Get out and about

The amazing Bernadette Peters

Sometimes summer can be a bit slow in these parts but there’s actually an awful lot going on this month. Now that San Francisco Opera’s summer season is over the Merola program takes over for the next couple of months with a production of Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia this Thursday night and Saturday afternoon, followed by Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro in early August as well as concerts both indoors and out, all culminating in the Merola Grand Finale which takes place in the War Memorial Opera House. Check their site for dates and event descriptions- Merola never disappoints in delivering an abundance of talent while identifying the next generation of opera stars. 


The summer season of the San Francisco Symphony has some serious talent taking the stage of Davies in the next few weeks with Bernadette Peters, Michael Feinstein, & Jessye Norman. The pianist/topic of conversation in some quarters Valentina Lisitsa performs the 3^rd Piano Concerto on an all-Beethoven Program (Jul 18^th), Teddy Abrams conducts a program of classic all-American pieces the following night, and that most epic of classical pop crossovers, Carmina Burana returns July 30^th. 


There are numerous interesting shows taking place in the galleries at 49 Geary over the next month, including this one which looks especially brash or intriguing, depending on your aesthetic leanings. Upstart opera companies/academies are performing at Fort Mason, and the SF Silent Film Festival runs from 07/18-21, which the Symphony is complementing by presenting Cameron Carpenter performing a live accompaniment to Eisenstein’s classic Battleship Potemkin (07/27). If that’s a little too tame-sounding for you, there’s always The Matrix Live with the San Francisco Symphony (07/27). You can get $2 off the price of admission to the Silent Film Festival with the code FILMSFS. 


Also, there's the West Coast premiere of Rob Handel’s A Maze unfolds in Berkeley at Live Oak Theatre from 07/12 thru 08/04. “A dizzying, dazzling, ambitious work, Rob Handel's A MAZE interweaves a teenage girl recreating her identity after eight years held captive in a suburban basement, a pair of rock stars re-inventing themselves after a hit song, and a self-taught artist gaining a cult following for his 15,000-page comic book.” DC Theater scene said "A Maze explores the depths of our own prisons in an arresting portrait of obsession, addiction, and fear of the unknown"- on top of all that, it stars the talented and gorgeous Janis DeLucia among an especially strong cast. Tickets here.

And if that weren't enough, there are still some tickets left for what will likely be the best version of Outside Lands so far.