Arthur Tress was a 23-year-old unknown when he arrived in The City from Coney Island, N.Y., in 1964. He shot some 900 black-and-white photographs on San Francisco streets, capturing civil rights demonstrations, political rallies and everyday scenes. His subjects were both prominent and common people. Dozens of those images, illustrating the social and cultural upheaval of the times, are on view in “Arthur Tress: San Francisco 1964,” running through June at the de Young Museum. Read More

San Francisco Ballet's new revival of Helgi Tomasson's classical and restrained 1994 "Romeo and Juliet" is fresh and vivid, even to fans who are familiar with the often-presented piece. Through the years, performances of the full-length dance have picked up speed, cohesion and passion. On Tuesday’s opening night at the War Memorial Opera House, dancers in the title roles set the pace, complemented by a wonderful group of soloists and the outstanding corps de ballet. Read More

For those who attended, San Francisco Symphony’s 1996 American Mavericks Festival was remarkable and memorable — particularly how one concert featuring members of the Grateful Dead playing works by Henry Cowell, Edgar Varese, Steve Reich and Lou Harrison reached an audience of Deadheads and veteran symphony subscription holders.Michael Tilson Thomas, who says maverick composers “push boundaries and explore new sounds,” was in his second year as music director when he created the festival, but it has defined his leadership and tenure. Read More

World-class mandolin players Mike Marshall and Caterina Lichtenberg are featured performers in New Century Chamber Orchestra’s upcoming, locally-themed concert series, "Sounds from the Bay Area.” Onstage Saturday in San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre, the program of works by Bay Area composers conducted by Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg includes Gordon Getty’s "Four Traditional Pieces"; John Adams’ "Shaker Loops" and Mill Valley jazz violinist Evan Price’s world-premiere "Emergence." Read More

San Francisco composer Mason Bates says he “decided to go big” on his latest work, “Alternative Energy,” a Chicago Symphony Orchestra commission getting its local premiere this week at Davies Symphony Hall under the baton of Riccardo Muti. Spanning four movements and “hundreds of years,” the work, which Bates calls his “Energy Symphony,” begins in a Midwestern junkyard and travels through more powerful forces of energy to a particle collider and a futuristic Chinese nuclear plant. Read More

Some special guests are appearing with the San Francisco Symphony soon: Former music directors Edo de Waart and Herbert Blomstedt are returning to The City to lead the orchestra during this season’s centennial celebrations.Now 70, de Waart made his début here in 1975, at age 34. He served as the orchestra’s ninth music director from 1977 to 1985, succeeding Seiji Ozawa. Under his leadership, the combined orchestra for the symphony and the San Francisco Opera separated, and in 1980, the symphony moved into a home of its own, the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall. Read More

With bipartisanship out of favor today, modern audiences likely will be amazed, entertained and instructed by “The Rivalry,” a play about the famous debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas — who were both opponents and friends. Norman Corwin’s drama, in an L.A. Theatreworks presentation, comes to the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco on Sunday in a production directed by Shannon Cochran featuring Robert Parsons as Lincoln and Josh Clark as Douglas. Read More