Donald’s list: Weekend choices (July 28)
Here’s a rundown on promising cultural events for the weekend:
Refreshing: San Luis Obispo’s Festival Mozaic continues for a second weekend through Sunday, July 30. Photo / Festival Mozaic
Festival Mozaic
Where was I last weekend? Not in boiling Fresno. A quick trip over to the cooler Central Coast for a first-time visit to San Luis Obispo County’s Festival Mozaic has turned me into a hardcore fan.
I already walked you through the nuts-and-bolts of the festival in advance of last week’s opening. And next week, I’ll share some detailed reflections on the three concerts I attended last weekend, including an unforgettable musical moment on the top of a Shandon hillside as the sun set.
For now, I’m going to offer a reminder that a full slate of concerts continues through Sunday, and tickets are still available to all of them. The schedule includes:
Fringe Series: “The Jazz Age.” 7:30 p.m. Friday, July 28, Fremont Theatre, San Luis Obispo. Composer and pianist Stephen Prutsman leads a rollicking evening of jazz music and silent films from the jazz age at the historic Fremont Theatre in downtown San Luis Obispo. $35-$65.
Orchestra Open Rehearsal: “Metamorphosis & Reformation.” 10 a.m. Saturday, July 29,| Cuesta College Cultural and Performing Arts Center, San Luis Obispo. Join Scott Yoo and the Festival Mozaic Orchestra for a free behind-the-scenes glimpse into what it takes to make truly great music. Free.
Notable Encounter Insight: “On Stage with Strauss.” 5:30 p.m. Saturday, July 29, Cuesta College Cultural and Performing Arts Center Stage, San Luis Obispo. Listen to Scott Yoo talk about Richard Strauss’ “Metamorphosen for String Septet.” $30-$50.
Closing concert: Festival Mozaic artistic director Scott Yee. Photo / Festival Mosaic
Orchestra Series: “Metamorphosis & Reformation.” 8 p.m. Saturday, July 29, Cuesta College Cultural and Performing Arts Center, San Luis Obispo. On the program: Aaron Copland’s Clarinet Concerto (Romie de Guise-Langlois, clarinet); Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 5, op. 107, “Reformation”; and Strauss’ “Metamorphosen,” a study for 23 solo strings.
Notable Encounter Brunch: “The French Connection.” 10 a.m. Sunday, July 30, Dallidet Adobe, San Luis Obispo. Listen to flutist Alice Dade talk about Ravel’s Sonatine en Trio for flute, viola and harp. Hosted by flutist Alice Dade. $115-$125
Chamber Series: “Scott Yoo and Friends.” 3 p.m. Sunday, July 30, Cuesta College Cultural and Performing Arts Center, San Luis Obispo. On the program: Britten’s “Six Metamorphoses after Ovid, op. 49”; Ravel’s Sonatine en Trio for flute, viola, and harp; Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Piano Quintet in C minor; and Dvorak’s Viola Quintet in E-flat major, op. 97. $35-$75.
California Opera
Highlights for the weekend of the California Opera Association summer festival include two notable events.
“Doctors at the Met” (7 p.m. Saturday, July 29, Mercedes Edwards Theatre, 902 5th St., Clovis) is an annual fundraiser benefitting St. Agnes Medical Center and featuring the vocal talents of Dr. Harvey Edmonds, Dr. Marshal Flamm and Dr. Don Gaede. (If you’re ever going to have a medical emergency at a concert, this will be the one you’ll want to pick.) The concert includes other festival artists as well.
And a staged operatic production of “Little Red Riding Hood” (2 p.m. Sunday, July 30, Fresno Arts Museum Bonner Auditorium), by Barab, features Gabriel Manro in the role of the Wolf and Fresno’s Kennedi Ronlake as Little Red. Both performances are free with donations accepted.
‘Eurydice’
If you enjoyed Fresno State’s December production of Sarah Ruhl’s “Passion Play: Parts 1 and 2,” you might want to see more by this acclaimed contemporary playwright. The Fourth Wall Theatre Company in Visalia presents Ruhl’s “Eurydice,” a re-envisioned adaptation of the Orpheus Myth. From an article in the Visalia Times-Delta:
“The show spins death as this ‘down the rabbit hole’ kind of experience that brings the audience and the characters to this weird place of wonder and innocence,” director Zeb Elliott said. “Though it is inspired by the myth of Orpheus, it really only feels Greek in its structure.”
… For this production, Elliott envisioned the underworld as a sort of underground cavern. Think the Crystal Cave in the Sequoia National Park or The Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, to get an idea of what to expect.
The show opens 7:30 p.m. Friday, July 28, at The Creative Center, 606 N. Bridge St., Visalia, and continues through Aug. 6. Tickets are $15.
Photo / Barbara Van Arnam
Los Angeles show
Noted Fresno artist Barbara Van Arnam, a member of Gallery 25, is part of an exhibition at a noted Southern California gallery. She had four paintings chosen to appear in “GLOW” at Gloria Delson Contemporary Arts, 727 S. Spring Street, Los Angeles.
If you’re in the area on Saturday, July 29, drop in at the gallery between 6-10 p.m. and say hi to Van Arnam at the artists’ reception. She’ll be there! The show closes Sunday, July 30.
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