Southern California Vocal Events LAURI D GOLDENHERSH's Weekly Highlights Take a deep breath, eat well, and get enough sleep, for this next week is so chock-full of fascinating, can't-miss events that we're all going to be very, very busy. Just a few highlights: Starting Thursday, TIMUR AND THE DIME MUSEUM joins the NOW Festival at REDCAT with Zoophilic Follies, a puppet opera by DANIEL CORRAL, produced in collaboration with TANDEM PUPPET THEATER COMPANY. Somehow, the concept of puppet opera makes perfect sense to me, as the other-worldly players can only encourage the suspension of disbelief, and the possibility of immersing oneself even further into the music. With only three performances (through Saturday), get your tickets if you can. Don't wait before clicking here. This is your LAST chance to catch Yeomen of the Guard at the Sierra Madre Playhouse. Audiences have been thoroughly enjoying this Gilbert & Sullivan classic, and the last performance is Saturday night. Don't miss the last of their G&S Recital festival, either, on Thursday night. More information on both the recital and the show can be found by clicking here. In the need of meditation? The 'Chant and Polyphony' event at Scripps College in Claremont is free, and the perfect midday preparation for a Zen-like weekend. Sopranos ANNE HARLEY and ELLEN RENTZ, with tenors CHARLES W. KAMM and DAVID RENTZ perform at Balch Auditorium. For information, click here. Sacred services focus on music as well, with Taizé-style services in Beverly Hills (Friday) and Palos Verdes Estates (Tuesday), and a Bach Cantata Vespers in Orange on Sunday. But if you've never experienced the singular harmonies of Jewish chant and choral music, join us at Sinai Temple in Westwood for one of the best temple choirs you'll hear, in a grand S'lichot service to usher in the High Holy Days. This special event includes a screening of last year's inspirational documentary, 100 Voices, which features Sinai cantors JOSEPH GOLE and ARIANNE BROWN. The 16-voice professional choir, led by organist/choirmaster ARYELL COHEN round out the evening as led by Rabbi David Wolpe. (Full disclosure: One of the 16 voices is mine.) This event is open to the public -- call (310) 481-3243 for details and to make reservations, or click here for details. Opera! Even without the puppets, there's nothing usual about the operatic stage this weekend. We wrote last week about KENTWOOD PLAYERS' Candide in Westchester, and you'll want to make a point of getting there before they close on 10/16. LA OPERA is wrapping up their run of Tchaikovsky's lesser-seen Eugene Onegin and starting performances of Mozart's ever-popular Cosi Fan Tutte, testing the mettle of supposedly fickle females. But with PACIFIC OPERA PROJECT's raucous and modernized Don Giovanni opening this weekend in Santa Monica, there's definitely something for everyone. POP has already impressed us with a clever and consistently entertaining Trouble in Tahiti over the summer. This new company is doing good work and doing well, which is just what we like to see. Get details on Don Giovanni in this week's Next 7 (see below), or by clicking here. Recitals and concerts round out the calendar with ZULAL's selections From the Armenian Songbook (if you're thinking Gershwin, read it again), DILIJAN's season opener at Zipper, an intriguing composition recital at USC, and a dinner fundraiser on Sunday with LA darling and consummate artist JESSICA RIVERA, who joins local organ and choral legend JAMES VAIL to raise money for the music program Vail helms in the Palisades. More details may be had by clicking here. Whew! How can we look ahead to next week with all of that before us, and more? Try this: DIANA TASH and BRIAN ASAWA with The Baroque Project. More of JESSICA RIVERA with a completely different program. The epic story of Beowulf for voice and harp from BENJAMIN BAGBY. Plus, the start of the WORLD FESTIVAL OF SACRED MUSIC. SoCal is rich indeed. Stay tuned! As always, thank you for supporting live singing! Lauri D. Goldenhersh lauri@laurislist.com There's never enough room here, and we're always adding more there -- For details about these and many other vocal events, see the Calendar at LaurisList.com, now the largest centralized resource for vocal events in the area. Visit the calendar by clicking http://bit.ly/ListerCalendar and send a message to the email address above to learn how to register with us, so you can add your vocal events! Want weekly updates? Subscribe to 'Next 7', the free newsletter from LaurisList.com, to keep up with vocal-related events like these are more. All are welcome! Click here to sign up: http://tinyurl.com/ListerNews or click here to see the latest issue: http://www.laurislist.com/Next7 | 
