Opera at the Mondavi Center, for free!

The tickets are free and they are still available, as of today (Oct. 8), for the Rising Stars of Opera concert at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts. The concert, featuring the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra, is set to begin at 8 p.m. Oct. 9 in Jackson Hall.

The concert is free to the community through the generosity of Mondavi Center benefactor Barbara K. Jackson.

The orchestra and pianist Mark Morash are due to accompany San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow David Lomeli, a tenor, and Karen Slack, soprano, an alumna of the Adler Fellows.

Adler Fellows "are a select group of exceptionally gifted young singers will soon be gracing celebrated opera house stages throughout the world," according to the Mondavi Center.

The program:

• Mascagni — Intermezzo sinfonico from Cavalleria rusticana

• Donizetti — "Una furtiva lagrima" from L'elisir d'amore

• Puccini — "Vissi d'arte" from Tosca, and Rodolfo and Mimi’s final scene, Act I, from La bohème

Tickets can be obtained without a handling fee at the box office during regular business hours: noon to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Processing fees will apply when reservations are made by telephone, (530) 754-2787 or (866) 754-2787, or online.

Stew in the spotlight

The Mondavi Center announced three days of Stew — referring to singer-songwriter Mark Stewart — on film and in concert.

The first day, Oct. 25, brings a free screening of Passing Strange, Stew's life story. The 2009 film, rated R, is set to begin at 7 in the Vanderhoef Studio Theatre.

Then, at 8 p.m. Oct. 26 and 27, in ticketed events in the Vanderhoef Studio Theatre, Stew is set to perform with his band, the Negro Problem, and Heidi Rodewald.

In 2006, after a fronting two critically acclaimed bands, Stew transformed his life story into the musical Passing Strange, for which he received the 2008 Tony Award for best book.The musical received seven Tony nominations.

The Spike Lee-directed film came out last year.

In promoting the Oct. 26 and 27 concerts, the Mondavi Center declared that Stew and Rodewald are returning to their rock 'n' roll roots for this "double shot of shows."

More at the Mondavi Center

• Los Lobos — An American roots-rock institution. Tickets are limited in availability. 8 p.m. Oct. 13, Jackson Hall.

• Dresden Staatskapelle — In the Orchestra series. Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 and Symphony No. 7. 8 p.m. Oct. 23, Jackson Hall.

• Gamelan Cudamani: Bamboo to Bronze — 7 p.m. Oct. 24, Jackson Hall.

• Jonah Lehrer — How We Decide: The New Science of Decision Making. In the Distinguished Speakers series. Lehrer is the author of Proust Was a Neuroscientist and the instant bestseller How We Decide. 8 p.m. Oct. 27, Jackson Hall.

Tickets and more information. Or call (530) 754-2787 or (866) 754-2787.

Jonna's Body: Please Hold

The UC Davis Cancer Center announced that it will host a performance of Jonna’s Body: Please Hold, an acclaimed, one-woman show about fighting cancer and winning at life.

The performance is set for the night of Oct. 13, amid Breast Cancer Awareness Month. A preperformance reception starts off the program at 6 p.m. The event is free and open to the public; reservations are required for limited seating in the auditorium at the Cancer Center, 4501 X St., Sacramento.

Jonna’s Body stars actress Jonna Tamases, a breast cancer survivor who has won praise throughout the country for her comedic and touching performance.

The hourlong show takes the audience into the inner world of Jonna’s Body, where a sassy receptionist fields calls from a parade of quirky body parts: Baby Toe trapped in a too-tight pump; Sgt. Coif leading a head full of unruly troops; Uta and Ula, begging to be released from their brassiere imprisonment.

When two nasty killers invade, Jonna's Body must unite to fight for her life.

Reservations: Contact Patti Robinson at (916) 734-0823 or patricia.robinson@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu.

Tilly No-Body opens next week

Munich 1917. A hotel room. A jar of poison. A failed suicide. A lone actress.

This is the set-up for Tilly No-Body: Catastrophes of Love, a world premiere from Sideshow Physical Theatre Company in collaboration with the Department of Theatre and Dance.

Tilly No-Body follows the tumbling thoughts of Tilly Wedekind, wife and muse of celebrated German playwrigh, Frank Wedekind (Spring Awakening and Lulu). Weaving together biography, personal letters, drama and original songs, Bella Merlin, professor of acting, traces the Wedekinds’ passionate marriage, leading to Tilly’s attempted suicide and Frank’s premature death.

The director is Miles Anderson and the composer is David Roesner

Production times and dates are 8 p.m. Oct. 14-16 and 21-23, and 2 p.m. Oct. 17 and 24 in Vanderhoef Studio Theatre at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts.

Read the Department of Theatre and Dance news release.

Tickets: (530) 754-2787 or (866) 754-2787, or mondaviarts.org.