Of gorillas and Brazilians

Given the whirlwind of publicity surrounding the grand opening of the Mondavi Center, you might think that UC Davis’ spanking new performing-arts venue has a hammerlock on anything “cultural” in the Sacramento region.

This, of course, is not the case, although we’re not disparaging the Mondavi. Certainly, any institution that brings a diverse lineup including Michael Tilson-Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony, Salif Keita, Pat Metheny Group, the Afro-Cuban All Stars, Rinde Eckert and many others cannot be faulted.

Still, although the Mondavi has become the proverbial 800-pound gorilla of the area’s cultural activities overnight, it’s not the only game in town.

For example, take the Sacramento Community Concerts Association’s 50th anniversary season. It starts on Monday, October 28, at 8 p.m. at the Sacramento Community Center at 1301 L Street. Opening the series is the Orquestra de São Paolo featuring the Assad Brothers, a 95-piece Brazilian orchestra that performs with the two guitar-playing Assads. The Sacramento performance will include Concerto for Two Guitars by Brazilian composer Marlo Nobre.

The SCCA series is sold on a subscription basis, which means you have to buy the entire package of five concerts rather than purchase tickets on an event-by-event basis. But the price—$60 for adults and $25 for kids high-school age or under (read: 18)—is in the ballpark with what you might pay these days to see a single concert by aging arena rockers.

The other four events in the series include performances by Quartetto Gelato, a Canadian group whose repertoire includes classical, tango and Gypsy music, on Wednesday, February 19; the Tucson Arizona Boys Chorus, which mixes classical with music of the Southwest (which sounds like shorthand for Gene Autry and Roy Rogers) on Wednesday, March 5; Three Hits and a Miss, a jazz-vocal quartet closer to Lambert, Hendricks & Ross than to Four Jacks & a Jill (which, by the way, if you’re ever in Kansas City, you should stop by the Ramada Inn and check out), on Wednesday, April 9; and Olga Kern, a classical pianist, on Monday, April 28.

If you’re interested, you can get more info on the SCCA series by accessing its Web site at www.saccca.org, by phoning (916) 974-1357 or by writing to P.O. Box 254825, Sacramento, CA 95865.