Pavarotti tickets still available

Wichita  Opera legend Luciano Pavarotti will perform at 6 p.m. April 6 at the Kansas Coliseum. He will be joined by Italian soprano Annalisa Raspagliosi and the 64-piece Wichita Grand Opera Orchestra.

The concert will feature many of Pavarotti’s favorite arias and other popular Italian songs. Tickets range from $50 to $300 and are available by calling (316) 755-7328 or (316) 263-4717.

After the concert, the Pavarotti Opera Ball will begin at 9 p.m. at Century II in downtown Wichita. The Pavarotti Gala ticket package is $500 or $600 a person. It includes premier seating at the concert, dining with Pavarotti, premier seating at the black-tie opera ball, ballroom dancing, a silent auction, valet parking and round-trip coach service between Century II and the Kansas Coliseum.

Gala tickets are available by calling (316) 683-3444 or ordering online at www.WichitaGrandOpera.org.

Children’s Literature Festival set in Ottawa

Ottawa  Ten authors of children’s books, a storyteller and a children’s book illustrator will appear Wednesday at the Children’s Literature Festival at Ottawa University.

They will share their stories with 1,200 third-, fourth- and fifth-graders in Franklin County from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Presenters include Claudia Mills, Mary Downing Hahn, June Rae Wood, Vicki Grove, Lois Ruby, Evester Roper, Ivy Ruckman, Brad Sneed, Carolyn Reeder, Alexandria LaFaye, William T. Anderson and Sneed B. Collard III.

St. Pat’s parade, trolley tours slated in Atchison

Atchison  The 19th annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade will be at 2 p.m. Saturday in downtown Atchison.

In addition, a 1 1/2-hour trolley tour that showcases the community’s Irish heritage will be offered at 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. today and March 17 and at 10:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Saturday. The tour departs from the Santa Fe Depot, 200 S. 10th St.

The tour includes visits to St. Patrick’s stone church south of Atchison, historic homes built by Irish families, past and present-day Irish-owned businesses and two Catholic churches with Irish parishioners.

The tour is $5. For more information, call (800) 234-1854.

String players join organist for concert

Topeka  An organ concert will be present at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in St. David’s Episcopal Church, 17th and Gage.

Cynthia Neufeld Smith, organist, and Sylvia Hamilton, harpsichordist, will be joined by flutist Jill Gilliland, violinists Donna Mealy and Molly Wiseman, violist Rachel Voth and cellist Carolyn Rich Voth.

The program includes “Sonata da chiesa” by Dan Locklair; “O Lamm Gottes unschuldig” by J.S. Bach; “Pange Lingua for Organ” by Hakim; “Sonata in C, KV 336” by Mozart; and “Concerto in B-flat Major, Opus 4, No. 6” by Handel.

Expert on Egypt to speak at museum

Kansas City, Mo. Â Egyptologist and author Nigel Strudwick will present “The Tomb on Senneferi at Thebes: A Tale of Several Families” at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 4525 Oak St.

His presentation will deal with an ongoing excavation at the tomb of Senneferi, who was the overseer of seal bearers in the reign of Thutmosis II, about 1400 B.C.

Strudwick is assistant keeper in the department of ancient Egypt and Sudan at the British Museum. He is one of three staff members from the British Museum who are in Kansas City to oversee the installation of “Eternal Egypt: Masterworks of Ancient Art from the British Museum,” which will run April 13 through July 7.

The free lecture is open to the public.

Children’s author set to sign books at Borders

Children’s author Lois Ruby will sign copies of her books at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Borders, 700 N.H.

Ruby’s books include “Steal Away Home” and “Soon Be Free,” which are set in Lawrence.