromy in the Ancient World (Oct. 28, 2017–Jan. 7, 2018); Legion of Honor, Lincoln Park, 100 34th Avenue, legionofhonor.famsf.org

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

SFMOMA will debut three separate solo exhibitions that celebrate the careers of three contemporary American artists. Opening the season is a massive retrospective of photographer Walker Evans, hanging 300 prints that capture his documentation of American popular culture and the greater world. The season continues with a SFMOMA-commission work by the LA-based artist Kerry Tribe—a video installation explores questions of empathy, communication, and performance in hospitals. The final show is all about Robert Rauschenberg, the first retrospective of the artist's work in nearly 20 years. The exhibition will sew together all stages of his prolific career and his unconventional and disruptive approach to materials. There will be paintings, sculptures, drawings, photos, prints, and the iconic "Automobile Tire Print" created when Rauschenberg asked composer John Cage to drive his model A Ford through a pool of paint and across 20 sheets of paper. // Walker Evans (Sep. 30, 2017–Feb. 4, 2018); New Work: Kerry Tribe (Oct. 7, 2017–Feb 25 2018); Robert Rauschenberg: Erasing the Rules (Nov 18, 2017–March 25, 2018) SFMOMA, 51 Third Street, sfmoma.org

Asian Art Museum

The Japanese are known for possessing a certain attention to detail, and this can easily be seen in the pottery of The Sculptural Turn (Nov. 9-26), a collection of works by four pre-World-War-II artists that highlight regional craftsmanship and cultural significance. Couture Korea (Nov. 3 through Feb. 4), dips into the long and ever-changing history of Korean fashion, investigating its modernization and popularization among a broader global audience. Look for the elaborate, corseted couture of the Joseon Dynasty (1392–1910) alongside modern offerings by Jin Teok, who answers the country's affinity for high waistlines and flared sleeves. // 200 Larkin St. (Civic Center); for more information and tickets, go to asianarts.org.

The Contemporary Jewish Museum

There may not be monsters under our beds but—plot twist—they surely exist in the realm of Jewish storytelling. Stop by the Contemporary Jewish Museum for Jewish Folktales Retold: Artist as Maggid (Sept. 28 – Jan. 28, 2018), a commission of 16 new works by creatives including the world-renowned mixed media artist Elisabeth Higgins O'Connor. Also peruse the for-sale works at Sabbath: The 2017 Dorothy Saxe Invitational (Nov. 12 – Feb. 25, 2018), a shoppable gallery of works that relate to ceremonial objects. // 736 Mission St. (SoMa), thecjm.org

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

Leave it to YBCA to keep us constantly surprised and engaged. This month, the museum introduces an art installation by local visual artist Ana Teresa Fernandez. Head to the Alemany Farmers' Market on September 22nd and look up: You'll see Fernandez's 10-foot-high shimmering block letters spelling out the word DREAM. // Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission St. (SoMa); For more fall programming and ticket information, go to ybca.org.

UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive

BAM/PFA has a diverse program ready for the fall. From September to January, dive into the development of lettering and calligraphy from drawing into textual communications in To The Letter, a showcase of prints, paintings, textiles, and photography from Africa, Asia and Europe. BAMPFA's second show, Flesh, takes an unflinching look at the human body and what it endures during times of violence and war. Its investigative nature brings awareness on how the body has been abused, brutalized, and sexualized. Expect Botero's Abu Ghraib drawings and works by Goya among others. Also in September, the museum will exhibit a look behind the sometimes fraught editorial processes that went into African-American photographer Gordon Parks 1948 Life magazine photo essay, "Harlem Gang Leader." // To The Letter: Regarding the Written Word (Sep. 13, 2017–Jan. 2, 2018); Flesh: Art for Human Rights (Sep. 13–Oct. 01, 2017); Gordon Parks: The Making of an Argument (Sep. 27–Dec. 17, 2017); BAMPFA, 2155 Center Street, Berkeley, bampfa.org

