Arts & Events

Worth Noting:

Relief – City Council is finally off for summer recess and most commissions do not meet in August.

Monday the BART Police Citizen Review Board meets, it is only listed because you may find the crime report interesting. The increase in crime is at the Alameda and Contra Costa County Stations not San Francisco or Santa Clara.

Thursday the Zoning Adjustment Board (ZAB) has two home addition projects on the consent calendar. There are no action items and no major projects for review at the August 11 meeting.

Saturday the Berkeley Neighborhoods Council is scheduled to meet at 10 am. Check later in the week for the agenda. (This is the meeting I will be watching.)

Things can change so it is a good idea to check the City website https://berkeleyca.gov/ -more-

Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel and his wife, actress and director Maria Valverde, created the Encuentros Orchestra as a way to explore and promote cultural unity by bringing together outstanding young musicians ages 18-26 from many different countries. This year,

Dudamel and Valverde brought more than 100 young musicians from 22 countries to California for an intensive two-week program of master classes, rehearsals, cultural activities and concerts in conjunction with Los Angeles Philharmonic and Youth Orchestra Los Angeles (YOLA). On Thursday evening August 4, Gustavo Dudamel conducted the Encuentros Orchestra with special guest artist esperanza spalding in a concert at Berkeley’s Greek Theatre under the aegis of Cal Performances. -more-

The first article of music criticism I ever wrote was a review of a 1974 Merola Opera production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute. (This review appeared in the August 25-29, 1974 issue of the now long defunct Berkeley Barb.) Now, 48 years later, here I am writing a review of another Merola Opera production of The Magic Flute, or, to call it by its original German title, Die Zauberflöte. Happily, by whichever name you call it, this opera never gets old. It is as amazing and delightful today as it ever was and forever will be. -more-