Arts & Culture

The Washington University Concert Choir will perform music based on Old Testament texts at 8 p.m. Friday, April 13, in Graham Chapel. John Stewart, director of vocal activities, directs the program, which will include the music of William Byrd, Josquin Despres, Johannes Brahms and Randall Thompson.

Lisa KohlerCharles MacKayCharles MacKay, general director of Opera Theatre of St Louis, will speak on “The Next Four Hundred Years of Opera” for the Department of Music in Arts & Sciences. MacKay has led Opera Theatre for more than 20 years, during which time the company has won national and international acclaim for its innovative repertory and discovery of important young singers.

Washington University’s Writing Program in Arts & Sciences will present a two-day “Publishing Weekend” April 6 and 7. The event will focus on various aspects of the publishing industry and will include talks and panel discussions with publishers, editors, authors and agents from both mainstream and independent presses.

Acclaimed author Kelly Link will read from her work at 8 p.m. Thursday, April 5, for The Writing Program Reading Series. Link is the author of two story collectins, Stranger Things Happen and Magic for Beginners, and editor of the anthology Trampoline.

David Kilper/WUSTL Photo Services*House of Desires*Mistaken identities, hidden lovers, mischievous servants and duels in the dark. Welcome to House of Desires, a romantic comedy-of-errors written in 1683 by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, a proto-feminist Mexican nun today considered one of the most brilliant writers of the Baroque period.

Legendary blues vocalist and harmonica player Big George Brock will perform for the Jazz at Holmes series at 8 p.m. March 29 in Holmes Lounge.

At 8 p.m. March 30-31, Edison Theatre will present “Stories Left to Tell,” a tribute to the late Spalding Gray featuring Spalding’s brother Rockwell Gray, adjunct instructor in University College in Arts & Sciences.

Recent alumna Carolyn Kras’ historical drama “Highness,” winner of the 2006 A.E. Hotchner Playwriting Competition, receives its world premiere March 29.

April 2-8, students will perform “365 Plays/365 Days” by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks, part of a yearlong grassroots festival of more than 600 theater companies, arts organizations and universities across the nation.

Courtesy photo*Fremde Haut (Unveiled)*The Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum will present “A Festival of Contemporary German Film” April 11 to 15. Screenings will include four recent critically acclaimed films: Vier Minuten (Four Minutes), Alles auf Zucker! (Go for Zucker!), Fremde Haut (Unveiled) and Sommer vorm Balkon (Summer in Berlin). In addition, the Kemper Art Museum will host a panel discussion exploring contemporary German film within the artistic and socio-political context of post-unification Germany.