Yves Saint Laurent was famous for revolutionizing the haute couture tradition and laying the foundations of modern women’s wear. The wardrobe basics that he designed – pantsuit, culotte skirt, pea coat, blazer, safari jacket and tuxedo ­– shone with his innovative style and became classics. In Saint Laurent’s stylistic vocabulary, music, art, performance, literature and impressions of far-off places were just as important as the new shapes he introduced.

Previously on view at Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, this  exhibition of some 130 accessorized garments and sketches is divided into four themes: “Masterful Pencil Strokes,” where the designer’s idea is followed from the original sketch; “The YSL Revolution,” where feminized versions of men’s attire rub shoulders with seductive apparel; “The Palette,” which shows how traditional rules of colour harmony were reversed in new contrasts inspired by cross-fertilization; and “Lyrical Sources,” which explores the historical, literary (Proust, Oscar Wilde, Louis Aragon, Jean Cocteau…) and artistic influences that were interpreted and translated by this genius of couture. Throughout his career, Yves Saint Laurent expressed his personal tastes and the paintings he admires by transforming painting into fabric. Some of his models take up the visual sensations of Impressionism, while others liberate the expressive power of some of the great names and movements of modern art: Mondrian and Poliakoff in 1965, the Pop Art dresses in 1966, Picasso in 1979 and Braque in 1988.

Born in 1936, Yves Saint Laurent spent his childhood in Algeria. Moving to Paris in 1954 to take design courses at the Chambre syndicale de la haute couture, he caught the eye of Christian Dior and was hired as his assistant the following year. He took the reins of the House of Dior after the master’s death in 1957 and swiftly rose to triumphant fame with his Trapeze line. In 1958, he met Pierre Bergé, then a theatre director and stage producer, who went on to manage his career. With Bergé’s help, Saint Laurent founded his own maison de haute couture. On January 29, 1962, he unveiled his first collection under the Yves Saint Laurent label.

On January 7, 2002, Yves Saint Laurent announced to the press his retirement and the closure of his maison de haute couture. On January 22, a crowd of 2,000 admirers from around the world gathered to celebrate his career at a valedictory fashion show staged in Paris. Since stepping down, he has worked with Pierre Bergé managing the Fondation Pierre Bergé – Yves Saint Laurent, which holds a remarkable collection of more than 5,000 ensembles and 15,000 objects that trace the history of the House of Yves Saint Laurent.

For more than 40 years, the legendary Taj Mahal has delighted fans with his effortless and eclectic blending of cross-cultural musical styles. He is a master of finger-picking country blues, bluegrass banjo, slide guitar, southern blues, soul, R&B, reggae, music of Hawaii, the Caribbean and beyond, and more. His influences and abilities are seemingly endless and his energy to share and perform is equally as deep.

Taj will be joined by long-time bandmates Kester Smith on drums and Bill Rich on bass.

Though best-known as a contemporary jazz performer, trumpeter Chris Botti made his initial splash on the pop music scene.

In the studio and on stage, Chris Botti has worked with such leading singer-songwriter/composers as Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, Sting and film composer John Barry. Inspired by the sounds and atmosphere of Italy, Chris Botti’s new release Italia is a vibrant and sensual set of performances drawn from sources ranging from classical opera to the soundtracks of Ennio Morricone.

Argentine saxophonist Gato Barbieri splashed into the European-American avant garde jazz scene in the mid 1960s. His sax playing is unmistakable, wild and full. He found his voice bringing the percussion and rhythms of South America into his music; while his focus was more cultural than spiritual, his association with keyboardist Lonnie Liston Smith brought his music into the cauldron of musical ferment centered around Pharoah Sanders.

Gato Barbieri is the second Argentinian musician to make a significant impact upon jazz — the first being Lalo Schifrin, in whose band Barbieri played as a teenager. Albums such as the live El Pampero on Flying Dutchman and the four-part Chapter series on Impulse — the latter which explored Brazilian and Afro-Cuban rhythms and textures, as well as Argentinian — brought Barbieri plenty of acclaim in the jazz world and gained him a following on American college campuses. However, it was a commercial accident, his sensuous theme and score for the controversial film Last Tango In Paris in 1972, that made Barbieri an international star and a draw at festivals in Montreux, Newport, Bologna and other locales. A contract with A&M in the U.S. led to a series of softer pop/jazz albums in the late 1970s, including the brisk-selling Caliente!

Puccini: La Bohème
Libretto: Giuseppi Giacosa and Luigi Illica
Sung in Italian with English supertitles

San Francisco Opera production

Cast:
Mimì: Angela Gheorghiu / Maija Kovalevska (11/29, 12/4, 12/7) / Melody Moore (12/2)
Rodolfo: Piotr Beczala / Joseph Calleja (11/29, 12/4, 12/7)
Marcello: Gabriele Viviani / Brian Mulligan (11/29, 12/4, 12/7)
Musetta: Norah Amsellem / Tamara Wapinsky (11/29, 12/4, 12/7)
Colline: Oren Gradus / Kenneth Kellogg (11/29, 12/4, 12/7)

Nicola Luisotti, conductor / Giuseppe Finzi (12/4, 12/7)
Harry Silverstein, director
Set Designer: Michael Yeargan
Costume Designer: Walter Mahoney

Yves Saint Laurent was famous for revolutionizing the haute couture tradition and laying the foundations of modern women’s wear. The wardrobe basics that he designed – pantsuit, culotte skirt, pea coat, blazer, safari jacket and tuxedo ­– shone with his innovative style and became classics. In Saint Laurent’s stylistic vocabulary, music, art, performance, literature and impressions of far-off places were just as important as the new shapes he introduced.

Previously on view at Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, this  exhibition of some 130 accessorized garments and sketches is divided into four themes: “Masterful Pencil Strokes,” where the designer’s idea is followed from the original sketch; “The YSL Revolution,” where feminized versions of men’s attire rub shoulders with seductive apparel; “The Palette,” which shows how traditional rules of colour harmony were reversed in new contrasts inspired by cross-fertilization; and “Lyrical Sources,” which explores the historical, literary (Proust, Oscar Wilde, Louis Aragon, Jean Cocteau…) and artistic influences that were interpreted and translated by this genius of couture. Throughout his career, Yves Saint Laurent expressed his personal tastes and the paintings he admires by transforming painting into fabric. Some of his models take up the visual sensations of Impressionism, while others liberate the expressive power of some of the great names and movements of modern art: Mondrian and Poliakoff in 1965, the Pop Art dresses in 1966, Picasso in 1979 and Braque in 1988.

Born in 1936, Yves Saint Laurent spent his childhood in Algeria. Moving to Paris in 1954 to take design courses at the Chambre syndicale de la haute couture, he caught the eye of Christian Dior and was hired as his assistant the following year. He took the reins of the House of Dior after the master’s death in 1957 and swiftly rose to triumphant fame with his Trapeze line. In 1958, he met Pierre Bergé, then a theatre director and stage producer, who went on to manage his career. With Bergé’s help, Saint Laurent founded his own maison de haute couture. On January 29, 1962, he unveiled his first collection under the Yves Saint Laurent label.

On January 7, 2002, Yves Saint Laurent announced to the press his retirement and the closure of his maison de haute couture. On January 22, a crowd of 2,000 admirers from around the world gathered to celebrate his career at a valedictory fashion show staged in Paris. Since stepping down, he has worked with Pierre Bergé managing the Fondation Pierre Bergé – Yves Saint Laurent, which holds a remarkable collection of more than 5,000 ensembles and 15,000 objects that trace the history of the House of Yves Saint Laurent.