Classical picks: Zorro, Evgeny Kissin, Kronos Quartet

A bilingual opera based on Zorro, the return of Russian pianist Evgeny Kissin, and a three-day festival by the Kronos Quartet are highlights of upcoming events on April’s classical music calendar.

A swashbuckling opera: Remember Zorro? The mysterious hero of page and screen takes the stage this month to star in Opera San Jose’s new production of “Zorro.” Composer Héctor Armienta has set the opera in the early 1800s, and it’s sung in English and Spanish, with English and Spanish supertitles. Featuring Chilean tenor Xavier Prado in the dramatic title role, “Zorro” is directed by David Toro and conducted by Jorge Parodi as the final production of the company’s 41st season. Details: Saturday through May 4; California Theatre, San Jose; $58-$215; operasj.org.

Solo Kissin: Evgeny Kissin returns to perform a solo recital in Davies Symphony Hall as part of the San Francisco Symphony’s Great Performers Series. The award-winning Moscow-born pianist will play a program featuring works by Bach, Chopin, and Shostakovich. Details: 7:30 p.m. Sunday; Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco; $325-$399; sfsymphony.org.

Kronos’ spring fest: “Good Medicine” is the title of the Kronos Quartet’s spring festival, which features “a weekend-long dose” of the acclaimed quartet’s musical innovation. Featured composers on the three-day lineup include Terry Riley, Gabriella Smith, and Hamza El Din, but check the complete calendar for all events. Details: April 25-27; tickets $20-up; kronosquartet.org, sfjazz.org.

— Georgia Rowe, Correspondent

Concert benefits blues Walk of Fame

Blues musicians are gathering to support efforts to restore “The Music They Played on 7th Street Oakland” Walk of Fame to its former glory.

The West Coast Caravan of All Stars, Oakland Blues Divas, J.C. Smith, Alvon Johnson, Mississippi Chuck Wallace and Fillmore Slim are among the many blues talents set to perform at the Walk of Fame benefit concert on Monday at Yoshi’s in Oakland.

Proceeds will go towards replacing the 40-some plaques that were forcefully removed from the ground by thieves a few months back. The theft occurred on the stretch of the installation that runs along Seventh Street between Wood and Willow streets in West Oakland, according to Ronnie Stewart, Bay Area Blues Society founder and executive director. Stewart spearheaded the Walk of Fame project to honor artists and other individuals who have contributed to the mighty musical legacy of the East Bay.

Installing new plaques is expected to cost around $150,000, says Stewart, who will also be performing at the benefit as part of the West Coast Caravan of All Stars. Other performers booked for the show Dee Simon, Mike Skinner, Karl Bracy, Silk-E and more.

Details: Showtime is 7:30 p.m.; $30; yoshis.com.

— Jim Harrington, Staff

Here comes Hiromi

It’s been a fantastic spring for jazz music in the Bay Area, with such massive talents as Brad Mehldau, Kenny Barron and Terence Blanchard performing at our local venues.

And the trend joyfully continues as Hiromi returns to the Bay Area to play seven shows in five nights.

That adverb used above — joyfully — was very carefully chosen, given that few artists exhibit more pure joy during their concerts than Hiromi. Combine that aspect with the fact that she’s a first-tier jazz piano virtuoso — who can amaze with her fleet finger work and high-flying solos — and you’ve really got a performer worth catching in concert.

Fans have five chances to do just that as Hiromi celebrates the release of the new album “Out There” with her Sonicwonder quartet — featuring trumpeter Adam O’Farrill, bassist Hadrien Feraud and drummer Gene Coye — at SFJAZZ Center in San Francisco today through Sunday. Tickets start at $30; sfjazz.org. Hiromi’s Sonicwonder also performs at 7 and 9 p.m. Monday at Kuumbwa Jazz Center in Santa Cruz. Tickets start at $31.50; kuumbwajazz.org.

— Jim Harrington, Staff

Startup Art Fair returns

For folks who like to shop for art while lavishing in a 1950s motor lodge in San Francisco, the funky Startup Art Fair is taking place over one weekend in April.

The art fair went on hiatus in 2020 and is now making its glorious return at the retro Hotel del Sol in the Marina District. More than 60 artists are will be setting up shop — transforming rooms into exhibition galleries — to offer their work to collectors, curators and general lookie-loos. There’s a healthy events schedule, too: To comment upon “resilience and collapse in neoliberal systems,” one artist will practice endurance-sitting and falling on a precarious chair made of concrete, lard and other fragile materials.

A humorous textile installation comments upon auto-corrected names, with opportunities to take selfies, and an artwork by the hotel’s pool celebrates 1940s female bodybuilder Abbye “Pudgy” Stockton. Plus: Craft cocktails, tasty treats from Oakland’s Crumble & Whisk patisserie and DJ nights by the poolside dance floor.

The show runs concurrent with the San Francisco Art Fair at Fort Mason ($35). So if you’re in the mood for even more art, it’s a short drive or 20-minute walk away.

Details: Hours are 2-10 p.m. Friday, noon-9 p.m. Saturday and noon-7 p.m. Sunday; 3100 Webster St., San Francisco; daily pass is $20 in advance ($25 at the door), www.startupartfair.com.

— John Metcalfe, Staff

Hamming it up and acting badly

Few roles fit as snug as a Tom Ford suit on a male model than the one Jon Hamm wears in “Your Friends and Neighbors,” Apple TV+’s new series. The “Mad Men” actor’s role in this rich-people-behaving-badly series plays to all his strengths. He grouses. He struts. He caves and surrenders to having hot sex with someone he probably shouldn’t. And does he ever sneer at the rich, privileged hollow and unhappy friends and neighbors who reside in the same affluent country club community outside of New York that he does. Creator Jonathan Tropper frames all this dissatisfaction from the glib and gone-sour perspective of Andrew “Coop” Cooper (Hamm) whose narration is one of the highlights of this intriguing series.

Coop is a true antihero, a cocky guy who’s gotten knocked down from his perch, first by losing his psychologist wife (Amanda Peet) to his best friend (Mark Tallman), and then losing his lucrative hedge fund job. Desperate for some cash flow, he starts to rob his friends and neighbors, who are so rich they don’t notice when a few of their Rolexes go missing. The series carts out a cast of mostly wealthy neurotics — a jilted ex-wife (Olivia Munn) who’s in a love-hate hookup relationship with Coop, and another friend (Hoon Lee) facing his own financial Waterloo. But the primary asset here is Hamm, so good at acting only irritated in the face of situations that would plunge the rest of us into a panic attack. Where it’s all headed, we haven’t a clue — except that Apple TV+ has already renewed “Your Friends and Neighbors” for a second season.

Details: Two episodes available now, with one new episodes dropping every week through May 30; Apple TV+.

— Randy Myers, Correspondent