ART

Art show at Orinda Books. May features the paintings of Dee Tivenan and Margie Caldwell-Gill who are both Orinda moms and abstract expressionist painters with different styles. Tivenan creates art intuitively by translating the moment through color and form, which allows her connection to the moment to flow and reveal the boundlessness of creativity. Caldwell-Gill uses traditional and non-traditional tools to explore and interact with the materials on the canvas, moving between intuition and logic to discover order from the chaos of creation. Visit the Artist of the Month at www.orindabooks.com. Orinda Books is located at 276 Village Square, Orinda, (925) 254-7606

Valley Art Gallery presents “SLOPES of Diablo” Juried Exhibition May 14 – June 25. 1661 Botelho Drive, Suite 110, Walnut Creek, www.valleyartgallery.org; (925) 935-4311 or email us at valleyartgallery@gmail.com

Music

Gold Coast Chamber Players concert Seriously Mozart, elegant-dramatic-playful. Saturday, June 4, at 7:30 p.m. Pre-concert interactive experience at 7 p.m. Don Tatzin Community Hall at the Lafayette Library, 3491 Mt. Diablo Blvd., Lafayette. The concert will be recorded for online viewing beginning June 7. TICKETS $15-45; Online: www.gccpmusic.com, by phone: (925) 283-3728

The UC Alumni Chorus presents the “Eleven O’Clock Number” on Monday, May 30, 3 p.m. at Hertz Hall on the UC campus. The concert will feature show-stopping songs from Broadway, as the Alumni Chorus honors retiring Director Mark Sumner and Associate Director Bill Ganz for their 60 cumulative years of service. Tickets are $25 (discounts for seniors/students) and available at the door or online at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/5431791 Visit ucac.net for more information.

Berkeley Symphony presents Berkeley Symphony Chamber II Concert on Sunday, June 26, from 3 to 5 p.m., at Piedmont Center for the Arts, 801 Magnolia Ave, Piedmont. Join us for an engaging mix of classic and contemporary works. Get your tickets today! Cost: $35. For more info see https://www.berkeleysymphony.org or call (510) 841-2800 or email tickets@berkeleysymphony.org.

Festival Opera and The Rotary Club of Orinda are thrilled to present the Club's 12th “Opera in the Park” concert.  This free performance, will be presented from 6 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, June 16, at the Orinda Community Park.  It is an opportunity to hear Festival Opera’s stellar artists performing hits that span both opera and musical theatre genres. For more information on Festival Opera or the concert, please visit www.festivalopera.org or email info@festivalopera.org.

Literature

June events at Orinda Books: Thursday, June 2, 11 a.m. Pat’s Book Club will read and discuss “The Dictionary of Lost Words” by Pip Williams. Everyone is welcome; just email info@orindabooks to let them know that you are coming. Saturday, June 4, 2 p.m. Debbie Chinn will discuss her new memoir, “Dancing in Their Light,” a colorful compilation of inspiring stories woven together with humor, pathos, confluences of fate and the eternal guiding hands of her ancestors. RSVP to www.eventbrite.com/e/debbie-chinn-presents-her-memoir-dancing-in-their-light-tickets-322482211977. Saturday, June 11, 3 p.m. Surviving the Unimaginable, Expressing the Inexpressible: A conversation about grief and healing with Pascale Vermont and Mike Bernhardt. Vermont is the author of “Surviving the Unimaginable: Stories of Coping with Pregnancy & Infancy Loss.” She is a clinical psychologist who is now a grief counselor working with parents whose babies have died during pregnancy or in infancy. (925) 254-7606 or email info@orindabooks.com

Other

Memorial Day Vigil on Monday, May 30 at 5 p.m. The vigil will take place at the Lafayette Hillside Memorial, across from BART in Lafayette. Thoughts will be focused on U.S. soldiers who have served on behalf of our country as well as other casualties of war, including those in the Ukraine and other parts of the world experiencing conflict. It will include short speeches, music and reflection www.lafayettehillsidememorial.org

Bay Area KidFest returns on Memorial Day Weekend, May 28-30, with a full lineup of attractions, activities, jam-packed entertainment, KidFest Marketplace, rides, food and fun in Concord at Mt. Diablo High School, 2450 Grant St. KidFest is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Memorial Day Monday. On-site vehicle parking is $5 with plenty of free street parking around the festival site. www.KidFestConcord.com

Creekside Commons Presents: Summer Solstice Tuesday, June 21, 5:30 to 8 p.m. Come celebrate the start of summer on this the longest Day. Live music with Dougie Free, Classic Taco Truck, Summer Sangria, a chance to meet your local farmers and fisheries, sunshine balloon hats, tattoos and a sunburst craft project for kids. Creekside Commons Courtyard and grounds. 1035 Carol Lane. For more info, visit CreeksideCommons.org

On Saturday, June 4 Lamorinda Bees is teaming up with the Mt Diablo Beekeepers Association and holding an open house to show how honey is harvested. They will hold the event with drop-in hours from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Community Room at the Moraga Library. It will offer the chance to see how honey is extracted from the comb, processed and then jarred. They will have honey for sale, an observation hive to show what the bees are doing inside the hive, and volunteers to talk to the community in case you are interested in starting a backyard beehive. This event will be held indoors due to the bees smelling the honey while being harvested. Please follow @lamorinda_bees on Instagram for more details as it gets closer. You can email: saepullen@gmail.com with any questions.

Lafayette Community Foundation (LCF), in partnership with the City of Lafayette and the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce, presents Lafayette Community Day on June 4 at 9 a.m. Volunteers check in at Plaza Park (the corner of Mt. Diablo Blvd and Moraga Road), enjoy breakfast snacks, donate canned goods to the White Pony Express food drive for Ukrainian refugees and receive their T-shirt. At 9:15 a.m., the welcome rally begins followed by team leaders and volunteers heading out to work on projects throughout the community. At 12:30 p.m., everyone returns to the park for lunch, a collaborative community-wide art project, a small nonprofit fair, other fun activities, music from the band Traveling Wilburys Revue! LafayetteCommunityDay.org to sign up.

Garden

Moraga Garden Club invites the community on June 5 to celebrate “Welcome to the Garden” at Rancho Laguna Park, 2101 Camino Pablo, Moraga. The two-year effort to establish the Monarch Habitat and Demonstration Garden will culminate into a family-centered day of fun—beginning at noon. The Garden is now beginning to bloom and butterflies have been spotted. Come and join the fun. www.moragagardenclub.com