CALENDAR

Alexander Malofeev

“unabashed virtuosity” – The Straights Times

“Malofeev’s artistry is truly remarkable for a young pianist who is at the beginning of what hopefully will be a long and fruitful career." - Boston Classical Review

THE 222 is excited to present an exceptional opportunity! Experience an up-close performance by pianist Alexander Malofeev in the intimate setting of THE 222, before his debut at Davies Symphony Hall later in the month. At 21, Malofeev has quickly established himself as one of the most prominent pianists of his generation.

Alexander plays with profound sensitivity, youthful passion, and stunning virtuosity. He is drawn to the reportedly most difficult pieces in the repertoire.  But what may strike listeners more are his cantabiles.  Here he shows a deep tenderness that can move his audience to tears. He himself says "I give myself completely. I simply give myself."

Malofeev came to international prominence when he won the International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians in 2014 at age thirteen. Reviewing the performance, Amadeus noted, “Contrary to what could be expected of a youngster … he demonstrated not only high technical accuracy but also an incredible maturity. Crystal clear sounds and perfect balance revealed his exceptional ability.” In 2017, he became the first Young Yamaha Artist.

Alexander Malofeev’s star continues to rise. 2022 appearances include a debut at the Tanglewood Music Festival under Michael Tilson Thomas, where he performed the devilishly difficult Rachmaninoff Third Piano Concerto, and a debut at the Aspen Music Festival with Vasily Petrenko. He has substituted for such luminaries as Martha Argerich and Evgeny Kissin, and recently completed a tour of Asia, the UK, and Italy.

Boudu Saved from Drowning

“In this film, the deeply revered French director Jean Renoir takes advantage of a host of Parisian locations, and the anarchic charms of his lead actor (Michel Simon) to create an effervescent satire of the bourgeoisie.” – Eleanor Nichols, Film Programmer

Despite the problems of sound recording in 1932, Jean Renoir (the son of the great Impressionist painter) went out of the studio and shot this film on the streets of Paris and along the banks of the Seine. It is not only a lovely fable about a bourgeois attempt to reform a rebellious bum (Michel Simon is the shaggy, bearded tramp who spills wine on the table and wipes his shoes on the bedspread), but a photographic record of an earlier France. “A beautifully rhythmed film that makes one nostalgic for when it was made.” — Penelope Gilliatt (1932, 87 min, in French w/English subtitles)

Kim Stanley Robinson

Robinson is “generally acknowledged as one of the greatest living science-fiction writers.” – The New Yorker

“the gold-standard of realistic, and highly literary, science-fiction writing.” – The Atlantic

Join us for a conversation and book reading with NY Times bestselling author Kim Stanley Robinson. Robinson has penned more than twenty books, including the internationally bestselling Mars trilogy, and more recently Red Moon, New York 2140, and The Ministry for the Future, which Jonathan Lethem calls “the best science fiction non-fiction novel I’ve ever read.”

Many of Robinson’s novels and stories have ecological, cultural, and political themes, and feature scientists as heroes. He’ll be reading from his latest work, The High Sierra: A Love Story. In it, a departure from science fiction for which he is best known for, he lavishly celebrates this exceptional place, and explores what makes this span of mountains one of the most compelling places on earth. It is a gorgeous, absorbing immersion in a place, born out of a desire to understand and share one of the greatest rapture-inducing experiences our planet offers.

Nate Klug - Hosts and Guests

“Klug is writing some of the strongest poetry you can find in American letters these days. Stoically fierce and vividly alert.” – McSweeneys

Join us for an evening with poet and essayist Nate Klug, hailed by the Threepenny Review as a poet who is "an original in Eliot's sense of the word." He’ll read from Hosts and Guests, his latest book of poetry, and join THE 222’s literary programmer Laurie Glover in conversation.

Klug’s theme is “the existential life found within embodied experience,” the “baffling unpredictable welcome he finds hidden in ordinary life.” His chiseled, musical lines blend close observation of the natural world, social commentary, and spiritual questioning. Hosts and Guests was published by Princeton University Press in 2020 and is Klug’s second book of poetry.

Klug has been supported by prestigious fellowships from James Merrill House, the MacDowell Colony, and the poetry foundation’s Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship.

