Moscow Ballet to perform ‘Great Russian Nutcracker’

The Moscow Ballet will perform perennial favorite “The Great Russian Nutcracker” Wednesday at the Lied Center.

The show begins at 7 p.m. Tickets are $42 and $36. They are available by calling 864-2787.

Moscow Ballet, a pure classical ballet company, is composed of an all-Russian cast of 50 dancers who range in age from 19 to 30.

“The Great Russian Nutcracker” combines the traditional holiday family favorite with a message of peace. Unlike many American adaptations, “The Great Russian Nutcracker” ends not in the Land of Sweets but in the Land of Peace and Harmony.

‘Art and War’ panel highlights dance concert

In anticipation of the University Dance Company’s upcoming performance of “Missa Brevis,” a response to the devastation of World War II, the Kansas University dance program will present an open rehearsal and panel discussion titled “Art and War.”

The rehearsal begins at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, with the discussion directly following in the Seymour Gallery at the Lied Center. The event is free and open to the public.

The panel will feature Chuck Berg, professor and associate chair of the theater and film department; Steve Goddard, art history professor and curator at the Spencer Museum of Art; James Woelfel, director of humanities and western civilization; John Paul Johnson, director of choral activities; and Sarah Stackhouse, the guest choreographer who’s restaging Jose Limón’s “Missa Brevis” with the KU dance company.

The dance will be part of the company’s concert on Nov. 21-22 at the Lied Center.

For more information, call 864-1099.

Children’s choir to sing fall concert in Topeka

Topeka — The Lawrence Children’s Choir will perform its fall concert under the direction of Janeal Krehbiel at 5 p.m. Saturday at Grace Episcopal Cathedral, 701 S.W. Eighth Ave., Topeka.

Tickets are $6 in advance or $8 at the door. The Choristers Preparatory Choir, under the direction of Pam Bushouse, will precede the Tour Choir.

Instrumentalists will include Justine Ahle, Erin Gernon and Sara McGuire on harp; Lyra Pherigo on flute; Mirna Cabrera, Carolyn Welch and Noah Welch on percussion; and Eric Williams and others on strings.

Sister Cities board to fund scholarships

The Lawrence Sister Cities Advisory Board will be host to its annual scholarship fund-raiser from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday at the Lawrence Arts Center, 940 N.H.

Events include a social hour with complimentary wine bar, dinner provided by Maceli’s Catering and served by local high school students who have participated in cultural exchanges with sister cities in Eutin, Germany, and Hiratsuka, Japan; and music by Camerata Lawrence, which has performed in Germany with the support of the Lawrence Sister Cities Advisory Board.

Cost is $30 per person; all proceeds will benefit junior high and high school students applying for need-based scholarships to participate in cultural exchanges with the sister cities.

To reserve a seat, call Graham Kreicker at 842-2332 by Wednesday. Those who cannot attend but would like to make donations can send checks payable to Lawrence Sister Cities Gala, c/o Graham Kreicker, 1625 St. Andrews Drive, Lawrence 66047.

Photo/performance artist to discuss work at Spencer

Korean-born, New York artist Nikki S. Lee, who explores identity and the immigrant experience through documentary photography and performance art, will discuss her photographs at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Spencer Museum of Art auditorium.

The event is free and open to the public.

Lee explores subcultures as diverse as drag queens, punks, senior citizens, yuppies, skateboarders and exotic dancers. Typical of Lee’s work is a photo in the Spencer’s collection from her 2001 series The Hip Hop Project. She learned to imitate the clothing, gestures and postures of the Bronx’s hip-hop subculture and posed with some of its members for pictures snapped by friends or bystanders.

Her work is a combination of self-portraiture, photojournalism and performance art.

Her most recent solo exhibition, “Parts,” opened Nov. 1 at the Leslie Tonkonow gallery in New York City.

Piano fund drive to benefit children’s choir

PianoAmerica has announced a new fund-raising initiative designed to benefit members and families of the Lawrence Children’s Choir.

Through Dec. 31, the store will make a donation for every new or used, acoustic or digital, upright or grand piano sold either through referral by choir friends and families or directly to a choir family. All donated funds will support the general operations of the choir.

Donations will be made on a progressive scale, starting at a 10 percent contribution for each of the first five pianos sold, a 15 percent contribution for each of the next five pianos sold and so on. If the fund-raising effort reaches its target of 10 pianos, the overall donation will be more than $1,500.

