Arts

Baltimore School for the Arts will hold its annual orchestra concert at 7 p.m. today in the school's Schaefer Ballroom, 712 Cathedral St. Tickets are $6 for adults and $4 for students. Works by Tchaikovsky, Vivaldi and Mozart will be featured in the debut of the school's new conductor, Ruben Capriles. Information: 410-625-0403, or www.bsfa.org.

LakeFest -- The 20th anniversary celebration of the Columbia Festival of the Arts begins with LakeFest, a free weekend of performances, exhibitions, and activities, from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. today, noon to 11 p.m. tomorrow and 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday at the Columbia Lakefront. Making an Entrance - Opening Doors to the Future, a public art exhibit and sale of functional wooden doors transformed by artists, will be on display. Art and crafts will be for sale at ArtPark from noon to 7 p.m. tomorrow and 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday.

For those who like to express themselves artistically, the Baltimore School for the Arts' annual fund-raiser, Expressions '99, was the perfect night out.About 480 guests began their evening with a little artful education, BSA style. Arty amateurs like Dr. Robert Booker, Baltimore City school system CEO; Cheryl Hudgins Williams, public affairs manager for Procter & Gamble Co.; Sally Michel, SuperKids Camp founder; Robert Embry, Abell Foundation president; and author Jim Dale split up into classes led by BSA teachers and students.

For years, the ballet classes and music recitals at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts have seemed beyond the financial reach of children from some of Annapolis' poorer neighborhoods.Next month, Maryland Hall will begin its first program to bridge that gap, immersing 25 children from the city's public housing communities in Bach, Baryshnikov and Botticelli for eight to 10 weeks.Instructors will give them weekly after-school lessons in art, dance and music."Most of these children don't get a chance to go to Maryland Hall due to financial blocks," said Ward 6 Democratic Alderman Cynthia A. Carter, who approached the arts center in January with the idea for the program.

AFTER NEARLY three years writing this column, I will be going on to other chores when the Arts section is redesigned next week. So this is probably as good a time as any to reflect on some of the noteworthy things I have observed during my sojourn in this space.First, despite the stereotype of a city obsessed by big hair and crabs, the arts are alive and well in Baltimore. The level of sophistication here on all levels would surprise people who think of us as a provincial outpost between Washington and Philadelphia.

Mission: To exhibit the work of students attending the Baltimore School for the Arts and to provide exhibition space for professional artists. The gallery usually features five exhibitions annually - four for students, and one for outside artists. The public high school, located in the former Alcazar Hotel, was founded in 1980 to provide pre-professional training in the arts for city students in addition to academic courses. Other disciplines offered at the school include instrumental music, vocals, dance, drama and stage production.

We interrupt your normal Arts & Society section this Sunday to bring you our seasonal guide to the arts.Don't be alarmed, don't try to adjust your subscription - we'll return next week with our usual mix of trend stories, commentary, profiles and social insight. Meanwhile, we offer this comprehensive arts and entertainment calendar of fall and winter events in Baltimore. (We have also included highlights from Washington, and occasionally looked ahead to next spring).The fall promises to be an exciting time in the arts:* On Oct. 11, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra will re-create the famous 1808 concert where Beethoven introduced his Fifth and Sixth symphonies and Fourth Piano Concerto.

One of the best things a critic can experience is walking into a show so alive with creativity that it's hard to settle down and concentrate on one work at a time. That's the case with "Ceramica Puertorriquena Hoy/Today," a show that brings the work of 22 Puerto Rican ceramics artists to Baltimore's School for the Arts.A lot of the show's energy derives from the fact that there doesn't seem to be any dominant influence or style at work here. A few of the pieces are at least theoretically functional, but all exist primarily as sculpture, and no artist's work looks like that of any other.

Students can play the didgeridoo, learn the art of songwriting and build their own Native American flutes at the fourth annual Common Ground on the Hill next week.While dabbling in the arts, they might learn about other cultures.The weeklong celebration of music and the arts opens Sundayat Western Maryland College in Westminster, with courses and performances designed to build bridges between cultures."I'm looking forward to meeting with new people and reuniting with some of the musicians I've performed with in the past," said Peggy Seeger, a songwriter and instrumentalist who has taken part in nearly 100 recordings.

THE GIGGLING dissipated rapidly when Florence Gardner, assistant principal of West Baltimore's Booker T. Washington Middle School, took to the auditorium microphone and began singing.An audience of students, in forced attendance for the annual Martin Luther King Jr. assembly a few days ago, shifted into rapt attention, clapping to the gospel sounds. Two choirs accompanied Gardner, and there was more to come: performances by the school's band and by dancers who had been practicing for weeks.

