Sonoma’s showcase of music, theater, dance and more

The Sonoma Arts Showcase — intimate performances by regional artists in a variety of genres — kicks off with “A Grand Night,” a piano concert, on Tuesday, June 16, at 7 p.m. in Andrews Hall of the Sonoma Community Center

The Showcase series, a community service of Sonoma Arts Live (formerly the Sonoma Theatre Alliance), features music, staged readings, one-person shows, dance, and cabaret acts – presented on select Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings

Monica McKey, coordinator of the Sonoma Arts Showcase, said, “Since the six major productions in our Sonoma Arts Local season are presented on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings, and Sunday afternoons, it makes it possible for Sonoma Arts Live to offer performers the opportunity to sublease Andrews Hall on our ‘dark’ nights – Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday – to stage their own smaller shows. It’s another way of serving the community.”

“A Grand Night” will feature three accomplished pianists – Deborah Knapp, Henry Schuh, and Esfir Ross – playing a variety of selections on the community center’s Kawai grand piano.

Deborah Knapp, who started studying classical piano at age five, will present a program – both music and conversation – about the colorful Baroque/Classical composer Domenico Scarlatti.

Henrik Schuh, a student of Marilyn Thompson’s at Sonoma State University, is now a sophomore at Johns Hopkins University, and has been playing piano for 14 years. He will perform Franz Schubert’s Sonata no. 21 in B flat major, Molto Moderato (D.960) and Johannes Brahms’ Rhapsody in G minor (Op. 79, No. 2).

Born in the USSR, prize-winning international pianist Esfir Ross will present Jules Massenet’s Meditation and Chopin’s Ballade No. 1, and a third work to be announced. Tickets, available only at the door, are $15. Refreshments will be served. Net proceeds benefit Sonoma Arts Live.

Other upcoming Showcase events include a narrated performance of Isadora Duncan dance on July 15; “Tastefully Raunchy,” an all-original all-comedy musical cabaret show with Richard and Sandy Riccardi on July 22; a screening of the film “Fly Away,” a drama about autism, in conjunction with Sweetwater Spectrum; an evening of silent films by Charlie Chaplin, D.W. Griffith, and others, all with piano accompaniment and commentary by John Partridge on Aug. 25.

More: “An Evening of Poetry” hosted by Shotsie Gorman on Sept. 1; “A Night of Story & Rhyme” featuring readings by members of the Sonoma Writers Alliance on Sept. 22; “Show Up!” featuring two one-woman plays written and performed by Monica McKey and Sallie Romer on Sept. 29-30; and “Fright Night,” a staged reading of haunting tales by Sonoma Readers’ Theatre on Oct. 27-28.

The venue is located at 276 E. Napa St., Sonoma; sonomaartslive.org.