East Bay ballet: Diablo Ballet is amid its 32nd season, with an appealing, diverse program this weekend in Walnut Creek. The show features choreographer Julia Adam’s version of “The Little Mermaid” based on the beloved Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale (and not the Disney movie!); the troupe’s premiere of Paul Taylor’s “Company B,” the vivacious piece of Americana set to songs by the Andrews Sisters, and an encore presentation of George Balanchine’s cheerful “Donizetti Variations,” which former New York City Ballet dancer Ashley Bouder has called “fun.” Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Friday and 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Lesher Center for the Arts. The programs are accompanied by pre-performance talks and opportunities to meet and greet the cast. Tickets are $30-$59 at diabloballet.org.
Solo clowning: San Francisco’s Church of Clown boasts a guest performer, fringe festival favorite Andrea Barello, in different solo shows this weekend. Born and raised in Italy, Barello’s an award-winning Los Angeles clown bringing two offerings to the Bay Area. On Friday, he appears in “Tonight! A clown who wanted to be loved” in which a hopelessly romantic (and perhaps a bit naughty!) man tries everything to get the only thing he wants. Critics called it “funny,” “poignant” and “a little spa break for the soul.” On Saturday, he presents “Full of Grace,” in which a peculiar clergyman struggling with moral dilemmas administers a peculiar worship service (with hoses-down of holy water and more). Both performances are at 8 p.m. at Church of Clown, 2400 Bayshore Blvd., San Francisco. Tickets are $20-$40 sliding scale or $30 for both shows at churchofclown.org.
Freebie of the week: With Black History Month and the Lunar New Year arriving at the same time, the Oakland Asian Cultural Center this weekend is offering the simply titled Lunar New Year + Black History Month Celebration. A multifaceted array of performers and activities comprise the free event, running from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the center, located in the Pacific Renaissance Plaza, 388 Ninth St., Suite 290. There will be a lot of dancing, drumming and music from East Bay Asian and African American artists, including the Toishan Association Lion Dancers, Afro-Filipino MPWRD Collective, Patty Chu’s Chinese Dance Troupe, queer lion dance troupe Comrade Lover, Bantaba Drum Call, Urisawe Korean Drumming, and members of the SambaFunk! Dance school in Oakland. Also on hand will be a Kids + Teens Zone with storytelling and appearances by picture book author Dr. JaNay Brown-Wood, young adult fantasy author Aimee Phan, and more, as well as craft activities led by Oakland’s Storyland Collective. Finally, a marketplace features local Black and Asian vendors, as well as representatives from Eastwind Books, Marcus Books, and others. The event is part of the Oakland Asian Cultural Center’s 2020 E.A.R.S. (Engage, Activate and Rise up Series) for Change Initiative aimed at fostering stronger ties between the Black and Asian communities. For more information, go to oacc.cc.
Bass-baritone Davóne Tines joins the early music ensemble Ruckus for a San Francisco Performances program at the Herbst Theatre on Feb. 7. (Bowie Verschuuren/SF Performances via Bay City News)
From Baroque to hot rock: “What Is Your Hand in This?” is the question bass-baritone Davóne Tines and the early music ensemble Ruckus will ask the Herbst Theatre audience Saturday night in a San Francisco Performances program inspired by the upcoming 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Ruckus, a group that has been described as “the world’s only period-instrument rock band,” and the vocalist cross multiple musical boundaries in a concert including works as diverse as “Why Do the Nations So Furiously Rage” from Handel’s “Messiah” to the late R&B and soul singer Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come.” Tines’ own “What Is My Hand in This” and his arrangement of the traditional hymn “Be the Lover of My Soul” are also on the program, as are John Dickinson’s “The Liberty Song,” Stephen Foster’s “Beautiful Dreamer” and Benjamin Carr’s “The Federal Overture.” Performance time is 7:30 p.m. Find tickets, $45-$65, at sfperformances.org.
Sensational strings: Now in its 46th season, Del Valle Fine Arts presents the Aspen String Trio this weekend in Livermore in a varied concert of classic and contemporary works. Established more than two decades ago at the Aspen Music Festival with a mission to perform rarely heard string trio repertoire, the esteemed ensemble features David Perry on violin, Victoria Chiang on viola and Michael Mermagen on cello; all are professors at distinguished music schools across the country. The program on Saturday afternoon starts with Schubert’s Trio in B-flat and ends with Mozart’s inventive Divertimento in E-flat major, his first and only work for string trio, and, with six movements, his longest chamber piece. Both compositions are considered landmarks in string trio literature. In between, the musicians play 20th century works from their “Remembered Voices” project, which showcases music suppressed by the Third Reich. They include Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s Trio for Strings, with Jewish, gypsy and Moldavian folk themes, and Gideon Klein’s 1944 String Trio, which is deeply rooted in the Eastern European folkloric tunes. A reception follows the concert, which begins at 3 p.m. Feb. 7 in the Bankhead Theater, 2400 First St., Livermore. Tickets range from $25-$57, with discounts for college students and youngsters under 18. Visit livermorearts.org.