Two music professors at Tianjin Conservatory of Music in China will perform Monday at the Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vt.

Although the library will be closed Monday for the funeral of staffer Joyce Steiner, the program will continue as planned.

Wang Jianxin and Li Fengyun will perform a variety of Chinese instruments, including the qin, an ancient seven-stringed instrument similar to a zither; the xiao, a flute; the pipa, a lute; the xun, an earthen instrument similar to an ocarina; and the di, a bamboo flute.

The performance, which is free and open to the public, begins at 7 p.m. It is co-sponsored by the Center for East Asian Studies at Kansas University.

Clarinet professor to play in Brazil

A Kansas University faculty member has been selected to travel to Brazil this month as part of the 34th annual International Music Festival of the Escola de Musica e Artes Cenicas da Universidade Federal de Goias.

Stephanie Zelnick, assistant professor of music, will present master classes and a clarinet recital. This trip is the second in two years that Zelnick has taken to Brazil. She also taught and performed at the University of Rio De Janeiro, the University of Campinas and the University of Brasilia.

Zelnick plans to perform the works of Kovacs, Horowitz and Grgin as part of music festival.

Audio-Reader plans annual benefit sale

High-end audio equipment and recordings and will be sold next weekend as an annual fundraiser for the Kansas Audio-Reader Network.

“For Your Ears Only,” a benefit sale, runs Friday and Saturday at the Douglas County 4-H Fairgrounds, 2120 Harper St.

Sales benefit Audio-Reader, a Kansas University-based organization that provides reading services to the visually impaired.

This year’s sale will feature LPs from musicians who played at Woodstock 40 years ago, as well as artists who died before their time, including Michael Jackson, George Harrison, Jim Croce, Jerry Garcia and Elvis Presley. Equipment by such manufacturers as McIntosh, Bang and Olufsen, Mitsubishi, Nakamichi, Dynaco, Sony, JVC and Pioneer also will be for sale.

Friday’s sale runs from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., and there is a $10 entry fee that day that includes music by the Lonesome Hobos, free food and prizes. Advance tickets are available for $7 at Audio-Reader.

On Saturday, admission is free, and the sale runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Prices are slashed after noon.

‘Kansas Nutcracker’ seeks dancers, actors

Actors and dancers ages 5 and up are sought for this year’s “A Kansas Nutcracker” production at the Lawrence Arts Center, 940 N.H.

Auditions are scheduled for Sept. 20. Ages 5-8 are from noon to 1:30 p.m.; ages 9-11 are from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.; ages 12-18 are from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.; and adults are from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Call-backs, if needed, will be Sept. 21.

This year’s show dates are Dec. 11, 12, 13, 18, 19 and 20.

Auditions will include some reading, dramatic exercises and dance combinations. In all, more than 100 dancers and actors will be chosen.

There will be a participation fee of $88 for those selected. Call 843-2787 for more information.

Author to speak about secret military base

The author of a book that exposes the “other Guantanamo looming at the heart of the Indian Ocean” will speak Wednesday in Lawrence.

David Vine, who wrote “Island of Shame: The Secret History of the U.S. Military Base on Diego Garcia” (Princeton University Press), will speak and sign books at Oread Books in the Kansas Union. The event is from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Although most people do not know it exists, the U.S. military base on the island of Diego Garcia is one of the most strategically important and secretive U.S. military installations in the world, serving as a launch pad for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a centerpiece for U.S. domination of Middle East oil supplies and perhaps the site of a top-secret CIA prison.

“Island of Shame” also reveals information about how the U.S. conspired with Britain to forcibly expel Diego Garcia’s indigenous people and dump them in impoverished exile.

Vine is assistant professor of anthropology at American University in Washington, D.C. His writing has appeared in many national publications, including The New York Times, Washington Post and the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Nominations sought for Phoenix Awards

The deadline to nominate someone to receive a 2009 Phoenix Award is Sept. 30.

The awards, given by the Lawrence Cultural Arts Commission, recognize outstanding artistic achievements in the Lawrence community. Since their inception in 1996, more than 100 artists have been honored.

Artists can be nominated in the fields of visual, literary, musical, theatrical and media arts. Arts educators, administrators, advocates and volunteers also are eligible.

Nomination forms are online at lawrenceartscommission.org and also can be found at the Lawrence Arts Center, 940 N.H.; City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St.; and the Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vt.

The 14th annual Phoenix Awards will be formally presented during a reception at 2 p.m. Nov. 8 at the Spencer Museum of Art Recipients will receive an award created by local artist Bob Gent. The Lawrence Cultural Arts Commission is an advisory board of the city of Lawrence.