Beginning Saturday, March 8, Sonoma Cinemas will be screening performances by the San Francisco Opera. The series kicks off with Puccini’s “La Rondine.”
Submitted photo
A whole lot of love went into making over 1,500 tamales for last month’s Valley of the Moon Teen Center fundraiser, according to the center’s co-director, Rebecca Hermosillo. Volunteers spent over 27 hours peeling tomatillos, steeping chiles, shredding meat and preparing classic chile verde and mole sauces. They kneaded hundreds of pounds of masa by hand and folded all the ingredients into cornhusk wrappers to make tasty tamales which brought in over $4,000 for the center.
Maria Hermosillo, Rebecca’s mom and former owner of Mi Tienda Market and Restaurant, headed up the volunteer crew working at La Luz Center. Long-time Sonoma residents will remember that Mi Tienda was the first Hispanic market in the Valley, and that Maria Hermosillo loves to cook and really knows her way around tamale making. Some of her tamale team members were Heather McDavid, Judy D’Amico, Kathy Mazza, Anastacia Encarnacion, Stefanie Shackleford, Kira van Hall, Carmen Cervantes, Celeste Winders, Bob Duffield, Cecelia Cervantes, Camilo Hermosillo, Orencia Guzman, Rosario Mesa de la Cruz and Mia Winders.
Donations from Gary Edwards, Carniceria Chapala, Broadway Market and Sonoma Market helped keep expenses minimal so that all proceeds from the sale will benefit the Teen Center’s nutrition and cooking program.
The Teen Center plans another tamale fundraiser next summer, but if you can’t wait that long, you can still buy frozen tamales for $30 per dozen by calling Rebecca Hermosillo at 707.364.2684.
Hitting high notes on Highway 12
Romance, seduction, intrigue, betrayal, murder, suicide, colliding cultures.
It’s all happening in The Springs, and you won’t find it in the newspaper headlines. It takes place in performances by the San Francisco Opera, when four lavish productions come to the screen at Sonoma Cinemas in Fiesta Plaza beginning this Saturday, March 8.
The operas were performed last season in San Francisco, and captured in digital format. Each performance runs between two and three hours and is sung in Italian or French with English super-titles projected on the screen to make it easy to follow the plot. The productions feature some of the superstars of the opera world, including soprano Angela Gheorghiu and mezzo-soprano Olga Borodina.
The series kicks off March 8 and 9 with Puccini’s “La Rondine,” the poignant story of a Parisian courtesan who falls for a naïve younger man.
Next up is “Samson and Delilah” by Camille Saint-Saens, showing on March 29 and 30. It’s the classic bible story of the temptress who causes the hero to lose his heart, his hair, and ultimately his strength.
Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” will show on April 12 and 13. Based on the legend of Don Juan, it blends comedy, melodrama and supernatural elements.
The last opera in the series, April 19 and 20, “Madama Butterfly,” is Puccini’s tragic tale of broken hearts and clashing cultures.
All Saturday shows are at noon and 7 p.m. Sunday performances are at 2:30 p.m. Ticket prices are $6 for matinees and $9 for evening shows, or $6 for seniors 62 and older.
Sonoma Cinemas have shown concert films before but this will be the first time for opera. The San Francisco Opera approached Sonoma Cinemas because they have the digital projection equipment and surround sound necessary for the opera productions, according to Beth Finecheck of Cinema West, Sonoma Cinemas’ parent company.
For further information on the four operas, including casts, program notes and video clips, go to www.cinemawest.com and then follow the links to the S.F. Opera productions.
