* * * * *

Sing-It-Yourself Messiah

The San Francisco Conservatory of Music celebrates its 20th anniversary of Sing-It-Yourself Messiah. Shows are Monday, December 7 and Tuesday, December 8, 8 p.m., Davies Symphony Hall. Michael Barrett, conductor. Tickets $18-$42, charge-by-phone at Symphony box office 415/864-6000.

* * * * *

More Great Japanese Prints

Last September we reviewed for DAYBREAK readers the first of two extraordinary exhibitions showcasing Japanese woodblock print masters at the Asian Art Museum in Golden Gate Park -- so near the UCSF Parnassus Campus that it could be a lovely lunch-hour escape.

Owing to their fragility, that first show of prints by Hokusai could be seen for only eight weeks. But now for a further eight weeks you can delight in 100 works by the second great master, Utagawa Hiroshige, who studied Western painting and combined its perspectives with Japanese artistic tradition. He influenced the European Impressionist movement more than any other artist. Van Gogh copied two of the prints as oil paintings and Hiroshige's arched bridge depicted in "Grounds of the Kameido Tenjin Shrine" inspired Claude Monet to build a similar bridge in his garden at Giverny.

Hiroshige's landscapes are very different from those of Hokusai although they were almost contemporaries. His works shown here begin with a trip from Edo, (now Tokyo) along the "53 Stations on the Tokaido Road," where we meet every kind of traveler, from the noble lady carried on her palanquin and the procession of the daimyo or local lord and his 200 retainers, to the postman, called "flying foot." We also learn what it took to get a group of Sumo wrestlers across a river. All are covering some 22 miles a day in these vividly detailed prints which become a narrative, a wonderful 19th-century travel documentary.

Hiroshige also documented the alternative route between Japan's old capital of Kyoto and Edo which was so arduous that travelers could cross its mountains, lakes, and rivers only in summer weather. And even then, there could be driving rains which turned the footpaths into muddy and painful sloughs, even worse in the straw sandals most porters and poorer travelers wore.

The colors in all these prints are both subtle and intense, especially the blues. In another section of the show are beautiful flowers and birds, and 17 prints from Hiroshige's last great work "100 Views of Edo," including street scenes, fireworks, and a particularly exquisite "Plum Garden."

The original Japanese customers bought ukiyo-e, which means pictures of the floating world, as mementos of their enjoyable lives: this exhibition will add greatly to your enjoyable life.

This series of two shows comes from the James A. Michener collection (yes, he was the author of all those blockbuster historical novels who died in l997) at the Honolulu Academy of Arts. Michener began collecting Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints in the l950s; the Asian Art Museum exhibition is the first time such a substantial part of his superb collection is being shown on the US mainland and the only venue. It is also the only museum show offering a free audio guide, but there is a small surcharge for admission.

Events accompanying the Hiroshige show, which runs until January 17, 1999, include five free lectures in December and January; a full-day teacher workshop on December 6; demonstrations of Japanese papermaking and printmaking on Saturdays and Sundays through December 13, and on the evening of December 9 a performance of Dark Passages, a work of music with video and slides that tells the story of war resisters and of Japanese-Americans imprisoned at Crystal City Internment Camp in Texas.

While you're at the Asian, take a look at its New Acquisitions in Indian Art, near the auditorium on the main floor. The featured works have been acquired over the past five years and include sculpture, decorative arts, and miniature painting.

Asian Art Museum hours are Tuesday through Sunday 9:30 to 5; until 8:45 p.m. on first Wednesday of the month.

Information: 379-8801; cultural programs 379-8879; educational programs 379-8895; internet www.asianart.org.

* * * * *

Gershwin at PALM

1998 marks a century since the birth of George Gershwin. Whether you know only one of his many songs, such as the lovely "Summertime" from Porgy and Bess, or whether it's his most famous big piano and orchestra number, "Rhapsody in Blue," Gershwin's music is part of our lives. Celebrations of his centenary have included a highly-praised all-Gershwin concert which opened the SF Symphony season here at Davies Hall and at New York's venerable Carnegie Hall, conducted by music director Michael Tilson Thomas at the piano and on the podium.

Another Gershwin celebration may be enjoyed at PALM, the SF Performing Arts Library and Museum, one block from Davies Hall at the corner of Grove and Gough Streets. The exhibition is called, after one of his songs, "S'Wonderful," honoring the American original whose prodigious artistry left an indelible mark on Broadway, opera, and the concert stage.

"S'Wonderful" is open until December 23, free of charge, at PALM Gallery, 399 Grove Street. Hours are Wednesday 1 to 7, Thursday and Friday 11 to 5, and Saturday 12 to 5. PALM is the precious repository of every kind of information -- programs, photographs, oral histories, magazines, books, etc., etc.-- about the performing arts in the Bay Area from Gold Rush days through last night's performances -- and it's all available to the public. For information call 255-4800.

Previous Artists Among Us