The Stephen and Mary Birch North Park Theatre is becoming a center for multimedia presentations. Greatly anticipated is the world premiere of Malashock Dance’s “Fathom: The Body as Universe” (May 12-21), a work that incorporates the art of Japanese-American artist Junko Chodos and Israeli composer Ariel Rosenthal, both of whom live in Los Angeles. John Malashock, who was raised in La Jolla, choreographs the new work.Performance art meets chamber musicApril 29 at the Birch, La Jolla Music Society presented pianist Sarah Rothenberg in a special piano performance titled “Epigraph for a Condemned Book.” The book in question is Charles Baudelaire’s “Les fleurs du mal” (“Flowers of Evil”), which was published in 1857, declared obscene and immediately withdrawn, to be published four years later with certain omissions.An excellent pianist and artistic director of Houston’s Da Camera, Rothenberg is known for combining music, poetry and visual art into informative evenings, for lack of a better word. “Epigraph,” one of these, explores Frederic Chopin from serene to tempestuous, Charles Baudelaire’s sensuous poetry and, when she is playing, visions of the intent Rothenberg ” seated at the piano in a 19th-century style red dress ” addressing Chopin, dramatically lighted by Jennifer Tipton. Projections on four screens include works by Eugene Delacroix and photographer Charles Negre, among others, and handwritten pages from Beaudelaire’s journals. The poetry is heard in plumy archival recordings made by actors Eva le Gallienne and Louis Jourdan. English translations are projected and in some cases read simultaneously between the recorded French lines, an effect accompanied by Rothenberg playing Chopin. The barrage of sensual impacts may have overwhelmed some.

There may have been a dragon
Sunday, May 30, it was off to Neurosciences Institute to hear British jazz trumpeter/composer Guy Barker’s new Amadeus Suite, part of Mozart’s 250th anniversary birthday celebration and the concluding concert in Mainly Mozart’s 2006 Spotlight Series. The suite culminated a series of three Mainly Mozart gigs for Barker and his jazz ensemble. They’d played the rousing piece Friday in Tijuana’s El Foro [sic] and Saturday in the Jimsair Hangar at Lindbergh Field.A true communicator, Barker made remarks prior to each section of the work, which riffs on character and situations in “Cosi fan tutte,” “The Marriage of Figaro,” and “The Magic Flute.” He explained that he considered messing with Mozart’s melodies as well and decided that would be “bad.” He didn’t want to be met on the other side by an angry composer. Thus, Barker and his “band and bunch of friends” ” Rosario Giuliani, alto sax; Roger Kellaway, piano; Brad Steinwehe, trumpet; Scott Kyle, trombone; Terry Harrington, clarinet and tenor saxophone; John Rekevics, baritone saxophone; Bob Magnusson, bass; and Jim Plank, drums and percussion ” explored the personalities of Mozart’s Don Alfonso, Dorabella, Countess Almaviva, Prince Tamino and the Three Ladies. There may have been a dying dragon in there as well.There were times when one felt the roof was going to fly off the auditorium, so full was the sound, so dense, complicated and satisfying the compositional skills and playing. It just doesn’t get better than this. Had Amadeus Suite recordings been available, they would have walked out with many an audience member. Even so, we felt filled. So there were no Mozart tunes. It was very classical nonetheless.