A Matter of Life and Death

“Produced and directed by Powell and Pressburger, this 1946 classic is in fact jaw-droppingly imaginative existential fantasy – it’s totally original - doesn’t look or feel like any other film!” – Eleanor Nichols, Film Programmer

In Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s visually ravishing film, in which an elaborate stairway connects a Technicolor earth with a monochrome Heaven, David Niven plays a downed bomber pilot in WWII who senses that his having eluded a fiery death was arbitrary at best. On the operating table he finds himself suspended between Heaven (where he is summoned to argue his case in the celestial courts) and earth (where he has fallen in love with a heavenly WAC in the person of Kim Hunter). This is existential fantasy at its finest. “The doctor who befriends him diagnoses ‘a highly organized hallucination’ and much the same could be said of the film with its bewildering alternations of microcosm and macrocosm, poetry and pathos, monochrome and color. A stunning, subversive masterpiece.” — British Film Institute. The supporting cast includes Marius Goring, Roger Livesey, Raymond Massey, and a very young Richard Attenborough. (1946, 104 min)

Sacred & Profane - A Chamber Chorus

Sacred & Profane, an a cappella chamber choir, performs traditional and emerging choral works with superior execution.  Their challenging repertoire spans the musical canon, including contemporary and highly demanding works.

Into its 45^th season, Sacred & Profane invites you to discover the power of music to bring solace as well as inspire us to create positive change. Their new season begins by exploring dreams and visions of a more just world. 

The Shop Around the Corner

“It’s easy to love this classic film populated by flesh and blood characters with a huge helping of nuance and tenderness, as well as dazzling verbal and visual wit!” – Eleanor Nichols, Film Programmer

“Close to perfection – one of the most beautifully acted and paced romantic comedies ever made in this country. It is set in the enclosed world of the people who work together in a small department store. Margaret Sullivan and James Stewart are the employees who bicker with each other, and in no other movie has this kind of love-hate been made so convincing. Their performances are full of grace notes; when you watch later James Stewart films, you may wonder what became of this other deft, sensitive pre-drawling Stewart. As for Sullivan, this is a peerless performance: she makes the shopgirl’s pretenses believable, lyrical and funny. The script by Samson Raphaelson is a free adaptation of a play by Nicolaus Lazlo, and though it’s all set in a Hollywood Budapest, the director, Ernst Lubitsch, sustains a faintly European tone.” – Pauline Kael.   The dazzling supporting cast includes Frank Morgan, Joseph Schildkraut, and Felix Bressart. (1940, 99 min)

Viano String Quartet

“Huge range of dynamics, massive sound and spontaneity” — American Record Guide

Viano String Quartet is the First Prize Winner of the 2019 Banff International String Quartet Competition and the current Nina von Maltzahn String Quartet-in-Residence at the Curtis Institute of Music. Formed in 2015 at the Colburn Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles, the quartet has performed all over the world.

The Edge of Heaven

“To my mind, Fatih Akin is one of the most interesting and skilled filmmakers working today. He’s been making films for 20 years and is in his late ‘40s. Born in Germany to Turkish parents, many of his films look at double origins, with crossing borders a recurring theme.” – Eleanor Nichols, Film Programmer

Fatih Akin, the critically acclaimed director, was born in Germany to Turkish parents in 1973, and his best work explores these double origins. The Edge of Heaven weaves overlapping tales of friendship and sexuality into a powerful narrative of universal love. Six characters are drawn together by circumstances – an old man and a prostitute, a young scholar reconciling his past, two young women falling in love, and a mother putting the shattered pieces of her life back together. Akin’s piercing sense of the human condition and contemporary world events charge these hyperlinked stories into a multicultural powder keg. A.O. Scott of The New York Times says, the film “has a cumulative power, both intellectual and emotional...by the end, you know the characters in it so well that you can’t believe you’ve seen the movie only once, yet on a second viewing it seems completely new.” (2007, 116 min, in German and Turkish w/ English subtitles

Honeydripper

“An extremely independent filmmaker, John Sayles has been making films for more than 40 years. The writer/director has spent his life examining various subcultures. Set in an Alabama juke joint, I’m betting the audience will be up and dancing during this joyful film!” – Eleanor Nichols, Film Programmer

Iconoclastic filmmaker John Sayles (The Return of the Secaucus Seven, Matewan, Lone Star) continues his extraordinary examination of the complexities and shifting identities of American sub-cultures. Here, with his usual understated intelligence, he tells the story of a juke joint owner in 1950’s Alabama who recruits a guitar-playing drifter to help him save the club. In this music-driven drama, Sayles captures the moment when the blues became rock and roll. “I’ve always been fascinated by musicians – some follow the music wherever it takes them, or wherever the popular taste goes, others make a stand within a certain genre and let that define them,” Sayles says. With Danny Glover, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Vondie Curtis Hall, Dr. Mabel Johns, Keb Mo, Stacy Keach, and Mary Steenburgen. (2007, 122 min)