Oakland Museum of California

OMCA will explore the essence of humanity and the importance of honest connections with three unexpected exhibitions. Opening September 29, Question Bridge is a huge video installation, arranged as a face-to-face conversation, featuring 150 different African American men from across the United States sharing their stories, their beliefs and their experiences about what it means to black in America. Nature's Gift is a large lighting installation whose primary purpose is to bring joy to participants. It is an homage to the importance of friendships and good social connections, designed by FriendswithYou, an L.A.-based fine art collaborative. October sees the kick-off of the museum's biennial Día de los Muertos group exhibition, and this year it's inspired by the migration of monarch butterflies, whose return to Mexico symbolize the returning of loved ones who have passed away. Keep your eye out for local artists Chris Treggiani and Peter Foucalt's tribute to their friend Alex Ghassan, who died in the Ghost Ship fire. // Question Bridge: Black males (Sep. 29, 2017–Feb. 25, 2018); Nature's Gift: Human, Friends & the Unknown (Oct. 7, 2017–Jan. 21, 2018); Metamorphosis & Migration: Days of the Dead (Oct. 18, 2017–Jan. 14, 2018); OMCA, 1000 Oak Street; (Oakland) museumca.org

San Jose Museum

In the age of selfies, it's nice to see a "real portrait" from time to time. Put together in partnership with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), This is Not a Selfie: Photographic Self-Portraits from the Audrey and Sydney Irmas Collection made its Bay Area debut earlier this summer. View the incredible self-portraits of artists including Diane Arbus, Robert Mapplethorpe, Catherine Opie, and Cindy Sherman through the new year. While you're there, also check out an installation on Vietnam's past and present by The Propeller Group. // 110 S Market St. (San Jose), sjmusart.org

Headlands Center for The Arts

Gloriously situated in the hills of Marin, Headlands Center for the Arts is giving us fresh reason to visit with The Commons, a new 3,000-square-foot outdoor space and ampitheater dedicated to hosting dynamic art programs. Here the center will also unveil three original commissions: a long, colorful promenade—inspired by Kintsugi, the Japanese art of mending broken pottery with lacquer and powdered metals—by Los Angeles-based Ball-Nogues Studio; Wall Space, a sculptural installation of transparent metal mesh on the building's facade, by Rotterdam designer Chris Kabel; and Doubledrink, a particularly intimate two-person ceramic drinking fountain designed by SF artist Nathan Lynch. // Opens Sept. 17 (launch party noon to 5pm); Headlands Center for the Arts, 944 Fort Barry (Sausalito), headlands.org

Galleries

Decades in the Making, Hackett | Mill

Brand new gallery Hackett | Mill celebrates its first fall season with a series of rotating shows built as a dialogue between artsy geniuses, bringing together 20th century creators from past and present. For example, you can see David Park, member of the Bay Area Figurative movement, "in conversation" with Milton Avery, an abstract painter who was called the "American Matisse." // Oct. 26, 2017–March 29, 2018; Hacket | Mill; 145 Natoma Street; (SoMa); hackettmill.com

An Idea of a Boundary, San Francisco Arts Commission

Ten great local and international women artists dig into, investigate, and consider the concept of boundaries at the SF Arts Commission this fall. Inspired by Ursula K. Le Guin' s novel The Dispossessed, these women question and break the existence of boundaries in our lives. On view is New York–based artist Park McArthur with a sequence of small photographs of various thresholds and corridors that highlight how architecture and placement can complicate and block the accessibility of a place. Press and Outline, a movie by Gina Osterloh, unveils the artist's attempts to trace her own shadow on a wall. Blown glass works by Bay Area artist Mildred Howard reveal the boundary between speech and musical notes. Among the artists there will be work by Patricia L. Boyd, Davina Semo, Hannah Ireland, Nicole Wermers, A.K. Burns, Dionne Lee, and Diane Simpson. // An Idea of Boundary (Sep. 22, 2017–Jan. 20, 2018); San Francisco Arts Commission main gallery, 410 Van Ness Avenue, Suite 126; (Civic Center); sfartscommission.org

