On Tap: Walnut Creek exhibit features area photographers’ work

WALNUT CREEK

Nine East Bay photographers, including two who have previously shown at San Francisco’s de Young Museum, are being featured now through May 23 in an exhibit at Walnut Creek’s Del Valle Education Center.

The exhibit, a wide-ranging collection of photographic genres and styles, is the culmination of an advanced photography workshop led by longtime Acalanes Adult Education photography instructor Bill Helsel. The photographers are Jeff Heyman, Westeigh (no last name), Jonathan Bitz, Kimberley Enright, Rob Hamner, Rich London, Sunyo Suhaimi, Robin Sullivan and Rosemary Wheeler. Also on display are paintings and drawings by students in several Acalanes Adult Education art classes.

Heyman and Westeigh had landscapes exhibited as part of The de Young Open, held last year at the de Young Museum. In the exhibit, Heyman juxtaposes clouds, land and water, while Grant explores “Echoes of Absence.” Both are a series of black-and-white photographs.

The exhibit can be viewed from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday in the Del Valle center at 1963 Tice Valley Blvd. in Walnut Creek. See the photographers and their work online at heymanfoto.smugmug.com/Exhibits/Advanced-Photography-Exhibit.

— Del Valle Educational Center

PITTSBURG

‘Willy Wonka” showing April 26 through May 5 at theater

The Pittsburg Theatre Company will present “Willy Wonka” from April 26 through May 5 at the California Theatre. Performances will be at 8 p.m. April 26-27 and May 3 and at 2 p.m. April 28 and May 4-5 in the Pittsburg venue at 351 Railroad Ave.

The Roald Dahl play  features music and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley. It was adapted for the stage by Bricusse and Timothy Allen McDonald. Tickets are $30 for adults, $26 for seniors and students, $22 for children under 12 and available at tickets831.com/tickets/willy-wonka-273979.

— Pittsburg Theatre Company

ORINDA

Art gallery’s ‘Ekphrasis Exhibition’ display opens April 29

The Lamorinda Arts Alliance, Lamorinda Arts Council and California Writers Club, Mount Diablo Branch, are collaborating to present “Ekphrasis Exhibition” in the Orinda Library’s art gallery from April 29 through June 28.

The exhibit’s organizers say “ekphrasis” is a Greek word defined as writing that describes, explains or is inspired by another art form, a literary device that began with Plato and Aristotle, and that beautiful things happen when the arts intertwine.

The arts groups, along with the writers club branch, developed this creative project as an exhibition of fine artworks that inspire literary works, which will be on display to be enjoyed by the public, art and literary enthusiasts and collectors.

Visitors to the exhibit will be immersed in the inspired works of more than 90 talented visual artists and authors showcased in a diverse range of literary expressions, including prose/flash in fiction, nonfiction, memoir, essay and poetic forms. The visual artwork is in mixed media, glasswork, sculpture, paintings, photography and porcelain.

The library’s art gallery at 26 Orinda Way in Orinda is open Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and is closed on Sundays. For more information, visit laa4art.org online.

— Lamorinda Arts Council

French film ‘Marguerite’s Theorem’ starts showing Friday

The International Film Showcase will screen the French film “Marguerite’s Theorem” for at least one week starting Friday at the Orinda Theatre. The film has won several international awards, including France’s Cesar Award for Most Promising Actress (Ella Rumpf). The film also will be shown at Napa’s Jarvis Conservatory on April 13.

The film follows a brilliant mathematics student at France’s top university, the Ecole Normale Supérieure. On the day of her thesis presentation, a mistake shakes up all the certainty in her planned-out life, and she decides to quit everything and start afresh. Visit internationalshowcase.org/?p=628 for more details online.

— International Film Showcase

LAFAYETTE

Nashville singer Khars to perform Campbell tribute Friday

Nashville singer/songwriter Andy Kahrs brings his acclaimed salute to Glen Campbell and his catalog of memorable classics to Lafayette’s Town Hall Theatre at 7 p.m. Friday with “Rhinestone: The Songs of Glen Campbell.”

With enduring hits like “Wichita Lineman,” “Gentle on My Mind,” “By The Time I Get to Phoenix” and “Rhinestone Cowboy,” music legend Glen Campbell left a legacy of songs that transcend genres and generations.

Campbell tallied five Grammy Awards, three Grammy Hall of Fame honors, 27 Top 10 singles, 21 Top 40 hits, nine No. 1 country albums, six Top 20 albums and three Gospel Music Association Dove Awards. He was a 15-time Country Music Association Award nominee and two-time winner.

Kahrs is a guitarist with a distinct roots sound based in blues, soul and classic country. His EP release “Together” was met with critical acclaim and streaming success, finding its place on Spotify’s “Got Blues” and “Best Blues”editorial playlists. Tickets are $25 at the door or $20 in advance at 925-283-1557 or online at townhalltheatre.com.

— Town Hall Theatre

LIVERMORE/LAFAYETTE

Pacific Chamber Orchestra to perform Bruch, Mendelssohn

Pacific Chamber Orchestra will present Max Bruch’s “Violin Concerto #1 in G Minor” with violinist Livia Sohn, Felix Mendelssohn’s “Symphony #3 in A Minor” (aka the “Scottish” symphony) and Fanny Mendelssohn’s “Overture for Orchestra”  at 7:30 p.m. April 27 in the Lafayette-Orinda Presbyterian Church and at 3 p.m. April 28 at Livermore’s Bankhead Theater.

Sohn’s prolific career includes performances with renowned U.S. orchestras in Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Boston; in Europe with orchestras in Berlin, Budapest and Prague; and internationally in Asia, South America, China and Africa. Opus Magazine has described Sohn as “a stunning and compelling musician.”

Tickets for both concerts are available online at pacificchamberorchestra.org.

— Pacific Chamber Orchestra

MORAGA

‘Moving Energy’ exhibit debuts, now showing at art gallery

A vibrant exhibit, “Moving Energy,” is on display now at the Moraga Art Gallery, 432 Center St. in the Rheem Shopping Center.

Intensely colorful, eye-opening, motion-filled acrylic paintings by Irene Needoba and high-impact photos of nature by Lucy Beck explode with colors and surprising shapes. Photographer John Brown, the featured guest artist, focuses on the natural world in all its guises: the wilderness and the nature of people, animals, cities and communities.

Also on view until the exhibit ends in early June are a variety of one-of-a-kind works by more than 20 local painters, ceramicists, jewelry makers, photographers, print-makers, woodworkers and others.

Open from noon to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays, the gallery invites art fans of all ages to come in, browse and linger a while. For more details online, visit moragaartgallery.com or call 925-376-5407.

— Moraga Art Gallery

Submit area arts-and-entertainment On Tap items to Judith Prieve at jprieve@bayareanewsgroup.com.