Last Chance Music

Bach’s Mass in B minor--J.S. Bach, a sensible man and singularly rational composer, had no place in his life for opera, no calling for the stage. But the stage has repeatedly called for his music. His cantatas and passions have been dramatized by modern directors. Bach has been background for dance, for theater, for cinema.

Now Los Angeles Opera has mounted a production of the Mass in B minor. To put a mass on the lyric stage is a moderately eccentric undertaking for any opera company, slightly more so for a young one that has still but scraped the surface of the conventional operatic repertory. But masses are ritual, ritual is stageworthy and German Achim Freyer’s stunning production of the B-minor mass at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion is altogether mesmeric.

Mark Swed

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Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., L.A., (213) 365-3500. Friday, 7:30 p.m.; Saturday 2 p.m. Ends Saturday. $34 to $165.

Also closing this weekend:

“In the Now”--Terrylene’s solo show about a young woman’s journey from victim to survivor, performed with American Sign Language poetry, voice translation and music, ends Sunday at the Santa Monica Playhouse, 1211 4th St., Santa Monica, (310) 394-9779, Ext. 1. Reservations also through www.deafbuy.com.

“Manuel Alvarez Bravo: Optical Parables”--Alvarez Bravo is considered one of the masters of modern photography specializing in the disparity between the urban and rural realities of Mexico, its cultural differences and social contradictions. Getty Center, 1200 Getty Center Drive, L.A., (310) 440-7300. Ends Sunday.

“California, This Golden Land of Promise”--The exhibition laying out the history of California, from the arrival of the first human beings some 20,000 years ago to the Gold Rush of 1849, in artwork and artifacts, ends Saturday at the Irvine Museum, 18881 Von Karman Ave., Irvine, (949) 476-2565.

“Photographs We Know: Iconic Images”--The show featuring 70 famous photographs, including Joe Rosenthal’s “Raising the Flag at Iwo Jima” and Gordon Park’s “American Gothic,” ends Saturday at Fahey/Klein Gallery, 148 N. La Brea Ave., L.A., (323) 934-2250.