Yerba Buena Center for the Arts presents the West Coast premiere of Bay Area musician/composer/vocalist Carla Kihlstedt and poet Rafael Oses' Necessary Monsters, a contemporary song cycle based on Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges' Book of Imaginary Beings. The Book of Imaginary Beings is a fictional miscellany that presents descriptions of mythical beasts from folklore and literature. Necessary Monsters is a set of nine songs performed by seven musicians and a narrator. The song cycle follows the delirious journey of a writer beguiled by creatures of her imagination as she tries in vain to corral and contain them within an orderly field guide. Each poem features a different creature that is a unique fantastical beast, but also an aspect of the writer's mind as well. The style of each song is matched with the personality of its beast resulting in a menagerie of musical styles as varied as the creatures themselves.

* Additional fees apply.