‘Noah’s Flood,’ an Ambitious Opera

The medium of opera continues to flower in Ventura County, in modest yet determined ways. Besides the efforts of a group called Opera Unplugged, we also hear regularly from the Ventura College Opera Workshop, which has, in recent years, done admirable work presenting Copland’s “Tender Land” and new works of Ventura-based composer John Biggs.

Starting this weekend, the workshop takes on Benjamin Britten’s “Noye’s Fludde” (Noah’s Flood), with baritone Michael Sokol in the lead role. It’s an ambitious undertaking, involving a hundred-fold cast of singers, dancers and musicians. Behind the scenes, the production relies on the work of Channel Islands Ballet choreographer Yves de Bouteiller, director Mel Swope, music director Charles McDermott and producer Linda Ottsen.* “Noye’s Fludde” (Noah’s Flood), First Baptist Church, 426 S. Mills Road, Ventura. 8 p.m. Friday; 4 and 8 p.m. Saturday; ends Nov. 3. $18; $15, senior citizens, $12, students. (805) 653-0454.

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Symphonic Heroism: Is there something about this unprecedented moment in America’s--and the world’s--history that makes great music sound even greater? It seemed that way at the opening concert of the New West Symphony, when maestro Boris Brott led his charges in Beethoven’s Third Symphony. This great piece, the “Eroica,” was dedicated by Brott to heroism, in the wake of Sept. 11.

It’s a musical masterpiece, sure, but it can also be considered something of a cultural “place” we revisit, a place in need of love and passionate tending. As heard at the Oxnard Civic Performing Arts Center, the New West gave it that, and something a little extra. Phrases were sculpted with care, and a clear sense of emotional continuity and development were evident through the mercurial finale.

Symphony patron William Israel celebrated his 85th birthday by leading the orchestra in “Stars and Stripes Forever” before Brott took over for real, leading the orchestra through the nebulous beauties of Debussy’s “Trois Nocturnes.”

Guest pianist Lorin Hollander approached Saint-Sans’ Piano Concerto No. 5 with a hypnotically light touch, sometimes verging on the vaporous. Hunching over the keyboard when not aligning his ear with the orchestra, the veteran pianist was in no rush to impress with flashy playing. But, partly because of that quiet confidence in the score and his understanding of it, he did impress mightily. So, too, did the New West, off to a good start in its seventh season.

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Ojai Art Front: Last weekend in Ojai, there was a kindly battle of art tours. Aboveground, there was the official, annual Ojai Studio Artists Tour, celebrating its 18th year. On the not-so-hidden fringes was the upstart “Art Detour,” organized for the last few years by Carmen Abelleira-White and now bigger than ever. Art seekers were lured by the official tour, marked by fancy flags, and the “Detour” fringe-dwellers, who advertised their stops with ad hoc, handmade signs.

It was all for the good, validating the idea that Ojai is chock-full of artistic energy, of all stripes and tax brackets. We headed up to the usual rustic yet sumptuous spread of Matisse-y painter Nancy Whitman’s house in upper Ojai, a place blanketed in paintings and blessed with a dreamy pond outside what must be the county’s most ideal art studio. We stopped in at Abelleira-White’s new place, filled with her inspired neo-funk art and overlooking an orchard, just down from Meditation Mount. And we saw the photographs of “edible still lifes” in Meiners Oaks.

One intriguing show along the way was Kate Hoffman’s fine painting exhibition at the Logan House Gallery, part of the Beatrice Wood Studio--long an important stop on the OSA tour, even after the artist’s death. This is one of those galleries whose stunning view of Upper Ojai’s wide, agrarian spaces out the window is a distraction. But Hoffman’s art effectively reels us back inside. She shows big paintings of mostly beaches, but also Matilija poppies depicted jumbo size and with jumbo affection. Not content to just dwell on the shore, she slathers painterly love on the water, in all its fluid blueness, which takes on a life of its own. * “Kate Hoffman: Oils on Canvas,” Logan House Gallery, Beatrice Wood Studio, 560 Ojai-Santa Paula Road, Upper Ojai. Ends Nov. 4. Wed.-Sat., by appointment. (805) 646-3381.

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For the Cause: Tonight, a country-and blues-tinged benefit for FDNY includes such bands as Jackie Lomax, Ball and Sultan, the Cyrus Clarke Band, the Rincon Ramblers, Peter Lewis and David West, Peter Feldmann and the Lonesome Boys. * FDNY Benefit, Ventura Theater, 26 S. Chestnut St., today, 7 p.m. $15. (805) 653-0118.