Guitar quartet to debut commissioned works

The Los Angeles Guitar Quartet with guest percussionist Colin Currie will play a concert at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Lied Center.

The quartet and Currie will play four new commissioned works by Peter Erskine, Steve Mackey, Joe Duddell and the quartet’s own Andrew York. The pieces were co-commissioned by the Lied Center, Atlanta’s Spivey Hall and UCLA Live.

Ensemble members — York, John Dearman, William Kanengiser and Scott Tennant — will give a free preview performance at 12:30 p.m. Thursday in the Hawk’s Nest at the Kansas Union.

Tickets for the evening show are $11.50-$28 and are available at 864-2787.

Kansas artist’s keepsake boxes get Oscar nod

Pittsburg artist Sherri Lindsay’s mosaic keepsake boxes will be in the hands of Oscar nominees Feb. 29 at the 76th Annual Academy Awards.

Her company, Quiltblox, has been commissioned to create a limited edition keepsake box to be included in nominee gift baskets, which will contain a collection of items valued at more than $40,000.

Each keepsake box features a pink star with gold border on a black background, resembling stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The mosaic design, rendered in painted eggshell, is created by applying tiny pieces with watchmaker’s tweezers to the top of a custom-make wood box.

Concert a showplace for area choreographers

The Prairie Wind Dancers will present a “Choreographer’s Showcase” at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Lawrence Arts Center, 940 N.H.

The Prairie Wind Dancers will perform works from their upcoming New Works concert in April. Other performers on the program include Atrek Dance Company, of St. Louis; JoAnne Zingo Hargis, director of Raghsidad, a Lawrence-based Middle Eastern dance company; and the Urban Jazz Dancers, directed by Molly B. Gordon, of Lawrence, and Sally Crawford of Kansas City.

Choreographers M. Suzanne Ryan, of Kansas City, and Deborah Bettinger, of Lawrence, also will have works in the concert.

Joining the show for the first year will be the Bowery Dancers, of Lawrence, and Maxxas Dance Theatre, of Olathe.

Tickets are $10 for adults, $8 for students and seniors. They’re available by calling 843-2787.

Soloists to perform with Free State orchestra

Five soloists will perform with the Free State High School orchestra Tuesday at the school’s auditorium, 4700 Overland Drive.

The free concert begins at 7 p.m.

Soloists are: Robert Figueria, French horn; Kate Naramore, mezzo-soprano; George Brahler, tenor; Emily Hamilton, soprano; and Katy Kline, piano.

Program highlights include a Mozart horn concerto, an aria from Don Giovanni and vocal selections by Stradella & Lotti arranged for string orchestra.

The orchestra is under the direction of Lynn Basow.

KU women playwrights selected for K.C. festival

Two Kansas University playwrights are among 12 writers whose 10-minute plays will be presented at Potluck Productions’ 2004 Women’s Playwriting Festival March 5-14 in Kansas City, Mo.

“A Test of Will” by Elizabeth Dean and “Last Cigarette” by Carol Dias-da-Silva were selected from more than 100 submissions from women playwrights within 500 miles of Kansas City.

The festival will be at the Just Off Broadway Theatre, 3051 Central, Kansas City, Mo.

Evening performances are 8 p.m. and Sunday matinees are 3 p.m. Tickets are $10 and are available at (816) 523-5038.

KU choir, wind ensemble tackle ‘Carmina Burana’

A scroll of medieval poems discovered in 1803 in the debris of a Bavarian monastery revealed a world of poetic renegades and rebels in the medieval clergy. The writings inspired German composer Carl Orff in 1936 to create “Carmina Burana.”

The Kansas University Symphonic Choir and the Wind Ensemble will perform “Carmina Burana” at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Lied Center.

The production will include soloists Pamela Hinchman, soprano; Genaro Mendez, tenor; and Stanford Felix, baritone. John Paul Johnson will direct the choir, and John Lynch will lead the wind ensemble.

A special English reading of selections from the “Carmina Burana” accompanied by medieval music will begin at 6:45 p.m. in the Lied Center lobby.

Tickets are $7 for adults, $5 for students and seniors, and can be purchased by calling 864-2787.

British vocal authority to tutor KU students

Andrew Wade, former head of voice at the Royal Shakespeare Co. in Stratford-on-Avon, England, will be in residence Monday through Friday at Kansas University.

Wade, who recently stepped down after serving 17 years with the company, will work with performance students in the theater and film department, conducting workshops and master classes in voice techniques.

He also will give a free public lecture demonstration, “Pioneering the Actor’s Voice: The Royal Shakespeare Co.,” from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Inge Theatre in Murphy Hall.

Wade and Paul Meier, KU professor of theater and film and head of the University Theatre’s voice and diction program, will participate in a Brown Bag Lunch from noon to 1 p.m. Monday in the Crafton-Preyer Theatre lobby.

LHS students part of regional photo show

A handful of Lawrence High School students have had photographs accepted in the 20th annual Five-State Professional Photography Exhibition at the Hays Arts Center.

The juried exhibition remains on view through March 19 and features work by photographers in Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Missouri.

The following students were accepted: Brooke Goodin, Rhiana Huff, Tyler Levy, Mick Cottin, Niki Smith, Ali Dankenbring, Lauren Crawford and Kira Barker.

Multiple award winners were Goodin, who had four photos accepted, and Dankenbring, who had two photos accepted.

Goodin, Levy and Dankenbring were recipients of special Juror Merit recognition.

Lawrence native in Washburn exhibit

Tricia Breer, of Lawrence, is one of 43 Washburn University students who will be featured in an exhibit Saturday through April 4 at the Mulvane Art Museum.

Two of her ceramic works will be part of the student show.

The museum is at 17th and Jewell. Hours are 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday-Wednesday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursday-Friday and 1 p.m.-4 p.m. Saturday-Sunday.

For more information, call (785) 231-1124.