Recital

Robert Schumann's great suite for piano, "Kreisleriana," takes its inspiration from the weird tales of E.T.A. Hoffman and, like that great writer's fiction, has the lingering impact of a vivid dream."

Last September was the first time since its beginnings in 1974 that the community theater group September Song went "dark. " It was a heart-breaking decision for Joan Eichhorn, producer, but a necessary one. Financially-strapped after its sponsoring organization decided to part ways, September Song held a musical revue as a fundraiser, instead of a full-fledged production. "It is so grossly expensive to put on musical theater," Eichhorn said. "We had no choice but to go dark.

The Baltimore Classical Guitar Society opens its season with a recital by Croatian-born Ana Vidovic, first-prize winner at the 1998 International Francisco Tarrega Competition in Spain and several other competitions. Currently studying at the Peabody Institute, Vidovic also has five CDs behind her and a sizable list of concert credits. Her recital is at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Baltimore Museum of Art, Museum Drive at N. Charles and 31st streets. Tickets are $25. Call 410-247-5320. The season continues in November with an appearance by Hungarian brothers Peter and Zoltan Katona - the Katona Twins Guitar Duo. December will bring the society's popular annual benefit concert featuring the 25-member Baltimore Classical Guitar Orchestra, as well as soloists and smaller ensembles.

Harp and flute The Unitarian Universalist Congregation's Chalice Concert Series opens its 21st season with a "Framed Pairs: A Recital for Harp and Flute," Sat., Sept. 17, 8 p.m., at the Owen Brown Interfaith Cener (7246 Cradlerock Way, Columbia). This concert will showcase harpist Jacqueline Pollauf and flautist Rachel Choe performing the works of several classical composers. Tickets are $20 general, $15 for students 15-23 years old. Children younger than 15 are admitted free with a paying adult.

If the name Pieter Wispelwey doesn't ring a bell, it should - loudly and clearly - after you catch his recital for the Shriver Hall Concert Series this weekend. The Dutch cellist has emerged over the past decade or so as an unusually imaginative artist, forever rethinking music of the past and happily, incisively exploring the music of today. Wispelwey will tackle all five of Beethoven's cello sonatas in this visit, accompanied by pianist Dejan Lazic. It's a great opportunity to dig into a major portion of the cello repertoire, with a telling guide leading the way. The sonatas provide effective mileposts for various points in Beethoven's creative life, from his early, new-kid-on-the-block days to his years of anguish over deafness and other personal problems.

Li-Ly Chang, an internationally recognized pianist and music teacher who founded the International Young Artist Piano Competition Featuring Chinese Music, will give a lecture and recital on women composers in China at Western Maryland College on Jan. 20.The event will take place from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in McDaniel Lounge.Ms. Chang has given solo recitals and performed with orchestras here and abroad.Her New York appearances include the Carnegie Hall Recital Series, the Gazebo Summer Series, and the American Landmark Festivals celebrating the Statue of Liberty centennial.

Chris Merritt, a leading tenor of Italian bel canto opera, returned to a Baltimore synagogue last night and as the cantor said, brought a fine Hanukkah gift two days early.Merritt sang sweetly and strongly but not only the famous lyrical Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini canon he's making his cornerstone. In a nearly sold-out Beth El Congregation recital, Merritt showed he could be just as effective, and in some cases more emotional, by singing a lovely soft ending as in Henri Duparc's "Soupir" or a pleasant Rossini melody, "La Promessa."

Against the darkened altar of St. Joseph's Monastery Church Sunday, pianist Eckart Heiligers played an exquisite trio of Haydn, Scriabin and Schumann sonatas and a slightly unchurchlike concoction by Heinz Holliger.Seventy people applauded on their feet at recital's end, delighted to have been the first to hear Heiligers since he won the Yale Gordon Concerto Competition two days before at the Peabody Conservatory. They seemed to agree with series organizer Paul Jan Zdunek that Heiligers is somewhat of a "secret treasure' in Baltimore.

Only a brave singer would have chosen the songs that Simon Estes did in the first half of his recital yesterday afternoon at Morgan State University. The bass-baritone began with Mozart's dark concert aria, "Mentre Ti Lascio, O Figlia," followed it with three of Schubert's saddest songs -- "Aufenthalt," "In der Ferne," and "Der Atlas" -- and concluded with Brahms' "Vier Ernste Gasange," perhaps the most somber thing that serious composer ever wrote.But...

Time was when classical singers weren't accepted as serious artists until they had demonstrated their vocal wares and interpretive insights in recital programs filled with songs from different eras and in different languages. Today, recitals are few and far between, which makes each one all the more notable. And notable is the word for three recitals on the local schedule, starting tonight with Christine Brewer, a soprano increasingly celebrated for performances in Wagner and Strauss operas.

