August 10–11, 2024
Vijay Iyer & Graham Haynes
THE 222 was proud to present the World Premiere of the seventy-five-minute multimedia composition Misterioso, created and performed by acclaimed composer-pianist Vijay Iyer and celebrated composer-cornetist flugelhornist Graham Haynes. Funded in part by the National Endowment of the Arts, Misterioso is a dynamic contemporary conception informed by the two artists’ lifelong indebtedness to the artistry of Thelonious Monk.
Described by The New York Times as a “social conscience, multimedia collaborator, system builder, rhapsodist, historical thinker and multicultural gateway,†Vijay Iyer has carved out a unique path as an influential, prolific, shape-shifting presence in twenty-first-century music. A composer and pianist active and revered across multiple musical communities, Iyer has created a consistently innovative, emotionally resonant body of work over the last twenty-five years, earning him a place as one of the leading music-makers of his generation. He has received a MacArthur Fellowship, a Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, a United States Artist Fellowship, three Grammy nominations, the Alpert Award in the Arts, the Greenfield Prize, and two German “Echo†awards, and was voted DownBeat Magazine’s Jazz Artist of the Year four times.
Regarded as an innovator on cornet and flugelhorn, an extraordinary composer, and an emerging force in contemporary electronic music and world music, Graham Haynes has redefined and deconstructed that genre we call jazz. Haynes’s music combines technology to create imaginative, subtle sonic environments within a wide range of influences including African, Arabic, and South Asian musical systems.
September 5, 2024
Indigenous Voices Series: Kurt Schweigman
Kurt Schweigman dazzled listeners with his poignant narratives, often humorous, based on his urban American Indian upbringing and present life as a Lakota person in Sonoma County. This versatile poet has won poetry slams from California to Germany and guest edited for Poetry magazine. He shared prose and poetry from his new book Confluences of Solitude (Mitote Press, 2023). Themes include nature, activism, family, the real and hyperreal, dreams, and solitude. His vision sometimes took surreal forms, transforming bison into demonstrators:
“Representatives from various buffalo herds across the Great Plains converged on Capitol Hill for a rally in support of their freedom rights as American Bison. ‘We have gotten bad press from rare isolated attacks on Yellowstone tourists and Sturgis bikers, but we were provoked.’â€
“Boisterous as rapids after rainfall, subversive and tactful, here’s a poetry raised on fire and ice,†— Jimmy Santiago Baca
September 14, 2024
Roni Ben Hur Quartet
Emigrating to the US in 1985, Roni Ben-Hur was one of the first Israeli jazz musicians to make his mark in New York City, blending bebop, Brazilian rhythms, and Middle Eastern influences into a cohesive and captivating sound. His latest record, Jazz Love Letters, the latest masterpiece in his forty-plus year career of performing, composing, recording and teaching jazz, is said to be yet another testament to support the fact that the guitarist is widely regarded as one of the jazz-elite.
“Ben-Hur remains a touchstone of classic style and swing...clean-toned, mellifluously melodic, but most importantly swinging, swinging, swinging.â€
— Andy Robson, Jazz Wise
September 24, 2024
Storms etc.: Daniel Cilli – Baritone and Temirzhan Yerzhanov – Piano
Internationally acclaimed pianist Temirzhan Yerzhanov and distinguished baritone Daniel Cilli joined their formidable skills and experience to present a taut seventy-minute program of elegant piano solos and stormy songs for voice and piano. Featuring sophisticated and lyrical works from romantic and modern eras written by a diverse array of male and female, European and American composers and poets. The program was bookended by songs with a storm theme and culminated in the song cycle: Mortal Storm by composer Robert Owens to poetry of Langston Hughes.
Whether interpreting the complex works of Verdi, Puccini, or contemporary composers, Daniel Cilli’s artistry remains unparalleled, leaving a lasting impact on all who had the privilege of witnessing his extraordinary talent. — Opera Review Journal
September 29, 2024
Paul Galbraith
Paul Galbraith is internationally renowned as one of the foremost guitarists of our time. The searching depth of his interpretations, along with his revolutionary playing style and instrument, have made him an instantly recognizable figure in the world of classical music.
Selected for Guitar Foundation of America’s 2024 Hall of Fame Artistic Achievement Award, honoring “Monumental Contributions to the Development of the Art and Life of The Classical Guitar†joining such luminaries as Andres Segovia, Julian Bream, John Williams, etc.
“An amazing clarity and a huge dynamic range I have never before heard from any guitaristâ€
— The Sunday Times (London)
“Exceptional artistryâ€
— THE NEW YORKER
October 3, 2024
El Olvido
Heddy Honigmann returned to Lima for this typically quirky, deeply humanist exploration of everyday resilience and resignation. For Honigmann, Lima is “the forgotten city,†though its citizens live in the shadow of the presidential palace. If presidents and dictators in endless parade have forgotten about the citizens of Lima, the citizens have not forgotten about them. In fact, if you want a concise history of the “scandals, dirty wars and towering inflation†of the last few decades, just ask a bartender, a waiter, a leather craftsman. All recalled to the ever-approachable Honigmann how they have created their own reality to survive in an economy in ruins. From the youngsters doing back-flips in the street for coins to the waiter who sagely admits, “I am a clown,†survival is a performance. For all the good it does these average Peruvians, having their eyes wide open is a point of pride. But if realism is good, magical realism is better – the sort that allows you to juggle glass balls in the air in the middle of a crowded intersection and call it progress.
— Judy Bloch, SFIFF (2008)
October 6, 2024
Carlos Henrique Pereira Performing with his son Gabriel Alexander Pereira
The father and son duo presented a diverse repertoire of jazz standards, Brazilian classics, and original compositions by both. Carlos played acoustic nylon string guitar and Gabriel played the cello. Both are also pianists. For this performance, they were joined by Leif Dering on acoustic bass and Joe Campbell on drums.
Carlos is Brazilian and has released 5 albums of original music. Gabriel is 11 years old, was born in Sonoma, and loves to compose and play improvised music. He is a member of the Healdsburg Jazz Future All-Stars Band, the Santa Rosa Symphony Jazz Ensemble, and has been performing regularly around the Healdsburg area with his dad.
October 11, 2024
Calisto Quartet
Praised for their “lush intensity and bravado,†and “cohesion and intonation one might expect from an ensemble twice their age,†this American-Canadian ensemble brought together four musicians who share a passion for offering chamber music to audiences around the world. The Callisto Quartet has garnered top prizes in nearly every major international chamber music competition and has been hailed by audiences across the globe. They are currently the Fellowship Quartet in Residence at Yale University.
“Callisto quartet found warmth and severity...both searching and genial, with a tremendous variety of color...†— The Strad
October 14, 2024
Roomful of Teeth
Roomful of Teeth is a two-time Grammy-winning vocal band dedicated to reimagining the expressive potential of the human voice. By engaging collaboratively with artists, thinkers, and community leaders from around the world, the group seeks to uplift and amplify voices old and new while creating and performing meaningful and adventurous music.
Founded in 2009 by Brad Wells, the band was incubated at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) in North Adams, Massachusetts, where members studied with some of the world’s most extraordinary singers and teachers. Through experimentation, exploration, and plenty of failures, the group learned that the boundaries of the human voice are never what they seem, that rules can be bent, even broken, and perhaps they should be.
“The music of Roomful of Teeth is not easily categorized or confined by genre...Their singing is both sophisticated and primal, and their blend of voices produces a sound that is at once ancient and contemporary.†— The New Yorker
October 18, 2024
Indigenous Voices Series: Kim Shuck
We welcomed the recent San Francisco Poet Laureate in this family-friendly event and enjoyed her celebratory poetry about deer, especially inhabitants of San Francisco. Shuck explores how these resilient herbivores embody the heartbreaking and exhilarating blend of natural and urban settings. Deer meander under highways and along park streams in the poet’s lyric range.
Of the poet’s book Deer Trails (from City Lights), Dawn Pettigrew writes, “She is blending tradition with modernity, history with humor and her own Indigenous perspective with everything else. She is kind enough to invite us all into her mind, her life and her tribe.†A recent chapbook, A-wi / Deer, is co-authored with Denise Low.
Kim Shuck is a poet, author, weaver, and bead work artist who draws from Southeastern Native American culture and tradition as well as contemporary urban Indian life. She was born in San Francisco, CA, and belongs to the northern California Cherokee diaspora. She is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and also has Sac and Fox and Polish ancestry.
October 19, 2024
Claudia Villela
Audiences experienced the magic of Claudia Villela’s voice, piano, and compositions, with Vitor Gonçalves on accordion and piano and special guest Paul McCandless on several reed instruments. Villela performed songs from her latest recording Cartas ao Vento, which was included in the prestigious list of Best 100 Albums of the 2023 Year in DownBeat Magazine. Their collaboration demonstrated the transformative power of music, from haunting ballads to spirited sambas and Brazilian classics, as each note resonated with the passion and synergy between these remarkable musicians. It was an unforgettable evening of dynamic harmonies and soul-stirring melodies, filled with moments of pure magic.
October 25–27, 2024
Ghost Quartet
Dave Malloy’s quirky and wondrous ghost-story-musical, Ghost Quartet, was as life affirming in its effect as it was astounding in its form. The piece is author-described as “a song cycle about love, death, and whiskey†in an interwoven tale spanning seven centuries, with a murderous sister, a tree house astronomer, a bear, a subway and the ghost of Thelonius Monk.
November 1–3, 2024
Dan Hoyle: Takes All Kinds
Rooted in deep listening, Dan Hoyle combined hours of interviews and observations and, with respect, humility, transparency, and joyous collaboration, created a compelling evening of Journalistic Theatre.
He shared riveting stories and the fascinating people who told them. Takes All Kinds was a production that captured voices around the country focused on a pivotal election.