Gerald Clayton

“Gerald Clayton is one of the most accomplished, distinctive and innovative pianists performing today,” — Blue Note President Don Was

Gerald Clayton searches for honest expression in every note he plays. With harmonic curiosity and critical awareness, he develops musical narratives that unfold as a result of both deliberate searching and chance uncovering. Expansion has become part of Clayton’s artistic identity. His music is a celebration of the inherent differences in musical perspectives that promote true artistic synergy. The six-time GRAMMY®-nominated jazz pianist/composer brings his magic to THE 222.

The son of beloved bass player and composer John Clayton, Gerald has performed and recorded with such distinctive artists as Diana Krall, Roy Hargrove, Dianne Reeves, John Scofield and the Clayton Brothers Quintet, and tours and records with saxophone legend Charles Lloyd.

Romero Lubambo & Chico Pinheiro

THE 222 brings together two of today’s leading Brazilian jazz guitarists, Romero Lubambo and Chico Pinheiro.  Lubambo is a prolific recording artist who, Jazziz wrote, “may be the best practitioner of his craft in the world today...[his] facility, creativity and energy are in a class all their own.” Hailing from São Paulo, Pinheiro is the most widely acclaimed Brazilian guitarist to emerge in the past two decades. An esteemed composer and bandleader,  he’s collaborated with artists such as Placido Domingo, Herbie Hancock, Dianne Reeves, Brad Mehldau, Esperanza Spalding, Joyce and Chris Potter. Together they will feature intricate interplay, breathtaking improvisational flights and a sublime repertoire.

JOHN HEARD TRIBUTE

THE 222 will host a very special evening of music and art honoring John Heard, the world-renowned bassist and artist who passed away last December. Join us for a beautiful, heartfelt tribute and a wonderful meeting of the arts!

The evening will feature music by The John Heard Tribute Trio, with pianist Danny Grissett, drummer Lorca Hart and Essiet Essiet on bass. They’ll be joined by a special guest, to be announced.

A slide show and an exhibition of John Heard’s art will be on display. Attendees will have a chance to share stories, thoughts, and feelings about John, to be captured on video for John’s grandchildren, who’ll attend with other family members.

Produced by THE 222’s jazz programmer, Jessica Felix was a very close friend of John and his family. Heard’s Trio played at the Hotel Healdsburg Lobby from 2003-2008 while Felix was artistic director of the Healdsburg Jazz Festival.

JOHN MARKOFF - WHOLE EARTH

Author and former New York Times reporter John Markoff writes about the intersection of technology and culture. On Saturday, April 23 he will read from his latest book, a new biography of Stewart Brand, of Whole Earth Catalog fame.

Markoff’s book profiles the iconic serial visionary, unfolding the rich, twisting story of Brand’s life. He traces the relationship between the 1960’s agent of the Bay Area counterculture, and over decades the evolution of the “eco pragmatist” (Brand’s own words.) Steward Brand’s journey blended environmental consciousness, hacker capitalism and, while challenging purists in the fight against climate change, an embrace of technologies like nuclear power and genetically modified organisms.

Markoff was a member of the New York Times staff group that won a 2013 Pulitzer Prize for their reporting on Apple and other technology companies’ business practices. Among his other books are What the Dormouse Said: How the 60s Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer Industry (2005) and Machines of Loving Grace: The Quest for Common Ground Between Humans and Robots (2015) and is featured in the 2001 documentary, The Secret History of Hacking.

LIFE & LIFE - Film & Concert with Reggie Austin

LIFE & LIFE follows Reggie Austin's personal journey from drug addicted reformed convict serving 35 years inside California prisons, to free man facing his tattered connections to society and family. While Reggie’s story exposes the impact on men of color of harsh sentencing and parole practices, the film also provides emotional uplift in his perseverance in in putting his life back together. Combining breathtaking musical performances, and scenes of raw emotion adjusting to life outside, the film opens up a range of pertinent issues for our time with grace and soul, through the immersive vehicle of music. Directed by N. C. Heikin. (2021, 81 min.)

