Wednesday 16 – Three other composers made operas out of the same stage play before Francesco Cilea arrived to write his own Adriana Lecouvreur, which immediately made its predecessors obsolete. Despite its ridiculous manner of death for the heroine, the opera maintains its place in the repertoire. An encore broadcast of the Met’s production, starring Anna Netrebko and the up-and-coming Georgian mezzo Anita Rachvelishvili is at 6:30pm at various movie theaters. Check Calendar for locations. Tickets are $19-27. Call 818-761-6100.
Thursday 17 – Joaquín Rodrigo received much admiration for being a blind composer, but the bigger achievement was composing one of the greatest ever works for classical guitar, his Concierto de Aranjuez, despite not playing the instrument himself. Symphony Arlington and Jacob Cordover will play this cornerstone of the repertoire, as well as Beethoven’s “Eroica” Symphony. The concert is at 7:30pm at Arlington Music Hall, 224 N Center St, Arlington. Tickets are $16.50-46.50. Call 817-385-4084.
Friday 18 – If you died suddenly and a stranger tried to assess your life by examining the contents of your phone, what would they think? That’s the question asked in Sarah Ruhl’s comedy Dead Man’s Cell Phone, which Theatre Arlington opens this week. We’re hoping they do something creative with the pre-show warning for audience members to turn off their phones. The show runs today thru Feb 3 at 305 W Main St, Arlington. Tickets are $17. Call 817-275-7661.
Saturday 19 – It’s been almost 120 years, and still no one has cracked the riddle of Elgar’s Enigma Variations, an orchestral work that was nicknamed thus because the composer gave tantalizing hints of a hidden melody that supposedly unlocks the secret of this set of variations on an original theme. Alejandro Gómez Guillén conducts the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and the Fort Worth Youth Orchestra in a performance of this work at 2pm at Bass Performance Hall, 555 Commerece St, FW. Tickets are $20-25. Call 817-665-6000.
Sunday 20 – Claudio Monteverdi’s Orfeo may not have been the first opera ever written, but it is the oldest one that’s still performed on any sort of regular basis. UNT Baroque Brass and singer Ryland Angel will be the guests of Texas Camerata to perform excerpts from this musical drama about Orpheus and Eurydice from 1607 at 7pm at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 917 Lamar St, FW. Tickets are $5-20. Call 817-457-4258.
Monday 21 – Ice hockey seems a strange way to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but a day off is a day off, and the Shreveport Mudbugs are in town. The season hasn’t gone so well for the Lone Star Brahmas, with Amarillo having run off with the division, but there’s still a playoff spot to play for. The puck drops at 2pm at NYTEX Sports Centre, 8851 Ice House Dr, North Richland Hills. Tickets are $10-25. Call 817-336-4423.
Tuesday 22 – It’s still early in the season, but TCU women’s basketball has some ground to make up after a stinging home loss to Baylor. They’ll have opportunities with home games this week against Texas Tech and tonight against Oklahoma, which has a significantly worse record than all the other teams in the Big 12 so far. Tip-off is at 8pm at Schollmaier Arena, 3000 Stadium Dr, FW. Tickets are $5-12. Call 817-257-7967.
