Month: July 2016

(Trailer for ‘Rust and Bone’ – Sony Pictures Classics) Described by The Telegraph as “….. bruising, beautiful, and fierce, a love story written in scar tissue, acted with galvanising intelligence, and directed like a dream” Rust and Bone is the Tuesday evening movie at the San Francisco Alliance Française this week. Starring Academy Award-winning actress…

The versatility of San Francisco Ballet will be on display this weekend as the Company presents four works at its annual performance at the Stern Grove Festival. Sunday’s program features Act II from Helgi Tomasson’s production of Swan Lake, his 2005 creation The Fifth Season, the pas de deux from Christopher Wheeldon’s After the Rain,…

Following her highly acclaimed appearance at the Montreal International Jazz Festival earlier this month, Mexican-American vocalist Lila Downs brings to SFJAZZ this week her particular blend of international sounds and styles – what the Los Angeles Times describes as “a stunning voice” and “a confident multicultural vision grounded in her Mixtec Indian roots”. Regarded as…

If you’ve only one opportunity this week to spend an evening with conductor Edwin Outwater and the San Francisco Symphony, you’re going to have a hard time deciding which of three concerts to attend. On offer are An Evening in Paris with Madeleine Peyroux, a Russian Celebration – with the music of Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff and…

One of the most highly acclaimed foreign films of recent years, Austrian director Michael Haneke’s Amour, is to be screened at the San Francisco Alliance Française movie night on Tuesday, July 19. Described by the Philadelphia Enquirer as “a masterpiece”, Amour features a cast headed by legendary French stars Emmanuelle Riva, Jean-Louis Trintignant and Isabelle…

Is there any more magical or awe-inspiring venue for a symphony concert than the Courtyard of the Prince’s Palace in Monaco, under a starlit sky?  Each summer, the Royal Courtyard hosts a series of performances by the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra, continuing the centuries-old patronage of the arts – and music in particular – by the…

To wrap up the 2015-16 San Francisco Playhouse season, Directors Bill English and Susi Damilano have pulled out all stops with a hugely ambitious revival of City of Angels – and it’s just fabulous! Winner of six 1990 Tony Awards – including best musical, original score (Cy Coleman), book (Larry Gelbart) and lyrics (David Zippel)…

Credit:  UGC Films Screening at the San Francisco Alliance Française this week, Bruno Podalydes’ The Sweet Escape (Comme Un Avion) tells of a middle-aged man who takes himself off on an unusual journey, as an antidote to boredom and an attempt to ‘find himself’. Described by The Hollywood Reporter as “Feather-light, yet finally profound and…