Dallas Mavericks guard DeShawn Stevenson has engaged Miami Heat forward LeBron James in a war of words during the NBA Finals, bringing back memories of when Stevenson was with the Wizards and James was still in Cleveland. Reminiscing about that beef on Thursday’s “Outside the Lines,” ESPN’s Bob Ley recited the first verse of "Blow the Whistle," a Stevenson diss that LeBron’s buddy Jay-Z wrote in 2008 -- including the line, "When you talking to a don, please have respect like you're talking to your mom. " Listening to the stoic sportscaster read Jay-Z lyrics might not be for you, but I thoroughly enjoyed it .

The Lutherville-Timonium Recreation Council's ballet program presented its annual showcase on May 15, this year dubbed, "An Exquisite Cache of Jewels. " The show is an annual labor of love for AnnaMarie Scharbeck, 18-yearcoordinator of the ballet program. Sunday's event, held at Dulaney High School, included more than 90 dancers — from pre-ballet through intermediate, junior and senior troupes — and included an elaborate production choreographed by Louise Kurtz, who has worked with the troupe for some 46 years; and Sarah Smith, associate director.

Jonathan Biss, the young pianist who makes his Carnegie Hall recital debut on Friday and will repeat the program at the slightly more modest Shriver Hall on Sunday, could easily have become a violinist. But as he tells it on the bio page of his website, "the highlight of his career as a violinist took place when he was a fetus. " A few months before his birth in Indiana in 1980, Biss writes, "he performed, prenatally, the Mozart A major Violin Concerto at Carnegie Hall, with the Cleveland Orchestra under the direction of Lorin Maazel.

Dressed in a gold and tan dashiki shirt, William E. Lambert stepped out in front of the ritual table and spelled it out in plain terms for the gathering at the Benjamin Banneker Historical Park & Museum in Catonsville: "As they say on the corner, 'We're all in this mess together.' That's what this is all about it. " So began the ceremonies on Day Three of the weeklong festival of Kwanzaa, an observance born of black nationalism of the 1960s that has survived, adapted, mellowed and grown to see a 45th year and another generation of children lighting the seven candles on the ritual candelabra known as the kinara.

Leon Fleisher drolly dubs the program "duets for pets" — a concert to benefit Baltimore Animal and Rescue Care Shelter Inc. The celebrated pianist will be joined by his wife, Katherine Jacobson, an accomplished keyboard artist in her own right, for the June 4 fundraiser at the Peabody Institute. Both are on the faculty there, Fleisher for more than 50 years. The two musicians are longtime supporters of BARCS. "We're very impressed with the staff and their deep commitment to giving animals a chance at a new lease on life," Jacobson says.

Yefim Bronfman, 51, who was just awarded the $50,000 Jean Gimbel Lane Prize in Piano Performance from Northwestern University, has been among the finest virtuosos for more than 30 years. He plays a recital this weekend for the Shriver Hall Concert Series. Question: Your recital includes Tchaikovsky's Grand Sonata, which you recently learned. Why do you think it's so rarely heard? Answer: It was performed a lot in the '30s and '40s, but for some reason not much after the Second World War. I want to change that.

One thing Baltimore has never lacked -- at least not since 1978 -- is at least one outstanding young cellist in recital every year. That is because of the generosity of Jephtha Drachman, the daughter of the great cellist Gregor Piatigorsky, and the other members of her family in establishing an annual Piatigorsky Memorial Concert in the Shriver Hall Series. A generous gift to the New England Conservatory of Music by the family has now established a much-enlarged Piatigorsky Prize. Last night in Shriver, the first recipient of that prize, the young English cellist, Steven Isserlis, gave a beautiful recital, worthy in every respect of the Piatigorsky name.

The Lutherville-Timonium Recreation Council's ballet program presented its annual showcase on May 15, this year dubbed, "An Exquisite Cache of Jewels. " The show is an annual labor of love for AnnaMarie Scharbeck, 18-yearcoordinator of the ballet program. Sunday's event, held at Dulaney High School, included more than 90 dancers — from pre-ballet through intermediate, junior and senior troupes — and included an elaborate production choreographed by Louise Kurtz, who has worked with the troupe for some 46 years; and Sarah Smith, associate director.

SUNDAY PARTICIPATION NATION OPENS: Project 20, a yearlong exhibition in four parts, begins with "Participation Nation," an exhibit of installations that invites viewers to contribute to the work's content. It includes works by Finishing School, Neighborhood Public Radio and Lee Mingwei at the Contemporary Museum, 100 W. Centre St. Suggested donation is $5 for adults, $3 for children. Call 410-783-5720 or go to contemporary.org. TIMBALAND: The Grammy Award-winning producer tours in support of his third solo work, "Shock Value II."

The last time Renée Fleming sang at Baltimore's Lyric Opera House, in December 2007, she heard something that superstar sopranos typically don't encounter - a wailing alarm bell, set off accidentally backstage. She was right in the middle of one of the most intensely moving scenes in the operatic repertoire, the "Willow Song" and "Ave Maria" from Verdi's "Otello." Fleming went silent, the orchestra went silent, and a packed house at this fundraising concert for the Baltimore Opera Company waited for the nuisance to cease.