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Opera Night at the Hoffman Center on Friday, November 19th

Portland Opera mezzo-soprano Sarah Norton will present an evening of arias and songs Nov. 19 at the Hoffman Center

Portland Opera mezzo-soprano Sarah Norton will present an evening of operatic arias and Broadway songs Friday, Nov. 19 at the Hoffman Center in Manzanita. The performance will start at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $10 and will be sold at the door.

Norton grew up in the Northwest and is a seventh-generation Oregonian. She began singing classical music at the age of 16. She performed many recitals and won competitions throughout her early education in Olympia, Wash.

She attended the University of Southern California with a scholarship in Vocal Performance where she performed many roles in the main stage opera workshop and scene productions. After graduating from USC in 2004, Norton obtained a position with the San Diego Opera Chorus.

In 2007, she was hired by the Portland Opera to perform the role of Hansel in their education and outreach tour program. She then joined the Portland Opera Chorus and continues to perform with the company at the Keller Auditorium.

Norton has performed concerts and recitals throughout Washington, Oregon and California and has a passion for classical musical theatre. She currently lives in SW Portland with her fiancé Michael and her maltipoo Bubbles.

Arias and songs during the Hoffman Center concert will include works by Puccini, Dvorak, Verdi, Menotti, Gershwin, Bernstein, and Rodgers and Hammerstein.

Norton’s appearance is another offering of the Hoffman Center’s new “dell’Arte Series” program, which features appearances by a wide variety of performers, including musicians, magicians, comedians, clowns, and just about anything else.

Hoffman Center Presents Expert Mentalist Friday, October 1st

Mentalist Richard Green will present “Completely Mental” Friday, Oct. 1

Mentalist Richard Green of Portland will perform his special show “Completely Mental” Friday, Oct. 1, at 7 p.m. at the Hoffman Center in Manzanita. Admission will be $10 per person.

Green uses psychological secrets to explore the illusions of the mind. He will pluck a random word from the mind of a spectator one letter at a time without making a single wrong guess. He will ascertain one phrase in a million randomly chosen from a number of books. He will demonstrate mathematical mastery, cure a voodoo curse, control freewill and predict the future. He will even read the thoughts of eight people simultaneously.

Best of all, he does it all with class, humor and in under one hour.

Green launched his career at the age of five after watching a simple magic show. From that day on, he studied the history and secret techniques of the magical arts, including those of the major classical magicians.

Green’s appearance is another offering of the Hoffman Center’s new “dell’Arte Series” program. The series features appearances by a wide variety of performers, including musicians, magicians, comedians, clowns, and just about anything else.

Celebrated Harpist sets Manzanita Concert

Halley the 'zero emissions' Harpist

Halley the 'zero emissions' Harpist

Halley Weaver, Portland’s celebrated “Bicycling Street Harpist,” will perform at 7 p.m., Friday, April 9 at the Hoffman Center in Manzanita. Weaver has been praised for her magical take on folk music, with an added dimension for nature lovers. Admission will be $10.

Since moving to Portland in 2008, Weaver has become a fixture traveling the streets with her harp mounted on a custom-designed bicycle trailer. She is jokingly referred to as the “zero-emissions” harpist, for her combination of musical skills and environmentalism.

Halley blends traditional Celtic and Irish pieces with her own unique variations and arrangements. When not traveling by bicycle, Halley opts for the most sustainable transportation options, varying from hybrid cars, bus/train and carpooling to events.

Weaver’s concert will be the first offering in the Hoffman Center’s new “dell’Arte Series” program. The series will feature appearances by a wide variety of performers, including musicians, magicians, comedians, clowns, and just about anything else.

“This way the Hoffman Center can bring in entertainers that most local residents wouldn’t typically see here,” said David Dillon, president of the Center’s board. “The program’s creators envision a series of entertaining, unexpected events you won’t find anywhere else on the North Coast.”

“While not technically Commedia dell’Arte, all of these performers will have a sort of ‘alternative’ feel,” added Dillon. “And certainly the Hoffman Center as a space definitely has the sort of counter-culture spirit the original dell’Arte players were shooting for.”

Future dell’ Arte offerings in the works include a magician, and a reader’s theater production of Bryan Harteniaux’s play “Vesta” performed by Liz Cole of Neahkahnie.