“Dream — Nessun Dorma” (2008) by Luisa Cohrs. The triptych is on view and sale at the Huntington Beach Art Center.

So I went down to the Huntington Beach Art Center Friday for the opening of its annual Artini Time benefit. It was a fun time, and well attended.

I believe a majority of the $33.33/$66.66/$99.99 small pieces sold.

I bid on a couple of pieces by Courtney Oquist and Finishing School, but I was quickly outbid.

The silent auction continues through Friday, May 16. A big auction party is scheduled for 7-9 p.m. Friday, with a live auction starting at 8 p.m. Admission is $50, $45 if you’re a member.

If memory serves me correctly, Dr. Carl Hartman will be auctioneer, and Elise Hartman will be chairwoman.

The event will be catered, and wine and non-alcoholic beverages will be served.

 The art center is at 538 Main St., Huntington Beach. Perhaps I’ll see you there!

Jessica Duchen has done it; so have Alex Ross and many others. I offer my own modest variation on the theme, my pet (Ludwig) mit tome, above. Here’s what Judith Weir said about it in the Times Literary Supplement.

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Dan Rest/Chicago Lyric Opera

Interview: Carlisle Floyd’s “Susannah,” which comes to Opera Pacific this week, is fondly remembered by its composer, 50 years later. The Orange County Register, May 9, 2008.

 

AP Photo/Matt Rourke

The political satirist interviews opera hunk Nathan Gunn.

Rose Palmisano

REVIEW: Under departing principal conductor Christoph von Dohnányi, the famed Philharmonia delivers sturdy readings of standards. The Orange County Register, May 9, 2008.

“Peaceful Conflict,” a 2007 mixed media on wood sculpture by Dennis Ruble. 

The Huntington Beach Art Center is gearing up for perhaps its most entertaining event of the year. Artini Time III starts Friday, May 9 with a free “Meet the Artists” party from 7-9 p.m. Food and wine will be served, plus the artists’ collective Finishing School will deliver a special performance.

Friday’s gathering will be an opportunity to view and silent bid on various artworks at affordable prices. The art center will also feature “Going Once, Going Twice, Gone,” an exhibit and sale of small works by auction artists, as well as a chance to purchase works by unknown artists, with their names to be revealed after sales.

Silent bidding will continue all week, and the whole shebang will culminate Friday, May 16 with an Auction Party. Admission is $50 ($45 for members), and will include food and drink. The event goes from 7-9:30 p.m., and the live auction will start at 8 p.m.

The annual benefit auction helps the H.B. Art Center, plus it’s an opportunity to buy some emerging and well-known artists’ work at excellent prices.

So make your way down to H.B. this Friday and next…. you’ll be glad you did.

Espinosa isn’t a perfect fit for the role, but she has her memorable moments. Read my review.

The Philharmonia Orchestra (of London), under conductor Christoph von Dohnanyi, will perform Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, tonight in Segerstrom Concert Hall. 

Great minds have attempted to decipher the work’s meaning for years. No one quite agrees. Here’s a sample of what some of them said:

“It will be generally admitted that Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony is the most sublime noise that ever penetrated into the ear of man. ” — E.M. Forster

“For the grandeur and simplicity of its melodic materials, the nobility of its formal proportions, and the forthrightness of its expression, it has been esteemed throughout the Western world for over a century now as a sort of Parthenon among symphonies. Yet what it means nobody really knows. It has been as much argued about as ‘Hamlet,’ and it remains to this day as movingly obscure a work. ” — Virgil Thomson

“Thus Fate knocks at the door. ” — Beethoven, on the first four notes.

“The Fifth Symphony is simply music, and it is a pity that Schindler’s legend of fate knocking at the door was ever promulgated. These people who find ‘meaning,’ scenes, dramas in music! ” — Olin Downes

“One has neither the obligation nor the temptation, as in the case of some of the other Symphonies, to attach any definite meaning to the music or construct any picture of it. It is enough that it touches one’s deepest and most sombre feelings, and hurries one along unresistingly on its tremendous current. ” — George Grove

“The Symphony in C minor … appears to us to emanate directly and solely from the genius of Beethoven. It is his own intimate thought which is there developed; and his secret sorrows, his pent-up rage, his dreams so full of melancholy oppression, his nocturnal visions and his bursts of enthusiasm furnish its entire subject. ” — Hector Berlioz

“Or it was meant to be Pathological, perhaps — the first movement is Chronic Dyspepsia, sub-acute inflammation of the coats of the stomach — the gnawing of the gastric juice — accelerated pulse — throbbing head — nausea — megrims — vapors and desperation. The liver begins to act in the Andante; the patient is congratulated by his friends on his looking so much better, and walks the streets convinced that `Radway’s Ready Relief’ is what he has sought so long. In the Finale he is regenerated and restored — is once more an ornament to Society and makes his home happy. ” — George Templeton Strong

Think you’ve got what it takes to be “one singular sensation”? The Ahmanson Theatre is holding a contest to promote its upcoming production of “A Chorus Line.” Details here:

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