CONSPIRACY OF BEARDS,
THE CRUX
& SF Poet Laureate GENNY LIM
November 7, 2025, 7:30PM
Blue Shield Theater
at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
The San Francisco Leonard Cohen Festival, founded in 2018, is an annual celebration dedicated to honoring the poetry, music, and spirit of the legendary songwriter, poet, and author. Presented each November by Conspiracy of Beards—San Francisco’s renowned 30-member male choir devoted to Cohen’s work—the festival has grown from its early beginnings into a multi-day, multi-venue event that draws poets, musicians, artists, and audiences from across the Bay Area and beyond.
The festival emphasizes fresh interpretations of Cohen’s work, encouraging artists to reshape his words and melodies through their own creative lenses. This open, inventive approach results in a diverse program of performances, readings, and collaborations that keep Cohen’s timeless themes of love, longing, humor, and spirituality alive for new generations.
Together, the festival and the choir invite audiences to conspire in celebration of one of the 20th century’s most enduring and influential voices. The result is a vibrant gathering that honors Cohen’s legacy with creativity, reverence, and joy.
San Francisco Poet Laureate Genny Lim will open the evening, accompanied by cellist Kathryn Bates.
San Francisco’s Conspiracy of Beards perform their new show, The Unified Heart of Leonard Cohen, celebrating Cohen’s words, music, and contemplations on “The Order of the Unified Heart,” the symbol of two hearts intertwined that appears on the cover of the 1984 poetry collection Book of Mercy. This book inspired the 1985 album Various Positions, which includes some of Cohen’s most iconic songs, including “If It Be Your Will,” “Dance Me to the End of Love,” and “Hallelujah.”
The Crux is a mad scientist’s music laboratory, where songs are presented as theatrical experiments with odd and beautiful intensity: lullabies to drink your morning coffee to, gospel songs for the faithless, pirate shanties for people who get seasick, and swing music for the graceless. The Crux has appeared as chain-rattling klezmer folk punks, an unhinged revival service, a theatrical film-noir jazz combo, and more. This band is a true North Bay institution with a revolving cast of musicians assembled and coaxed into action by regional impresario Josh Windmiller. The Crux will present Cohen’s New Skin for the Old Ceremony and other favorites.
2025 Leonard Cohen Festival photos by Jon Bauer and Static & Blur
Genny Lim is the ninth San Francisco Poet Laureate and recipient of two lifetime achievement awards from PEN Oakland and the city of Berkeley. She has also served as a former SF Arts Commissioner. Lim’s award-winning play, Paper Angels, the first Asian American play to air on PBS’s American Playhouse in 1985, has been performed throughout the U.S., Canada and China. She is author of five poetry collections, Winter Place, Child of War, Paper Gods and Rebels, KRA!, La Morte Del Tempo, and co-author and translator of Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island, winner of the American Book Award. Lim has worked with past Jazz legends, such as Max Roach and long-time collaborators, Jon Jang, John Santos, Francis Wong and Del Sol Quartet. Their recent show, Facing the Moon: Songs of the Diaspora recently premiered at the Presidio Theater in San Francisco. This marks Genny’s second appearance at the Leonard Cohen Festival.
Cellist Kathryn Bates’ boundless energy for sharing musical experiences has shaped a career that continues to explore the intersections of tradition and innovation. Praised for her “beautifully rounded sound” by the New York Times, Kathryn’s performances are hailed as “electrifying” (Boston Globe), characterized by a dancer’s sense of rhythm and captivating theatricality. As the New Fromm cellist of the Tanglewood Music Center from 2008-2010, she was called the “revelation” (Sequenza 21) of the Elliott Carter 100th Birthday anniversary celebration. In 2010, Kathryn joined the renowned San Francisco-based Del Sol String Quartet.
SF Poet Laureate Genny Lim
and cellist Kathryn Bates
