Illustrator, KU alumna to speak at symposium

Celebrated illustrator and Kansas University alumna Christine Schneider will discuss her work at 6 p.m. Monday at the Spencer Museum of Art as part of the Hallmark Symposium Series presented by the KU Department of Design.

Schneider grew up in Lakewood, Colo., and studied illustration at KU, graduating in 1993. She has written several children’s books, including “Jeremy’s Muffler,” “Saxophone Sam and His Snazzy Jazz Band” and “Picky Mrs. Pickle,” which was selected in January 2002 by first lady Laura Bush to read to a class of third graders for the opening celebration of the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library. Schneider also has illustrated for national publications such as Nickelodeon’s Nick Jr. Magazine, the Washington Post and the Kansas City Star.

She is art director for a magazine for the American Academy of Family Physicians and works on other design projects. Schneider lives in Lawrence with her husband and daughter.

The Hallmark Symposium Series is free and open to the public. For more information on the event, call 864-4401.

Concert to help restore historic German organ

A Kansas University doctoral student from Bulgaria has organized a benefit concert for the restoration of the German Romantic organ in Rousse, Bulgaria.

It’s the only pipe organ in a church in the entire country, said Sabin Levi, and years of neglect have rendered it unplayable.

The benefit concert is set for 7:30 p.m. today at Bales Organ Recital Hall. Admission is free, but a donation is suggested.

Musicians will be Levi, Bulgarian organist Neva Krysteva, KU trombone professor Michael Hall, KU trumpet professor Christopher Moore and violinist Matt Novak. The program will include works by Hingeston, Bach, Buxtehude, Mozart, Shostakovitch, Janacek, Messiaen and others.

Community Theatre offers youth programs

Lawrence Community Theatre is offering a spring break program to get children involved in musical theater.

From March 17 to 21, theater staff will produce “A Knight to Remember,” a time-traveling adventure with parts for everyone. Veteran teachers will work with children on singing, storytelling, acting and building props, costumes and scenery. Teachers will be led by Annette Cook, who played Patsy Cline during this season at the theater.

Enrollment is now open for weeklong and partial-week participation. The $95 fee will include instruction, materials and snacks. Children are asked to bring a sack lunch. The fee is less for partial-week participation, and some scholarships are available.

For more information or to enroll, call the theatre at 843-SHOW.

Fields Gallery welcomes artist Diana Dunkley

Fields Gallery is now showing the work of Lawrence artist Diana Dunkley.

Dunkley, who joined the gallery in January, works in a variety of expressions, including allegorical metallic watercolors and watercolor nudes. She also has done performance and installation work and is a noted arts advocate.

Dunkley graduated from Kansas University in 1974 with a double degree in sculpture and interior design. She worked in interior design until 1981, when she started her career as a practicing visual artist. She was president of the Lawrence Art Guild and a current member of the Lawrence Committee for the Advancement of the Visual Arts, an ad hoc committee that puts on the Lawrence Own-Your-Own Art Exhibition.

For more information on Dunkley’s work, stop by the gallery at 712 Mass. or call 842-7187.

Choir reunion rescheduled

A reunion concert to honor former Lawrence High School choirs director R. Wayne Nelson has been postponed.

Alumni members of Nelson’s A Cappella Choirs have been invited to sing in a reunion performance originally scheduled for this spring. Scheduling conflicts have pushed the concert back a year to May 2004.

For questions, call Barbara Hodgson at 842-7606.

Voice students perform in Brown Bag Series

Soprano Pamela Hinchman’s students will perform for Brown Bag Classics, the popular Wednesday lunchtime concerts, from 12:30 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. Wednesday at Alderson Auditorium in the Kansas Union.

The performance is free and open to the public.

Hinchman, KU associate professor of voice, has received critical acclaim since being named one of Musical America’s “Young Artists to Watch.” She has performed with opera companies and symphony orchestras throughout the United States, and her career also has taken her to Italy, Israel, Egypt, and Hong Kong.

Missouri Rep introduces Marivaux to KC area

Kansas City, Mo. — Missouri Repertory Theatre in March will present “The Triumph of Love,” the first-ever production of any play by Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux in Kansas City.

The classic French comedy previews through Tuesday and opens Wednesday at Spencer Theatre in the UMKC Performing Arts Center, 4949 Cherry St., Kansas City, Mo. The show’s run will conclude March 30.

“The Triumph of Love” tells the story of princess Leonide, who is determined to win the heart of handsome prince Agis. She weaves a web of deception and mixed-up identities in her pursuit of true love.

Tickets are $10-$47 and can be purchased by calling (816) 235-2700 or visiting www.MissouriRep.org.

Rossetti String Quartet returns to Carlsen Center

Overland Park — The Rossetti String Quartet, the Carlsen Center’s visiting quartet-in-residence, will perform at 2 p.m. today at Yardley Hall in the Carlsen Center, Johnson County Community College, 12345 College Blvd., Overland Park.

The program will be Haydn’s Quartet for Strings, Op. 20, No. 2 and No. 3, and Dvorak’s Quartet in C Major, Op. 61.

Rossetti has established an ongoing residency at the Carlsen Center, where they have performed four times since their regional debut at Yardley Hall in November 2000 and conducted master classes, coaching sessions and mini concerts for 3,227 area strings students.

The quartet’s members are Timothy Fain, violin; Henry Gronnier, violin; Thomas Diener, viola; and Eric Gaenslen, cello.

Tickets are $20 and are available by calling (913) 469-4445 or visiting www.jccc.net/CarlsenCenter.

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band to play KC gig

Overland Park — The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band will perform at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Yardley Hall in Johnson County Community College’s Carlsen Center, 12345 College Blvd.

Three decades after the release of its “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” album, the band has reunited its original members and is riding on the success of a renewed interest in bluegrass music.

The band grew from jam sessions at McCabe’s Guitar Shop in Long Beach, Calif., in the mid-1960s. Time and circumstance have continually changed the face and sound of the group. Throughout its career, the band has placed 21 albums on Billboard’s albums charts and some 30 songs on the magazine’s singles tallies.

Its 2002 Capitol release, “Will the Circle Be Unbroken III,” won the Country Music Assn.’s album of the year award and a trio of Grammy Awards.

Tickets are $30 and $25 and can be bought by calling (913) 469-4445 or visiting www.jccc.net/CarlsenCenter.

Topeka choirs join to present Evensong

Topeka — Two Topeka Choirs today will join for Choral Evensong, an ancient evening service of music, prayers and Bible readings.

The performance will be at 5 p.m. today at Grace Cathedral, 701 S.W. Eighth Ave.

The Cathedral Choir and Consort, under the direction of Steve Burk, will be joined by the Choir from First Lutheran Church, Topeka, under the direction of Mark Fuller, to present a Choral Evensong Service followed by Bach’s Cantata No. 78, “Jesus, My Beloved Savior.”

The two choirs will sing Charles Wood’s “Hail, Gladdening Light,” Ivanoff’s “Bless the Lord, O My Soul,” Gilbert Martin’s “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross,” and Evening Canticles by Roland Martin.

A reception in the Cathedral’s Great Hall will conclude the evening. For more information, call the cathedral office at (785) 235-3457.