May Wilson: Felt, Fiber and Cement, Minnesota Street Project

This is the first solo exhibition for the winner of the 2017 San Francisco Artist Award (SFAA). In this new adventure, sculptor May Wilson will show a series of sculptures made of vinyl, industrial felt, nylon strapping, sand, and concrete that tell a story of past memories and imagination. As an abstract artist, Wilson is known for her deep research on different kinds of materials that once together can give a shape to unexpected objects and constructions. // Sep. 9-20, 2017; Atrium @ Minnesota Street Project, 1275 Minnesota Street (Dogpatch); minnesotastreetproject.com

The Leader Is Present @ The McLoughlin Gallery

Italian photographer Max Papeschi brings part of his Welcome to North Korea project to the McLoughlin Gallery in a timely exhibition of The Leader Is Present, whose Kim Jong-un renderings cast a tongue-and-cheek light on the propagandic messaging of the dictatorial nation state. Through his expressive and irreverent style, Papeschi discredits the very cult-like narrative that shrouds the country by pushing his work to laughable extremes. // Sept. 15 – Oct. 14; 49 Geary St. Suite #200 (Union Square), mgart.com

Parallel Spaces @ Haines Gallery

When it comes to minimalist paintings, there's little to impede individual interpretation. Parallel Spaces, a stimulating collection from Mike Henderson—a Bay Area artist and filmmaker whose work with acrylics spans four decades—is currently on display at Haines Gallery. Henderson's geometric paintings of scalpel-sharp line works and shapes are rendered in both primary and polychromatic hues, and encourage viewers to question the parallels between their own lives and those of other human beings. // Sept. 7 – Oct. 28; 49 Geary St. Suite #540 (SoMa), hainesgallery.com

SF Open Studios

Whether you're a budding or seasoned art collector, there's no better way to get a handle on the local scene than by jumping on ArtSpan's Open Studios circuit. For five weekend, more than 800 Bay Area artists of all kinds will open their doors to your perusal. // Oct. 14 through Nov. 12 at venues citywide; for schedule and info, go to artspan.org.

FILM

Dracula, The Paramount Theater

The legendary composer Philip Glass and the Bay Area–based Kronos Quartet will perform live on Halloween at the Paramount Theater during a screening of Dracula, the 1931 classic horror movie directed by Tod Browning starring the quintessential Prince of Darkness, Bela Lugosi. The orchestra, conducted by Michael Reisman, will see Philip Glass at the keyboard, David Harrington and John Sherba on violin, Hunk Dutt on the viola, and Sunny Yang the cello. // Oct. 31st, 2017, at 8pm; The Paramount Theater; 2025 Broadway Street (Oakland); paramounttheatre.com

Homage to Lina Wertmuller, Castro Theatre

Love and Anarchy, Seven Beauties, and The Seduction of Mimi, all by Italian director Lina Wertmuller, will be screening on a day-long cinematic marathon at the Castro Theatre to celebrate this provocative and influential artist's career. The event will also premier to the Bay Area Behind the White Glasses, a documentary directed by Valerio Ruiz, who will be at the event to introduce his work. For those who love the signature style of this talented female director, don't miss The White Glass Party in the theater's mezzanine at 8:30pm. // Sep. 23, 2017; The Castro Theater, 429 Castro Street, (Castro); castrotheatre.com

