Freebie of the week: Acclaimed Japanese interactive/media artist Masaki Fujihata’s latest project goes behind one of the darkest chapters in American history to examine how photographs impact viewer’s knowledge and memory. Those interested can view the results of that effort for free this Sunday in “BeHere/1942: A New Lens on the Japanese American Incarceration,” showing now through Dec. 27 at the Oakland Museum of California. In the exhibit, Fujihata explores the construction and visual impact of scores of iconic photographs by Dorothea Lange and Russell Lee, who chronicled the U.S. incarceration of Japanese Americans in the Bay Area and Los Angeles in 1942. Many of the most vivid photos center on Japanese American individuals and families waiting in parking lots to be picked up and transported to the incarceration camps. Located in the Great Hall and Oak Street Plaza, Fujihata isolates and enlarges segments of the photographs to examine their emotional impact and explore the photographers’ roles in documenting history. The exhibit singles out Bay Area residents who are among those deported, noting that one of the pickup locations was practically across the street from the museum. Fujihata has also created a video of the Bay Area residents involved that can be viewed at the exhibit. Admission to OMCA is free Sunday, but people should register for a visit time on the venue’s website to help ease flow of foot traffic. Go to museumca.org.
Busy Break Room: San Jose Jazz’s fall concert series has three shows this week at the Break Room in San Jose, beginning with highly regarded Brooklyn singer Laura Anglade headlining at the venue at 8 p.m. Wednesday (the show is listed as sold out; she also performs 7 p.m. Thursday at Kuumbwa Jazz Center in Santa Cruz, www.kuumbwajazz.org, and a sold out show at Livermore’s Bankhead Theater on Saturday). On Friday at 8 p.m., San Jose Jazz welcomes Top Chefs back to the Break Room, a San Francisco band that was a hit at the organization’s 2026 Summer Fest series. Led by MC and charismatic frontman Afterthought, Top Chefs is well known in the Bay Area for its talented alternating lineup and cooking up high-energy concerts. At 8 p.m. Saturday, Legally Blue takes the Break Room stage. The band, led by acclaimed singer Cheryl Scales, is known for its unique arrangements of jazz, soul and blues classics. Tickets are $27 for each show. Go to sanjosejazz.org.
A lively Dead celebration: Saturday’s Wake the Dead concert at The Freight in Berkeley kind of comes down to a giant misplay on words involving arguably the Bay Area’s greatest jam band in history and a sacred holiday most often associated with Mexico. But there’s no reason to do anything other than enjoy the musical tradition, especially when the music is first rate. Wake the Dead, the Bay Area-based “Celtic All-Star Summer of Love party band,” as the Freight describes the outfit, performs its 26th annual Day of the Dead concert at the storied venue. Now, Day of the Dead – a beloved and widely celebrated holiday in which people pay respects to loved ones who have passed away – technically has nothing to do with the Grateful Dead, jam bands or the rich musical legacy they have left in their, ahem, wake. While the concert occurs on Halloween, it’s worthwhile to check out Wake the Dead and its ever-expanding sound that blends Celtic tunes with classical jam-band music. The show starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are $44 ($26.50 those under 21). It’s also being live streamed for $25. Go to thefreight.org.
Meet the new girl on the block: Music director designate Elim Chan will not be in full charge of her San Francisco Symphony duties until next season, but audiences can get a good look at her musical sensibilities and conducting style this weekend in a series of concerts at Davies Hall. A great lover of choral music, she’s chosen to highlight Jenny Wong’s award-winning San Francisco Symphony Chorus in two of the works on the program – Estonian composer Arvo Pärt’s 1989 “Magnificat,” an ethereal a cappella work taken from the Gospel of St. Luke, and the Johannes Brahms funeral song “Nänie,” composed in 1881 in memory of a dead friend and set to the poem by Friedrich Schiller. Felix Mendelssohn’s beautiful Violin Concerto is also on the program, with French artist Renaud Capuçon in the spotlight. The concerts conclude with the symphony’s first performances of Berkeley composer John Adams’ “Doctor Atomic Symphony,” adapted from his famous opera. Those who stick around after that final work will be treated to a special coda – baritone Matthew Worth and pianist Allegra Chapman will perform the “Batter My Heart” aria that is the organizing principle for the symphonic work. Performance times are at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Find tickets, $30-$155, at sfsymphony.org or call 415-864-6000.
Love triumphs, finally: “The Marriage of Figaro,” arguably Mozart’s greatest comic opera, if not one of the best of all time, returns to War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco this weekend as a revival of the Michael Cavanagh production from 2019 that set all the frothy, madcap action in an American manor house. Figaro, valet to the lord of the manor, and Susanna, maid to the mistress, want to get married, but they have to outwit and foil the designs of the philandering Count Almaviva first. Needless to say, the plot thickens as disguises are donned and identities are mistaken before a couple of final reveals brings forgiveness, reconciliation and much merry making. Slovak bass Peter Kellner, in his San Francisco Opera debut, sings the title role, with his real-life wife, the Slovak soprano Slávka Zámečníková, as Susanna. Thomas Mole is the duplicitous Count Almaviva and Olivia Smith sings the role of the neglected Countess. Conducted by Sebastian Weigle, the opera opens 7:30 p.m. Saturday, with nine more performances running through Nov. 29. Tickets, $30-$456, are available at sfopera.com or by calling 415-864-3330.