Peabody Institute

Going to a party at Manuel Barrueco's spacious, comfortable home in Lutherville is much like attending a session of the United Nations.On one side of the room three young Asian men, obviously students, are in deep, subdued conversation.A beautiful Russian girl from Siberia, with hints of the steppes in her cheekbones, enters, laughing along with her escort.In a corner, a Spanish composer, his arms flapping wildly, talks animatedly with an assistant conductor of the BSO. Down the hall a young Indian girl has a tug of war with the energetic beagle of the house, Heidi.

Peabody Children's Chorus. June 22 at the Peabody Institute, N. Charles St., and June 23 at Peabody's Towson Branch for ages 6-18 in four levels of vocal ensembles. Students in chorus receive age-appropriate vocal training, study art and folk music and work on music skills. Call for appointment, 410-659-8125.Towson Dinner Theatre. "Nifty '50s Revue." 12: 30 p.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday at the theater, 100 E. Chesapeake Ave. Bring a 1950s-style song and sheet music. Also be prepared to dance and read.

The distinguished pianist Ann Schein joins the Maia Quartet Wednesday at 8 p.m. for what promises to be a superb evening of chamber music.With the members of the Maia (violinists Amy Kuhlmann Appold and Timothy Shiu, violist Elizabeth Oakes and cellist Amos Yang), Schein will perform one of the greatest works in the piano-and-strings repertory, Dvorak's Quintet in A major. In the rest of the program, the Maia (the Peabody Conservatory's resident string quartet) will perform one of Beethoven's wittiest and most energetic early works (Op. 18, No. 2)

For the first time in 17 years, Scipio Africanus will again enter Rome in triumph -- on a huge Renaissance tapestry at the Peabody Institute.The 13-by-29-foot tapestry, called "The Triumphal Carriage," has been rehung, after extended conservation, in the recently refurbished Griswold Hall of the Peabody's main Mount Vernon Place building. It will be on view Sunday in conjunction with this weekend's Baltimore Book Festival.The tapestry, woven of silk, wool, gold and silver thread, is one of two the Peabody owns from a series of 22 tapestries called "The Triumph of Scipio."

Mount Vernon cultural leaders met yesterday in the first step of a five-year campaign to make the picturesque central Baltimore neighborhood a destination for tourists.Inspired by the runaway success of the Inner Harbor, neighborhood cultural institutions -- including the Walters Art Gallery, the Enoch Pratt Free Library, the Maryland Historical Society, the Roman Catholic Basilica of the Assumption, the Peabody Institute and Center Stage -- joined forces last year to create the Mount Vernon Cultural District.

FLORENCE RIEFLE BAHR captured some striking images in her day. The Baltimore-born artist drew courtroom sketches of the Catonsville Nine, H. Rap Brown and former Gov. Marvin Mandel, and she painted beautiful watercolor scenes of Baltimore rowhouses from generations ago. At 88, she had ceased working every day, says a daughter, but she still turned out paintings and sketches from her wooden house on Old Lawyers Hill in Elkridge.It should have come as no surprise that Mrs. Bahr, who died in a fire Monday, was still going nearly seven decades after graduating with honors from the Maryland Institute, College of Art, 63 years after her first Baltimore Museum of Art exhibit.

Peabody Open HouseAdd a little music to your life Sunday at the Peabody Institute's Open House, with performances, demonstrations, tours and activities for the family. The Peabody Symphony Orchestra, the Peabody Concert Orchestra and the Peabody Wind Ensemble will perform. Attend the "Instrument Petting Zoo" and get acquainted with some brass, woodwinds, percussions, guitars, strings and harps. See piano and dance demonstrations and learn about offered classes. Tour the facilities, including the George Peabody Library, and see the newly renovated Griswold Hall with its Holtkamp organ and the 16th-century Flemish tapestry celebrating the triumphs of the Roman General Scipio.

Yesterday's concert at Second Presbyterian Church in Baltimore was a family affair.Robert Sirota, director of the Peabody Institute, his wife, Victoria, their son, Jonah, and daughter, Nadia, performed with an unusual combination of violas, piano and organ at a presentation in the church's concert series.The parents said they were especially pleased with how well the children played."If I hadn't been playing, I would have cried," Mrs. Sirota said.While it would seem natural for this musically gifted family to perform together, their mastery of seemingly incompatible instruments made yesterday's performance a challenge to the musical repertoire and family relations.

JESTERS AND TRUMPETERS greeted guests as they arrived for A Merry Feast of Yule at the lovely Laurelford home of Carol Jean and Jay Young. They are the owners of OLES Envelope Corp.; he's chairman of the board of the Baltimore Opera Company; and she's on the board of the Peabody Institute.After considerable research, this creative twosome decided that their Christmas party would be an authentic medieval celebration, and guests were asked to dress in medieval attire or black tie. As you can imagine, most chose black tie, but the Youngs' costumes were enough to carry the theme, with lots of help from the great-looking suits of armor standing in the flower-laden foyer.

