In troubled times, artists have always stepped up to the philanthropic plate. Live Aid, Farm Aid, “We Are the World.” Maybe it’s because the arts bring hope, and those who have hope care enough to spread it around. Which brings us to the First Friday Art Tour on February 5, the scene of two very different charity efforts in Santa Cruz — one to help Haitian earthquake victims and one to help bring arts to local schools…

Songlike. That’s what the word “ariose” means. An apt name for Santa Cruz’s Ariose Singers, whose voices will be raised this weekend in music both ancient and modern. The 18-member group performs their winter a capella concert, An Evening of Snow, January 23 and 24 at Aptos’ Resurrection Church. The concert will include pieces by Samuel Barber, J.S. Bach, Francis Poulenc, Juan del Encina and Juan Vásquez….

For current events, see the complete listings at The Week, The Weekend and Everything Else.
For the Weekend of January 15-17, 2010.

Friday /// Saturday /// Sunday

Friday
Reception for New Beginnings at Mountains Art Center. Start the new year with a fresh exhibit of art in Ben Lomond. Mountains Art Center presents its New Beginnings exhibit through [...]

For current events, see the complete listings at The Week, The Weekend and Everything Else.

For the Week of January 11 – 14, 2010.
Monday /// Tuesday /// Wednesday /// Thursday

Monday
Who Framed Roger Rabbit at Movie Nite at The Crepe Place. She’s not bad. She’s just drawn that way. The alluring Jessica Rabbit invades The Crepe [...]

Every month, Willing Suspension Armchair Theater celebrates the written word by turning it into spoken word. Without sets, costumes or stage directions, the group performs readers’ theater, bringing audiences themed selections from literature.

This month, director Karen Schamberg presents An Evening of Claireity: Works by Claire Braz-Valentine. The evening celebrates the prose, poetry and plays of the internationally-produced writer, who lived in Santa Cruz until 2001. The show previews January 19 at Capitola Book Cafe before moving to Actors’ Theatre for two nights….

A photographer whose portraits of Klu Klux Klan members haunt. A set designer whose work adds character to musicals and plays. A book printer who combines old-fashioned letterpress techniques with digital tools. A woman who works in words and wax.

There are five words that link Terri Garland, William “Skip” Epperson, Felicia Rice and Daniella Woolf to one another: Rydell Visual Arts Fellowship artists. Selected works by the 2008-09 fellows are on display through March 14 at the Museum of Art and History (MAH) at The McPherson Center in downtown Santa Cruz….

(At left, William “Skip” Epperson is among the artists exhibited. Photo by r.r. jones.)

The altered sound of a wine glass inspired Sayaka Yabuki’s latest piece, “Water and Wine.” The composition, which combines a chamber ensemble with live looping, has its world premiere January 15 as part of New Music Works’ first Night of the Emerging Composers at UC Santa Cruz’s Music Center Recital Hall. Also on the program are the world premieres of Remy Le Boeuf’s “The Third Elegy” and Stan Poplin’s “Detour,” along with Noah Meites’ “Bioskop.”

The four movements of “Water and Wine” take the listener on a 15-minute journey through liquid sound — from the frozen essence of Movement I to the boiling turbulence of the last movement — using violin, theremin, musical glasses, vibraphone, double bass, trumpet, percussion and looping….