Author Archives: Leslie

American Impressionism at Baker Museum, Naples, Florida

The Baker Museum, part of Artis – Naples, Southwest Florida’s premier center of visual and performing arts, is showing the exhibition, In a New Light: American Impressionism, 1870-1940, until March 12, 2017. It is a vast and varied collection of more than 100 American paintings and drawings from the Bank of America collection. It is well worth a visit or visits in order to take it all in. There are works by well known artists, and one of the great assets of the exhibition is exceptionally fine work by artists who are not now well known at all. The evolution of painterly techniques demonstrates the American artists’ interest in art in France: concern with light; looser, lighter brush strokes; work done outside, in plein air. What’s in the pictures, however, is assuredly American. The new light is not only the attention to light and the way it changes our perceptions but also the new perspective from America as it looked at its own world.

TrinityCh Trinity Church, c. 1930, detail, Oil on Canvas painting by Guy Carleton Wiggins(1883-1962)

The exhibition is organized chronologically, reflecting the growth of artistic schools through nearly a century. The Hudson River School took notice of the great beauty of the American landscape, especially in upstate New York. For some painters, the astonishing sight of Niagara Falls was quintessentially American in its huge size and grandeur. If Americans could not take pride in the antiquity of their relatively new country, they had no need to worry. Their landscapes were more majestic and entirely different than the often painted beauties of Europe.

PartHassam Old House, East Hampton, 1917, detail, Oil on Canvas, painting by Childe Hassam (1859-1935)

There are fine examples of works by William Morris Hunt and George Innes. Hunt was instrumental in bringing the French Barbizon school to the US; Innes was greatly influenced by it. The Barbizon focus on the beauty of nature influenced the Impressionists. Among American Impressionists included in the exhibition are Childe Hassam and Lilla Cabot Perry. Early 20th century artists such as John Sloan and George Wesley Bellows, and painters of the American Southwest including E. Martin Hennings, Joseph Henry Sharp and Oscar E. Berninghaus show the variety of people, experiences, and natural settings that make the US.

Former Docent at Baker Museum, studies painting in In a New Light: American Impressionism, 1870-1940

Felicie Waldo Howell’s (1897-1968) coastal landscapes and Frank Nudersher’s (1880-1959) paintings of New York and St. Louis allow American locales to project their personality as though a city sat for its portrait. There is energy in Guy Carleton Wiggins’ Wall Street, the flags above it and even the snow falling on it. The painting acknowledges it’s not the Champs Elysee while it uses techniques learned in part from the French. No, the work says, “It’s not the Champs Elysee, and hooray!” For more information see artisnaples.org

Gladys Knight & the SF Symphony: Still the Empress of Soul

Gladys Knight had her first great hit when she was 16 years old. She is called the Empress of Soul, but her domain includes Gospel, which she started singing at home in Atlanta when she was 4; R&B; Pop; and something called Adult Contemporary which could include all the others, too. She has No. 1 hits in each of those categories. Her performances with the San Francisco Symphony with her own vocal quartet and musicians, Dec. 12 & 13, rocked Davies Symphony Hall. Her smiling, up beat presence, her terrific voice, the great songs from whenever all added up to an entertaining, uplifting, fun, touching night of music.

The years have done nothing to diminish her singing or her person. Anyone out there who is of the age to have been young when Gladys Knight & the Pips were new can be happily assured that she looks and sounds fantastic. She prowls, skitters, and boogies across the stage. In fact, just standing still she is dancing. As a solo performer and as part of the much celebrated group, she has won seven Grammy awards and recorded thirty-eight albums. Ms Knight never sat back; she was always working, creating, producing, performing.

