Delfs returns, a three-opera weekend and Mad Hot

Music

The Florentine Opera will venture into the English Baroque this weekend. It will stage John Blow’s Venus and Adonis and Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas in a double bill at Marcus Center Vogel Hall. William Florescu, the company’s general director, is the stage director. The cast includes Greer Davis as Venus and then Belinda, Dido’s servant and confidant. Davis, Iris in the Florentine’s smashing Semele in 2009, was a Florentine studio artist in 2008-2009. These operas will feature all four current — and very impressive — studio artists: Erica Schuller, Julia Hardin, Matthew Richards and Scott Johnson — all of whom have impressed over the course of their residency. Jean Broekhuizen, a local singer and former Metropolitan Opera Wisconsin winner, will make her Florentine debut. Ian Howell (Cupid, Spirit), Patricia Risley (Dido), Craig Verm (Adonis) complete the cast. Christopher Larkin will conduct members of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.

7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, May, 13-15; 7:30 p.m.  Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, May 18,19 and 21; and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, May 22. (That’s right; no show Friday, May 20). Tickets are $30-$108 at the Florentine ticket line, 414 291-5700 ext. 224, the Marcus center box office, 414 273-7206, and the Florentine’s website.

Meanwhile, a few blocks away Windfall Theater will put on Green Sneakers, an opera for baritone, empty chair, string quartet and piano at Village Church Arts, 130 E. Juneau Ave. Ricky Ian Gordon, who is best known for his art songs, composed the piece. Larry Birkett will perform it. He plays the composer; in this deeply personal work from 2008, Gordon comes to grips with his partner’s death from AIDS in 1996.

Violinists Nancy Maio and Jessicca Williams, violist Maria Gesiorak and cellist Beth Bender will accompany.  Shawn Gulyas directs with musical direction by Adam Baus. Curtain time is 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, May 13-14 and May 20-21. Tickets are $20 in advance (414 332-3963) and $25 at the door.

Part of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra will form the small, Baroque ensemble for the Florentine. The rest of the orchestra will be in its usual spot in Uihlein Hall this weekend, with our old friend Andreas Delfs on the podium. Delfs, music director from fall of 1997 through the spring of 2009, now holds the title of conductor laureate. This is his first time back. Delfs adored Lee Erickson’s Milwaukee Symphony Chorus; the chorus will be featured in Morten Lauridsen’s mystic Lux Aeterna. Sibelius’ Finlandia and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 complete the program, to be performed at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, May 13-15. Tickets are $23-$77 Sunday and $23-$93 Friday and Saturday. Call the MSO ticket line, 414 291-7605, visit the MSO website or call the Marcus Center box office, 414 273-7206.

The youngest music fans can wear their PJs and bring their blankets and teddy bears to the Festival City Symphony‘s Pajama Jamboree concert, which starts at 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 11, and ends promptly at bedtime (8 p.m.). Music director Monte Perkins and the crew will feature the music of Milwaukee composer Sigmund Snopek. That seemed an odd choice to me, but as it turns out, Snopek has written a piece called The Baby Symphony.  The concert will take place in Bradley Pavilion of the Marcus Center, where there are chairs for the grownups and a big, open floor for kids to squirm on. Admission is free.

Pianist Alpin Hong will finish up a two-week residency at South Milwaukee High School with two different programs this weekend. At 8 p.m. Saturday, May 14, Hong will play a solo recital with a special finale, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the 484th Army Band. (Get there at 7 p.m. to enjoy the free Army Band prequel to Hong’s concert.) At 7:30 p.m. Sunday,  May 15, Hong will play solo and then join South Milwaukee High’s chorus, orchestra and jazz band in a celebration of music. Tickets are $25 ($20 seniors, $10 students) for either concert, $45 ($35, $15) for both. Call 414 766-5005 or visit the website of the South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center. SMPAC, a very nice facility, is located within South Milwaukee High School at 901 15th Ave.

Do note that an Alpin Hong concert is not just a concert. I caught him in a student show at SMPAC on May 4; the guy is hilarious, he could do stand-up comedy for a living. The high-school kids loved his jokes and respected his music all the more because of them.

Music director Eduardo García-Novelli will lead the Master Singers of Milwaukee through its final concert of the season at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 15, at Wauwatosa Presbyterian Church 2366 N. 80th St. Tickets are $18, $10 for students, at the Master Singers’ website.

Dance

For 12 weeks, ballroom dance teachers from Danceworks have worked with nearly 2,000 students in 39 schools in the Mad Hot Ballroom program, perhaps the most successful arts outreach program ever. The culmination of that ninth-month effort is coming to the Bradley Center Saturday, May 14. The annual Mad Hot Ballroom and Tap competition will begin at  9 a.m., when you couples and soloists from the Milwaukee area will tap, tango, waltz and fox-trot dance for the gold. Between competition phases, more advanced dancers and some professionals will perform. The final round will begin at about 5:30 p.m.

Admission is free.

Theater

Acacia Theater Company will tell the story of Sojourner Truth, a woman who was born a slave and sold away from her family as a child. She prevailed against all odds to gain freedom and then become a leading figure in the abolitionist movement. Sandra Asher’s A Woman Called Truth opens at 8 p.m. Friday and runs through May 22 in  the Todd Wehr Theater of Concordia University, 12800 N. Lake Shore Drive, Mequon. Call 414 744-5995 for ticket information.

Visual Art

The stage is the focus of On Stage, but now and then we feel compelled to bring a visual art event to your attention: The Frank Lloyd Wright closes Sunday, May 15. Don’t miss it.

Ongoing

Fireside Dinner Theatre: A Closer Walk with Patsy Cline, through June 26.
Sunset Playhouse: Love, Sex and the IRS, through May 28.
Boulevard Theatre: Two to Go, Shaw/Wilder double bill, through May 29.
First Stage: Miss Nelson Is Missing!, through June 5.

Last Chance

Soulstice Theatre: American Enterprise, through May 14.
In Tandem Theatre: Thrill Me, through May 15.
Alchemist Theatre: Natalie Ryan and the Brain Thieves, through May 14.

Note: On Stage is not comprehensive. For more listings, please visit the TCD events calendar.