During this Winter lull I thought I would share a few of my favorite old and new resources for interesting cultural sites. It takes a bit of wandering around the Internet, but here are a few that I found to be helpful in my development and pursuit of an “arts and cultural” education.

One of the first places I started is the local community college website. For life-long learning at any age and an opportunity to interact with motivated students of all ages, you can find plenty of courses to inspire you and to keep your brain fit! If you are in the Bay Area, try https://www.ccsf.edu or https://laney.edu or any other local community college website. I have immersed myself in Art, Music, German, and Film classes and am very impressed with the quality of the teaching staff. You might find that it’s a cost-effective way to try out new topics. You won’t be disappointed by the City’s free system, still effective for the time being. So, San Franciscans, take advantage of it now! College fees in other cities are nominal.

SF Sketchers is an active group of sketchers in San Francisco who connect at interesting locations such as going to the Embarcadero to sketch king tides, the Beach to sketch nude bathers, and the Global Climate Summit at the Civic Center. As an active participant, I look forward to Lauri Wigham’s creative ideas for a healthy morning or afternoon of sketching, both outdoors and in. An upcoming “Portrait Party” at Arch Supplies is a repeat from last year’s successful event, where small groups sit and sketch each other for five-minute poses. You can find out more about SF Sketchers at https://www.meetup.com.

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A smaller, neighborhood local sketch group meets regularly on Saturday mornings to sketch at cafes throughout the Sunset District. It’s a convenient time to roll down the hill or take a brisk morning walk towards the Beach, catch a cappuccino, and do a non-verbal brain dump on paper. The group is very active and you can find their future meetings at the same site above.

The Parks and Recreation Dept of San Francisco has a healthy list of activities and programs for all ages. I realized that these are some of my tax dollars being put to good use, for the benefit of everyone. Not everyone knows what they do, or the benefit they bring to the community, until you decide to get involved. Many of the arts are supported here, such as welding, pottery, photography, jewelry making, and other general art classes in addition to sports programs. See https://sfrecpark.org.

Music for the Mind

For both American and international friends, my absolute recommendation for opera and music festivals is www.https://operabase.com. It’s a complete database for opera singers, composers, performances and opera houses throughout the world. It’s a great way to maximize your time in Europe by joining a music festival the same time you plan to visit a European city. You will be pleasantly surprised! It will support and maximize your travels.

I also follow a classical music website called bachtrack.com, a UK based organization. It covers both opera and musical concerts. You can find it at https://bachtrack.com

 

My favorite opera house, the Bayerisches Staatsoper in Munich, Germany at https://www.staatsoper.de offers awesome opera productions. They just presented a thrilling livestream broadcast of Karl V. That may sound a bit obscure, until you realize that it’s Charles V, a descendant of Charlemagne. It gives you a chance to catch up on European history at the same time you hear the music. A drier, but nevertheless entertaining, version of Hamilton.

Speaking of Hamilton, I managed to get the last two tickets for a performance in San Francisco last week. It was only my second time seeing the musical, but it was a profound experience–hearing rap music condensing the founding history of the US into a mesmerizing array of song, dance and poetry in less than three hours. Lin-Manuel Miranda is brilliant.

And of course the Metropolitan Opera in New York is the grand dame in the US at https://www.metopera.org. for combining music, art, costumes and drama. You can catch Donizetti’s La Fille du Regiment next Saturday, March 3, and a followup Wednesday, March 6 in theaters near you. Pretty Yende is the star. The METOPERA’s new season is already posted, so plan an opera visit the next time you are in NYC!

Hopefully some of the resources and websites above will be useful to you. Let me know if you have trouble locating any of them or have comments.

LA Interlude

In a quick trip to Los Angeles a couple of weekends ago, we saw “Buddha Passion”, a stimulating premiere of Tan Dun’s opera concert featuring six Chinese performers. The choir and children’s chorus sang in Mandarin, and the music was beautifully reflective of the Dunhuang Cave environment in Northwest China. It was one of my first visits along the Silk Road a few years ago, so I had a particular fondness for the subject matter. I was surprised and delighted that Gustavo Dudamel led the orchestra for this new work by a Chinese composer.

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We had just enough time to slip into the Broad Museum the next morning to oogle at the wealth of big-name artists such as Beuys, Koons, and Roy Lichtenstein, and to admire the new museum. After all, what’s the point of doing art without seeing art?!?

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Addendum: Check out these two food websites: https://www.chefsfeed.com and https://www.exploretock.com if you are looking for alternatives to opentable.com. They are more discriminating and provide a more professional approach to restaurant dining experiences from award-winning and innovative restauranteurs.