November 2, 2024
Echoes of Souls: Dia de los Muertos in Song
Celeste Camarena, Mezzo-soprano
Galen Green, Saxophone
Paul Dab, Piano
In a tribute to the departed, critically acclaimed mezzo-soprano Celeste Camarena invited audiences to immerse themselves in a hauntingly beautiful DÃa de los Muertos recital. The program captured the essence of this sacred celebration with a touch of magic and mystery, featuring works from Daniel Crozier, MarÃa Grever, Silvestre Revueltas, Blas Galindo, Carlos Chávez, and Rodrigo NeftalÃ.
November 7, 2024
FILM: The Gleaners And I
Agnès Varda’s extraordinary late-career renaissance began with this wonderfully idiosyncratic, self-reflexive documentary in which the ever-curious French cinema icon explores the little-known world of modern-day gleaners: those living on the margins who survive by foraging for that which society throws away. Embracing the intimacy and freedom of digital filmmaking, Varda posits herself as a kind of gleaner of images and ideas, one whose generous, expansive vision makes room for ruminations on everything from aging to the birth of cinema to the beauty of heart-shaped potatoes. By turns playful, philosophical, and subtly political, The Gleaners and I is a warmly human reflection on the contradictions of our consumerist world from an artist who, like her subjects, finds unexpected richness where few think to look.
November 9, 2024
Ryan Keberle + Catharsis
Ryan Keberle is an acclaimed jazz trombonist, composer, and educator known for his innovative approach to blending diverse musical genres. His versatile style and commitment to pushing the boundaries of jazz are evident in his work with his band, Catharsis, which brings together elements of chamber music, South American folk and indie rock within a traditional jazz framework. Hailed by the Los Angeles Times for its “potent blend of cinematic sweep and lush, ear-grabbing melodies,†Catharsis has thrilled audiences across the globe for close to a decade.
November 10, 2024
AYA Piano Trio
The AYA Piano Trio was formed in 2013 at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia where they studied with some of the greatest chamber music musicians and soloists in the world. They have since performed across the U.S. on both recital and competition stages. In 2020 the group was awarded First Prize in the Yellow Springs Chamber Music Competition. Appearances on prestigious concert series such as those at the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina, Merkin Hall in New York City, the Myra Hess series in Chicago, and the Washington Performing Arts series in the nation’s capitol have assured the upward trajectory of this phenomenal young ensemble.
November 16, 2024
The Romantic Era in Song
Deborah Martinez Rosengaus – Mezzo Soprano
James Jaffe – Cello
Ian Scarfe – Piano
A European tour de force featured Italian songs by composers Braga and Tosti, a set of French impressions by Camille Saint-Saëns, including the famous Danse Macabre and some of his delightful lesser-known songs, and American composer Amy Beach with “Chanson d’Amour.†The trio also presented their own arrangements of Dvořák and De Falla folk songs.
November 22, 2024
Santa Rosa Young People's Chamber Orchestra
Young People’s Chamber Orchestra is a string orchestra without a conductor, designed to mold accomplished young string players into high-functioning musicians with complete attentiveness to detail, and to each other, within the context of the music. The Director trains the musicians to interact and collaborate on high-level music making and nuanced performance. This is the first youth ensemble of its kind in northern California. The director is Aaron Westman.
December 8, 2024
Sacred & Profane Chamber Chorus
Sacred and Profane Chamber Chorus presented Norden: A Scandinavian Holiday, a program of beautiful sacred and secular music perfect for the season from the five Scandinavian countries – Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland. The varied program featured reimagined traditional classics and contemporary gems in several languages and musical styles. They returned to THE 222 for this warm and festive offering.
December 14, 2024
Megumi Inouye
Megumi Inouye is a gift wrapping and packaging artist. Known for her sustainable wrapping designs and creative innovations, she encourages repurposing, utilizing everyday things around us and using organic and recyclable items. She attributes her passion for gift wrapping to her Japanese heritage and the cultural values that underlie the meaning behind the art of giving. She interspersed short essays that illuminated these relationships with intervals of audience participation. Her work has been featured on the Ellen DeGeneres Show and in Yahoo! Lifestyle, American Craft Magazine, and the San Francisco Chronicle.
December 5, 2024
FILM: Sansho The Bailiff
A stunning introduction to the work of the great Japanese filmmaker Kenji Mizoguchi.
"In The Bailif, Mizoguchi's sytle with its perfect balancing and harmonizing of sympathetic involvement and contemplation, reaches its fullest maturity. Few Artists in any medium have achieved such mastery of technique, mastery of experience, mastery of self (three aspects of the same process). It is the greatest movie I have ever seen.†— Robin Wood
When an idealistic governor disobeys the reigning feudal lord, he is cast into exile, his wife and children left to fend for themselves and eventually wrenched apart by vicious slave traders.
“The humanism in Mizoguchi and the Shakespearean sweep of time and society are akin to Renoir’s vision of life’s theater. Their language was the same: the way camera movements expanded consequence; spatial connections that spoke to likeness; and the suffering. Mizoguchi’s work of the fifties is the great tragic moment of cinema... This is a perfect film, one in which we never notice execution or exactness.†— David Thomson