Marlon Brando and James Baldwin docs, BAM/PFA

BAMPFA introduces two film programs that celebrate the careers and the commitment to cinema of two fearless and prominent American artists. Marlon Brando will be honored with a selected number of movies that will show the development of the success of this charming and talented American actor, including A Streetcar Named Desire and A Countess from Hong Kong. A series honoring James Baldwin will explore the contributions of the black director in cinema and include works directed by black filmmakers that investigate the topic of race and the relationship between different ethnicity. Among the movies there will be also I Am Not Your Negro, based on Baldwin's unfinished memoir, and a documentary about the director' life and his journey to San Francisco in 1963. // Marlon Brando: The Fugitive Kind (Sep. 1- Oct. 28, 2017); Reflection and Resistance: James Baldwin and Cinema (Sep. 14–Nov. 16, 2017); BAMPFA; 2155 Center Street, (Berkeley); bampfa.org

San Francisco Transgender Film Festival @ Roxie Theater
The San Francisco Transgender Film Festival is America's first and longest-running event to spotlight transgender narratives in cinema. The 2017 schedule is soon to be announced; last year's ticket included access to Jaq Nguyen Victor's Drugs for Unicorns and Ricky Lee's Parts and the Whole. // Nov. 10-12 at Roxie Theater 117 16th St. (Mission); ticket information at sftff.org.

Another Hole in the Head Film Festival @ New People Theatre

If edge-of-your-seat thrills are your thing, mark your calendar for this annual horror and sci-fi film festival that celebrates all things fake blood and CGI. Expect a mix of dark humor and gore to be on show come late October—last year's roster included the dark comedy The Master Cleanse. // Oct, 27 through Nov. 9 at New People; 1746 Post St. (Japantown); tickets will be available in at sfindie.com.

Young Frankenstein @ Davies Symphony Hall
In time for Halloween, Davies Symphony Hall presents a screening of Mel Brooks' spooky-kooky staple, Young Frankenstein, accompanied by the sultry stylings of piano duo Anderson & Roe. // 7pm, Oct. 29th, Davies Symphony Hall, 201 Van Ness Ave. (Hayes Valley); tickets ($20-$69) are available at sf symphony.org.

DANCE

Velveteen Rabbit, ODC Dance

For its 31st season, ODC Dance will present one of its most successful and viewed dance shows. Margery Williams' Velveteen Rabbit will unveil the sweet relationship between a young boy and a stuffed rabbit come to life. It's one of the classic performance that defines the holidays and a must-see for families. // Nov. 25–Dec. 10, 2017; Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission Street (SoMa); odc.dance

RawDance, Transform Fest

The popular Bay Area dance company will be performing as part of the Transform Fest, one of the most acclaimed events in the city that combines movement and visual arts. This year, all the artists involved had to develop and compose a choreography around the topic "Why Citizenship?" The troupe will investigate, through an intriguing and dynamic dance, the subtle battle between the power structures and the freedom of critical thinking. // Sep. 15-23, 2017; Yerba Buena Center for The Arts, 701 Mission Street (SoMa); ybca.org

The Right To Be Believed, Flyaway Productions

In this free show, Flyaway Productions, the Bay Area aerial dance company, will occupy the intersection at 1100 Broadway Street and 12th Street in downtown Oakland for a site-specific performance. The Right to Be Believed is new choreography by artistic director Jo Knetter that plays with gravity to explore the challenges that every woman has when she stands up for herself and have a voice in our society. // Oct. 6-7, 2017; 8pm and 9pm; 1100 Broadway Street (Oakland); flyawayproductions.com

Moses(es), Zellerbach Hall

Inspired by Zora Neale Huston's Moses, the choreographer Reggie Wilson and his Fist and Heel Performance Group has designed a dance show that explores North African folklore: their culture, their migration and the spiritual tradition. // Sep. 23, 2017, 8pm; Sep. 24, 2017, 3pm; 101 Zellerbach Hall (Berkeley); calperformances.org

Marksman, ODC Theater

How are our bodies, minds and personalities shaped by the relationship with others? This is one of the topics explored through provocative and intense movement by Kate Weare Company. Inspired by Eugen Herrigel's Zen in the Art of Archery, the show is a close up on how we use our intuition to survive. // Oct. 5-7, 2017, 8pm; ODC Theater, 3153 17th Street (Mission); odc.dance

