June 29, 2015
“Detroit” closes Aurora’s 23rd season
Summer barbecues fuel a modern farce
“It’s a trailer trash party!” Sharon exclaims to Mary, who served Sharon caviar at her...
June 2015
June 25, 2015
“The Trojans” a genuine spectacle at SF Opera
The flames of war and the flames of love…
The San Francisco Opera turned in a triumphant spectacle last Thursday with Hector Berlioz’ epic Les Troyens, a five hour opera based on the Trojan Wars and the wandering of Aeneas. This huge production required 134 artists onstage including principal singers, chorus, dancers, acrobats and supernumeraries, along with 95 musicians packed into the pit and off-stage. The sets, constructed in England, were...
June 20, 2015
Ojai in Berkeley
A festival of beaten gold.
The Ojai Music Festival, a venerable institution that has brought unusual music to the quiet Ojai valley for the last 59 years, has been collaborating with Cal Performances for the past four years to bring their weeklong series to the Bay Area. This year was another opportunity to hear the energetic programming that has been their hallmark.
Not only is this a celebration of edgy music, but it lives on the edge by changing...
June 19, 2015
Strand Theater opens with a Caryl Churchill play
ACT inaugurates handsome new theater on Market Street
The biggest Bay Area theater news of 2015 is...
June 15, 2015
Summer music madness
After a great year for Bay Area classical music, the summer festival season is fast upon us.
This very week Cal Performances closes out a full year of programming with its reprise of the Ojai Music Festival, held on the Berkeley campus this Thursday and Friday evening and all day Saturday, June 20. Each year this long-running festival chooses a fresh artistic director. This year conductor and percussionist Steven Schick will lead an exploration of twentieth century...