Dawn Upshaw will sing with BSO
Dawn Upshaw has become one of the great stars of the vocal world, a soprano who possesses remarkable beauty of sound and still more remarkable intelligence and musicality. She and BSO music director David Zinman are longtime partners: two of their records together have won Grammys, and their disc of Henryk Gorecki's Symphony No. 3 is one of the biggest-sellers (more than 500,000 copies sold and still going) in the history of classical music. Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8:15 p.m., Upshaw will make another of her always much-anticipated visits to Meyerhoff Hall to collaborate with Zinman and the BSO. She will sing three concert arias by Mozart and the world premiere of Robert Beaser's song cycle, "The Heavenly Feast." Beaser, still in his 30s, is one of this country's huge composing talents, with a gift for vocal writing that is perhaps unequaled since the early days of Samuel Barber. Tickets for the concerts, which also include music of Wagner and Richard Strauss, are $17-$48. For information, call (410) 783-8000.
Baltimore artist Jimmie Miller, long known for his colorful collages, has recently set out in a new direction. He now creates what he calls fractals, or a kind of organic geometry based on broken and uneven shapes and executed with mixed media, including ballpoint pen, oil pastel and colored pencil. The Mill River Gallery in Oella pairs his recent works with ceremonial neckpieces for women created by Naomi Dagen Bloom from shells combined with beads, coins, buckles and other materials. Shown here is her "Marvelous Moon Snail," built around a shell found at Delaware's Fenwick Island. At the Mill River Gallery, 840 Oella Ave., near Ellicott City, through Dec. 18. For information, call (410) 461-1577
John Dorsey The Musical Theatre Machine will present "Aladdin" at the Merrick Barn on the Homewood campus of Johns Hopkins University for two weekends beginning Saturday. Originally a CBS television special, this musical version of the classic tale has music by Jeanne Bargy and a libretto by Jim Eiler. MTM's production is directed and choreographed by Todd Pearthree, with costumes by Judy Holland-Geary, sets by Bob Jones and musical direction by Kenning J. Davis. Curtain times are 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Sundays, through Dec. 18. Tickets are $8. For more information, call (410) 825-2554.
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J. Wynn Rousuck