FORD AMPHITHEATRE TO HOST AXIS MUNDI
Media City Ballet presents the debut appearance at the Ford Amphitheatre of “AXIS MUNDI: A Global Multi-Cultural Celebration of Ballet Dance” on Friday, Aug. 12 at 8:30 p.m. Media City Ballet principal dancers Tatiana A’Vermond, Annia Hidalgo (formerly of the Ballet Nacional de Cuba), Enton Hoxha (formerly with the Metropolitan Opera) Vardan Khachatryan (formerly of the Israel National Ballet and Armenian Opera Ballet), Edgar Nikolyan (formerly of the Vienna Staatsoper), Gabrielle Palmatier and guest artists Antoinette Peloso (formerly with the Metropolitan Opera) and Jesus Solorio (“So You Think You Can Dance”) will lead a cast of over 40 performers in a program including Italian swordplay, a French baroque ball, folk dances from Hungary, Spain, Armenia, Poland, Russia and China, and show-stopping repertoire like Khachaturian’s “Saber Dance,” Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Schéhérazade” and Borodin’s “Polovtsian Dances.”

The show will also feature a special appearance by Armenian character dancers from the Glendale based Zvartnots Dance Ensemble.

Doors to the courtyard of the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre open at 6:30 p.m. Tickets $40, $32 and $24.  VIP Premium Seats with a private pre-show reception at 6:30 p.m. are $65 each.  Theatergoers attending the event can also enter a Media City Ballet raffle to win valuable prizes. Tickets for full-time students with identification and children are 20% off. Groups of 8 to 15 people receive a 10% discount and groups of 16 or more people receive a 20% discount off adult tickets.

The John Anson Ford Amphitheatre, 2580 Cahuenga Boulevard East, Hollywood.


QUILTER COPELAND OFFERING WORKSHOP
Expert quilter Anne Copeland is offering a workshop on Saturday, Aug. 13 at Patchwork Penguin, 6245 Foothill Blvd. in Tujunga on quilt restoration and repair. This class will get quilters started in the right direction who need to repair a quilt or who have an unfinished quilt top. For more information about registering for the class and a list of needed supplies visit www.glendalequiltguild.org.

The Glendale Quilt Guild meets the second Wednesday of each month at the Glendale Central Library, 222 E. Harvard Ave., Glendale. Meetings are free to members and $5 for visitors. Social hour at 6 p.m. precedes the meeting.


WATERMELON FESTIVAL COMING TO SUNLAND-TUJUNGA
The 50th Annual Sunland-Tujunga Watermelon Festival takes place Aug. 12 to Aug. 14 at Sunland Park Recreation Center.  Delicious free watermelon to cool down on hot summer days! The event features watermelon carving display, watermelon eating contest, seed spitting contest and watermelon festival queen coronation. There will also be an international food court, dining tent, bazaar marketplace tent, wine and beer garden, carnival rides, arcade games and more. Fun for the whole family! Learn more at http://www.lionswatermelonfestival.com/.

Festivities are Friday, Aug. 12 from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 13 from noon to 11:30 p.m. and Sunday, Aug. 14 from noon to 10:30 p.m. Admission is $2.

Sunland Park Recreation Center, 8651 Foothill Blvd., Sunland


SUMMER JAZZ AT DESCANSO
Music on the Main, the summer jazz series at Descanso Gardens, continues Thursdays through Aug. 25 with a different jazz artist every week. Visitors are encouraged to bring blankets and picnics (normally not allowed in the Gardens) and settle back to savor the music.

Flutist and saxophonist Robert Kyle is conversant in many musical styles, from blues to R&B to classical. He’ll be sharing his love of Brazilian jazz when he performs at Descanso Gardens on Thursday, Aug. 18. The concert begins at 5:30 p.m.

Kyle is an in-demand session and concert musician and composer. He has worked with artists as varied as Linda Hopkins, Jason Mraz, Babyface and Natalie Cole in a career that has taken him around the globe. He’ll perform at Descanso with his Brazilian quartet, which includes Hussain Jiffry, Mitchell Long and Walter Rodriguez.

Descanso Gardens is open extended hours from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays through Aug. 25. The Camellia Lounge, featuring signature cocktails and light food fare, is open from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays through Aug. 25. Enjoy signature cocktails, beverages, snacks and fabulous appetizers prepared by Patina.

Performances are free with Gardens admissions: $8 adults, $6 senior/students, $3 children 5-12, free 4 and younger. No reciprocal gardens admissions after 4:30 p.m. For more information, call (818) 949-4200 or visit www.descansogardens.org.


NOON CONCERTS OPEN TO PUBLIC
Glendale Noon Concerts is a free admission concert series taking place

every first and third Wednesday from 12:10-12:40 p.m. in the newly restored chapel and sanctuary of the First Baptist Church of Glendale (downtown at Louise & Wilson, no religious affiliation).

On Aug. 17, the program is “World on a String” featuring works for strings and piano by Bottesini, Cole Porter and Pedro Laurent and new work by Bevan Manson. Featured will be Alan Busteed on violin; Ruth Bruegger on violin; Karie Prescott on viola; Simone Vitucci on violoncello; Frederick Charlton on double bass and Bevan Manson on piano.


MOONDAY EAST FEATURES ALLEN BRADEN
Moonday East announces a reading at Flintridge Bookstore on Sunday, Aug. 21 at 2 p.m. by poets Bob Hart and Don Kingfisher Campbell.
Hart is a member of the No Chance Ensemble and performs with this group around the metropolitan area. He is the author of Acrobat and Lightly in the Good of Day.

Campbell is the founder of POETRYpeople youth writing workshops, publisher of the San Gabriel Valley Poetry Quarterly, leader of the Emerging Urban Poets writing and Deep Critique workshops and host of the Saturday Afternoon Poetry reading series in Pasadena. He has taught creative writing in the Upward Bound program at Occidental College and been a guest teacher for the Los Angeles Unified School District for 27 years.

Flintridge Bookstore and Coffeehouse, 1010 Foothill Blvd., La Cañada Flintridge at the intersection of Foothill Boulevard and the Angeles Crest Highway.


SLINGERS EXHIBITING AT BRAND LIBRARY ART GALLERIES
Brand Library Art Galleries present West Coast Mud Slingers, an all ceramics exhibition curated by Ricky Maldonado. This exhibition features the work of Kelly Berning, Trent Berning, Nina Kellogg, Ricky Maldonado, Adrian Sandstrom and Fred Yokel and is a showcase for the technical and stylistic variety employed by contemporary ceramicists. While the work is varied, each of these artists describes a passionate relationship with clay that began when they first encountered the material, and that endures and drives them to continue innovating and creating in their favorite medium.

On view through Sept. 9 at Brand Library & Art Center at 1601 W. Mountain St., Glendale.



GLENDALE POPS ORCHESTRA HOSTS AN EVENING OF BOSSA NOVA MUSIC ON BRAND
The Glendale Pops Orchestra, led by artistic director and conductor Matt Catingub, features An Evening of Bossa Nova Music on Brand at the Americana on Thursday, Sept. 22 at 8 p.m. Special guests will join the Glendale Pops Orchestra as they celebrate the Bossa Nova and Samba with favorites from Anotonio Carlos Jobim, Sergio Mendes, and songs including Wave, Girl From Ipanema, Desifinado, One Note Samba, Watch What Happens and more.

The balance of the Pops season will take place at the historic Alex Theatre.

The concert is free to the public with reserved seating for season ticket holders. For more information, visit www.glendalearts.org.