SANTA ANA, Calif. – At its annual meeting Wednesday, July 25, the members of the Association of California Symphony Orchestras (ACSO) confirmed the election of Pacific Chorale President and CEO Kelly Ruggirello as its new president.

The meeting took place in San Francisco during ACSO’s annual conference for state industry leaders.

Beginning Oct. 1, Ruggirello will serve a one-year term in a volunteer capacity as head of ACSO’s board, which is comprised of leaders from the classical music community throughout the state of California.

Ruggirello states, “As a passionate advocate for and grateful recipient of the transformative power of music, I enthusiastically embrace my new role as president of ACSO’s Board of Directors,” Ruggirello said. “I look forward to working with the exemplary staff and board to assist our state’s musical organizations in achieving their dreams.”

ACSO Executive Director Kris Sinclair said, “We are very much looking forward to Kelly's thoughtful, enthusiastic leadership of the Association. She is the right woman at the right time, with the intelligence and passion to lead our statewide orchestra and choral association.”

Kelly Ruggirello was named president and CEO of Pacific Chorale in May 2004. Her experience in fundraising, public relations, marketing, operations and education, combined with a vocal performance background, won her the position following a nationwide search.

Over the course of more than 24 years in arts management, Ruggirello has raised more than $50 million for California nonprofit arts organizations. Prior to her position with Pacific Chorale, she has worked for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Pacific Symphony and Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra, Orange County School of the Arts, and the Long Beach Mozart Festival.

Ruggirello is a consultant with local, regional and national choruses, orchestras and arts schools and serves as a presenter at state and national conferences.

The Association of California Symphony Orchestras (ACSO) is a nonprofit membership association providing leadership and services to classical music producers and presenters in California and the region encouraging and supporting their artistic, organizational, and fiscal development.

Membership is open to orchestras, choruses and classical music presenters of all sizes, symphony leagues and guilds, youth orchestras, festivals, artist management firms, businesses, and individuals associated with orchestras or wishing to access its services.

ACSO is governed by a 21-member Board of Directors who hail from arts organizations all over the state of California. ACSO was founded in 1969 at Asilomar by a small group of committed orchestra managers who believed in the power of personal networking.

More than forty years later, ACSO remains the hub of California’s vibrant classical music community by providing a variety of services to its 400+ members including networking, mentorship, resource sharing, advocacy, and professional development.

Founded in 1968, Pacific Chorale is internationally recognized for exceptional artistic expression, stimulating American-focused programming, and influential education programs. Pacific Chorale presents a significant performance season of its own at Segerstrom Center for the Arts and is sought regularly to perform with the nation’s leading symphonies.  

Under the inspired guidance of Artistic Director John Alexander, Pacific Chorale has infused an Old World art form with California’s hallmark innovation and cultural independence. Pacific Chorale has a membership of 140 professional and volunteer singers.

Sometimes, when we are children, someone or something suddenly throws open a window and the world of adults pours in. And we never quite get over it.

Here’s a poem about an experience like that by Judith Slater, who lives in New York.

Zippo

I didn’t think handsome then, I thought
my father the way he saunters down Main Street,
housewives, shopkeepers, mechanics calling out,
children running up to get Lifesavers. The way
he pauses to chat, flipping his lighter open,
tamping the Lucky Strike on his thumbnail.

I sneak into his den when he’s out, tuck
into the kneehole of his desk and sniff
his Zippo until dizzy, emboldened;
then play little tricks, mixing red and black
inks in his fountain pen, twisting together
paperclips. If I lift the telephone receiver

quietly, I can listen in on our party line.
That’s how I hear two women
talking about him. That’s why my mother
finds me that night sleepwalking, sobbing.
“It’s all right,” she tells me,
“you had a nightmare, come to bed.”