With so many songs that the packed to the rafters audience wanted to hear, was she able to fit in all the hits in her non-stop 85 minutes on stage? A lot of them. Heard It Through the Grapevine, The Nitty Gritty, If I Were Your Woman–and more from the Pips era were there. She and JaVont’e Pollard, one of her quartet, sang If I Were Your Woman as a dramatic, alluring duet. The Pips, her brother and two cousins, retired after decades of success, in 1988. From 1987 on, she recorded solo. At Davies she also performed a tribute to great ladies of song including Ella Fitzgerald and Lena Horne, singing songs associated with them such as The Man I Love and Stormy Weather. No worries, Neither One of Us (Wants to be the First to Say Goodbye) was there, too.

Ms Knight performed and recorded with many celebrity singers including Ray Charles, Patti Labelle, Cyndi Lauper, Dionne Warwick. In 2009, she sang His Eye is on the Sparrow and The Lord’s Prayer at Michael Jackson’s funeral. Her friendly patter during the concert made it clear that her faith is central to her. She and her singers sang The Church Said Amen, in beautiful harmony. She created and directs Saints Unified Voices, a Mormon themed choir. The performers accompanying her were first rate. Singers: Alexus Hoover, Brandon Smith, Porcha Clay, JaVont’e Pollard. Stellar musicians: Leon Turner, pianist and Musical Director; James Davis, guitar; Joseph Green, bass; Yuko Tamura, keyboard. Gail Deadrick conducted the San Francisco Symphony. Ms Deadrick has served as conductor, pianist, and arranger for many artists in addition to Ms Knight (for whom she is also a tennis partner) including Marilyn McCoo, Nell Carter, Nancy Wilson. It was inspiring to be presented with music made by Ms Knight’s collaborating artists. She closed with Midnight Train to Georgia: tears of joy all around Davies Hall. Gladys Knight tours in Jan. 2017. See gladysknight.com

Martina Knee: Champion of Freedom

The Lively Foundation is profoundly saddened by the loss of Martina Knee. We only learned recently that Ms Knee passed away, Sept. 26, 2016. She was a remarkable woman, especially as a tireless champion of refugees and a relentless fighter against genocide. She is survived by her husband and her Sudanese god son. Born in Austria, she came to the US with her family at age two. Both parents were MDs. She worked her way to her B.A. at UC, Berkeley, and to her JD from UC, Berkeley’s Boalt Hall. She left a successful corporate law career to become VP and General Counsel for UUNET, an Internet Service Provider that grew to be the world’s largest ISP. She retired from corporate life in 2005. She discovered her family’s Jewish background as an adult and became dedicated to fighting all genocide. She was Executive Director of the Bay Area Darfur Coalition; a co-founder of Act for Sudan, an alliance of American activists and Sudanese refugees in the US. The list of organizations to which she devoted her time, energy and great intelligence is very long. She became a Carl Wilkens Fellow, focused on developing the political direction among community leaders to stop and prevent genocide. She was a member of the Advisory Board of the UC Berkeley Law School Human Rights Center; an officer and Director Of Living Ubuntu which focused on the health of refugees and public awareness of their needs; a member of the American Jewish World Services; co-chair of the International Human Rights portfolio of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs’ task Force on Israel World Jewry, and International Human Rights. This is only a brief sample of her devotion to human rights locally and around the world. Martina was honored as a “Darfur Hero” by the Save Darfur Coalition in October 2007 and received the Honorable Tom Lantos Memorial Humanitarian of the Year award, 2008. In 2006, Martina and her husband, Michael, assisted a family of South Sudanese who emigrated from Uganda to San Francisco. Martina and Mike mentored and tutored two of the younger members of the family who graduated from Stuart Hall High School. Emmanuel, who earned a college degree with their love and support, is like a son to them.
The Lively Foundation Artistic Director, Leslie Friedman, met Ms Knee in the court yard of Temple Emanu El, San Francisco. The Temple had for many months a huge banner asking everyone to support efforts to help Sudanese refugees and to stop the atrocities in Darfur. Ms Knee was behind a table like any volunteer with a petition, literature, and requests for donations. In conversation about what could be done, Ms Friedman mentioned that she was involved in a performance at the Cowell Theater very soon (probably in a few days). The Lively Foundation needed volunteers to sell refreshments, mostly water, during the intermission. Would Ms Knee and/or any volunteers for the Darfur efforts like to come to the performance, sell refreshments and keep every cent that came in from the sales? Yes. In this way, without knowing any more about Martina Knee than that she was working very hard for this desperate cause, we had the great honor to meet a great human being. May her memory be a blessing.

