The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra today unveiled a major education initiative, OrchKids, an after-school program designed to effect social change and nurture promising futures for youth in Baltimore City’s low-income neighborhoods. In collaboration with a broad array of community partners, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s OrchKids program will provide music education, instruments and mentorship to Baltimore’s neediest youngsters.

Acclaimed pianist Barry Douglas will join the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra for Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3, June 12, 13 and 15 at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, and June 14 at the Music Center at Strathmore. Led by guest conductor Thomas Dausgaard, the program also includes Sibelius’ Symphony No. 7 and his sweeping tone poem, En Saga. See below for complete program information.

Tools used to groom, primp and adorn the body provide a wealth of information about cultural notions of beauty and aesthetics, hygiene and civilized behavior. As art objects, these remnants of material culture reveal the concerns of the maker, the interests of the collector and the intrinsic energy held by the piece itself.

Visitors can discover the artistic sophistication and visual splendor of South Arabian art through Faces of Ancient Arabia: The Giraud and Carolyn Foster Collection of South Arabian Art, on view at the Walters Art Museum, July 20–Sept. 7, 2008. Southern Arabia—now the Republic of Yemen—played a crucial political and economic role during antiquity through the trade in incense and exotic goods, such as spices and fragrances.

The Baltimore Symphony Associates (BSA) will host its 32nd annual Decorators' Show House on the historic property of Roland Run in Ruxton, from May 10 through June 7. Featuring some of Baltimore's leading interior designers, the Show House is an annual fundraiser to benefit the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's education programs. See below for hours and ticket information.

Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra will perform Beethoven's Symphony No. 3, "Eroica," and works by contemporary composer John Corigliano, April 17‐19 at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall.

On Tuesday, April 22, Baltimore County public school music students will have the opportunity of a lifetime: to play a full concert alongside the musicians of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra on the stage of the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. Now in its fifth year, the BSO‐Baltimore County "Side by Side" program is a unique opportunity for local high school students to have a professional performance experience with a world‐class symphony orchestra.

On May 10 at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra will conclude its 2007‐2008 Family Concert Series with a unique and interactive program, In the Composer's Workshop.

Vocal jazz ensemble The Four Freshmen will bring their signature sound to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's SuperPops Series, April 10 at the Music Center at Strathmore and April 11‐13 at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. The group, which in its 22nd iteration includes Bob Ferreira, Brian Eichenberger, Curtis Calderon and Vince Johnson, celebrates the 60th anniversary of their founding in 2008.

The Women's Committee of the Walters Art Museum hosts an international celebration with the special event Art Blooms: All Mapped Out With Flowers, Thursday, April 3–Sunday, April 6, 2008. During this free, annual event, approximately 30 regional garden clubs will present their flower arrangements, which will represent a host of countries while interpreting artworks in the galleries surrounding the Walters' Sculpture Court.

According to this settlement landlords agree to spend an estimated $750,000 to make 140 units lead-safe.

Under the baton of Maestra Marin Alsop, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra will perform Baltimore-native Christopher Rouse's Flute Concerto, featuring BSO Principal Flutist Emily Skala, March 6 at the Music Center at Strathmore and March 7-9 at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall.