Ganz

On Monday, May 5, 2003, MICHAEL ZEMEL, loving husband of Ruth Zemel (nee Ganz) and the late Yetta Zemel (nee Davidson), beloved father of Martin Zemel and Lawrence Zemel both of Baltimore, devoted father-in-law of Marsha Zemel. Beloved brother of Hy Zemel, Sara Zemel, Tillie Rosenfeld, Minnie Daniels all of Baltimore, MD and the late Fannye Bidle. Loving grandfather of Jamie and Ryan ZemelServices at SOL LEVINSON & BROS. INC., 8900 Reisterstown Rd. at Mt. Wilson Lane on Wednesday, May 7 at 10 A.M. Interment Swinicher Woliner Benevolent Society Cemetery, 6700 Bowleys Lane.

Some of Maryland's finest young musicians will come together Saturday evening when the Chesapeake Youth Symphony Orchestra presents its Gala Spring Concert at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts in Annapolis. The 7 p.m. concert will be led by the orchestra's music director, David Ik-Sung Choo, who will conduct works by Tchaikovsky, Lalo and Beethoven in addition to the "Elegy" composed by Raymond Weidner, composer and choirmaster at Woods Memorial Presbyterian Church in Severna Park. Soloing in the first movement of Edouard Lalo's sultry "Symphonie Espagnole" will be violinist Robert Burnett, 17, of Bowie, winner of this season's Chesapeake Youth Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition.

Even in the Great Depression of the 1930s, dreamers hoped for something better. In John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men," itinerant field hands George Milton and Lennie Small dream of buying land of their own someday. At Tidewater Players, director Todd Starkey leads a group of talented actors in a moving production of the classic, which opens today (March 2). It is set in a sunny harvest season in northern California, 1937. "Of Mice and Men" runs upstairs at 121 N. Union Ave. at Tidewater Players, the community theater of Havre de Grace, weekends through March 18. Friday and Saturday shows are at 8 p.m. and Sunday matinees, at 3 p.m. Tickets are $10. Visit http://www.tidewaterplayers.com or pay at the door.

Crouse Construction's semipro baseball team won a pitching duel Thursday night, but it left the team wondering where all the big bats went.In the 4-1 victory over the Pro Jersey Maulers at Thomas Run Park, Crouse managed just five hits.Rick Lester provided the game-winner, blasting a two-run homer in the fourth inning. Lester's shot followed Mike Hughes' RBI double.Last year, Crouse averaged 10 hits and nine runs a game en route to a second-place finish in the Northern Division of the Maryland Semi-Pro Baseball League.

On Sunday afternoon, a small, inner-city church offered a concert that would be the envy of any international concert stage. As part of its Lois J. Wright Memorial Concert Series, St. Katherine's presented Baltimore audiences with a gift in the form of the gleaming artistry of violinist Dylana Jenson.Ms. Jenson is, in fact, no stranger to the major concert halls of the world. While still a teen-ager, she won the Silver Medal at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow and, after a triumphant Carnegie Hall debut, recorded the Sibelius Violin Concerto with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

By virtue of being half an hour shorter and containing no lesser works for ballast, the second concert of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's Summer MusicFest was an improvement on the first.Yesterday's all-Schubert program was nicely chosen, blended and performed. All it needed was a bit of explanation for the audience's appreciation.Unfortunately, while there are question-and-answer sessions after all the MusicFest programs, these come too late for anyone wanting to understand the music as it happens.

Violinist Maria Bachmann, pianist Jon Klibonoff and cellist Semyon Fridman, who performed piano trios at St. John's College Friday, probably will never be confused with the more famous Beaux Arts Trio, which is known for its meticulous refinement and aristocratic bearing.The Bachmann-Klibonoff-Fridman Trio takes a far more visceral approach to this chamber repertoire, locking onto its rhythmic and harmonic undercurrents and spreading the excitement of the music across the entire auditorium.

Poor Rosalba never realized how miserable she was until she got a taste of how happy she could be. Italian writer-director Silvio Soldini's Bread & Tulips (Pane e Tulipani) is yet another parable of a middle-aged woman so stifled by life that she can barely function, who starts living life on her own and blossoms in ways she never thought possible. Think Shirley Valentine. Fortunately, Soldini's consistently understated touch, and a poignant turn by Licia Maglietta as the confused and bemused main character, turns Bread and Tulips into a character study worth studying.

The cause of great music in Howard County crescendos with a flourish this weekend as both Candlelight Concerts and the Columbia Orchestra begin their 2001-2002 concert seasons. The local orchestra takes the stage at Jim Rouse Theatre at 8 p.m. Saturday under the direction of its conductor, Jason Love. Two works will dominate the proceedings: the ravishingly lyrical 4th Piano Concerto of Ludwig van Beethoven, and The Planets, the astrologically charged orchestral blockbuster composed by English composer Gustav Holst as the Great War enveloped Europe in the second decade of the last century.

The Pro Jersey Maulers, Fortunato Brothers, and the Churchville Pirates recorded big wins last week in the Maryland Semi-Pro Baseball League.The Maulers won in a rout Wednesday, and Fortunato Brothers took a one-run decision Monday against the league's perennial power, Johnies.The Pirates defeated hard-hitting Aberdeen McDonald's, 7-2, Thursday.For six innings Wednesday night at Thomas Run Park, the game between the Maulers and Little Ceasars was close.In the seventh inning, however, it turned into a rout.