CONCORD
Some have said that art is food for the soul. As the fall colors emerge around us, the Lamorinda Arts Alliance invites you to come and see artists’ food-inspired and colorful works of art. The exhibit “A Feast of Color,” running Sept. 6 through Oct. 27, will be a deliciously vivid and unforgettable exhibit nourishing everyone’s soul.
Art lovers are invited to join the group for a reception with the artists featuring live music and refreshments from 2 to 4 p.m. Sept. 9 at aRt Cottage, at 2238 Mound Diablo St. in downtown Concord. Regular hours for aRt Cottage are from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday.
The Lamorinda Arts Alliance is an organization of local artists and friends who reside or work in in or near Lafayette, Moraga and Orinda. The group’s purpose is to provide coordination, education, and service to promote and increase knowledge, appreciation, and practice of the arts, and to enhance the area’s cultural development.
The group seeks to foster a better understanding of art within the community and encourage the exchange of ideas for the mutual benefit of all members through its programs, exhibits and other activities within the community. For more information, visit the Lamorinda Arts Alliance online at laa4art.org.
— LAA
ORINDA
Italy’s award-winning ‘Eight Mountains’ starting Sept. 15
The next screening from the International Film Showcase will be an award-winner from Italy, “The Eight Mountains.” This film won 14 international awards and was nominated for 18 more. The film will open Sept. 15 at the Orinda Theatre, running for at least a week, and Sept. 23 at Napa’s Jarvis Conservatory.
As the story goes, in a secluded village in the Italian Alps, an unlikely brotherhood forms between two young boys: Pietro, a boy from the city, and Bruno, who has only ever known life in the mountains. Over the years Bruno remains faithful to his home while Pietro aspires to greater heights, but as decades pass and lives unfold, their paths ultimately lead them back to where they first met — and back to each other.
Set against a magnificent Italian landscape, “The Eight Mountains” is a profoundly moving portrait of a lifelong friendship. See the trailer online at youtu.be/gpEtgBA86pg, and visit internationalshowcase.org for more information.
— International Film Showcase
ANTIOCH
Rivertown Peddlers Faire happening Sept. 9 downtown
The Celebrate Antioch Foundation will host its seventh annual Rivertown Peddlers Faire from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept 9 on G and Second streets. The event will feature more than 75 vendors selling an array of unique and eclectic items.
Furniture, home decor, vintage and collectable items, handmade and repurposed items, art and handmade crafts, plants and succulents, clothing and jewelry, bath and body products, hair products and makeup, candles, gifts and so much more will be for sale. This year will include 22 new vendors and live music performed by Horatio Monroe.
A food court also will feature local wine and beer and fare from a handful of Antioch’s Rivertown restaurants. Local shops also will be open with extra inventory for the day. For more information, go to celebrateantioch.org/event/rivertown-peddlers-faire
— Celebrate Antioch Foundation
WALNUT CREEK
Valley Art Gallery exhibiting juried selection of paintings
A juried selection of paintings is on display now at the Valley Art Gallery, covering a wide spectrum of media, motifs, formats, sizes and price points. The display also continues the gallery’s history of presenting the best of the best East Bay artists for 74 years, making it one of the country’s oldest continuously operating art galleries.
All two-dimensional work, as always, is available for sale or rent through the gallery’s exclusive “No Regrets” rental program. The Walnut Creek gallery, which also has its usual display of unusual fine crafts and artist-designed gifts and cards, is at 1661 Botelho Drive, Suite 110. For more information, visit valleyartgallery.org online or call 925-935-4311.
— Valley Art Gallery
Piano concerto to kick off Diablo orchestra’s 61st season
The Diablo Symphony Orchestra will begin its 2023–2024 season on Sept.17 with Beethoven’s lyrical “Piano Concerto No. 4,” featuring returning pianist Randall Benway.
The program also includes the orchestral tone poem “Finlandia” by Jean Sibelius, written in 1899 as a covert protest against the Russian empire’s increasing censorship, and his “Symphony No. 1,” which premiered in Helsinki in 1899 but was revised in 1900 for its European debut.
The piano solo that opens the concerto, the solidary clarinet and timpani passage that opens the symphony and the hymn-like melody of “Finlandia” (later adopted for the hymn “Be Still My Soul”) characterize a program that brings innovation, compelling rhythms and strikingly beautiful melodies to the stage.
The orchestra’s 61st season will feature local favorites Mads Tolling (violin), Greg Brown (saxophone) and Lafayette-based WomenSing in concerts offering joy-filled music — including three imaginative new works by women — ranging from Beethoven to jazz.
The orchestra will also tackle new heights itself, bringing Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring” to Walnut Creek. Visit their website at diablosymphony.org for details of the season’s five regular concerts. Season and individual tickets (along with pricing information) are also available at the website, at the Lesher Center for the Arts box office over the phone at 925-943-7469 or in person at 1601 Civic Drive in Walnut Creek.
— Diablo Symphony Orchestra
BRENTWOOD
Chorus welcomes new members, prepares for fall season
Want to get your holiday spirit started early? The Brentwood Community Chorus, under the direction of Susan Stuart, is preparing for an exciting fall season and welcomes new members.
The Brentwood Community Chorus is open to all ages and abilities and meeting now from 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesdays in the Brentwood Community United Methodist Church at 809 Second St.
Rehearsal tracks are provided when you register so you can practice on your own if you can’t make it on a Tuesday. Registration information is available online at brentwoodcommunitychorus.com/join_us.
— Brentwood Community Chorus
LAFAYETTE AND LIVERMORE
Bach’s ‘Brandenburg Concertos’ to be performed Sept. 16-17
The Pacific Chamber Orchestra will perform all six of Bach’s “Brandenburg Concertos” with Lawrence Kohl conducting. Performances will be at 7:30 p.m. Sept 16 in the Lafayette-Orinda Presbyterian Church at 49 Knox Drive in Lafayette, and at 3 p.m. Sept 17 in the Bankhead Theater at 2400 First St. in Livermore.
The program will display Bach’s “imperishable genius” with an incredible variety of virtuoso concerto formats. The orchestra’s soloists include violinists Igor Veligan (who is also the orchestra’s concert master) and Iris Stone, along with harpsichordist Yuko Tanaka.
Visit pacificchamberorchestra.org online to buy tickets. Livermore performance tickets are also available through the Bankhead box office in person or at 925-373-6800.
— Pacific Chamber Orchestra
Submit area arts-and-entertainment On Tap items to Judith Prieve at jprieve@bayareanewsgroup.com.
