Central Nigeria Unmasked at the Cantor Arts Center

The Benue River Valley in central Nigeria is the source of some of the most abstract, dramatic, and inventive sculpture in Africa. Discover the history of the region through masks, elaborate bronze and iron regalia, and more at Central Nigeria Unmasked at the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford through October, 2012. And to sweeten the deal, it's free!

Idina Menzel

Idina Menzel's resume is as intimidating as her vocal chops. Best known for her turn as the first Elpheba in Wicked, as well as for her work in Rent and Glee, Menzel is bringing her chills-inducing set of pipes to Davies Symphony Hall on Thursday and the Wells Fargo Center in Santa Rosa on June 9, 2012.

Healdsburg Jazz Festival

In its 13th year, the Healdsburg Jazz Festival continues to celebrate the indigenous American art form known as Jazz. World-renowned musicians such as Roy Haynes, Vijay Iyer, Kenny Burrell, and Sheila Jordan will do their thing in diverse settings, from theaters to boutique restaurants to wineries. The festival kicks things off tonight with a pair of concerts and continues through next weekend.

Quiet Lightning's Neighborhood Heroes

What if I said you were invited to a mansion across from the Painted Ladies? And that you could also hear readings by writers of all stripes? And that Lagunitas was providing booze? You would say you were dropping everything and going, right? Right. All of this is going down at the William Westerfeld Mansion in San Francisco tonight at 7pm.

San Francisco Opera Trio: Nixon in China, The Magic Flute, and Atila

It's a busy time over at the San Francisco Opera, where they are prepping three openings. First up is John Adams and Peter Sellars' Nixon in China, which was first mounted by SF Opera Director David Gockley when he was leading the Houston Grand Opera. And then there's a new interpretation of Mozart's The Magic Flute with bold and colorful design work by Japanese-American Jun Kaneko. And finally, there's Verdi's Atila. Nixon in China opens tonight, Atila opens Tuesday, and The Magic Flute opens Wednesday. All three continue into July.

Lenore Chinn

In a new SF Arts Commission piece titled The Oracle Room, Lenore Chinn brings the unrepresented faces of LGBT and Asian American faces to the canvas. Check out the portraits when the exhibit is unveiled tonight at the Luggage Store Gallery in San Francisco.

The Great Divide

Inspired by Ibsen's An Enemy of the People, Adam Chanzit's The Great Divide rewrites the tale of a muckraking doctor to focus on current Bay Area environmental battles. The play runs through June 17, 2012 at the Shotgun Player's Ashby Stage.

GrooveLily's Wheelhouse

You can't have a road trip without music, and pop-rock trio GrooveLily is melding the two in their second theatre piece, Wheelhouse. The autobiographical musical follows a cash-strapped band going on the road in a beat-up Winnebago and encountering troubles along the way. Wheelhouse opens on June 9, 2012 and runs through July 1, 2012 at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts.

Ojai North!

Ojai North! kicks off a festival of inventive music with John Luther Adams' Inuksuit, which LA Weekly listed as one of the top five 'Classical Music Concerts We're Most Looking Forward to in 2012.' Another promising highlight is Ojai North's artistic director Leif Ove Andsnes' collaborationg with pianist Marc Andre Hamelin in a four hand version of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. Ojai North! runs Tuesday through Thursday at Hertz Hall on the Berkeley campus.