Berliner Philharmoniker at San Francisco Symphony

Do they play baseball in Berlin? When I think of the performance of Brahms’ Symphony No. 2 at Davies Symphony Hall, Nov. 23, I keep thinking, “They hit it out of the park.” As performances of grand, serious, classical music go, this was a home run (if there is no baseball in Germany, allow me to say home run with bases loaded. That means it was as good as it could get. ) Conducted by their Artistic Director, Simon Rattle, the Berlin Philharmonic played the symphony with all the heart and hope of Johannes Brahms. That is a very great heart, one with the breadth to embrace the world with hope that humankind’s good will find a way to stay steps ahead of its bad. Commentators on the Symphony No. 2 have written as though it is a cheery, celebratory work with less depth than other Brahms masterpieces. While it has moments of beauty without struggle, they are not its whole character. There is struggle, there is darkness, but the dark never completely shuts out the light. The symphony achieves triumph through balance arising from the push and pull of dark and light. At the end, having experienced the fear of losing the way, the Symphony a great hurrah. It is greater for knowing the struggle. On Nov. 23, the entire audience jumped to its feet perhaps grateful to Brahms and the Berlin Philharmonic for having brought them through uncertain times to an affirmation, though an affirmation with complexities even on a sunny day.

Maestro Rattle chose a fascinating program for the first half of the concert: Five Pieces for Orchestra, Opus 16 (1908), by Arnold Schoenberg; Six Pieces for Orchestra, Opus 6 (1908/1928) by Anton Webern; Three Pieces for Orchestra, Opus 6 (1915/1929) by Alban Berg. These works represented the significant new music of their era and the considerable unity of their composers’ thoughts. Rather than play them as separate compositions, Maestro Rattle had them played one after the other with minimal pause between works. Together they formed a new symphony of Viennese masters. The conductor explained to the audience that composers after Mahler confronted the question of where music could go next. They experimented with harmonic language. Rhythm and dynamics came center stage more than harmony. The music of these composers has the reputation of being prickly and difficult. The Berlin Philharmonic’s performance of the works revealed the music’s texture and emotion. It was a rich experience. This music is no longer contemporary, but still sounds new. Hearing it made this listener realize how much later composers drew from it. Next time I will listen to these works individually, but hearing this composite symphony allowed me to dive in amongst sounds like broken shards of a magnificent, stained glass window.

(For more on Alban Berg’s Three Pieces for Orchestra, see Hedgehog Highlights Jan. 24, 2015 post on the SF Symphony performance, Jan. 22, 2015)

Simon Rattle becomes the Music Director of the London Symphony Orchestra, Sept.,2017. He ends his position as Chief Conductor of the Berliner Philharmoniker, in 2018. Among innovations during his tenure is the orchestra’s Digital Concert Hall which broadcasts their performances over the internet. In 2014, the orchestra released the complete symphonies of Robert Schumann. In April, 2016, their recordings of all the Beethoven symphonies appeared on CDs and also Blu-ray discs as HD videos. These recordings are with Simon Rattle conducting and on the label Berliner Philharmoniker Recordings. Pictures, from top, Johannes Brahms; Arnold Schoenberg, photo by Man Ray; Simon Rattle.