PushFest, Push Dance Company

For its annual festival, PUSH Dance Company will bring on stage a series of performances featuring local artists. Among the shows there will be the world premier of Mothership (II) by artistic director Raissa Simpson, Mary Carbonara from Dancers' Performance Project with new works, and other contributions like The Anata Project, Kendra Kimbrough Dance Ensemble, and Soulskin. // September 22-24, 2017, ODC Theater, 3153 17th Street (Mission); odc.dance

Vulnerability, Acrobatic Storytelling Company

Let's face it, no one likes to be vulnerable and, most of all, no one likes to be out there when emotions are too overwhelming. Acrobatic Storytelling Company challenges us through impactful dance movement and narratives to deal with our own inner fragilities. The dancers highlight the risk, the uncertainty, the fear, and the relief we experience when we expose our vulnerabilities. // Sep. 16, 2017, 8pm; Brava Theater Center, 2781 24th Street (Mission); brava.org

Smuin Contemporary American Ballet @ Palace of Fine Arts

The Palace of Fine Arts is a lovely spot for a ballet. This October, Smuin Contemporary American Ballet will put its fresh spin on nine classic Frank Sinatra songs in the special tribute show, Fly Me to the Moon. // Sept. 29 through Oct. 7, Palace of Fine Arts, 3301 Lyon St. (Marina); tickets ($32-$79) are available at smuinballet.org.

San Francisco International Hip Hop Dance Fest @ Palace of Fine Arts

Embrace your inner back-up dancer at the 19th iteration of the SF International Hip Hop Dance Fest, where you can catch some of the most energetic and culturally attuned dance groups from across the world. Last year's groups—organized and approved by Bay Area's own hip-hop extraordinaire Micaya—included such acts as the Vietnamese S.I.N.E. Crew. // Nov. 17-19, Palace of Fine Arts, 3301 Lyon St. (Marina); tickets ($40-$75) are available at cityboxoffice.com; lineup to be released at sfhiphopdancefest.com.

Alonzo King Lines Ballet

The fall home season of Alonzo King's Lines Ballet is always two things: absolutely major, and entirely too short. This fall, look for the return of The Propelled Heart, starring Grammy Award–winning vocalist Lisa Fischer, who has shared the stage with such headliners as Mick Jagger, Tina Turner and Beyoncé. The dance, as ever, explores the body as an instrument; the entire piece is a journey. // Nov. 15-19, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater, 701 Mission St. (SoMa); for tickets and info, go to linesballet.org.

AXIS Dance Company

One of the country's most celebrated dance companies to integrate dancers with and without disabilities, Axis stages its much anticipated 2017 home season with the debut of Radical Impact, a new work created and produced by new artistic director Marc Brew, in collaboration with JooWan Kim, artistic director of Oakland-based hip-hop orchestra, Ensemble Mik Nawooj. At 20 years of age, while enjoying a blossoming professional dance career, Brew was injured in a head-on car collision while dancing with PACT Ballet in South Africa that left him paralyzed from the chest down with a spinal cord injury and using a wheelchair. "But" as he recently told the BBC Arts, "I was still a dancer. I couldn't just stop because I couldn't walk anymore." // Oct. 26-29, 1428 Alice St., Suite 200
(Oakland); tickets are $30 in advance at axisdance.org/performances.