HAROLY LOPEZ NUSSA TRIO

Walk the streets of Havana on any day and you’ll hear the soul of Cuba: music pouring from private homes and bustling restaurants, windows rattling with the parties thrown inside, nightclubs pulsing with throngs of people dancing. On his vibrant and spirited third recording for Mack Avenue Records, Havana-based pianist and composer Harold Ló pez- Nussa sets out to capture that stirring sensation with an exhilarating marriage of jazz and Cuban pop music.

STEPHEN PRUTSMAN - SOLO PIANO

Stephen Prutsman has been described as one of the most innovative musicians of his time. Moving easily from classical, to jazz, to world music styles as a pianist, composer and conductor.

He will present a program called “BACH & FORTH” , using J.S. Bach as a reference point and juxtaposing compositions of his with works by other major classical composers as well as with jazz greats such as Charlie Parker and perhaps an Uzbek folk song in one of his own artful arrangements.

SOL FLAMENCO

The passion and fire of Spain hits the stage in Healdsburg. An evening of lightning-fast footwork, haunting guitar rhythms, and soulful singing.

The show features a cast of artists who have lived and trained in Spain, the birthplace of flamenco: dancers Damien Alvarez and Joelle Gonçalves, flamenco guitarist Mark Taylor with special guest singer, Yuli Norish “La Yuli”. The group has been working together for many years and it shows in the dancers' precision footwork, emotionally haunting vocals, the guitarist’s bold accompaniment

“Sol Flamenco is an electrifying evening of phenomenal music and dance that will carry you into a world of passion that is unique to flamenco” says Alexa Chipman in her 5-star review of the group, Imagination Lane Review San Francisco North Bay Theatre & Dance.

THE BEACHES OF AGNUS

“I’m playing the role of a little old lady, pleasantly plump and talkative and telling her life story. And yet it’s others I’m interested in, others I like to film. Others who intrigue me, motivate me, make me ask questions, disconcert me, fascinate me. This time, to talk about myself, I thought, ‘If we opened people up, we’d find landscapes.’ If we opened me up, we’d find beaches.” Agnes Varda, The Beaches of Agnes

At the age of 80, director Agnes Varda embarked on a freewheeling journey documenting her life. In clever, free associative set pieces, she joyfully explores her past, her friendships, and her home turf on the Rue Daguerre in Paris. “Uninhibited about sex, generous in her affections, worldly-wise, blending tender recollections with self- deprecating antics, Varda, free from fear and shame, turns her tale of a life lived in art into a work of art in its own right, and one of her best—a rapturous tribute to life itself.” Richard Brody, The New Yorker (2008, 110 min., in French with English subtitles)

PAUL MCCANDLESS & ART LANDE DUO

Paul McCandless and Art Lande have been making music together for almost 50 years. They will perform in duo for this special evening, with Paul playing soprano and tenor saxophones as well as bass clarinet and Art playing piano and melodica. They have toured all over the US and most of Europe, recorded for ECM, Windham Hill and Synergy labels and have been part of many bands together. The music will highlight pieces from many parts of their musical history plus spontaneous compositions they create in the moment. Always there is depth, humor, beauty and connected energy. As one audience member said after their duo concert in Boulder, Colorado – “we can see every aspect of your friendship hearing you play together” – count on it.

ERNIE WATTS QUARTET

Billy Hart Quartet

NEA Jazz Master Billy Hart brings his exciting quartet to THE 222, with Ethan Iverson on piano, Dayna Stephens on saxophones and Peter Barshay on bass. It has been many years since Hart has brought his quartet to California. Hart, Iversen, and Stephens are flying in from the East coast for this special occasion.

There will be one show on Saturday, September 11, at 7PM and one on Sunday, September 12, at 7PM in the very intimate concert performance space with club-style seating located within the Paul Mahder Gallery.

“Billy Hart is one of the greatest living jazz drummers. Hell, he’s one of the greatest drummers of ALL TIME.” - Joshua Redman

GEORGE CABLES TRIO

Cables is traveling to California from New York for the first time with his trio since 2018 to be part of the grand opening of THE 222, Healdsburg’s newest performing arts venue. Mr. Cables and THE 222 jazz programmer Jessica Felix have known each other since the early 1980’s when they first met while Jessica was working at the Keystone Korner Jazz Club in San Francisco. Since then, they have become good friends and she has presented him numerous times over the years. “George is always there when I start with a new venture, happy to do what it takes to make the concert a success”.