PianoAmerica has pledged to make the fund-raiser an annual event. The store at 1410 Kasold Drive is Kansas’ largest Suzuki dealer and also features acoustic pianos by Yamaha-Pearl River, digital pianos by Generalmusic and its own PianoAmerica brand.

For more information, contact Joe DeFio at 841-4226.

Faculty composer to share works

Charles Hoag, professor of theory and composition in Kansas University’s music and dance department, will perform a faculty recital at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Swarthout Recital Hall.

Among the pieces on the program are “Dark Tango,” featuring Mike Hall, assistant professor of trombone, and Elizabeth Berghout, university carillonneur and assistant professor of carillon and organ, on piano; “In Brughel’s Great Picture the Kermess (William Carlos Williams),” featuring soprano Erin Binter, graduate student in voice; Genaro Mendez, tenor, assistant professor of voice at KU; and Ka-I Tien, piano, a D.M.A. student in piano; and “Amanda’s Rant,” featuring Amanda Harlan, mezzo soprano, master’s student in voice and musicology, and Mike Powell, master’s student in percussion, on drums.

Hoag teaches composition and graduate courses in 20th-century music theory, and also directs the New Music Ensemble.

For more information, call 864-3436.

Kansas arts enthusiasts to gather in Topeka

The Great Kansas arts adventure, pARTicipate too, an interactive conference utilizing creativity, skills and ideas from artists, arts organizers, educators, volunteers, board members, and everyone who believes in the power of the arts in Kansas communities, will be Friday and Saturday at Washburn University in Topeka.

The statewide conference is the second to be sponsored by the Kansas Arts Resource Group (KARG) and will again be based on the “Open Space” concept, which gives all attendees the right and responsibility to place items on the agenda. In addition to the Open Space sessions, three panel discussions will address the topics of funding, issues for arts in education, and program assessment and evaluation.

Registration is at 6:30 p.m. Friday, and Scott Allegrucci, Kansas director of travel and tourism, will give the keynote address at 7:30 p.m.

For more information, call (785) 825-2700.

Renowned sculptor to lecture about work

New York-based artist Allan McCollum will lecture and show images of his work at 5 p.m. Monday in the Spencer Museum of Art auditorium.

The event is free and open to the public.

McCollum is an internationally known sculptor whose latest solo exhibition opened Friday and runs through Dec. 20 at Kansas City (Mo.) Grand Arts, 1819 Grand Blvd. His work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and others in Europe and Asia.

Discussion, forum to explore Mormon faith

The Mormon faith will be the focus of a two-part series titled “Polygamy, Murder and the Will of God” coordinated by Union Programs at Kansas University.

For the first part of the series, people are encouraged to read “Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith” by Jon Krakauer, who explores the issues of faith with a look at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The novel shares the story of two brothers (Mormon fundamentalists) that claimed God instructed them to murder their sister-in-law and niece.

The book discussion will be from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Hawks Nest on level 1 of the Kansas Union. The book is available for a 20 percent discount at Oread Books.

The second portion of the series is an open forum panel at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 2 to ask questions and debunk myths regarding the Mormon faith. Panelists will include KU faculty and community members.

Celebrated pianist coming to KU

Internationally renowned pianist and virtuoso Roman Rudnytsky will play at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Swarthout Recital Hall.

Admission is free.

Rudnytsky will play pieces by Ravel, Brahms, Copland and Horowitz.

Born in New York into a prominent Ukrainian musical family, Rudnytsky began studying piano at age 4 and gave his first full recital at age 7. He is a graduate of the Juilliard School in New York and studied at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. He is a prize winner in 10 prestigious piano competitions, including the International Leventritt Competition in New York and the International J.S. Bach Competition in Washington.

Since 1972, he has been a member of the piano faculty of the Dana School of Music at Youngstown State University in Youngstown, Ohio.

For more information, call 864-3436.

Program to teach storycloth tradition

The art form known as Pa’ndau, or storycloth, will be the topic of a Saturday children’s program at Watkins Community Museum of History, 1047 Mass.

The program, which carries a fee of $5 per child, is appropriate for children ages 8-12.

Pa’ndau are pictorial histories of family and village life in Vietnam, Laos, Burma and Thailand. Heather Bowyer will be facilitator, and each child will create his or her own storycloth.

The program will be from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. For more information or to register, call 841-4109.

Master’s candidate to conduct KU choir

Kansas University graduate student John M. Petzet will perform a master’s recital with the University Singers at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center, 1631 Crescent Road.

Admission is free. A reception will follow the performance.

