Arts & Events

Worth Noting:

City Council is on Spring Recess through April 11.

The meeting schedule for the coming week is relatively light with the Agenda Committee meeting Monday at 2:30 pm to review the draft agenda for the April 12, City Council meeting.

The Design Review Committee (Tuesday) and the Police Accountability Board (Wednesday) are both having special meetings.

Sunday, March 27, 2022

Healthy Air for All – Time for Action at 4 – 5:30 pm

Pre-register for zoom link at https://tinyurl.com/38thxwn2

Agenda: UUCB Sponsored Workshop on Climate Change, Air Pollution, who is most vulnerable and what we can do about it. Speakers Dr. Teresa Munoz and Dr. Juan Aguilera Mendoza,

Berkeley Equity Summit Series #8 at 6 pm

Videoconference: https://bit.ly/3HSXMLD

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 ID: 832 1453 3420 Passcode: 712730

AGENDA: Women’s Herstory, Celebrate and Embrace Women’s Stories

Monday, March 28, 2022

Agenda and Rules Committee at 2:30 pm -more-

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Coming on the heels of Jordi Savall’s concert on March 4 of French Baroque music from the film Tous les Matins du Monde, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra took the stage Saturday, March 12, at Berkeley’s First Congregational Church in a concert featuring more works from the court of Louis XIV at Versailles plus music by Henry Purcell and Tomaso Albinoni. Early music specialist Skip Sempé served as guest conductor for this concert, which was billed as “From Versailles to the English Court.” What struck me about Skip Sempé was his minimalist style of conducting. Often, especially when concertmaster Elizabeth Blumenstock engaged in solos or in extended passages wth violist Jessica Troy and cellist Phoebe Carral, Skip Sempé stood immobile at the podium. Then, when tutti passages resumed for the full ensemble, Sempé swung into motion, leading the attack with broad gestures. -more-

In the past six years, Céline Ricci has revived for Bay Area audiences Venetian Baroque operas that were long lost or neglected before she resuscitated them. Céline Ricci’s recent Ars Minerva production of Carlo Pallavicino’s 1679 opera Messalina was, as I said in opening my review, perhaps the most wild and crazy opera I’d ever seen. And that’s saying something! Yet Ars Minerva’s founder and artistic director, Céline Ricci, who staged this production of Messalina, brought off this wild and crazy opera splendidly. Somehow, she managed to hold together all the myriad convolutions of the plot of Messalina. Moreover, she also honoured the many ways this remarkable opera makes us think about important issues that are still with us today. So in the days and weeks following my review of Messalina, which appeared in the November 21, 2021 edition of Berkeley Daily Planet, I continued to think about Pallavicino’s Messalina. Here are some of my further reflections on this remarkable opera. -more-