Date Lines: News from the Bay Area arts scene

Sonoma Rep closing its doors after 17 years

Sonoma County Repertory Theater, one of the North Bay's few year-round repertory theaters, will cease its main operations at the end of February, the company announced Wednesday. The 17-year-old Sebastopol company, which also produces the annual Sebastopol Shakespeare Festival, will close its theater after the run of its 2011 season-opening show, "Cyrano," Jan. 19 through Feb. 20.

"The economic downturn has taken a huge toll on the Rep's finances," says board of directors Chair Denis Quinlan. Though ticket sales, which account for almost half the budget, have remained strong, foundations, businesses and individual donors "have dramatically reduced their giving," he added. "After a thorough review of our finances, the board and staff came to the very difficult conclusion that the Rep, in its current form, is simply not sustainable."

The company's demise will affect theater artists throughout the Bay Area, many of whom have worked there on a regular basis as actors, directors and designers. Sonoma Rep, which operated in both Sebastopol and Santa Rosa in the 1990s, mounted a seven-play season each year, including its annual outdoor Shakespeare offering and "A Christmas Carol" each December.

The outdoor Shakespeare festival will continue to operate under the leadership of former Rep artistic director Jennifer King, who is directing "Cyrano" and will stage "Much Ado About Nothing" in August. Sonoma Rep will continue to exist as a nonprofit, shifting its mission to supporting theater arts education in the region. Santa Rosa's 6th Street Playhouse has agreed to honor Sonoma Rep subscribers' tickets to 2011 shows at some of its productions, Quinlan said.

- Robert Hurwitt

Lang Lang to perform with young pianists in S.F.

Pianist Lang Lang will join 100 Bay Area pianists ages 5 to 16 in a mass performance of Schubert's "Marche Militaire" at 4 p.m. Monday. The free event, at the McKenna Theatre of San Francisco State University, 1600 Holloway Ave., is part of Lang's 101 Pianists Program and is co-sponsored by piano dealer Sherman Clay and the Roland Corp.

- Joshua Kosman

New Century orchestra to tour California, Midwest

The New Century Chamber Orchestra and music director Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg will begin an eight-city U.S. tour with a special concert in Herbst Theatre, at 8 p.m. Jan. 29. The tour takes the ensemble to cities in Ohio, Michigan and Illinois as well as four cities in California.

The tour program features Salerno-Sonnenberg as the violin soloist in Astor Piazzolla's "Four Seasons of Buenos Aires," alongside string music by Wolf, Bartók and Tchaikovsky. Tickets: $29-$49, (415) 392-4400, www.ncco.org.

- Joshua Kosman

Opera San Jose sets 2011-12 season

The repertoire for Opera San Jose's 2011-12 season will include a double bill of one-act operas by Poulenc and Leoncavallo, as well as full-length works by Mozart, Verdi and Gounod.

The four-part season begins Sept. 10-25, with Mozart's "Idomeneo" in a production conducted by Midsummer Mozart founder George Cleve and directed by Brad Dalton. Leoncavallo's "Pagliacci" and Poulenc's monodrama "La Voix Humaine" follow Nov. 12-27, conducted by Bryan Nies and directed by Layna Chianakas.

Feb. 11-26, 2012, brings Verdi's "La Traviata," conducted by David Rohrbaugh and directed by Jose Maria Condemi, and the season concludes April 21-May 6, 2012, with Gounod's "Faust." All performances are at the California Theatre, 345 S. First St., San Jose. (408) 437-4450, www.operasj.org.

- Joshua Kosman

This article appeared on page F - 3 of the San Francisco Chronicle