PEACH WEEKENDER

Music: BGSU to present ‘Pirates of Penzance’

The University Musical Society will continue its season with performances by Ballet Preljocaj, a French dance company, at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Power Center, 121 Fletcher St. in Ann Arbor.

Gilbert and Sullivan’s classic comic operetta, The Pirates of Penzance, is to open at 8 p.m. Friday in Kobacker Hall of Bowling Green State University’s Moore Musical Arts Center.

The BGSU Opera Theater production tells the tale of soft-hearted pirates, pompous officers, cowardly police, and true love, through lively dialogue and memorable music.

Jane Schoonmaker Rodgers, who is directing this show, said, “American audiences can relate to this pretty well. The comedy is quintessential British comedy that relates fairly well to things we laugh at today. It’s all very light-hearted, some dancing, nothing very complex — perfect for family audiences.”

The show will repeat at 3 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $15 at 419-372-8171 or www.bgsu.edu.

Also at BGSU, guest artist Nicholas Phillips, a pianist, will sample pieces from his American Vernacular project, in which he commissioned solo works for piano. The free performance begins at 8 p.m. Sunday in Bryan Hall of the Moore Center.

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The Toledo Symphony’s Blade Chamber Series Concert II is set for 7 p.m. Sunday in the Toledo Club. Strings and brass will predominate in three works, the first of which, Blackbird Variations for Brass Quintet by Robert Dennis, is a local premiere.

Performers Lauraine Carpenter, Thaddeus Archer, Garth Simmons, Alan Taplin, and David Saltzman will perform this 1987 piece, inspired by a Wallace Stevens poem.

Another premiere is planned, the String Quartet No. 5 by R. Murray Schafer, subtitled Rosalind. This work, to be played by Merwin Siu, Tim Zeithamel, Cheryl Trace, and Damon Coleman, is a single movement.

Concluding the concert will be Schubert’s Octet, a work of six movements written for a small chamber group — strings and a few winds. Performers Kirk Toth and Patricia Budner, Valentin Ragusitu, Martha Reikow, William McDevitt, Gareth Thomas, Georg Klaas, and Sandra Clark will offer a reprise of this popular work in the symphony repertoire. Tickets are $30-$35 at www.toledosymphony.com or 419-246-8000.

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The Toledo Alumni Chapter and University of Toledo Epsilon Chapter of Mu Phi Epsilon, the music fraternity, will celebrate their 110th anniversary with a Founders Day Concert at 3 p.m. Sunday in the UT Recital Hall. Performers will include pianists Elaine Moore, Barbara Harris, Wendene Shoupe, and Grace Mank, and vocalists Lena Miller and Wesley Forney. The concert is free and open to the public.

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The University Musical Society will continue its season with presentation of Ballet Preljocaj, a French dance company, in 8 p.m. performances Friday and Saturday at Power Center, 121 Fletcher St. Ann Arbor is one of the few places where the company’s new work, Then, One Thousand Years of Peace by founder Angelin Preljocaj will be performed. Tickets are $18-$44.

Apollo’s Fire, the early music ensemble founded and led by Jeannette Sorrell and based in Cleveland, will play at 4 p.m. Sunday in Hill Auditorium. Bach lovers will rejoice as the program comprises Brandenburg Concerts numbers 2 through 6.

Tickets are $14-$70 at www.ums.org or 734-764-2538.

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Hankering for woodwind quintet music? The Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra offers an afternoon delight of a program Friday: works by Arne Running, Ferenc Farkas, Jacques Ibert, William Grant Still, and others. Performers from the A2SO are Penny Fischer, Lynne Marie Mangan, Jay deVries, Nora Schankin, and Melanie Hellick.

The music will start at 1:30 p.m. in the Jewish Community Center of Greater Ann Arbor. Tickets are $10 at the door or in advance at 734-994-4801. Information: www.a2so.com.

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The Toledo School for the Arts continues its concert series with music for strings and chorus at 7 p.m. Monday at Trinity Episcopal Church, 316 Adams St.

Send News of Music items to svallongo@theblade.com at least two weeks ahead of an event.