THEATER

San Francisco Fringe Festival, Exit Theater

Every year, San Francisco Fringe Festival introduces the best indie theater performances of the Bay Area. For the 26th anniversary, the festival will bring on stage 150 performances by 35 companies. Among the shows there will be $wampland, a comedy written and interpreted by seven award-winning Bay Area playwrights that will reflect on what making America great in the Trump era really means; Homeful by Amy Mihyang Ginther, a solo performance about the different perception of feeling at home; and How Not To Die by Sherri Rose, a dark comedy on living in constant crisis. // Sep. 8-23, 2017; Exit Theater, 156 Eddy Street, (Union Square); sffringe.org

American Conservatory Theater

A.C.T. opens its fall season with Hamlet, one of the Bard's most popular works. On stage, Tony Award nominee John Douglas Thompson will catch the attention of the public in this one-man show. In October, Small Moth Sounds, a new comedy by Bess Wohl, takes the stage. The play reveals how sometimes staying quiet doesn't necessarily bring inner peace and how mindfulness is becoming a wellness industry. Refuse the Hour, a multimedia show by South African artist William Kentridge, will investigate the meaning of time in our society. // Hamlet (Sep. 20-Oct. 15, 2017); Small Moth Sounds (Oct. 11- Dec. 10, 2017); Refuse the Hour (Nov. 10-11, 2017); A.C.T, The Geary Theater, 405 Geary Street, (Union Square); The Strand Theater, 1127 Market Street (Civic Center); act-sf.org

State of Siege by Theatre de la Ville

Living under the Trump Show and constantly watching him playing with U.S. politics, this Emmanuel Demarcy Mota-directed show is a must-see. Inspired by Camus's play The State of Siege, the work contemplates the necessity and importance of resistance in face of authoritarianism, all performed by a Parisian theatre troupe. // Oct. 21-22, 2017, Zellerbach Hall (Berkeley); calperformances.org

Obama and Me, MoAD

It's the story about a black woman who works in Brussels at the center of European politics and the parallelism between the difficulties of Barack Obama as the first black President of United States. Sylvia Arthur, British writer, will share on stage at the Museum of the African Diaspora in a solo performance her life experiences as a black woman trying to establish her voice and her career in a male- and white-dominated world. // Oct. 12, 2017; 6:30pm; MoAD, 685 Mission St. (SoMa); moadsf.org

A Midsummer Night's Dream @ The African-American Shakespeare Company

Following the most well attended season in the company's history, the African-American Shakespeare Company begins this season with A Midsummer Night's Dream (Sept. 16 through Oct. 1) set in Trinidad and Tobago during Carnival. This all new production is the first since the company's initial production in the late 90s. With puppets designed by Scott Ludwig, costumes by Rachael Heiman and lighting by Kevin Myrick, the production has been designed to put the audience "in the middle of the action," says director Sherri Young. "If anyone is a shrinking violet, I would suggest taking a seat as far from the stage as possible." // Taube Atrium Theater, 401 Van Ness Ave. (Civic Center); for more tickets ($30) and more 2017-2018 programming, go to african-americanshakes.org.

MUSIC

San Francisco Symphony

When Yo Yo Ma opens the season, the rest of the programming had better be good. Of course, the San Francisco Symphony is bringing it big-time this year. A few of the highlights? Look for Michael Tilson Thomas to conduct the carnivalistic Symphonie Fantastique (Sept. 29 through Oct. 1); a to-die-for tribute to Leonard Bernstein, including his Chichester Psalms and tunes from West Side Story (Nov. 22-24); a big Bavarian polka party, including sing-a-longs and a pop-up biergarten to celebrate Oktoberfest (Oct. 3); and a one-of-a-kind Dias de Los Muertos Community Concert (Nov. 4), starring the vocals of Mexican cultural icon Eugenia León. // Davies Symphony Hall, 201 Van Ness Ave. (Civic Center); for more performances and tickets for the 2017-2018 season, sfsymphony.org.

San Francisco Opera

Female leads, gold-digging, and a soap opera-like drama—what more could you want? The San Francisco Opera's world premiere of Girls of the Golden West (Nov. 21 through Dec. 10) has all that and more. If La Belle Epoque is more your style, don't miss the sultry tale of dangerous liaisons in Paris in Jules Massenet's Manon (Nov. 4-22). Fans of the classics can see Turandot, the tale of an icy princess and her hot-blooded suitor, again (Sept. 8 through Dec. 9). // War Memorial Opera House, 301 Van Ness Ave. (Civic Center); for more performances and tickets for the 2017-2018 season, go to sfopera.com.

