Arts & Events

In his book A Song of Love and Death: The Meaning of Opera, Peter Conrad writes, “Strauss tries to outwit history by being both Mozart and Wagner at once….Die Frau ohne Schatten (1919) began as Strauss;s Zauberflõte, an ingenuous fairy tale, but ended as something more like his Ring, a top-heavy treatise on cosmic biology.” As I sat in the audience on June 10 during San Francisco Opera’s current revival of Richard Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten (The Woman Without A Shadow), which has a libretto by Hugo von Hofmannstahl, I often perceived similarities between this Strauss opera and both Mozart’s Die Zauberflõte and Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen. -more-

On Friday, June 16, San Francisco Opera did itself proud by producing a one-night only Centennial Concert featuring the Opera’s Orchestra and Chorus, three top-notch conductors, and fifteen leading vocal soloists. The company founded in 1923 by Neapolitan Gaetano Merola looked back over its 100-year history, offering projected still images of many of the singers and productions that made this company a major force in the world of opera. Yet there was also a look forward to the years to come, as President Joe Biden noted in the closing words of the congratulatory letter he sent to the company, which letter was read aloud onstage by the current General Director Matthew Shilvock. -more-

Worth Noting:

Check the City website for late announcements and meetings posted on short notice at: https://berkeleyca.gov/

SUNDAY – Juneteenth Festival 11 am – 7 pm

MONDAY – Berkeley City Juneteenth Holiday

TUESDAY

• 10 am Public Safety Committee meets in hybrid format
• 2 pm Civic Arts Commission Policy Committee meets online
• 4 pm City Council meets in closed session in the hybrid format
• 6 pm City Council Special Meeting in hybrid format on Economic Dashboard and Climate Action Plan

WEDNESDAY

• 1:30 Commission on Aging meets in person.
• 2 pm FITES meets in the hybrid format on GHG limits, the Climate Action Plan and 51 Bus Rapid Transit
• 6 pm Civic Arts Commission meets in person
• 6 pm Environment and Climate Commission meets in person
• 6:30 pm Human Welfare and Community Action Commission meets in person
• 6:30 pm Police Accountability Board meets in the hybrid format
• 7 pm Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Commission meets at 7 pm

THURSDAY

• 9 am Budget & Finance Committee meets in the hybrid format and will finalize the 2024 budget recommendations for the June 27 full council vote.
• 6:30 pm Community Health Commission meets in person
• 7 pm ZAB meets in the hybrid format. All projects are alterations to existing dwellings

KPFA – To vote for the local Board of Directors later this summer, if you have not already contributed $25 the deadline is June 30. The local board in turn will select four Directors to serve on the National Board.

June 27, 2023 City Council Regular Meeting agenda is available for comment and follows list of meetings.

Directions with links to ZOOM support for activating Closed Captioning and Save Transcript are at the bottom of this calendar.

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BERKELEY PUBLIC MEETINGS AND CIVIC EVENTS

Sunday, June 18, 2023

Juneteenth Festival from 11 am – 7 pm

https://berkeleyjuneteenth.org/

Monday, June 19, 2023 – Juneteenth City Holiday -more-