A TALE of TWO MUMMIES at SF’s Legion of Honor Museum

The ancient Egyptians longed for immortality, but the afterlife they achieved as eternally-popular museum displays may not be what they expected. At San Francisco’s Legion of Honor Museum, we can contemplate the mysteries of mummification in The Future of the Past: Mummies and Medicine, on view through August 26, 2018. The museum has transformed its intimate Gallery 1 into a showcase of Egyptian antiquities from the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco’s own collection, featuring two mummies: Irethorrou, a 2600-year-old priest, and a woman called Hatason who is 500 years older. A team of scientists, Egyptologists, physicians, museum curators and conservators has explored how thse embalmed individuals lived, died, and were prepared for eternity. Rebecca Fahig and Kerstin Muller of Stanford University Medical School’s Dept. of Radiology conducted high-resolution, three-dimensional computed tomography (CT) scans of the mummies, and the resulting data

was studied and interpreted by Jonathan Elias of the Akhmim Mummy Studies Consortium.

The exhibit reveals information that has been gleaned about Irethorrou’s lifestyle, the society in which he lived, his religion, and the funerary beliefs of his time. The second mummy and her coffin have not fared as well and present a stark contrast to Irethorrou’s perfectly preserved body. In high-tech contrast to these ancient Egyptian practices, visitors can examine both mummies by means of an interactive “virtual dissection table.” A fascinating group of amulets and tomb furnishings is also on view.

In a brilliant move, the museum commissioned Los Angeles-based artist RETNA to cover the gallery walls with his signature painted calligraphic shapes, based on Egyptian as well as Arabic, Hebrew, runic and other sources. The ghostly white writing enrgizes the space and evokes a sense of mystery akin to what the ancients must have felt in the presence of hieroglyphics (meaning “sacred writing”) Originally a graffiti artist, RETNA (born Marquis Duriel Lewis, in 1979) has built a formidable reputation as a studio painter and public artist; appropriately enough, his stage designs grace the current San Francisco Opera’s current production of Veridi’s Aida. Renee Dreyfus, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco’s Curator of Ancient Art, explains: “The history of graffiti goes back far into the reaches of antiquity….When I look at RETNA’s words I get the same sense of power that I get when I look at hieroglyphics. He has managed to create the same feeling that I get when I walk into an Egyptian tomb.” While the interpretive panels in the exhibit are excellent, the sense of unfathomable mystery remains.

Mummies 7 ALL PHOTOS ©JONATHAN CLARK.

Entry to this exhibition is included with general museum admission: adults $15, seniors 65 + $10, students with current ID $6, members and youth 17 and under Free. Legion of Honor Museum, Lincoln Park, 100 34th Ave., SF, Open 9:30 a.m. – 5:15 p.m. Tues-Sun; open select holidays, closed most Mondays. see Legionof Honor.famsf.org

Miami City Ballet’s Giselle: Love Wins

Miami City Ballet’s Giselle won the hearts of the audience, Nov. 1, at Hayes Hall, at Artis-Naples, Naples, Florida’s outstanding venue for performing arts. This presentation of the Nineteenth Century Romantic ballet could satisfy any ballet lover and made misty eyed even those who had seen Giselle and knew how it would end. MCB made the touching aspects of the story move the emotions even as their splendid technical skills drew gasps.

The leads were stellar: Tricia Albertson as Giselle; Renato Penteado as Albrecht; Didier Bramaz as Hilarion; Lauren Fadeley in her role debut as Myrtha, Queen of the Willis. Are there dance lovers who would dismiss Giselle as an old chestnut? Anyone thinking that should see these wonderful young stars. The original choreography by Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot uses a particular vocabulary of classical ballet including turns in attitude–turning on the ball of one foot with the other leg lifted back and bent at the knee; tours en l’air–jumping up with legs together, spinning in the air multiple times, landing on one knee. MCB mastered the choreography so well that it seemed the natural means of communication for the dancing characters.