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation ( www.poetryfoundation.org ), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2011 by Judith Slater from her most recent book of poems, The Wind Turning Pages, Outriders Poetry Project, 2011. Poem reprinted by permission of Judith Slater and the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2012 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. They do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. – A unique music event takes place at Brassfield Estate Winery this Saturday, July 28, and Sunday, July 29, from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. to celebrate the Lake County Wine Adventure weekend.

Local musician/songwriters Lindy Day and Native American Music Awards nominee Kevin Village Stone, known more for their black-tie performances, will perform their rarely heard high-energy Jazz/Rock Fusion set that also includes their electric guitars, basses, and blues/jazz sax.

Teaming up with Kevin and Lindy for this special event are performers Kayla Bell (R&B/soul vocalist who recently sung the National Anthem at the Lakeport July 4 Fireworks show) and Nashville award-winning lead guitarist Jason Wright. Music will be from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

This is an indoor/outdoor public event so come enjoy the music, wine tasting, the beautiful Brassfield Estate grounds and great desserts. Better yet, participate in the Wine Adventure for the full experience.

For Wine Adventure information visit www.lakecountywineries.org ; for information about Brassfield Estate Winery visit at www.brassfieldestate.com , call 707-998-1895 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Second Sunday Cinema will feature “Iron-Jawed Angels” at its next showing on Aug. 12.

The showing will take place at Clearlake United Methodist Church at 14521 Pearl Ave., near Mullen in Clearlake.

Doors open at 5:30 p.m., with the film to begin at 6 p.m. The showing is free, as always.

“Iron-Jawed Angels” is not a documentary. Rather, it is an engaging and exciting HBO feature film starring Hilary Swank as Alice Paul, a Suffragette adamant in her insistence that women must have the right to vote.

She had the company of many other strong, determined women who suffered much as activists suffer today.

They were belittled, physically attacked and even tortured in jail when these determined, non-violent activists refused to back down.

This film has been widely praised for bringing history vibrantly alive. It is also loved for its edgy, modern feel, its music, its fine direction and the vibrant acting not only by Swank, but by Frances O’Connor, Julia Ormond and Angelic Huston.

Following the film, Jan Cook, a Lake County resident who suggested this fine and moving film, will share information on Lake County connections to the Suffragist movement.

A member of her own family and a Lake County woman both stood silently in front of the White House. They were attacked by a violent mob of men, and were then arrested for “starting a riot.”

Don’t miss this absorbing and inspiring election-year movie.

For more information call Shannon Tolson at 707-889-7355.

Jane Hirshfield, who lives in the San Francisco Bay area, is one of our country’s finest poets, and I have never seen a poem of hers that I didn’t admire. Here’s a fine one that I see as being about our inability to control the world beyond us.

The Promise

Stay, I said
to the cut flowers.
They bowed
their heads lower.

Stay, I said to the spider,
who fled.

Stay, leaf.
It reddened,
embarrassed for me and itself.

Stay, I said to my body.
It sat as a dog does,
obedient for a moment,
soon starting to tremble.

Stay, to the earth
of riverine valley meadows,
of fossiled escarpments,
of limestone and sandstone.
It looked back
with a changing expression, in silence.

Stay, I said to my loves.
Each answered,
Always.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation ( www.poetryfoundation.org ), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2011 by Jane Hirshfield, from her most recent book of poems, Come, Thief, Alfred A. Knopf, 2011. Poem reprinted by permission of Jane Hirshfield and the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2012 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. They do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (Rated PG-13)

Starting with “Batman Begins” in 2005, writer and director Christopher Nolan envisioned an epic trilogy for the story of Gotham’s Caped Crusader, a superhero without any real superpowers.

The conclusion arrives in spectacular fashion with “The Dark Knight Rises,” which begins at a point eight years after “The Dark Knight,” notwithstanding the fact that the second film was released in 2008.

A lengthier passage of time allows for the consequences of actions taken by Batman and others, including Commissioner Gordon and D.A. Harvey Dent, to have percolated into a state of palpable anxiety.

