Freebie of the week: San Francisco’s Fleet Week has arrived, where audiences can look up and point as the extraordinary U.S. Navy pilots maneuver their Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet planes and other craft through a series of eye-popping stunts above Marina Green. But there is so much more to Fleet Week, an annual celebration of the U.S. military services that began in 1981. There’s a packed schedule of concerts by various armed forces bands performing everything from marching tunes to rock, jazz and chamber music. Other activations include the Parade of Ships on Friday, ship tours through Monday, a festival with live music, culinary treats and other fun activities Saturday and Sunday at Fisherman’s Wharf, a “K9 Heroes” show Saturday featuring some extremely talented armed services pooches, a fallen heroes memorial concert Thursday, and much more. All events are all free (although tickets are available for special aerial show viewing seats). Go to fleetweeksf.org for a full schedule and more information.
Another freebie: It’s going to be a busy weekend in San Francisco with Fleet Week, so those who’d like to stay away from “Fog City” can perhaps visit a herd of elephants in Livermore. They aren’t real elephants, they’re giant sculptures. Other than to entertain families with a novel outdoor display, the sculptures aim to serve as a reminder that elephants, humans and other creatures share a planet that is beautiful, a little strange and more fragile than it looks. “The Great Elephant Migration” consists of 30 life-sized elephant sculptures created by The Real Elephant Collective. Each sculpture is based on an actual, real-life elephant, with the models being part of a herd in the Nilgiri Hills of southern India, where elephants and people live in harmony in one of the world’s most densely populated landscapes. The exhibit, organized locally by Three Thirty-Three Arts and Livermore Valley Arts, goes up at 10 a.m. Saturday, complete with a blessing of the elephants ceremony at Stockmen’s Park in downtown Livermore. They’ll be on display at the park until Dec. 6. More information is at www.333arts.org/gem and thegreatelephantmigration.org.
Pain in the neck: “Dracula,” with Bay Area stage actor Scott Coopwood donning the cape in the titular role, is headed to the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts beginning this weekend in a TheatreWorks Silicon Valley show. Playwright Steven Dietz penned the production in 1996, not quite a century after Bram Stoker’s iconic novel was published. In Mountain View, TheatreWorks Artistic Director Giovanna Sardelli helms the production which aims, as she puts it, to “tell this story in a way that leans into the darkly elegant Victorian vibes of the source material.” The show will be presented in previews this week through Friday, with its main run set for 7:30 p.m. Saturday. The production is on stage through Nov. 1. Tickets ranging from $54-$104 can be purchased at theatreworks.org.
A perfect pairing: The superb Takács Quartet, with newest member Mihai Marica on cello, joins forces with renowned pianist Jeremy Denk for a matinee concert Sunday at Cal Performances featuring their collaboration on César Franck’s Piano Quintet in F minor. Also on the program is Berkeley native composer Gabriela Lena Frank’s “Quijotadas,” a string quartet inspired by Miguel de Cervantes’ windmill-tilting “Don Quixote.” Frank won this year’s Pulitzer Prize for music with a 10-movement orchestral work called “Picaflor: A Future Myth.” The concert opens with Felix Mendelssohn’s String Quartet in F minor. The show begins at 3 p.m. at University of California, Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall. Tickets, $50-$125, are available at 510-642-9988 or at www.calperformances.org.
An up-and-comer: He barely looks his 23 years, but Canadian-born pianist Tony Siqi Yun is already making waves in the classical music world. The Juilliard School graduate, now pursuing his master’s degree, won a gold medal at the First China International Music Competition seven years ago, made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2024 and has performed in recitals with major orchestras in North America, Asia and Europe. The Steinway Society sponsors him at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at the Visual and Performing Arts Center at De Anza College in Cupertino in a program titled “Reverence and Brilliance.” Two J.S. Bach works transcribed by Ferruccio Busoni are featured – the “Ich ruf zu Dir, Herr Jesu Christ” prelude and the Chaconne from Partita No. 2 in D minor. Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 27 in E minor, the Liszt Sonata in B minor and Brahms’ Variations on a Theme of Paganini round out the program. Find tickets, $53-$78, at 408-300-5635 or visit steinwaysociety.com.