> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.albanyscanner.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # The Culture Circuit, Sept. 24-29 - URL: https://www.albanyscanner.com/2026/09/23/arts-culture/culture-circuit-sept-23-2026/ - Published: 2026-09-23T05:00:18.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-23T05:00:17.000Z - Description: This week's picks from East Bay galleries, stages and creative spaces. - Author: Andrew Gilbert - Tags: Arts & Culture, The Culture Circuit, #articles A long-hidden photographic portrait of West Oakland steps into the spotlight, Albany student choirs take the stage, and adventurous musicians bring jazz, folk and genre-bending sounds to East Bay venues: Here's a look at what's going on this week around Albany and Berkeley. Please help keep this list lively and well informed by sending details about upcoming concerts, readings, performances and workshops to [events@albanyscanner.com](mailto:events@albanyscanner.com). ## Ken Light shines a light on West Oakland Newly arrived in Berkeley in 1974, [photographer Ken Light](https://www.kenlight.com/?ref=albanyscanner.com) set out to document West Oakland’s Black community. Building ties with residents by distributing free prints, he spent almost two years shooting regularly, earning access to living rooms, factories, shops, beauty parlors, storefront churches and street corners. Berkeley’s Heyday Press published this precious time capsule Sept. 22 in the book [*Soul City: Oakland U.S.A*](https://www.heydaybooks.com/catalog/soul-city/?ref=albanyscanner.com), which features a forward by Oakland novelist and essayist Ishmael Reed and more than 120 of Light's images. He went on to an illustrious career, earning numerous awards with dozens of books and exhibitions, but his first Bay Area project was locked away for five decades (a story he details in a piece I wrote for [KQED Arts](https://www.kqed.org/arts/13993845/ken-lights-intimate-portrait-of-west-oakland-in-the-1970s?ref=albanyscanner.com)). A reception marks the opening of the companion "Soul City" exhibition at UC Berkeley Journalism's North Gate Hall, where Light has long served as a photojournalism professor. The event includes a discussion moderated by Dean Michael D. Bolden with j-school professor and Oakland native Bill Drummond and Noni Session, a West Oakland native, cultural anthropologist, and co-founder and executive director of the [East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative](https://ebprec.org/?ref=albanyscanner.com). Pegasus Books will host a signing, with copies for sale. **Thursday, Sept. 24, 5:30 p.m.** [**North Gate Hall**](https://journalism.berkeley.edu/event/soul-city/?ref=albanyscanner.com) **(UC Berkeley). Free, tickets required** ## Albany students sing at Ashkenaz Choir Coffeehouse Performances give Albany students the chance to perform in a professional venue. The fall series kicks off Thursday with the Albany Middle School Choir, featuring specialty acts presented in a casual, intimate environment. The series continues next [Tuesday evening](https://tickets.venuepilot.com/e/albany-middle-and-high-school-choir-2026-09-29-ashkenaz-music-dance-community-center-berkeley-c56320?ref=albanyscanner.com) with the Albany High School Choir, a showcase that includes similar performances by small groups from the choir. Both ensembles are led by Kate Huizinga, who’s been the director of choirs in the Albany Unified School District since 2021\. **Thursday, Sept. 24, and Tuesday, Sept. 29, 8 p.m.** [**Ashkenaz**](https://tickets.venuepilot.com/e/albany-middle-and-high-school-2026-09-24-ashkenaz-music-dance-community-center-berkeley-3c8e41?ref=albanyscanner.com) **(Berkeley). $5-$20** ## Expect the unexpected with Bill Frisell’s Harmony Five ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b5/b0/b5b0b7ec-798c-4cb6-ab42-472b59c05589/content/images/2026/09/BillFrisell_11_byMonicaJaneFrisell.webp) Bill Frisell. **Monica Jane Frisell* While the tour that brings guitarist [Bill Frisell](https://www.billfrisell.com/?ref=albanyscanner.com)’s Harmony Five to Berkeley marks the quintet’s maiden flight, the group is built on deep and overlapping ties. Most directly, Frisell’s 2019 album *Harmony* featured the core ensemble with Luke Bergman on guitars, bass and vocals, cellist Hank Roberts (a key Frisell collaborator since his third album, 1988’s *Lookout For Hope*), and vocalist Petra Haden. Daughter of the late bass innovator Charlie Haden, another creative confidant of Frisell’s, she earned an avid cult following with her astounding 2005 solo a cappella album, *Petra Haden Sings: The Who Sell Out*. In Harmony, whether she was singing lyrics or melodic lines with the ensemble, the group basked in unabashed folky lyricism filtered through Frisell’s shimmering jazz harmonies. Berkeley-raised drummer Tim Angulo expands the group into the Harmony Five, adding rhythmic impetus and a host of new textural possibilities. "What’s really exciting for me is that the group’s been together long enough and knows the pieces well enough where the lines get blurred between arrangement and improvisation," Frisell told me in a recent conversation. "The orchestration is not really fixed and people start making their own choices. Things can build up in ways you never expected." **Friday and Saturday, Sept. 25-26, 8 p.m.