Mountain of music
The East Bay–based klezmer trio Veretski Pass has dazzled audiences around the globe with its blend of Old World Carpathian, Jewish, Romanian and Ottoman styles. San Francisco Choral Artists will join the trio onstage in a program of Jewish music from the past 2,000 years. Or maybe longer? They will perform three world premieres along with psalms, folk songs, dances and lullabies.
8 p.m. Saturday, March 17 at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, 1111 O’Farrell St., S.F.; 4 p.m. Sunday, March 18 at Temple Sinai, 2808 Summit St., Oakland. $12-$25. www.veretskipass.com.
‘Holy Harmony’
The monthlong Bay Area Jewish Music Festival will come to a closing crescendo with a concert that starts in the afternoon and keeps going well past nightfall in Congregation Sherith Israel’s historic sanctuary. “Holy Harmony” will include performances by the Arab Jewish Bustan Quartet; Babel/Ashkenaz, a collaboration fusing Middle Eastern and Western Jewish music; and Basya Schechter (pictured above). Schechter is a singer-songwriter who will perform music set to the Yiddish poetry of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel.
2 p.m. March 25 at Congregation Sherith Israel, 2266 California St., S.F. $25-$50. www.jewishmusicfestival.org
friday/16
Saul Kaye. Jewish blues musician performs “Rock ’n’ Roll Shabbat” concert. 7:30 p.m. Free. Also March 17 at 8 p.m. $15. At Beth Chaim Congregation, 1800 Holbrook Drive, Danville. www.bethchaim.com.
sunday/18
Cantorial and Jewish folk concert. Featuring Cantor Gregory Yakerson of Grand Choral Synagogue in St. Petersburg, Russia. Sponsored by Congregation Emek Beracha. At the Cubberley Community Center Theater, 4000 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. 7:30 p.m. Free. [email protected].
thursday/22
Bustan Quartet. Jewish Music Festival presents Israeli Jewish and Arab ensemble, playing mix of classical Middle Eastern music and improvisational jazz. At the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, 2121 Allston Way, Berkeley. 7 p.m. $25-$30. www.jewishmusicfestival.org.
friday/23
Musaique. Interfaith Middle Eastern musicians combine traditional and village music with sacred songs and original compositions. At JCCSF, 3200 California St., S.F. 8 p.m. $15. www.jccsf.org.
thursday/29
Aya Korem. Israeli pop-rock singer performs. At Britannia Arms, 1087 S. De Anza Blvd., San Jose. 7:30 p.m. $30-$35. www.britanniaarmscupertino.com.