Freebie of the week: Despite being credited as perhaps the sunniest neighborhood in all of San Francisco and having some of the best views, Potrero Hill never seems to gain a massive amount of attention – even in these days of a real estate frenzy over any Bay Area zip code. But for 51 years now, the neighborhood in the southeast section of the city – bordered by Highway 101, 16th Street and the soon-to-be-renamed Caesar Chavez Street – has hosted the lively Potrero Hill R&B Festival. It returns this weekend with a pretty impressive lineup, running from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday along 20th street between Wisconsin and Missouri streets. The event serves as a fundraiser for the Daniel Webster and Starr King elementary schools and several kids programs in the area. In addition to live music on two stages, attendees can find booths with a wide variety of artwork, food and drink options, and representatives of community organizations. Performers include JC Smith – one of the Bay Area’s best blues guitarists – and his band (1 p.m.); Mitch Woods & His Rocket 88s dealing New Orleans-style R&B (2:30 p.m.); R&B/soul act Andre Cruz & Chris Lujan (1:30 p.m.) and R&B/blues/soul singer But-tah Butterfly (1:30 p.m.) among others. Admission is free. For more information, go to potrerofestival.com
Lage and in charge: Those who were in touch with the Bay Area’s music scene about 30 years ago might remember the emergence of a young guitar prodigy from Santa Rosa named Julian Lage, whose mighty talents and keen understanding of music drew the attention of luminaries from David Grisman to Gary Burton. Lage was the focus of an Oscar-nominated documentary, “Jules at Eight.” He performed at the Grammy Awards at age 12 and was a member of the Stanford Jazz Workshop faculty at age 15. Some artists who break out at such an early age tend to phase out into adulthood, but Lage is not one of them. Now 38 and based in New York City, he’s kept a thriving career while expanding his repertoire into country, blues and other genres. He’s maintained his Bay Area connections as well, and last year served for a time as an SFJAZZ artistic director. In January, Lage released his latest album, “Scenes from Above,” on the Blue Note Records label. This weekend he returns to the Bay Area with his new quartet, which includes Jorge Roeder on bass, drummer Kenny Wollesen, and the phenomenal John Medeski on keyboards. Lage performs 7:30 p.m. Sunday at University of California, Davis’ Mondavi Center ($42-$72, www.mondaviarts.org), 8 p.m. Oct. 19 at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco ($65-$135, www.sfjazz.org) and 7:30 p.m. Oct. 21 at Stanford University’s Bing Concert Hall ($50-$78, live.stanford.edu).
Last side, now: Judy Collins, one of the more acclaimed and influential singers/musicians in folk music history, has embarked on a farewell tour that lands in Berkeley this weekend. Despite releasing more than 50 albums over a six-decade career and her dogged involvement with a variety of social causes, she remains best known for two hits that were not-particularly-rabble-rousing covers of others’ songs: “Both Sides, Now” (Joni Mitchell) and “Send in the Clowns” (Stephen Sondheim). Collins is blessed with one of the most purely gorgeous singing voices in popular music history, which is one reason why her rendition of “Amazing Grace” was inducted into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as a culturally significant performance. Renowned artists such as Rufus Wainwright, Shawn Colvin, and the late Leonard Cohen and Dolly Parton have all cited her singing brilliance and influence, and all contributed songs to the tribute album “Born to the Breed: A Tribute to Judy Collins.” Organizers say her farewell concerts span the whole of her career and include a few stories and asides about her legendary musical journey. Even if some people’s knowledge of Collins and catalogue doesn’t go much beyond “Send In the Clowns” and “Both Sides, Now,” this weekend’s concert will likely serve up some utterly transcendent moments. Collins performs 3 p.m. Sunday at University of California, Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall as part of the Cal Performances series. Tickets are $50-$119 at calperformances.org.
A double dose: Berkeley Chamber Performances is hosting the renowned Telegraph Quartet at two different East Bay venues, bringing them first to the Lafayette Library at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and re-engaging them for a repeat recital at the Berkeley City Club at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 20. On the program is the “Elegy” and “Polka,” which Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich wrote in a single night in 1931. They’re both based on two of his earlier works – an aria from his opera “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” and a dance from his ballet “The Golden Age.” An 18-year-old Felix Mendelssohn gave his String Quartet No. 2 the title “Est is wahr?” (Is it true?), also being played by the quartet. The title comes from the first line of a song he had written a few months earlier. The final work on the program is Austrian-born American composer Erich Korngold’s String Quartet No. 3 in D Major, which quotes liberally from music written after he became a titan among Hollywood composers in the 1930s and 1940s, including the love theme from the 1941 film “The Sea Wolf.” Tickets, $20-$40, are available at www.berkeleychamberperform.org.
A homecoming of sorts: Arms are open and anticipation is high at the Berkeley Symphony over the welcome return of former maestro Kent Nagano. His long and adventurous tenure as music director, from 1978 to 2009, shaped the orchestra and brought it international recognition. He opens the ensemble’s new season 4 p.m. Sunday at the Henry J. Kaiser Center for the Arts in Oakland with a concert titled “Inheritance,” as the theme of the day is the progression from tradition to innovation. Three works by Felix Mendelssohn anchor the program, but it also includes the world premiere of young Argentine composer Alex Nante’s “Vater unser” (Our Father in German), which is dedicated to Nagano, a champion of Nante’s music. The concert opens with “The Hebrides,” commonly known as “Fingal’s Cave,” a standalone concert overture inspired on the spot by Mendelssohn’s visit to an acoustically eerie basalt sea cave on an uninhabited Scottish island in 1829. Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1 is another highlight of the program, as it features the internationally acclaimed soloist Mari Kodama, who’s also been Nagano’s wife for more than three decades. The concert concludes with Mendelssohn’s “Reformation” Symphony, the No. 5 in D Major. Find tickets, $25-$118, through berkeleysymphony.org or by calling 541-841-2800.