Hilarion is a game keeper who loves Giselle, a peasant girl who lives with her mother, Berthe. Giselle is not interested in Hilarion. Albrecht is a nobleman who comes to the village dressed in peasant clothes. He is captivated by Giselle and swears he will love her forever. Naturally, they express their mutual admiration by dancing. Hilarion sees them together; Giselle rejects him; Hilarion tries to fight with Albrecht. When Albrecht reaches for his sword, HIlarion realizes that his rival is a noble. The villagers dance more. There is a wonderful Peasant Pas de Deux danced in Naples by a glowing pair of dancers, Damian Zamorano and Samantha Hope Galler. Berthe reminds Giselle that she has a weak heart and must not overexert herself lest she become a Willi, a spirit of a betrayed maiden who died before her wedding day. A noble hunting party arrives. Hilarion reveals Albrecht’s true identity. The Duke’s daughter is revealed to be betrothed to Albrecht. Giselle goes mad with despair. This is ballet’s great mad scene. Ms Albertson was danced brilliantly in sadness the steps she had previously danced in joy. The dancing and despair kill her as her mother had feared.

Albrecht flees. Ms Albertson’s interpretation shows Giselle’s naive sincerity and then her horror at her fate. It was a moment that united dance and story in complete, heartbreaking theater. Don’t miss Ms Albertson and Mr Penteado in these roles.

Act II is in a forest on the banks of a lake. Giselle’s grave is there. Hilarion brings flowers. Hunters warn him of the Willis who get their revenge by forcing men to dance to their deaths. Announced by lightning, Myrtha, Queen of the Willis appears. Ms Fadeley dances with appropriate power and assurance.

Her arabesques with majestic arm gestures embodied her royal status as the veiled Willis appear at her command. Giselle rises from her grave, Myrtha’s new subject. The Willis entrap Hilarion, surround him, and dance him to his death just as the ghostly legend promised. Mr. Bramaz is especially effective in this dramatic scene. Albrecht has also come to Giselle’s grave. Giselle dares to protect him although Myrtha demands that she dance. She dances and keeps Albrecht dancing until the chimes ring in the dawn when the Willis must disappear. Mr. Penteado made a grand Albrecht with his pure lines and clean, sharp movement. He excelled as the ardent, though not truthful, lover. Albrecht tries to restrain Giselle, but the grave draws her back. Albrecht is alone, saved by the love of the girl he had misled. Love overcame lies, vengeful spirits, and betrayal. Three cheers for the power of the Romantic ballet as performed with feeling and expressive, classical technique. The ballet was partnered well by the Naples Philharmonic conducted by Gary Sheldon with sensitivity to the dance as well as the score by Adolphe Adam.

Miami City Ballet’s performance of Giselle in Naples, the night after Halloween and before All Souls’ Day was a good fit with respect for spirits we cannot define. It also demonstrated, on the night of World Series Game 6, the value of a very deep bench. The refinement, exuberance, and stage presence of the whole company made possible this success. Miami City Ballet performs Giselle at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach, Nov. 11-13. MCB returns to Naples on Feb. 28 and April 4 with mixed programs including works by Balanchine, Paul Taylor, Jerome Robbins, Christopher Wheeldon. Contact artisnaples.org

Pictures are from MCB’s opening performances, in Miami, with a different cast. All photos ©Gene Schiavone, courtesy of Miami City Ballet. From top: Kleber Rebello, Dancers of Miami City Ballet, Simone Messmer (Giselle) & Rainer Krenstetter (Albrecht), Jordan-Elizabeth Long, Simone Messmer & Rainer Krenstetter.

SF Opera’s Comic Triumph: Don Pasquale

San Francisco Opera presented Gaetano Donizeti’s delightful opera buffa, Don Pasquale, September 28–October 15 at The War Memorial Opera House. It was tremendous fun. The music is beautiful and funny. The four leads were splendid. It was a night to cheer Donizetti’s brilliance and the accomplishments of singers, conductor, orchestra, chorus, directors and designers whose work combined to create complete theater.

