Shriver Hall

DVD THE GOLDEN AGE / / Universal Pictures. Available Tuesday. DVD: $19.98. HD-DVD: $39.98. ....................... Ten years after first donning that imposing red wig, Cate Blanchett reprises her role as Queen Elizabeth I in Elizabeth: The Golden Age. While the sequel lacks much of the crackling tension and intrigue that made 1997's Elizabeth so successful, Blanchett is no less impressive. Nominated for an Oscar for the role, she exudes intelligence and authority as she commands her court while still conveying a deep sense of regret and isolation in her private life.

A week after receiving one of this year's Kennedy Center Honors, Leon Fleisher performed two-hand piano music with inspiring confidence and expressive power at the Peabody Institute. Denied the use of his right hand for decades due to a neurological movement disorder, the pianist has made a gradual return to ambidexterity in recent years, thanks to Botox injections. As Fleisher is the first to point out, his condition has hardly been healed, just modified. So every occasion to hear him in double-barrel music-making is to be treasured.

The music season heated up some more over the weekend, with the help of interesting, effectively delivered repertoire. After an early-September, nonsubscription event featuring Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, the Shriver Hall Concert Series opened its annual classical series Sunday evening at the Johns Hopkins University with the superb Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet. The program provided an immersion course in French music for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn.

The 2007-2008 classical music season moves quickly into gear this weekend with several events that ought to be well worth a listen. For starters, the eminent Kronos Quartet, which has imaginatively and intensely explored new music for more than 30 years, opens the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center's season Friday with a concert reflecting on Sept. 11. Called "Awakening" and developed for last year's fifth anniversary of that appalling day, the program is described as a "new soundtrack" to the images we all retain.

For its 42nd season, the Shriver Hall Concert Series will present a lineup that, even by this organization's perennially high standards, looks exceptional. The 2007-2008 roster of visiting artists ranges from leading pianists and singers to a famed marionette company and even a high-profile jazz band. The subscription series, held at Shriver Hall on the campus of the Johns Hopkins University, will open Sept. 30 with the excellent Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet playing music by Samuel Barber, Darius Milhaud and others.

The lowdown -- Before there was West Side Story or even Kiss Me, Kate, there was The Boys From Syracuse, which blazed the trail as the first Broadway musical adapted from Shakespeare. George Abbott based the script on The Comedy of Errors, and Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart added a score. The tale of two pairs of separated twins begins performances tomorrow at Center Stage, directed by Baltimore native David Schweizer. If you go -- Showtimes vary at Center Stage, 700 N. Calvert St. Tickets are $15-$50.

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.

"Music converted me," the French pianist Helene Grimaud writes in her autobiography, Wild Harmonies. "It saved me." HELENE GRIMAUD / / 5:30 p.m. / / Piano recital at Shriver Hall, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N. Charles St. / / Sold out; for possible ticket returns, call 410-516-7164

20,000 GAMERS Be a part of an international gaming event from the comfort of your hometown at Worldwide Dungeons and Dragons Game Day. With more than 700 locations registered to play and an expected 20,000 participants, the games are set to begin Saturday. Participants will play simultaneously from places like Serbia, Argentina and Baltimore. Gamers will enjoy the fantasy worlds of role-playing filled with monsters, ogres, vampires and royalty. ....................... The event takes place Saturday at nine Maryland game and comics stores, including Walt's Cards in Dundalk, Dream Wizards in Rockville and Games and Comics and Stuff in Glen Burnie.

Lecture Remembering Tupac Shakur At 7:30 p.m. today, Afeni Shakur, mother of murdered rapper Tupac Shakur, will deliver a lecture titled "Remember Me: The Living Legacy of Tupac Shakur." The lecture is part of the Milton S. Eisenhower Symposium at the Johns Hopkins University and takes place at Shriver Hall, 3400 N. Charles St. It's free and open to the public, but seating is limited. For more in formation, go to www.jhu.edu/mse.