Arts & Events

THURSDAY, NOV. 13 -more-

“Opera Apocalypse!” The title of San Francisco Cabaret Opera’s show of three short, new pieces conjures up Wagnerian images of The End. Some might say it’s a tautology. But the trio of operas—Mark Alburger’s Antigone, Ophelia Forever by Amy Beth Kirsten and John G. Biloota’s Quantum Mechanic—offer a mix of humor, intensity and thoughtfulness “exploring a post-apocalyptic future focused on women.” -more-

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra will perform a challenging program, featuring violinist Colin Jacobson, cellist Tanya Tomkins and fortepianist Eric Zivian, with the orchestra conducted by musical director Nicholas McGegan, at First Congregational Church this weekend. -more-

Oakland East Bay Symphony will premiere an unusual commissioned work by San Francisco composer Nathaniel Stookey, Zipperz, with a libretto by Dan Harder, also of San Francisco, to be sung by Berkeley-native Eisa Davis and Manoel Felciano, both recently featured on Broadway in New York, at the opening night of the Symphony’s 20th anniversary season, this Friday at 8 p.m. at the Paramount Theatre in downtown Oakland. -more-

A young boy looks out from a picture frame hung askew, calling out for his mother, who is herself surrounded by a frame, in the throes of a bad dream, finally waking up and running out into the countryside. -more-

A rare event is coming to the Bay Area this next week. One of cinema’s greatest works of art will screen twice—once at San Francisco’s Castro Theater and once at UC Berkeley’s Hertz Hall—accompanied by 200 singers and a 24-piece orchestra. UC Berkeley’s Alumni Chorus will present Voices of Light, an oratorio, as accompaniment for Carl Dreyer’s 1928 landmark film The Passion of Joan of Arc. -more-

New Italian Cinema, the annual San Francisco Film Society festival, returns to Embarcadero Cinemas next week with seven new films by emerging Italian directors, three movies by acclaimed Tuscan director Paolo Virzi and two special closing night films. Some of the filmmakers will be on hand for the showings. -more-

A little-noticed gated driveway branching east off Hillside Avenue north of Dwight Way bears a name most Berkeleyans wouldn’t recognize: Fernwald Road. It leads to a UC apartment complex housing 74 student families. Smyth Fernwald, as the complex is called, is named after the previous owner of the land, engineer, inventor, and social economist William Henry Smyth (1855-1940). Fernwald was the name Smyth gave his estate in the mid-1890s. -more-

It’s funny how little I know about a house prior to pulling up to the curb. Despite some lengthy conversation with my client, it really isn’t until I’ve arrived that I can actually see what I’m going to be dealing with. Had I known on this particular day what it was that I was going to see, I might have turned it down but, in retrospect, it was probably best that I didn’t know and showed up anyway. -more-

THURSDAY, NOV. 13 -more-