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Around & About--Music & Theater: Lou Harrison Centennial at Mission Dolores on Saturday; Diasporas Festival Over Memorial Day Weekend

By Ken Bullock
Saturday May 20, 2017 - 07:34:00 AM

--Composer Lou Harrison, who died "on tour" in 2003, is being widely celebrated during his centennial year--his birthday's May 14--from Harrison House, his straw bale "composer's cave" near Joshua Tree, to Finland--and one of the most ambitious events is this weekend, part of Berkekeley's Other Minds Festival 22, Just 100: Homage to Lou Harrison ... a gamelan orchestra and chorus of 100 performing Harrison's setting of the Fourth Century Buddhist Heart Sutra at Mission Dolores Basilica in San Francisco.

(Thursday night saw the fascinating premiere of Harrison's incidental tack piano music to Corneille's 17th century stage masterpiece, 'Cinna,' which Harrison originally wanted performed by rod puppets, brilliantly condensed and voiced by Larry Reed of Shadowlight Productions to the staging of shadow puppets, beautifully etched on a backlit screen, splendidly accompanied by Linda Burman-Hall, at the Center for New Music in San Francisco. More on this performance next week.)

7:30, Saturday May 20 at Mission Dolores Basilica, 3321-16th Street at Dolores, San Francisco. $12-$20. https://otherminds.org/shmtl/cm22-info.shmtl

--Giulio Perrone's Inferno Theatre, Berleley's innovative stage company, is hosting its Fourth Annual Diasporas Festival--solo and ensemble theater, music, dance, poetry, performance art--over the Memorial Day weekend, always a lively string of surprises, this year featuring a sample of Perrobe's upcoming 'Ophelia's Ripple Effect'--and performances by Indigo Jackson (splendid as Lucky in Ubuntu Theater's recent 'Waiting for Godot,' directed by Perrone), Anton's Well, Bay Area Zera Players, Joel Knopf, Molinete, WordDance Productions, Onyinye IIIkezukniy, & Tobey Kaplan.

South Berkeley Community Church, 1801 Fairview at Ellis, off Adelaide, just south of Ashby BART. $10-$20 (discounts, including theatrical). infernotheatre.org or 788-6415 to reserve.