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Valley of the Moon Festival - Midsummer Mozart - Hairspray, the musical - Oregon Shakes update

Margo Moritz

This week on Open Air, KALW’s weekly radio magazine for the Bay Area performing arts, host David Latulippe talks with cellist Tanya Tomkins and fortepianist Eric Zivian (pictured), artistic directors of the Valley of the Moon Music Festival,which opens on July 14 and runs through the 28that the Hanna Center Auditorium in Sonoma.  

This will be the fifth anniversary edition of Valley of the Moon, and this year’s program celebrates Europe’s powerful 19th-century salonnières, women who were the ‘influencers’ of their day. They helped shape the musical taste of their time, bringing together great performers, composers and intellectuals, and several of them were excellent artists in their own right, like Maria Wilhelmine von Thun, praised for her keyboard playing, and composers Fanny Mendelssohn and Clara Schumann. 

From the Midsummer Mozart Festival, we meet with music director Paul Schrage to discuss upcoming performances throughout the Bay Area. Midsummer Mozart opens on Thursday, July 11 (8pm) at Freight & Salvage, Berkeley, with a piano recital featuring Bay Area based pianists Daniel Glover and Thomas Hansen. There is a concert on Friday, July 12 (8pm) at Noe Valley Ministry in San Francisco with special guest, author Stephanie Cowell; and the festival concludes with orchestral performances in San Jose (July 13, Trianon Theatre, 8pm), Sonoma (July 14, Buena Vista Winery, 6:30pm), and Cazadero (July 15, Cazadero Music Camp, 3:30pm). These concerts feature guest artist, coloratura soprano Christina Major. 

Also stopping by is actor Scott DiLorenzo, who plays Edna Turnblad in the Bay Area Musicals' production of the smash hit Hairspray, winner of 8 Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Hairspray  runs from July 6 – August 11 at San Francisco’s Victoria Theatre (2961 16th St.). 

Based on the 1988 John Waters film and set in 1962 Baltimore, Hairspray tells the story of the lovable plus-size teen, Tracy Turnblad, who has only one desire – to dance on a popular local tv show. When her dream comes true, Tracy is transformed from social outcast to sudden star. 

Plus, Open Air’s regular contributor and critic at large, Peter Robinson, reports from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, reviewing plays and discussing activities available beyond the theater. 

Open Air with host David Latulippe; broadcast live on Thursday, July 4 at 1pm. Listen now or anytime…