For once, you can drive to Santa Clarita for a taste of San Francisco instead of driving through it. This Tuesday, the San Francisco Opera is playing on the big screen their current production of Madame Butterfly, at the Santa Clarita Performing Arts Center. Not only will you save on gas, you'll save on tickets as well. Good seats for the SFOpera run between 88 and 210 dollars, and the most expensive seats at the SCPAC are 10 dollars. Awesometown, indeed. (For the record: This is a screening of the current production going on in SF right now, similar to the Met broadcasts at AMC theatres.) more ›

Efforts by mainstream media and Hollywood to use a Saint Bernard to replace Beethoven in our hearts and minds have failed, despite numerous attempts. As part of the Colburn Celebrity Series, Andras Schiff is halfway complete on his journey to perform all 32 Beethoven piano sonatas. 16 were performed last year in four concerts and he starts again this Wednesday for our classical pick of the week. This week includes some of Beethoven's greatest works, including the "Tempest" and the "Waldstein." These works are often performed, but rarely done well (recommended performances include Alfred Brendel, if you can overlook a mistake here and there). Andras Schiff is considered one of the consummate performers of Beethoven and Mozart. You will be hard pressed to find anyone with the same level of musicality and technical precision for these sonatas. Having attended several of his previous performances (and performances of just about every pianist the last few years), LAist has noticed that he gets some of the loudest and most enthusiastic responses from the crowd with his flawless performances. If you happen to be in New York, he has been performing the same cycle at Carnegie Hall. There are many tickets left for this show between 40 and 100 dollars. If you buy his CD (at the gift store there), he usually does a CD signing right after the show. more ›