Accompanist

Popcorn Tree Theatre. Auditions for the children's musical Cinnamon's Dream will be 6 p.m.-8 p.m. Monday in the Wheeler Auditorium, Enoch Pratt Free Library, 400 Cathedral St. There are 21 roles, not all of which involve singing. Performances will be held in April in local schools and libraries. Singers should bring sheet music. Accompanist provided. Call Iris Powell at 410-686-5654. The Paint and Powder Club Inc. Auditions for the annual show will be at 7 p.m. Feb. 17 at Pickersgill Retirement Community, 615 Chestnut Ave. in Towson.

In the popular imagination, opera stars are presumed to be temperamental. So it wasn't entirely shocking to the opera fans who learned yesterday that the Metropolitan Opera had fired superstar soprano Kathleen Battle on Monday for "unprofessional actions" during rehearsals for a production of Donizetti's "The Daughter of the Regiment."The unprofessional behavior included rude behavior to colleagues; showing up late for rehearsals; repeatedly changing her mind about whether she liked her costume and flying into a new rage with every change; ordering cast members not to look at her when she was singing; and demanding that the director of "The Daughter" change the production so that all her exits and entrances were on the side of the stage closest to her dressing room.

Jo Ellen G. Hardesty, a musician and community theater director, died May 30 in an automobile accident near her Lutherville home. She was 55. Born in Pennsylvania and raised in Arbutus, the former Jo Ellen Guess was a 1970 graduate of Lansdowne High School and earned a degree in special education at Coppin State University. She taught at Bodkin Elementary School for several years and was a founder of a community theater, the Pasadena Players, where she directed musicals. She was also director of the Canterbury Ringers hand bells choir and a member of the Baltimore Vocal Jazz Ensemble, and she was a piano and organ instructor.

Senior Singers to begin season The Senior Singers will begin their new season with a rehearsal at 9:45 a.m. Sept. 6 at Westminster United Methodist Church, East Main and Center streets. This is an ecumenical chorus with members from all over Carroll and surrounding counties who sing a variety of music. Dick Blanchard is the group's director, and Barbara Groff is accompanist. Over the summer, the Senior Singers received new invitations to perform and new music to learn. New members are welcome.

Patricia Shih performs at Enoch Pratt libraries Singer-songwriter Patricia Shih performs today at three Enoch Pratt libraries. Her family concerts usually focus on a theme - learning and literacy, freedom, multiculturalism or the environment, for example - but for these shows, she'll mix things up a little and present a "best of" compilation that combines her love of books with lyrical messages of tolerance, safety, kindness and generosity. Audience members are encouraged to participate through critical thinking, singing along, sign language and movement.