Arts & Events

In promoting this concert, the San Francisco Opera Center coined the phrase “The Future is Now.” A more apt phrase could hardly be imagined, for this Adler Fellows concert on Friday, December 2, at Herbst Theatre offered singers who seemed ready for great things to come, and whose greatness was already evident in their glorious singing here. This concert opened with the orchestral Prelude to Act III of Wagner’s Lohengrin, which was beautifully performed by the San Francisco Opera Orchestra under the leadership of conductor Jordi Bernàcer. -more-

On Sunday, December 4 at 3:00 pm at Zellerbach Hall, acclaimed mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato teamed up with Italian period instrument ensemble Il Pomo d’Oro to perform a theatrical program of Baroque arias on the theme of war, peace and harmony through music. A sure sign that this was no ordinary concert came immediately upon entering Zellerbach’s auditorium, for Joyce DiDonato was already onstage, seated behind the musicians’ chairs towards the back, with a dim spotlight illuminating her regal presence wearing a silver-grey gown. Even before the Il Pomo d’Oro musicians filed onstage, Ms. DiDonato was joined by a male dancer, Argentine native Manuel Palazzo , who appeared bare-chested, wearing only a long skirt-like cloth garment belted at the waist. Mr. Palazzo struck several poses downstage left, while Ms. DiDonato remained seated upstage right. Only when the musicians entered and began playing the opening number, Handel’s aria from Jeptha, “Scenes of horror, scenes of woe,” did Joyce DiDonato arise from her chair and stride forward as she began to sing. -more-

The six programs that constitute A Day of Silents, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival’s annual winter event, feature some of cinema’s finest and most enduring pioneer artists. -more-