La Circe, ODC Theater

A classic of Greek mythology will be revisited at ODC Theater. Ars Minerva, the company founded by renowned mezzo-soprano Céline Ricci with the purpose of reviving lost and forgotten operas from 17th century Venice, will present the opera La Circe by Pietro Andrea Ziani. Circe—beautiful goddess, sorceress, and queen of a magical island—is abandoned by Ulysses. Left with a broken heart she looks for revenge by seducing all men come ashore. The opera will feature eight singers, one acrobat, and a small orchestra of five instrumentalist led by Derek Tam. // Sep. 8-9, 2017; 7:30pm; ODC Theater, 3153 17th Street, (Mission) odc.dance

Ludovico Einaudi, Paramount Theater

A live concert by one of the most famous classical Italian pianists and film composers, Ludovico Einaudi, takes place in mid-October. He will play some tracks of his latest work, Elements, where he combines the soft melody of the piano with electronic sounds and orchestra arrangements that will recall the music of Mother Earth. He was once described as "Radiohead, but without the lyrics." // Oct. 15, 2017, at 8pm; The Paramount Theater; 2025 Broadway Street (Oakland); paramounttheatre.com

Lila Downs and Riccardo Muti, Cal Performances

Zellerbach Hall will host two astonishing live music events. Acclaimed vocalist Lila Downs will perform in a concert where she'll blend her folk and ranchera music with American jazz and blues. Conductor Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra will be playing a three-day run in October, performing a classical repertoire including Rossini's Overture from William Tell, Schubert's Symphony No. 8, Unfinished, Mozart's Clarinet Concerto, and Brahm's Symphonies No. 2 and No. 3. // Lila Downs (Sep. 30, 2017); Chicago Symphony Orchestra (Oct. 13 -15); Zellerbach Hall (Berkeley), calperformances.org

LITERATURE

Litquake

Now in its 18th year, Litquake is a rockin' with nine days (Oct. 6-14) of scandalously bookish events. At press time, the lineup was still being finalized, but we're excited about "I Dance What I Am: Isadora Duncan in Print and Film", co-presented by San Francisco Dance Film Festival at Alamo Drafthouse; Word for Word: Slouching Toward Bethlehem, a reading of Joan Didion; Sand, Surf and Sartre; and of course the closing night LitCrawl, where 7x7 will once again be hosting a jolly lit night, this year at the Elbo Room. // At venues Bay Area–wide; for more information and schedule, go to litquake.org.

City Arts & Lectures

Four decades later, City Arts & Lectures is still churning out some of the smartest events in town. This fall, sit down for riveting chats with Michael Chabon (Sept. 19), on the utter capriciousness of writing prose and his recent collection of stories, Moonglow; Francis Ford Coppola (Sept. 26), on his legendary body of work; MTV veejay turned incredible photog Tabitha Soren (Sept. 27), on the art of photographing everyday human life; Daniel Handler (Oct. 2), on his new coming-of-age novel All The Dirty Parts; and Alice Waters (Oct. 12), along with Truthdig editor-and-chief Robert Scheer, in conversation about her scintillating new memoir, Coming to My Senses. // Nourse Theater, 275 Hayes St. (Hayes Valley); for more lecture listings and tickets, go to cityarts.net.

Bay Area Poetry Marathon

This edgy, left-of-center lit event fetes Northern California's textured take on poetry, showcasing a bevy of the Bay Area's most talented poets. This year, go for reading from the likes of May-lee Chai, Edward Foster, Caroline Goodwin, and more. // Sept. 30 at Alley Cat Bookstore, 3036 24th St. (Mission), bayareapoetrymarathon.net