THURSDAY 16
Music: Lincoln Portrait
The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra salutes Abraham Lincoln, mere days after his birthday, by presenting Aaron Copland’s emotionally potent Lincoln Portrait, corraling Center Stage Artistic Director Kwame Kwei-Armah to provide the work’s stirring narration. Also on the program: Dvořák’s “Cello Concerto” (with soloist Johannes Moser), Samuel Barber’s “Symphony No. 1” and the world premiere of composer Jonathan Leshnoff’s “Dancin’ Blue Crabs,” the most recent installment in the BSO’s Centennial Celebration Commission series.
Tickets: $33-$99. 8 p.m. at the Meyerhoff.
Community: Safe Art Space Forum
Join Mayor Catherine Pugh and the Task Force on Safe Arts Space to discuss how to create a safe public arts space in the city.
Free. 4 p.m. at the Baltimore War Memorial Building.
FRIDAY 17
Opera: Women in the Dark
The Peabody Chamber Opera presents Women in the Dark, a series of opera shorts featuring women who are distinctly unaware of the situations that surround them.
Tickets: $25-$40. Feb. 16-19 at the Theatre Project.
Dance: Riverdance
Get a head start on your St. Patty’s Day celebrations with Riverdance: The 20th Anniversary World Tour. The shoe-stomping, precision-driven Irish dancing phenomenon returns to the United States after a four-year drought, bringing with it new costumes, lighting, projections and more.
Tickets: $35-80. Feb. 17-19 at the Lyric.
Film: Lom Nava Love
See a screening of and hear live music from the documentary, which explores life in inner city Baltimore.
Free. 7 p.m. at MICA’s Brown Center.
Discussion: What Does It Mean to Be Black?
Delve into Black History Month with this thoughtful panel featuring SHAN D. Watkins, Blaqstarr and Linnea Poole.
Free. 6-8 p.m. at the Creative Alliance.
SATURDAY 18
Event: Mortified Doomed Valentine’s Show
Here’s hoping your V-Day was better than those of these poor souls! In typical Mortified fashion, brave storytellers share writings from their youth with the audience in a cringe-worthy but LOL-inducing stage show.
Tickets: $20. 6 and 9 p.m. at The Ideal Arts Space.
Art: Tea with Myrtis
Join the eponymous owner of Galerie Myrtis, artist Stephen Towns and film critic Tim Gordon for a discussion of Take Me Away to the Stars—and tea and snacks, of course.
Tickets: $20. 3 p.m. at Galerie Myrtis.
Festival: Legends & Legacies Jubilee
Read all about it here.
Free. 12 p.m. at the Baltimore Visitor’s Center.
Event: Nielsen-Massey Buttercream Ball
This Saturday, Icing Smiles, a local nonprofit that specializes in delicious treats, is teaming up with Baltimore Ravens Cheerleaders, Cakes 2-A-T and Nielsen-Massey Vanillas, a family-owned vanilla company, to host their annual Baltimore Buttercream Ball ft. plenty of “cocktails and confections.”
Tickets: $100. 7 p.m. at the Baltimore Museum of Art.
Art: The Ground
See the Contemporary’s latest project, a solo commission from artist Michael Jones McKean.
Opening reception 6-9 p.m. Through May 19 at the Contemporary.
SUNDAY 19
Dance: The Peking Acrobats
Beat the winter blahs with this breathtaking show, featuring a host of amazing acrobats performing gravity-defying acts. Whether they’re ascending and stacking a tower of chairs, tumbling and somersaulting with ease or trick cycling, the talented gymnasts are sure to amaze with their Chinese Carnival-style antics.
Tickets: $21-30. 1:30 and 5:30 p.m. at the Gordon Center.