** [**The Freight**](https://secure.thefreight.org/15972/15973-bill-frisell-harmony-five-260925?ref=albanyscanner.com) **(Berkeley). $54-$74** ## The nyckelharpa makes a sound at St. Albans You might have heard the nyckelharpa via the great Swedish folk combo [Väsen](https://vasen.se/?ref=albanyscanner.com), a regular presence at the Freight and frequent collaborators with mandolinist Mike Marshall and fiddler Darol Anger. But Mark Walstrom, the proprietor of West Berkeley’s string-centric shop [Timbre Folk & Baroque Musical Instruments](https://timbrefolk.com/?ref=albanyscanner.com), is ensuring the unusual bowed instrument has a regular East Bay home. His daughter Jennie Walstrom is also accomplished on the nyckelharpa, a hybrid instrument with three melody strings, one drone string, and 12 sympathetic strings that resonate to create thick harmonies. They perform together in the folk trio [If a Tree Falls](https://iatfband.com/?ref=albanyscanner.com), with Mark on guitar, mandolin, nyckelharpa and voice, Jennie on voice and nyckelharpa, and Bernie Lenhoff on guitar, dobro and voice. Presented by [Calliope: East Bay Music & Arts](https://www.calliope-ebma.org/?ref=albanyscanner.com), the group has developed a delectable repertoire of traditional songs that will set the church walls ringing. **Sunday, Sept. 27, 4 p.m.** [**St. Albans Episcopal Church**](https://www.calliope-ebma.org/events-1/w6ht9ct18m2pe1qpighs17sal7u4og-fjc8z-gxtj7-jgjrj-b97ye-5xnfj-2apgk-gb8lm-bsx9d-3tcp4-ar62k-pnwaa-tb9z8-hdjex-hx35a-x7lac-fzpsz-8enh8-86d6w-dhpcj?ref=albanyscanner.com) **(Albany). $15-$30** ## Ivy Room triple bill brims with powerful women ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b5/b0/b5b0b7ec-798c-4cb6-ab42-472b59c05589/content/images/2026/09/meta_eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ--.webp) Angela LaFlamme. **Courtesy* Putting together multi-act programs is a rough art form that can add a frisson of unexpected associations for musicians and audiences when the moving pieces click into place. It’s a creative practice that thrives at the Ivy Room, which presents a particularly strong lineup Sunday with [Angela LaFlamme](https://angelalaflamme.com/?ref=albanyscanner.com), Bela Ruino and Good Evening Folks. The torchy LaFlamme fronts a six-piece band that has honed a far-flung book of songs that ranges from Swing Era standards to Tom Waits and The Cure. [Bela Ruino](https://www.instagram.com/bela%5Fruino/?ref=albanyscanner.com) is a Roma-inflected goth rock ‘n’ soul project led by powerhouse Berkeley violinist, singer and songwriter Lila Sklar, a player steeped in Balkan music. Her stellar band includes Jill Rogers on guitar and backing vocals, bassist Safa Shokrai, drummer Aaron Kierbel and guitarist Max Baloian. And [the Good Evening Folks](https://www.instagram.com/thegoodeveningfolks/?ref=albanyscanner.com) features Meredith Edgar and Lester Raww and the Pine Box Boys in a combustible combo that combines the manic pizzazz of 1950s jazz/pop with the kooky/spooky aesthetic of an Addams Family séance. **Sunday, Sept. 27, 6:30 p.m.** [**The Ivy Room**](https://www.ivyroom.com/?ref=albanyscanner.com#/events/193485) **(Albany). $18 (21+)** ## Janel Leppin’s cello rapture ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b5/b0/b5b0b7ec-798c-4cb6-ab42-472b59c05589/content/images/2026/09/JanelLeppinByShervin-Lainez.jpeg) Janel Leppin. **Shervin Lainez* A catalytic figure on the Washington, D.C. music scene over the past two decades, [Janel Leppin](https://janelleppin.com/?ref=albanyscanner.com) is a composer, improviser and textile artist who has released a series of extraordinary albums, both leading her own [Ensemble Volcanic Ash](https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.com/album/ensemble-volcanic-ash?ref=albanyscanner.com) and in partnership with her husband, guitarist Anthony Pirog, in the duo [Janel and Anthony](https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.com/album/new-moon-in-the-evil-age-3?ref=albanyscanner.com). She makes an extremely rare Bay Area appearance in the wake of the release of her latest album, *The Realist*, a trio session with drummer Chad Taylor and former Bay Area bassist Devra Hoff. But her solo recital focuses on her March album [*Slowly Melting*](https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.com/album/slowly-melting-2?ref=albanyscanner.com), a quietly ecstatic work that unfurls with luxuriant languor, like a long, loose-limbed stretch after a pleasantly lingering dream. The living-room-like setting of the Back Room, an all-ages BYOB venue, is an ideal environment to bask in Leppin’s sound. **Tuesday, Sept. 29, 7 p.m.** [**The Back Room**](https://events.humanitix.com/janel-leppin?ref=albanyscanner.com) **(Berkeley). $20-$25** *Have questions for Albany Scanner, or want to share story tips?* [*Here's how to reach us*](https://www.albanyscanner.com/tips/)*.* [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b5/b0/b5b0b7ec-798c-4cb6-ab42-472b59c05589/content/images/2026/09/double-down-icon.png)](#/portal/signup) When you support Albany Scanner, you help make local news available to everyone. Double down through Sept. 30, when every first-time gift is matched dollar for dollar, up to $10,000\. [****Double your impact →**](https://www.albanyscanner.com/#/portal/signup) [Double Down On Albany News ](#/portal/signup)