Premiered in 1843, the libretto, also written by Donzetti, puts stock figures in predictable actions with and against each other, but the plot twists in ingenious ways. Opera buffa is the opposite of opera seria, the serious dramas.There is a wealthy man in his 70s. His nephew, Ernesto, refuses to marry the wealthy woman his uncle selected for him; Ernesto loves a poor girl, Norina. The uncle is tired of supporting him, disowns him, and decides to marry a young woman. His doctor and alleged friend, Malatesta, takes Ernesto’s side and plots with Ernesto’s true love. She will present herself as sweet, innocent Sofronia, marry Don Pasquale, then make him demand a divorce to escape her domineering behavior and immense expenses. Norina will be able to marry Ernesto with Don Pasquale’s blessing and his money.

In this production created by Director Laurent Pelly, the nephew is a spoiled, lazy boy sponging off his rich uncle, not the pure rebel against authority he could have been. Norina also is something more and less than her character might have been in the commedia dell’arte from which opera buffa developed. She is a schemer who might be motivated primarily by love but might not. Even Malatesta, presented as the friend of both Don Pasquale and Ernesto seems to be motivated not only by friendship but also a pleasure in playing cruel games.

For this viewer, it was easy to feel sorry for Don Pasquale who put on a new suit and a toupee to meet his bride. He looked ridiculous but was so happy. The lesson, the closing song says, is that old men should not try to marry. And yet, though the others made him a fool and he sees that he acted the fool on his own, there was a charming liveliness in his hopes.

Bass Baritone Maurizio Muraro as Don Pasquale was amazing. His singing was great, and his physical comedy timing perfect. His expressions and actions were very, very funny. His ability to sing the rapid fire patter songs of Don Pasquale was astonishing; every note and syllable was clear and understandable, if one’s brain could keep up. His actions when he transformed himself into what he thought would attract the young woman were funny, his anger at Sofronia’s expenditures was funny, but over all, it was touching to see him try to cope with the abuse dished out by this angel turned devil.

Lawrence Brownlee, internationally acclaimed tenor, made his SF Opera debut as Ernesto. He was a lout, a lover, a disappointed suitor, and a house guest tossed out of the house. He played it all with fantastic aplomb always buoyed by his lovely lyric tenor voice. He was so romantic perched on the roof of his uncle’s house, longing for Norina, and so funny packing a closetful of shirts and then trying to figure out how to carry all his suitcases.

Director Pelly’s idea for the production was inspired by Italian movies from the 1950s. When the audience first sees Heidi Stober as Norina, she is in a black slip, leaning against the wall of her squalid room, and admiring a center-fold. Her clothes are piled on the floor. She has a cigarette. This image of the character does not appear again, but reveals some tawdry tendencies behind Sofronia. Ms Stober’s strong, dramatic voice made her dominance of the Don and plotting with Malatesta believable. Think ahead to a sequel in which Ernesto, not used to fending for himself, finds he’s married someone better at bossing him around than his uncle had been.

Baritone Lucas Meachem has a long relationship with the SF Opera. He was a Merola and an Adler Fellow and has sung numerous roles. It was exciting to see him in a different setting fulfilling the demands of comedy with distinction.

His energetic patter duets with Muraro were a pleasure. Malatesta’s double crossing drove the story ahead effortlessly. On October 4 and 7 the role was played by Edward Nelson, an Adler Fellow. Bojan Knezevic added comic confusion in a cameo role as the Notary who pretended to marry the Don and Norina. The SF Opera Chorus marched onstage as an army of gossipy servants hired by Sofronia. The SF Opera Orchestra was conducted by Giuseppe Finzi. From the beginning of the Overture, it was clear we were in for something extraordinary. Donizetti’s music represented all of the actions and characters. There was a theme which danced and limped that sounded like Don Pasquale’s happiness and hesitations. Theater wisdom says, “Tragedy is easy; comedy is hard.” Impossible to imagine if Donizetti found writing Lucia di Lammermoor easy, but the all star cast of this Don Pasquale acted and sang a comic triumph.

