Harpist to perform free concert at Owens

Toledo Symphony resident conductor Jeffrey Pollock.

Celtic harpist Sharline Wallace.

Celtic harpist Sharlene Wallace will perform a free concert at 7 p.m. Monday in the Studio Theatre of the Owens Community College Center for the Fine and Performing Arts, Oregon Road in Perrysburg Township.

The event is sponsored by the Northwest Ohio Chapter of the American Harp Society. Wallace is a Canadian musician whose talent and skill with Celtic and lever harps has brought her awards, acclaim, and recording contracts.

Wallace is on the faculty of York and Guelph universities in Ontario and is principal harpist of the Oakville and Kingston symphonies. She is a frequent collaborator with bassist George Koller, piano/flute player Susan Piltch, and accordion/fiddle player Adrian Dolan, among many others.

For more information, call 419-478-4177.

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This weekend brings the 11th annual Kaleidoscope, a showcase by and for students of the Toledo School for the Arts, at 7 p.m. Thursday and 2:30 and 7 p.m. Saturday in the Valentine Theatre, 410 Adams St. This year's theme is Light and Color.

The lobbies will burst with samples of visual and literary arts by students at the award-winning charter school. Onstage musicians, dancers, and actors will perform a varied program to include jazz, show tunes, and an original short play based on the classic board game Clue.

Doors open two hours ahead of showtime for the exhibits. Tickets start at $11 at 419-246-8762, extension 2.

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Toledo Symphony resident conductor Jeffrey Pollock.

Fresh from its triumphant Carnegie Hall debut, the Toledo Symphony will keep busy this weekend with its local version of Spring for Music, the Family Concert IV presented in partnership with the Metroparks of Greater Toledo, at 3 p.m. Sunday in the Toledo Museum of Art Peristyle.

Resident conductor Jeffrey Pollock will lead the symphony in a program of nature-inspired classical and lighter works inspired by Strauss, Grieg, Vivaldi, Herbert, and Ravel. Joining the orchestra will be soprano Jennifer Cresswell and violinist Alex Ragusitu. Tickets start at $10 for children.

Free activities for children will be set up in the Peristyle lobby starting at 2 p.m. Sunday.

Two Neighborhood Concerts also are happening this weekend, both led by Pollock. The Chamber Players will perform at 7 p.m. Saturday at Glenwood Lutheran Church, 2545 Monroe St. The Woodwind Quintet, the String Quartet, and the Brass Quintet will perform works by Rossini, Dvorak, Calvert, and Sousa.

At 6:30 p.m. Sunday the symphony and organist Brian Bogdanovitz will team up for a varied program in Gesu Church, 2049 Parkside Blvd. Bogdanovitz, resident organist and music director and nationally known improvisatory organist, will play his own version of Around the World in 80 Days.

The Fourth Grade Young People's Concerts are set for 10 and 11:30 a.m. Wednesday in the Peristyle. Robert Mirakian will conduct and Robert Clemens will narrate in a program of classical and popular music.

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The program for organist Adam Brakel's Toledo debut recital at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in Our Lady, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Cathedral, 1535 Collingwood Blvd., will begin with American composer Dudley Buck's stirring Concert Variations on the Star-Spangled Banner through J.S. Bach's Prelude and Fugue in A Major and Josef Rheinberger's big romantic Introduction and Passacaglia in E minor to Three Etudes by French composer Jeanne Demessieux.

This free concert, presented in memory of Joseph Lawton by his family, is the final event in the 2010-2011 Cathedral Music series.

Items for News of Music should be sent to svallongo@theblade.com at least two weeks ahead of performance date.