Flutes and strings at noon concert Thursday

Thursday, Jan. 8, 12:05-1 p.m., Recital Hall, Ann E. Pitzer Center, UC Davis, free

Stacey Pelinka and Zhanar Zheltyrguzova, flutes
Joe Edelberg, violin
Marc Teicholz, guitar

Stacey Pelinka is a member of the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble and the Eco Ensemble. She plays principal flute with San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program productions and second flute with the Berkeley Symphony, the Santa Rosa Symphony, the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, and the Midsummer Mozart Festival. A certified Feldenkrais Method® practitioner, Stacey teaches Feldenkrais at the San Francisco Symphony. She attended Cornell University and the San Francisco Conservatory, where she studied with Timothy Day.

Program

Wilhelm Friedemann Bach: Allegro from Duet for Two Flutes in E Minor                                 

Hendel Almétus (Ph.D. music, ‘12): Tounen for Solo Flute
featuring Stacey Pelinka

Béla Bartók: Selections from Duos for Two Violins

Wil Offermans: Honami for Solo Flute
featuring Zhanar Zheltyrguzova

Sérgio Assad: Contos Ciganos for Alto Flute, Violin, and Guitar
featuring Marc Teicholz, guitar

Free: a Shinkoskey Noon Concert

About the composer: In addition to his role as theory and composition professor at University of the Pacific’s Conservatory of Music, Hendel Almétus is the founder of the Pacific Community Music School at University of the Pacific. PCMS is a pre-college community engagement program serving the Stockton community. Almétus served as its coordinator from 2018 to 2024.

Almétus holds a PhD from the University of California at Davis, a Master of Arts degree from the Eastman School of Music, and a Bachelor of Music degree from Houston Christian University. Prior to joining Pacific’s Conservatory of Music, he taught at the University of California, Davis.

Manetti Shrem opens winter exhibition of California art

Two exhibitions of California art that consider complex ideas of cultural origins and legacy — from a sculptor’s deliberate choice of materials and creative process to collection and preservation of art for posterity — open this month at the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art at University of California, Davis. 

This week, Sahar Khoury: Weights & Measures (Jan. 7–June 20) — the Bay Area artist’s largest solo exhibition to date — builds on her 2023 exhibition, Sahar Khoury: Umm, at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Ohio, adding new works. Using ceramics, metal, papier-mâché and found objects, Khoury creates sculptures that integrate abstraction, personal and political symbols and sensitivity to site. 

Backstory: Digitizing the Museum Collection (Jan. 21–May 2) invites visitors to experience a working digitization laboratory, where signature works from UC Davis’ Fine Art Collection will be on display. 

Read the full story and learn about events in February.

Next week

Betty Jean and Wayne Thiebaud Endowed Lecture: photographers in conversation

Jan. 15, 4:30 pm, Manetti Shrem Museum, UC Davis (SAVE THE DATE)
The 2026 Betty Jean and Wayne Thiebaud Endowed Lecture will feature novelist, essayist, and photographer, Teju Cole in conversation with photographer and bookmaker John Gossage. Read more in this story. More in next week's Arts Blog weekender too. 

Chicago Symphony with Ricardo Muti makes Mondavi Center debut

The concert, with limited availability, happens Sunday, Jan. 18 at 2 p.m.

With a legacy spanning over a century, the ensemble has set the global standard for symphonic excellence, commanding every genre from Baroque to contemporary. Recently named Music Director Emeritus for Life, Riccardo Muti leads a compelling program of timeless pieces, including Brahms’s final symphonic work, Stravinsky’s fairy tale-inspired suite, and one of Ravel’s most renowned compositions. Join us as one of America’s greatest orchestras brings its brilliance to UC Davis. Tickets here.

Program List

Symphony No. 4 in E Minor

Johannes Brahms

• Divertimento from The Fairy’s Kiss

Igor Stravinsky

• Boléro

Maurice Ravel