Pictures from top: Maurizio Muraro as Don Pasquale; Donizetti; Lawrence Brownlee as Ernesto; M. Muraro, Don Pasquale transformed; Heidi Stober as Norina/Sofronia intimidates Don Pasquale; H. Stober; Lucas Meachem, far left; L. Meachem & M. Muraro; all photos except picture of Donizetti ©CoreyWeaver/San Francisco Opera

Ballet for Adults: Great New Class!

The Lively Foundation is proud to announce a new class, Adult Ballet. The class meets at 7 p.m. at 890 Church St., the Mountain View Masonic Center, Mountain View, CA. The class will be taught by Leslie Friedman. Dr. Friedman, Artistic Director of The Lively Foundation, has experience teaching professional dancers and beginners. She taught the Ballet Rambert, London, England; national ballets of Poland, the Cairo National Ballet, and dancers at the three Chinese ballets/academies in Beijing, Shenyang, and Shanghai, among others. She focuses on good technique to protect your body and the love of movement. Her goal is for everyone of whatever experience and training to enjoy themselves dancing.

Dr. Friedman has performed to great acclaim around the world. The US State Dept. sponsored her tours with host countries in India, Russia, China, Spain, Hungary, Romania, Poland, and many other countries.

The class meets Tuesday evenings, 7:00-8:15. Dancers may buy a 10 class class card for $130 or drop in for $15 per class. There must be 4 class card holders to keep going.

For more information, please email livelyfoundation@sbcglobal.net or call 650/969-4110.

Conference of Birds at the Mexican Heritage Theater, 9/9-911

An exciting dance theater event opens this Friday, September 9, at the Mexican Heritage Theater, and runs for four performances through the weekend. It is a grand program drawing on the skills of ten different dance traditions to tell its story. The cast includes fifteen actors and thirty dancers.The performance is presented by Sangam Arts and EnActe. Its artistic director, Antara Bhardwaj, has been at work on the project for nearly two years. The mission of the producers and directors is to promote multicultural understanding through the arts.

The story is based on the work of 12th century Persian poet, Farid ud-Din Attar. It is about the quest of humanity for understanding of the world and god and humanity’s place in relationship to it. Playwrights Jean Claude Carriere and Peter Brook first adapted it to the modern stage. The production team for this event includes Production Head Usha Srinivasan, Director Vinita Belani, Dance & Music Director Antara Bhardwaj, Composer Randy Armstrong.

Dance styles include Ballet, Bharatanatyam, Aztec, Afro-Brazilian, Chinese, Folklorico, Hula, Persian, Kathak, Odissi, Belly Dance.

Tickets are available now. Visit facebook/sangamartsorg and enacte.org/production/the-conference-of-the-birds Performances are Friday afternoon, Sept. 9 for schools; Friday evening at 8 p.m.; Saturday matinee at 2 p.m. & evening at 8 p.m.; Sunday matinee at 4 p.m. This promises to be an extraordinary theater event.

EnActe Photos: Antara Bhardwaj dancing Kathak, Folklorico dancers

Lively Friends Meet the Merolinis

MerolaGrp SharonAnn A Lively group of Friends of The Lively Foundation enjoyed an evening of gorgeous singing at the San Francisco Opera House, Aug. 20. The eleven Lively individuals came from Marin, San Francisco, Pacifica, Mountain View, and San Jose. The Merola Opera program has given Lively tickets for its friends to attend Merola performances each of the last 7 summers. Merola is a training program for singers on their way to international fame. The program gives them many opportunities and by doing so gives the rest of us the opportunity to hear great music sung by stars. Previous “Merolini” have included Ruth Ann Swenson, Thomas Hampson, Carol Van Ness, Patrick Summers, Brian Asawa, and many others beginning brilliant careers. This summer rather than a full length opera, eleven Lively friends were treated to the Merola Grand Finale, a gala performance of arias and ensembles accompanied by full orchestra. The voices were splendid. We shall all keep our programs in order to follow the careers of our favorites. Keep in touch with Lively for future great events.