FINAL COUNTDOWN Classical music concerts often have some programmatic idea: works that influenced each other, or pieces that provide an interesting tonal contrast. But The Opus Project has a particularly audacious notion: its Saturday night concert features 21 Opus 5 pieces by composers ranging from Stravinsky to Cage to Britten (it’s the centennial of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring — an Opus 5!). The multi-media Opus 5 follows on, unsurprisingly, from Opera 1 through 4 (pedantic, moi?). The earliest work on Saturday will be a movement from Schoenberg’s Peleas und Melisande; the most recent Rabbits Frolicking Through the Meadow by 20-year old Anthony Ragus, composed this year. Opus 5 is at 8 p.m. on Saturday, May 25, at Berkeley Arts Festival, 2133 University Avenue. Tickets are from $10.
LAST CHANCE TO SEE Shakespeare’s Pericles, Prince of Tyre, finishes its season at the Berkeley Rep with four performances this weekend: 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Saturday, and 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Sunday. The San Francisco Chronicle said: “It’s a picaresque romp full of multiethnic humor, close calls and sentimentality, with a veritable deus ex machina — the old hoist carrying a goddess — and one of the most joyous, bounciest sex scenes ever staged.” The production is directed by Mark Wing-Davey. Tickets available from Berkeley Rep.
WET AND WILD SCIENCE Lawrence Hall of Science promises its Memorial Day weekend will be wet and wild: it includes the premiere of Great White Shark 3D, and the museum will be encouraging visitors to build dams in the rivers and pools of the Forces That Shape the Bay exhibit. Lawrence Hall of Science is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. all three days this weekend.
ROOTSY FLAIR How can you not like the sound of “breakneck Americana from East Tennessee”? If that appeals to you, then hurry to Freight & Salvage on Sunday, May 26 to hear The Black Lilies. The Freight’s website describes their music as a combination of “country, roots, rock and blues via Appalachia.” The Wall Street Journal said The Black Lilies’ latest album, Runaway Freeway Blues, has a “rootsy flair.” The concert is at 8 p.m. on Sunday at Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse, 2020 Addison St. Tickets are $16.50 in advance, $18.50 at the door.
EMERGING ARTISTS The University of California Berkeley’s Master of Fine Arts graduate exhibition provides a chance to see emerging artists at the start of their careers. The six graduating MFA artists this year are Dru Anderson, Dusadee Pang Huntrakul, Erin Colleen Johnson, Sahar Khoury, Jess Rowland, and Sean Talley. Their work is on show at the Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way, open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday.
And don’t forget other happenings we have featured previously on Berkeleyside:
Kai Eckhardt’s zeitgeist: Berkeley bassist plays home
Big Screen Berkeley: The Painting
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Still searching for things to do this weekend in Berkeley? Berkeleyside’s Events Calendar is chock full of music, theater, dance, talks and community happenings. We also encourage you to submit your own events.