University Singers is one of the oldest continuing choral ensembles at Kansas University, with an enrollment of 60 singers of all ages. Under the direction of Petzet, who is obtaining a master’s degree in choral conducting, the vocal group will perform music by Handel, Copland and Rutter.

For more information, call 864-3436.

Baker orchestra to give free fall concert

Baldwin — The Baker University Orchestra will perform its first formal concert of the season at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the First United Methodist Church, Eighth and Grove streets.

The concert, under the direction of Larry Williams, is free and open to the public.

The program will have two pieces by Bach, including the Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, which features two string soloists and a virtuoso keyboard part to be played by faculty member Trilla Lyerla. A violin solo will be played by Scott Allison, Bartlett senior; a viola solo will be played by Daniel Colwell, Ottawa sophomore.

The concert will include selections by Arensky, Bloch, Brahms and Dvorak and will celebrate the music of Italian and American movies and two Hungarian dances.

Washburn music faculty to stage concert

Topeka — A tuba solo by Ed Higgins and the string duet of Larisa and Steven Elisha are two features planned for a faculty concert at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday at White Concert Hall in the Garvey Fine Arts Center at Washburn University.

The event is free and open to the public.

The program also will feature solos by Todd Wilkinson, saxophone; Kim Krutz, bassoon; and Stephanie Cox, trombone. Kirt Saville, Rebecca Meador and Krutz will perform a woodwind trio, and there will be a performance by the vocal duet of Ann Marie Snook and Elizabeth Schellman.

For more information, call (785) 231-1010, ext. 1511.

Residency kicks off Alvin Ailey anniversary

Kansas City, Mo. — Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey this month begins a yearlong celebration of its 20th anniversary.

Ailey II, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s junior company, will conduct its biennial residency Monday through Saturday. During their stay, company members will give lecture-demonstrations, attend special events, do mini-performances for schools and end the week with three public performances at the Folly Theater, 200 W. 12th St., at 8 p.m. Friday, and 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday. The troupe’s Kansas City repertory will include three new ballets.

Ailey II began in 1974 as the Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble. Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey was created in 1984 to provide a second home for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and an ongoing presence for the company in Kansas City.

For a complete schedule or more information, call (816) 471-6003. For tickets to the Folly Theater performances, call (816) 474-4444.

KC Lyric Opera staging ‘Elixir of Love’

Kansas City, Mo. — The Lyric Opera of Kansas City opened Gaetano Donizetti’s “The Elixir of Love” Saturday evening at the Lyric Theatre, 1029 Central St., Kansas City, Mo., and will continue with performances at 7:30 p.m. Monday and Wednesday, 8 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Nov. 16.

Starring as the light-hearted Adina will be soprano Sarah Coburn in her Lyric Opera debut. Performing opposite her as the lovesick Nemorino is Kansas City resident Nathan Granner, who has become nationally famous as one of “The American Tenors.”

The show is under the direction of Tim Ocel, who is also staging Kansas University Opera’s production of “The Crucible.”

Tickets range from $10 to $62 and can be purchased by calling (816) 471-7344.

KU faculty artist receives prestigious art award

Roger Shimomura, distinguished professor of art at Kansas University, is one of 10 artists from across the country to receive the prestigious Joan Mitchell Foundation Award.

The foundation, based in New York, was established in 1993 in the memory of Joan Mitchell, a celebrated and widely recognized contemporary abstract expressionist painter.

The award, based on excellence in the fields of painting and sculpture, carries an unrestricted stipend of $15,000. Recipients were selected from among 60 nominees nationwide.

American Indian artist to show sculptures

Lawrence artist Barry Coffin’s show, “Indian Art in the New Millennium,” will open Thursday at the Haskell Cultural Center and Museum.

The exhibition will include ceramic and stone sculpture.

A reception will be from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday at the center on the Haskell Indian Nations University campus.

The show will remain on view through the end of January. It’s the cultural center’s first show by an individual artist.

Big band concert will benefit Habitat

Don Mueller and his New Attune group will join Clyde Bysom’s Big Band to present Swing Time and Coffee from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. today at First United Methodist Church, 946 Vt.

Stacy Walters will be vocalist for the band. Mike Cormack, Alfred Lata, Nancy Gibbens, Karen Stephenson and Robin Miller also will sing accompanied by pianist-arranger Mueller, along with Hal Bundy, string bass; Bruce Roberts, drums; and Tommy Johnson, trumpet.

Thom Sutherland will emcee the concert. No tickets are needed, but a donation is suggested for Lawrence Habitat for Humanity.