Baltimore artist Florence Riefle Bahr graduated from the Maryland Institute, College of Art 65 years ago and since then has created paintings, watercolors, collages and sketches of everything from portraits to nature studies to records of public events in which she participated. She has exhibited at both the institute and the Baltimore Museum of Art, as well as at the annual New York show of the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors. An exhibit of her work at the Peabody Institute's Galleria Piccola contains works reflecting her long career and includes a variety of media and subject matter.

On Saturday, July 25, 2009, SHIRLEY HSIAO-NI PAN of Baltimore, loving daughter of Wee Kian Lian, dear sister of Sylvia and Sophia Pan, aunt of Jasper and Kenneth Chen. Also survived by brother-in-law Winston Chen. Shirley was a great pianist and devoted teacher. She was well liked and respected at Peabody Institute of Music. The family would like to thank all of her friends for their support. Arrangements by Peaceful Alternatives Funeral and Cremation Center, P.A. 2325 York Road, Timonium, MD, 21093.

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.

A Mount Vernon group says it has failed to prevent a 7-Eleven from opening in a former restaurant overlooking the Washington Monument. City agencies, cultural groups and neighbors pledged $297,000 toward an effort to buy the building and stop the convenience store, but R. Paul Warren, who organized the effort, said his group stopped making offers when the price reached $450,000. "We reached our limit," Warren said. "We raised $300,000 in three weeks. That's not bad." Gregory N. Friedman, a real estate investor-broker, bought the former Buttery restaurant on the ground floor of a 19th-century building at Charles and Centre streets this year for $310,000.

As the director of the Peabody Institute, Jeffrey Sharkey is the leader of undergraduate and graduate students in the Peabody Conservatory and Preparatory at the music school at the Johns Hopkins University. Sharkey has been the director for two years, and is an acclaimed pianist and composer as well. Sharkey's music will be featured in a concert at the Peabody Conservatory on Sept. 24 with Jonathan Carney, violinist and concertmaster for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. "A Suitable Boy" by Vikram Seth It's a panoramic novel of India just before independence.

The 150th anniversary of the founding of the Peabody Institute was such a milestone last year that the celebration is still going on. It will reach a peak Saturday with a gala evening that will see music of multiple genres breaking out in practically every corner of the facility on Mount Vernon Place. First up is the Celebration Concert in Friedberg Hall, featuring some of the music conservatory's eminent faculty artists. Guitarist Manuel Barrueco will play a work by Albeniz. Flutist Marina Picinnini will offer a fantasy on themes from Bizet's Carmen in collaboration with the Peabody Symphony, led by Hajime Teri Murai.

Written in the stars Mapping the Cosmos, the first of four scheduled exhibits on mapping at the Walters Art Museum, presents images of the universe taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, a large observatory in space that provides deep, clear views of the universe and has the capability to gather images of extremely remote galaxies. The exhibit, organized in collaboration with the Space Telescope Science Institute and the Johns Hopkins University, runs from Saturday through July 27. Exhibit hours are 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays and 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Fridays.

`La Muneca' The lowdown -- See a theatrical adaptation of Vital Aza's poem "La Muneca" ("The Doll") presented by Single Carrot Theatre beginning today. Experience Christmas through the eyes of someone less fortunate: a young girl named Lucia. Lucia's story will be accompanied by song and dance. If you go -- Performances are at 7:30 p.m. today through Dec. 22 at the Load of Fun Gallerie, 120 W. North Ave. Days vary. Tickets are $10 for adults, and $5 for seniors 65 and older, students and children 12 and younger.

ART LOW COUNTRY ART / / 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Friday; 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday; noon-5 p.m. Sunday. Zenith Gallery, 413 7th St. N.W., Washington. Free. 202-783-2963 or zenithgallery.com. ....................... Like the famed Gee's Bend, Ala., quilts that were on view this year at the Walters Art Museum, the distinctive art of South Carolina's Gullah culture comes from slave descendants whose geographical isolation and strong community ties helped to keep their African cultural heritage largely intact over the generations.

The lowdown -- Between the Numbers premieres at the Creative Alliance tomorrow, pairing contemporary dance with original music. Expressed through dance, local choreographers Sonia Synkowski and Stacey Tytler show how life's ups and downs differ among ages and eras. If you go -- Between the Numbers is at 8 p.m. tomorrow at the Creative Alliance at the Patterson, 3134 Eastern Ave. Tickets are $12-$15. Call 410-276- 1651 or go to missiontix .com. `Much Ado' The lowdown -- William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, directed by Vincent M. Lancisi, comes to Everyman Theatre on Wednesday.

Leon Fleisher, the eminent Baltimore-based pianist, is one of five artists who will receive the 2007 Kennedy Center Honors in December. The typically wide-ranging list also includes comic actor and writer Steve Martin, singer Diana Ross, film director Martin Scorsese and the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson. This is the 30th presentation of the Kennedy Center Honors. The recipients will be saluted in a gala attended by President Bush and the first lady, and held at the center's opera house Dec. 2. The show will be taped for nationwide broadcast Dec. 26 on CBS. "I'm very moved by this award," Fleisher said yesterday from his Roland Park home.