The Red Priest of Venice

The Shelton Theater
533 Sutter St. San Francisco

A genius so assured he could write operas faster than secretaries could copy them, a genius so original even Bach cribbed his melodies, a genius so unconventional that his conflicting roles -- Catholic priest and creative renegade; cultural iconoclast and establishment favorite -- still shock people today, Antonio Vivaldi (1678 - 1741) remains an artist without equal. Now he comes to exuberant life in the new drama The Red Priest of Venice at the Shelton Theater. Today best known for The Four Seasons, Vivaldi was one of the most brilliant figures of the baroque period, a composer whose life was as passionate and stormy as his music. Compelling and humorous, this 90-minute show focuses on a critical period in his life when he began writing his most dazzling masterpiece ... and when he fell under the spell of two equally dazzling ladies.