ARTS IN BRIEF

Thursday, March 30, 2006

Dance at George Mason

The George Mason University Dance Company holds its annual gala concert at 8 p.m. tomorrow and 8:30 p.m. Saturday at the Center for the Arts Concert Hall.

Susan Marshall's "Working Memory" will lead off the gala. "Beautiful Day," Mark Morris's duet, is the third of his dances that he has allowed George Mason dancers to perform. Bach (Hoffman) Cantata No. 53 will be performed by soprano Rosa Lamoreaux and a chamber ensemble.

Laura Dean's "Sky Light," inspired by ritual dance, pattern and repetition, will be performed with a cadre of percussionists on stage. And Daniel Ezralow's "Read My Hips," originally created for Hubbard Street Dance, will be the finale.

Tickets are $20 for adults; $12 for students and seniors.

For tickets, call 888-945-2468 or visit http://www.tickets.com .

Bringing Suffrage Alive

The Lorton Arts Foundation presents a dramatic interpretation about suffragists housed in the Lorton Workhouse in 1917, by the Kathy Harty Gray Dance Theatre.

The performance will be at 8 p.m. Friday at Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center on the Alexandria Campus of Northern Virginia Community College.

It will feature the debut of the group's newest work, "Women Win the Vote," showcasing the struggles and victory of the women's suffrage movement.

The dance company also performs "Baroque Excursion," featuring elaborate costumes and lighting design, court dances from the period and more modern dance movements.

There will also be a restaging of "Garden," which premiered at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in 2000 and explores the thoughts and emotions of a person gardening.

Tickets are $20; $15 for students, seniors and military. For information, call 703-413-3811 or visit http://www.khgdt.org .

Brass Concert

The Annandale Brass performs "Festive Favorites" at 4 p.m. Sunday at Northern Virginia Community College's Ernst Community Cultural Center Forum.

Selections include "Sabre Dance" by Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian; "Radetsky March" by Johann Strauss; and "Ashokan Farewell," a piece by Jay Ungar in the style of a Scottish lament or Irish air.

Tickets are $10; $7 for seniors, teens and NVCC students with ID; free for children under 12. The school is at 8333 Little River Tpk., Annandale. For more information, call 703-323-3114.

Poet Jane Hirshfield To Read in Reston

The Reston Community Center's CenterStage welcomes poet Jane Hirshfield in a performance at 8 p.m. tomorrow.

Hirshfield will read from her newest collection of poetry, "After," which will be available for sale. The author will be available for signing.

Hirshfield has published six collections of poetry, including "Given Sugar, Given Salt," a finalist for the 2001 National Book Critics Circle Award, and winner of the Bay Area Book Reviewers Award.

CenterStage is at 2310 Colts Neck Rd., Reston.

Tickets are $15 for adults; $12 for seniors and children.

For more information, call 703-476-4500 or visit http://www.restoncommunitycenter.com .

Melding Art and Text

The Greater Reston Arts Center (GRACE) launches its spring exhibit of mixed-media works by contemporary artists who use text as a vital part of their work. Opening reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday.

F. Lennox Campello, exhibition curator, said visitors will "discover the work of a group of established, mid-career and emerging artists whose work incorporates, revolves [around], uses or focuses on the use of text, symbols or messages as a key part of their work."

GRACE is at 12001 Market Street, Suite 103. For information, call 703-471-9242.

Barbershop Classics

Mount Vernon presents a celebration of barbershop music from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Tuesday when more than 60 singers gather at the Robert H. and Clarice Smith Auditorium near the Shops at Mount Vernon.

The Harmony Heritage Singers, an all-military veteran chorus, and the Bay Tones, a chorus from the Northern Neck area of Virginia, will perform American classics.

Admission is $13 for adults; $12 for seniors; $6 for children ages 6-11 who are accompanied by an adult; children under age 5 are free.

For information, call 703-780-2000 or visit http://www.mountvernon.org .

Benny Goodman Revival

The Reston Community Center's CenterStage will present the music of jazz musician Dave Bennett and his septet as he pays tribute to the sounds of Benny Goodman at 3 p.m. Sunday.

Bennett will perform such favorites as "I Got Rhythm," "Stompin' at the Savoy" and "Sing, Sing, Sing."

The CenterStage is at 2310 Colts Neck Rd., Reston. Tickets are $15 for adults; $12 for seniors and children.

For more information, call 703-476-4500 or visit http://www.restoncommunitycenter.com .

Japanese Students to Play

Japanese student musicians here on a cultural exchange and two soloists with international roots are featured in a McLean Youth Orchestra concert at 3 p.m. Sunday at Oakcrest School, 850 Balls Hill Rd.

Soloist Risa Kaneko, a pianist, moved from Japan with her family in 1999. Soloist Fedor Ouspensky, a violinist, descends from a long line of Russian musicians.

Kaneko has won the Maryland State Music Teachers Doris Chase Concerto Competition, the Asian American Competition, a Washington Music Teachers Association Hartman Achievement Award and the Northern Virginia Music Teachers Concerto Competition.

Ouspensky, 10, who attends the Russian Embassy Elementary School in Washington, first performed with the McLean Youth Orchestra at age 7 and has since won first place in several competitions, including the Marlin-Engel Solo Competition, Maryland MTA concerto competition and the Asian Music Society solo competition.

The student musicians will perform the music of Bach, Barber, Dvorak and Von Suppe.

Tickets are $5 for adults; $2.50 for 18 and younger. No advance ticket sales; box office opens at 2:15 p.m.

-- Compiled by DIANE MATTINGLY