Music
Artaria String Quartet will perform in a free concert online at 7 p.m. Friday, February 19. The program includes Florence Price’s Five Folksongs in Counterpoint, Mendelssohn’s Quartet in A Minor and Erwin Schulhoff’s Five Pieces for String Quartet. To access the link, visit artariaquartet.com. Donations are welcome.
From salsa to rockabilly, a cappella orchestration to zydeco, the Ordway is offering five concerts online from Friday through Sunday, February 19-21. Featured acts include Stray Cats founder Lee Rocker, Naturally 7, the Williamsburg Salsa Orchestra, MOJO and the Bayou Gypsies, and the Red Hot Chilli Pipers. Tickets are by donation. Visit ordway.org.
The Black History Music Series continues on the Walker West Music Academy facebook page. Featured will be singer Sarah Greer at 7 p.m. Wednesday, February 20, and the late great jazz singer Debbie Duncan and friends at 7 p.m. Tuesday, February 26. Visit facebook.com/WalkerWestMusic or email info@walkerwest.org.
The Church of the Lost Souls, a 12-week series featuring guitarist Billy McLaughlin and his band SimpleGifts, continues at 4:30 p.m. Sundays through May 2 at the Parkway Theater, 4814 Chicago Ave. S. in Minneapolis. SimpleGifts includes singers Karen Paurus and Amy Courts, instrumentalist Laura MacKenzie and drummer Billy O. Joining them will be guitarist Joe Cruz and singer Jennifer Grimm on February 21 and singer Kathleen Johnson on February 28. Ninety-three seats are available at the Parkway (25 percent capacity). Tickets are $29 in advance, $39 at the door. The concerts will also be live-streamed with tickets by donation. For reservations, visit theparkwaytheater.com.
Experience Jazz, a 12-week program for middle school and high school singers, instrumentalists and deejays to learn to play and compose jazz, hip-hop and R&B music, is accepting applications through March 5. Students work in combos led by professional musicians. The sessions will run online via Zoom from 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. on Saturdays beginning March 20 with the possibility of in-person sessions outdoors in the second half of the program. The fee is $150. Financial assistance is available upon request. For more information or to submit an application along with an audio or video audition, visit mnjazzed.org/experience-jazz.
Books
Next Chapter Booksellers, 38 S. Snelling Ave., will host free online readings and discussions with poet Patrick Cabello Hansel and his collection, Quitting Time, at 7 p.m. Thursday, February 18; and authors Heidi Barr and Ellie Roscher and their book, Twelve Tiny Things: Simple Ways to Live a More Intentional Life, 7 p.m. Thursday, February 25. Visit nextchapterbooksellers.com.
The Saint Paul Public Libraries’ Fireside Reading Series has returned with virtual programs from 7-8 p.m. Wednesdays. The schedule includes authors Margi Preus and her novel Village of Scoundrels on February 17; and poet Heid Erdrich and her collection Little Big Bully on February 24. To register for the link, visit tinyurl.com/yy5panw4.
Subtext Books, 6 W. Fifth St., will host a free online reading and discussion with author Linda Brooks and her book, Proximities: Art, Education, Activism, at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 3. To register for the link, visit subtextbooks.com.
Family
Balkan Fest, a virtual celebration of the exuberant cultures of Southeastern Europe, will be presented online by the Ethnic Dance Theatre and Landmark Center for a full month beginning at 10 a.m. Sunday, February 21. Featured will be the music, dance and folk traditions of Albania, Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Greece, Macedonia, Slovenia, Turkey and Bulgaria. Visit the Sundays at Landmark page at landmarkcenter.org.
Film
A five-week series of film noir continues at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays at the Heights Theater, 3951 Central Ave. NE. in Columbia Heights. The schedule includes Orson Welles’ The Lady from Shanghai (1947) on February 18; The Sweet Smell of Success (1957) starring Burt Lancaster and Susan Harrison, February 25; and director Fritz Lang’s Ministry of Fear (1944), March 4. Tickets are $12. The auditorium is limited to 25 percent capacity. Seats will be assigned. Masks are required. For reservations, visit heightstheater.com.
Theater
Tears of Moons, Antonio Duke’s one-man drama about race in America that combines African spirituality with Ancient Greek theater, is being streamed through February 28 by Park Square Theatre. Duke plays the Poet, a Homeric narrator wrestling with his own rage and ineffectuality. Tickets are $10 plus a $1.75 fee. Visit parksquaretheatre.org.
Promise of America, a musical revue of some of the most popular songs of all time, all by Jewish composers, will be presented in an online pay-per-view at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday and 1 p.m. Sunday, February 17, 18 and 21. Aimee K. Bryant, Al Church, Benjamin Dutcher and Kim Kivens star in this celebration of such musical luminaries as Burt Bacharach, Billy Joel, Stephen Sondheim, Lou Reed, Carole King, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Jerome Kern and George Gershwin. Tickets are $15. Visit mnjewishtheatre.org or call 651-647-4315.
Two plays from the golden age of radio based on stories by H.P. Lovecraft will be presented online at 7:30 p.m. Monday, February 22, by the Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society. New recordings of The Dunwich Horror and The Shadow Over Innsmouth will be featured along with live introductions and a live post-show discussion. Tickets are $18. To register for the link, visit parksquaretheatre.org.
Rez Road 2000, a one-man show by the late Ojibwe storyteller, poet and humorist Jim Northrop about the clash of cultures that makes up the Native American experience, will be streamed online from February 22 through March 7 by the History Theatre. For ticket information, visit historytheatre.com.
Et cetera
“Civics in Our Schools,” the current and future state of the civics curriculum in the Saint Paul Public Schools, will be discussed by a panel of experts on Tuesday, February 23. Sponsored by the local League of Women Voters, the online program will include a review of Minnesota’s proposed new K-12 social studies standards. Sitting on the panel will be district social studies supervisor Rebecca Biel, Como Park High School social studies teacher Eric Erickson and student Jaeden Sims. To register for the Zoom link, visit tinyurl.com/2dy5oxo4. The program will be recorded for future viewing. For more information, visit lwvsp.org.
“Born Anew to a Living Hope,” a study of the first epistle of Peter, will be offered from 7-8 p.m. Wednesdays, February 24-March 24, in the sanctuary of Saint Mark’s Catholic Church, Dayton Avenue and Moore Street. The free program will be led by Dr. William Stevenson, associate professor at the Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity. Attend in person (COVID precautions observed) or online. To register, visit onestrongfamily.org/biblestudy or call 651-645-5717.
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