Art in the Park seeking musicians

The Lawrence Art Guild is searching for musicians in all genres to provide entertainment at its 42nd Annual Art in the Park.

The event is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. May 4, with a rain date of May 11, at South Park, 11th and Massachusetts streets. Live entertainment would run from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. after the Lawrence City Band opens with a noon performance.

Musicians will alternate on the hour from the gazebo to a lower level area in front of the gazebo. Sound equipment will be provided, and musicians’ names will be included in Art in the Park advertising and articles.

As financial compensation, musicians will be allowed to sell CDs

Submit demo tapes by April 7 to: Lawrence Art Guild, Art in the Park Music, P.O. Box 1357, Lawrence 66044. Include a self-addressed, stamped envelope if you want the tape returned.

For more information, call 841-2065.

KU trombone professor, colleagues to perform

Kansas University faculty trombonist Mike Hall will offer an evening of early music for trombones and strings at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Swarthout Recital Hall.

Admission is free.

KU professors Hall and Larry Rice, who performs on double bass, will welcome guests JoDee Davis, trombone professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music, and Rebecca Bell, a Kansas City harpsichord artist.

The ensemble will perform the music of J.S. Bach, Vivaldi and Morley. A KU string quartet will join the group to play an Albinoni concerto for two oboes and string orchestra.

In addition to studio teaching duties, Hall directs the KU Trombone Ensemble (KUTE) and performs in the Kansas Brass Quintet. He also serves as Literature Reviews Editor for the International Trombone Assn. Journal.

Art department students to exhibit works

Graduating seniors from the Kansas University art department will show their work during a group exhibition running today-Friday in the Art and Design Gallery.

Admission is free and open to the public.

The students are completing their work in the following areas: painting, drawing, printmaking, new genre and sculpture.

The gallery is on the third floor of the Art and Design Building on the northeast corner of 15th Street and Naismith Drive. Hours are 1 p.m.-4:30 p.m. Sunday, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Wednesday, 8:30 a.m.-9 p.m. Thursday, and 8:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Friday.

Recital to honor Polish composer

Violinist Blanka Bednarz and pianist Matthew Bengtson will play a recital celebrating the work of Karol Szymanowski at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in Swarthout Recital Hall. Admission is free.

The program features the music of Szymanowski (1882-1937) and includes “Sonata for Violin and Piano in D minor, op.9,” “Etudes op. 4,” “Myths, op.30,” “Mazurkas op.50,” “Masques, op.34,” and “Nocturne and Tarantella, op. 28.”

Bednarz is a soloist, chamber musician, recitalist, concertmaster and educator. She has appeared on stages throughout Europe and the United States, including Jordan Hall in Boston, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Lake Placid Center for the Arts and Poznan Philharmonic Hall. She is on the faculty of Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa.

Bengtson has won numerous international and national piano awards and fellowships, including the La Gesse Fellowship, which included concerts in France and Italy, at the French Embassy in Washington, D.C., and at Thomas Jefferson’s home Monticello. He has studied at the New England Conservatory, the American Conservatory at Fontainebleau, and at the Internationale Sommerakademie “Mozarteum” in Salzburg, Austria.

National evangelist to address Baker

Baldwin — A national evangelist will speak Tuesday at Baker University as part of the school’s Black History Month activities.

The Rev. Earl W. Carter Jr., founder and senior pastor of Christ Ministries Church of God in Christ, Orlando, Fla., has been a national evangelist with the church for more than 25 years. A popular conference speaker and university lecturer, he has been featured on BET and the television program “Bountiful Blessings.”

He is also the author of the best-selling book “No Apology Necessary,” which contends Old Testament prophecies foretold the tragedy of African slavery and holds promise for relieving racial tension in America.

His talk is scheduled for 11 a.m. Tuesday in Baker University’s Rice Auditorium. The talk is free and open to the public.

Baker to stage ‘Pippin’

Baldwin — Baker University’s theatre department will stage “Pippin” at its spring semester production. The musical will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Thursday-March 1 and March 6-8.

The show is free and open to the public.

The anachronistic fairy tale, based on the book by Roger O. Hinson, features music and lyrics by three-time Oscar winning composer and lyricist Stephen Swartz.

Among the cast members from the Lawrence area are Candace Jones, Baldwin; Amanda Leach, DeSoto; Patrick Lattin, Lawrence; Lindy McNicoll, Olathe; Kimberly Carter, Overland Park; Doogin Brown and Alexandra Millikan, Shawnee; and Taylor Jane Atkins, Roeland Park.

Ozark Mountain Jubilee heads to Ottawa stage

Ottawa — The Ozark Mountain Jubilee, featuring the Bacon Family, will take a break from its 14th season in Branson to perform in Ottawa.

The show will be at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Ottawa Municipal Auditorium, 301 S. Hickory.

The Ozark Mountain Jubilee is a two-hour variety show featuring comedy and many country classics. There will be quartet singing, duets, solos and family harmony. The Bacons perform songs made famous by country artists ranging from Jim Reeves and Porter Wagoner to Patsy Cline and Alan Jackson.

Tickets are $16 and $14; children’s tickets are half price. For tickets or more information, call (785) 242-8810.

Helen Keller story takes JCCC stage

Overland Park — The miraculous story of Helen Keller comes to the stage Friday as the Montana Repertory Theatre presents “The Miracle Worker” at Johnson County Community College.

The play will be at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday in Yardley Hall of the Carlsen Center.

Although blind, deaf and mute from the age of 6 months, Keller learned to write and speak with the help of teacher Anne Sullivan. In the play by William Gibson, Sullivan teaches Keller the principle of symbolic communication — that shapes of the hand, when communicating in sign language, represent objects in the real world.

Keller went on to graduate from Radcliffe College with honors in 1904 and became an author, educator and leader for many causes, including women’s suffrage, the Socialist Party and the education of the deaf and blind.

Tickets are $25 and are available by calling (913) 469-4445 or online at www.jccc.net/CarlsenCenter.

KC Symphony to play baroque music concert

Kansas City, Mo. — Internationally renowned conductor Nicholas McGegan will lead the Kansas City Symphony through an all-baroque program featuring soprano Dominique Labelle and the works of George Frideric Handel.

Performances will be at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. March 2 at the Lyric Theatre, 11th and Central, Kansas City, Mo.

Program highlights include the Suite from “The Faithful Shepherd,” “Gloria,” Concerto Grosso No. 7 in C Major, “The Music for the Royal Fireworks” and three arias for soprano and orchestra, sung by Labelle.

Tickets are available at www.kcsymphony.org or by calling (816) 471-0400.