Classical music
New addition featured
Sunday. Chamber music. Assistant concertmaster Rachel Klaus, one of the newest additions to the Colorado Symphony, headlines a concert this weekend under the auspices of the Englewood Arts Concert Series. The program, which includes three other members of the orchestra and pianist Tamara Goldstein, will feature works by Brahms, Haydn and Mozart. It is set for 2 p.m. Sunday in Hampden Hall on the second floor of the Englewood Civic Center, 1000 Englewood Parkway. $15, $12 seniors and $5 children. 303-806-8196 or . Kyle MacMillan
Family fun
New “Tropical Odyssey” presents metamorphosis
Through August. Wing it. Escape the cold and snow with “Tropical Odyssey,” returning to the Butterfly Pavilion after an update. The bilingual exhibit follows the life cycle of a butterfly in a tropical rain forest, using games and interactive elements to tell the story. New this time is a play area with giant caterpillars and butterflies for kids to climb on, plus a cool zip-line that lets them pretend to be butterflies. There’s special discounted admission Saturday only: $5 per person. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. The Butterfly Pavilion, 6252 W. 104th Ave., Westminster; 303-469-5441. Regular admission is $8.50 for adults, $6.50 for seniors age 62 and older, $5.50 for kids ages 2 to 12. Learn more at . Kathleen St. John
Opera, museum hook up, and the result is “Love”
Saturday. Valentine “Art.” The Denver Art Museum will be swooning when the “Art of Love” takes over. A collaboration with Opera Colorado, the event showcases love in all its forms — unrequited, requited and otherwise — throughout the museum’s collection. Expect to learn a lot about Opera Colorado’s latest production: Dvorak’s “Rusalka,” a tragic fairy tale, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. Denver Art Museum, 100 W. 14th Ave. Parkway; 720-865-5000. Museum admission is $10 for Colorado resident adults, $8 for seniors and students, $3 for youth ages 6 to 18. (Add $2-$3 for nonresidents.) For more information, visit . Kathleen St. John
Love goes Hollywood
Saturday-Sunday. We’ll always have … cinema. Romance rules in “Hollywood Love Story,” a special Valentine’s Day concert by the Colorado Springs Philharmonic. Relive tender movie moments with music from “Ghost,” “Moulin Rouge,” “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and more. There’s even a nod to the “Twilight” saga. Guest artists Linda Weise, soprano, and Lucas Goodrich, tenor, will add their voices to the soaring strings. 8 p.m. Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Pikes Peak Center for the Performing Arts, 190 S. Cascade Ave.; 719-520-SHOW. Tickets are $18-$60 for Saturday’s performance, $18-$57 for Sunday. Discounts for seniors, active-duty military and students. for advance tickets; or call 866-464-2626. Visit for more information. Kathleen St. John
Visual art
Unraveling a mystery of attribution in painting
Sunday. Spanish colonial art.Gregorio Ceballos Vasquez is among the best-known Colombian painters of the Spanish colonial period. But are several paintings that the Denver Art Museum acquired decades ago from the D.C. Stapleton collection by the master? Mayer Center fellow Michael Brown makes his case for such an attribution during a lecture at 2:30 p.m. Sunday in the lower-level lecture room in the museum’s original building. $10, $5 museum members. 720-865-5000 or . Kyle MacMillan
Theater
Racial tension hits the front in “Soldier’s Play”
Through Feb. 27. Murder and more. A black sergeant cries out in the night: “They still hate you,” then is shot twice and falls dead. So starts Charles Fuller’s Pulitzer-winning “A Soldier’s Play,” set in 1944 at Fort Neal, a segregated army camp in Louisiana. “A Soldier’s Play” is more than a murder investigation; it’s a tough, incisive exploration of racial tensions and ambiguities not only between blacks and whites but among blacks themselves. Presented by the Afterthought Theatre Company at the Crossroads Theater at Five Points, 2590 Washington St. 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Sundays; 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays. $32.50. 720-365-7754 or . John Moore
Tony winner rocks its way back, but briefly
Tuesday and Wednesday. Adolescence’s fear and tragedy. The national touring production of “Spring Awakening” returns for two nights only at the Buell Theatre. The Tony-winning rock musical reimagines a banned 1891 German tragedy about teenagers who are on their own as they discover the frightening urges of adolescence and its potentially tragic consequences. 8 p.m. $25-$90. At the Denver Performing Arts Complex, 303-893-4100 or . John Moore
Dance
A parent-friendly show from Denver’s 7dancers
Today-Sunday. Dance for lovers (and parents). If the title of 7dancers’ latest show sounds a bit starry-eyed, it’s no coincidence. The Denver dance company is aiming its “Peace, Love & Happiness” performances at couples during this most romantic of weekends. Even better, the company is offering a Parents’ Night Out package at its home base at Cherry Creek Dance studios, where babysitter-challenged couples can drop off the little ones before the show. 7:30 p.m. today, 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday. $17-$27. Liesl Lighting, 326 S. Broadway. 303-399-8087 or . John Wenzel
Film
Jewish cinematic fare both magical and light
Saturday-Feb. 20. Film festival. After a Friday- evening pause, the 15th Denver Jewish Film Festival resumes Saturday. Among the fest’s highlights: “Anita,” about a young woman with Down syndrome who embarks on a journey through Buenos Aires after a tragedy. It could have been oversentimental, but Alejandra Manzo’s performance makes for humane magic. (Wednesday, 5:30 p.m.). On a lighter note: “The Trotsky,” with gangling and winning actor Jay Baruchel as a high school student who believes he’s the reincarnation of the Russian revolutionary. Down with school-board tyrants! Up with the student union! The movie was chosen by the Mizel Arts & Culture Center’s Teen Film Board (Saturday, 4:30). This year, the festival screens at the AMC 8 in the Cherry Creek Shopping Center, 3000 E. First Ave. General admission $9-$10. or 303-316-6360. Lisa Kennedy
Bringing back attention to muralist Ronneback
Louise Emerson Ronneback ranked among Denver’s most sought-after muralists in the 1930s and ’40s, creating an array of works for post offices, churches, schools and other public spaces.
But because so many of these pieces have been destroyed or forgotten, she has since fallen into obscurity, her reputation overshadowed by such contemporaries as Allen True.
An exhibition running through Feb. 28 at the Byers-Evans House Gallery, 1310 Bannock St., attempts to return some deserved attention to this once- prominent artist.
Ronneback never developed an especially original look, with most of her imagery epitomizing the regionalist style popular at the time, though she did experiment later with a more abstracted approach.
This show features a dozen or so of her works from a private collection, mostly tempera studies for both realized and unrealized murals, such as a panoramic Western scene she proposed in 1942 for a south Denver post office.
Viewing hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays. Free. 303-620-4933 or . Kyle MacMillan