Action begins with a daring opening sequence that would be the envy of any James Bond film. An incredible skyjacking of another aircraft gives us our first chilling glimpse of the evil embodied by terrorist Bane (Tom Hardy).

Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale), having retired the Batman cape and cowl in his subterranean hideaway, has turned into a Howard Hughes-like recluse at Wayne Manor, absent the neurosis of keeping a germ-free environment.

To allow Gotham the veneer of law-and-order serenity on the surface, Batman slinked away into oblivion, taking the blame for the demise of Harvey Dent, whose martyrdom brought an end to crime in the metropolis.

The sensitive and sensible Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman), his conscience wracked by the truth, knows only too well that the crime-free status of Gotham is predicated upon lies. Soon enough, he will need Batman’s return.

Trouble is quickly brewing from multiple sources. Corruption is evident below the surface. A slimy businessman is taking a run at a hostile takeover of Wayne Enterprises.

True malevolence arrives with thuggish terrorist Bane hatching a plan to undermine the institutions of the city, beginning with a violent assault upon the Stock Exchange.

A terrifying figure, Bane has his face covered in a strange mask that serves not to conceal his identity, but to regulate the transmission of painkilling medication. Bane resembles Darth Vader, but without the charm.

Notwithstanding Bane’s unvarnished villainy, the first bad guy to seize Bruce Wayne’s attention is Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway), a cat burglar he catches in the act of lifting family jewels from the Wayne Manor safe.

Of course, Selina represents Catwoman, but oddly enough she is never called Catwoman. For his part, Bruce is intrigued by the cunning sexy vamp’s facile ease of delivering witty quips and sharp barbs.

Selina brings welcome humor to a film that is heavy on a dark, gloomy mood. She also helps get Bruce’s Batman back into the game, considering that he’s out of shape and still healing from old physical wounds.

In a way, Selina helps Batman to focus his attention on the bigger problem posed by Bane’s terrorist plot to destroy Gotham with nuclear weapons, but not before bringing down the city’s financial empire.

As if inspired by the French Revolution and the attack on the Bastille, Bane and his thugs launch an assault on the local prison to free those incarcerated by the Harvey Dent law that brought an end to crime.

Having rigged bombs in the city’s sewer system, Bane figures a way to trap most of Gotham’s police force below ground in subway tunnels and other passageways.

Few people outside of Batman and Commissioner Gordon grasp the immediate gravity of the situation, though rookie cop John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) displays earnest integrity and courage with great conviction, earning himself a leading role in the fight for Gotham.

Other key players are Wayne Enterprises CEO Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), the steady hand on the weapons programs needed to fight crime, and new board member Miranda Tate (Marion Cotillard), a wealthy philanthropist interested in an environmental project.

During much of the early going, the angst-ridden Bruce Wayne is attended by his faithful butler Alfred (Michael Caine), who grows increasingly frustrated that his boss has retreated so fully from engagement with the outside world.

Egged on by the wisecracks of Selina and the dastardly acts of Bane, Bruce Wayne undergoes training to bring himself into fighting shape, as the inevitable showdown with the masked villain is a real doozy.

“The Dark Knight Rises” delves into social-political issues of the day, though one could reasonably come away with differing opinions or interpretations.

Corruption and treachery are not limited to the establishment. Bane’s thugs run a kangaroo court where the death penalty is imposed freely and without due process by Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy).

One could ask if the violent attack on the Stock Exchange is an expression of discontent with income inequality or does it represent the Occupy Wall Street movement taken to the reprehensible violent extreme of mob rule anarchy?

Pondering the philosophical implications of perhaps conflicting points of view is a mental exercise soon overcome by brutish, sustained violence. To be sure, Bane is clearly a nihilist committed to destroying many innocents.  

What does not appear so debatable is that “The Dark Knight Rises,” with exciting chases, superior effects and spectacular stunts, is not far removed from the comic-book underpinnings created by Bob Kane and published by DC Comics.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.