Beatrice Rigby's choice of the flute as an instrument to play in the fourth grade felt as random a selection as what she would eat for lunch that day. But that simple decision to go for the "oooh, shiny" instrument would guide much of the rest of her childhood. She learned quickly and her music teacher at Cross Country Elementary School suggested she try out for the Baltimore School for the Arts' TWIGS program for young city artists. The training at TWIGS prepared her for a place at the School for the Arts, and she will graduate today as an experienced musician and will attend Towson University with the goal of being a music teacher.

Michael Kaiser - president of the Kennedy Center, international arts management/rescue guru and compelling advocate for preserving artistic quality even in the face of financial meltdown - is the 2009 recipient of the George Peabody Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Music in America. The award, presented by the Peabody Institute, will be given to Kaiser during the conservatory's graduation ceremony on May 21. He joins a starry roster of recipients, that since 1980, has included the likes of Leonard Bernstein, Quincy Jones and Eubie Blake.

Each of the six electric guitars on display, crafted from such exotic woods as cocobolo and padauk, could easily have belonged to one of the greats. If only Jimi Hendrix, Jerry Garcia and Chet Atkins could show up to claim them, press the sculpted wooden bodies to their torsos and let their fingers bring them to life. But wait. Are these actual musical instruments, or just for show? After all, there is an almost otherworldly quality to their glossy physical perfection. And check out the name of the manufacturer, gracefully inset in mother of pearl.

Why did the Baltimore Opera declare bankruptcy? Lots of reasons, starting with the global recession, but not ending there. Certainly endowments have lost value, and certainly modern opera productions are expensive to mount and there's little room for the kind of loss in revenue - ticket sales and underwriting - that the Baltimore Opera experienced this fall, even as it prepared to stage the always-popular Aida. But there's something else going on, and it has been going on for a long time, and it starts with way too many people staying home and watching television.

Jim and Lynne LaCalle know what it's like to dance in front of a tough audience. Whenever their two grandsons, Zachary Weller, 9, and Nathan Weller, 6, come for a visit, the boys act as judges and critique the fancy footwork of their grandparents. "They watch us very intently," said LaCalle, president of Harford Community College. "When we finish dancing, they rate us, and offer tips. They're giving us 8s and 9s, and recently Zachary said we look younger when we dance." The informal dancing events at the LaCalle house are practice sessions for an upcoming gala.

pop music The Decemberists : Known for their infallible melodies and densely literate lyrics, the Decemberists have risen from indie darlings to acclaimed mainstream musicians. The band writes fantastical lyrical tales teeming with sea captains and legionnaires. They play at 7 p.m. Saturday at Rams Head Live, 20 Market Place. Tickets are $30 at the door. Call 410-244-1131 or go to tickets.ramsheadlive.com. Rashod D. Ollison theater 'The Grinch': The national tour of Dr. Seuss' beloved holiday classic How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

A blue-and-white farmhouse with a roomy front porch, a cottage with a stained-glass window and skylights, even a castle with four imposing towers: Housing options in Howard County will be plentiful this weekend - if you are a bird. Nearly 50 creative, whimsical and sometimes humorous birdhouses have been crafted by local artists as part of the Columbia Festival of the Arts' "Take Flight with the Arts" project. "It's amazing the variety of them," said the festival's executive director, Nichole Hickey.

Last week, I attended the "Sing and String" concert at Roland Park Elementary/Middle School. The energy in the room was extraordinary. As a conductor and parent, I was immensely proud of our music programs. It is not coincidental that so many of the students advancing to the most rigorous academic programs are also linchpins of their school's music programs. But dwelling excessively on this correlation severely limits the value of the arts and their potential place in our lives. Anecdotes about the link between the arts and intellectual achievement are legion.

It's been decades since a fire burned out the once-bustling North Avenue Market, where more than 200 vendors hawked meat and seafood, produce and sandwiches. A bowling alley filled the second floor. And now, say developers who own the distinctive building in a long-deteriorating stretch of midtown Baltimore, it's time for people to start coming back. A development team that includes a longtime market landlord and the owner of the nearby Charles Theatre building has launched a $1 million project to restore the 1928 landmark, which was built to house the market.

EXPRESSIONS," BALTIMORE SCHOOL FOR the Arts annual fundraiser, is always a sell-out. There are the classes that guests take in art, music, dance and theater. There's the dinner, the auction and the knock-out performances by some of the school's students. "It's the best event that Baltimore has. It's such an exciting place. Students do such a fabulous job. And it's totally uplifting," said Chickie Grayson, Enterprise Homes president, voicing a common opinion. But, this year, there was even more to celebrate.