Arts & Events

Carrie-Ann Matheson, San Francisco Opera Center Artistic Director, indicates that as part of Merola Opera’s training responsibilities for young singers, care must be taken to give them support in singing roles that often call for women to be abused and even die at the hands of men. In fact, too many operas sport exactly this scenario. Given how prevalent sexual abuse against women is present in our contemporary American society, the challenge today is to dramatise the issue of sexual violence by males against women not just as something in opera librettos from the Baroque to the present, but also as an issue still all too present today in society. Thus, with the #Me Too movement in mind, Carrie-Ann Matheson decided to have Merola Opera take on Benjamin Britten’s controversial opera The Rape of Lucretia. -more-

Worth Noting:

Council did not get to the agenda item on the plan for the Civic Center at the Tuesday July 11 Council meeting. Mayor Arreguin said the Civic Center Plan would be rescheduled before Council goes on summer recess (July 26 – September 11). Expect the presentation and vote on July 25 at 4 pm, but keep checking the City website. https://berkeleyca.gov/

If you are driving to a meeting at the North Berkeley Senior Center allow lots of extra time to find parking.

• Monday:
  • At 10:30 am the Public Safety Committee meets in the hybrid format on police response.
  • At 7 pm the Housing Advisory Commission meets in person on Fair Access to Housing.
• Tuesday:
  • At 6 pm the City Council meets in the hybrid format on the Ashby BART housing development and public parking at both stations. A total of 950 parking spaces will be removed to build housing.
• Wednesday:
  • At 1:30 pm the Commission on Aging meets in person.
  • At 2 pm the FITES Committee meets in the hybrid format on reconfiguring University, Oxford and Fulton for the 51B bus and bicycles.
  • At 6 pm there is a community meeting online on the Santa Fe Park Plan.
  • At 6 pm the Civic Arts Commission meets in person.
  • At 6 pm the Environment and Climate Commission meets in person.
  • At 6:30 pm the HWCAC meets in person.
  • At 7 pm the Commission on Labor meets in person on Labor Bill of Rights.
• Thursday:
  • At 6:30 pm the FCPC / OGC meets in person with an open government complaint, public meeting procedures, public comment and meeting transcripts on the agenda.
  • At 7 pm the DRC meets in person on the final review of one project (38 bedrooms have no windows).
  • At 7 pm the Mental Health Commission meets in person – full agenda.
  • At 7 pm the Rent Board meets in the hybrid format and receives report on evictions.
• Saturday: From 11 am – 7 pm at the Downtown Berkeley Plaza there will be live music, mural painting, vendors and food trucks to celebrate the arts.