Author Michael Cunningham. Photo: Richard Phibbs.

Michael Cunningham with Sinfonietta

The Pulitzer-winning author of "The Hours" reads from that novel and new work, with the Northwest Sinfonietta playing the Philip Glass score from the movie plus works that inspire the author. 7:30 p.m. Saturday. $100/$28/$15/$12. Schneebeck Hall, University of Puget Sound, North Union and North 15th Streets, Tacoma. 800-291-7593, www.orchestraexperience.com

Funky in Olympia: ArtsWalk and Procession

Nothing’s quite like it: hundreds of artists and free souls dressing up as all kinds of things for the annual Procession of the

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Pianist Eun Joo Chung. Photo courtesy Tacoma Concert Band.

Tacoma Concert Band are going all out for their final performance for the season this Saturday night at the Pantages. The program is billed as East-meets-West: an American band playing both American and Asian pieces, and featuring young Korean concert pianist Eun Joo Chung.

Chung has made quite a career for herself since her Carnegie Hall debut in 2004, giving recitals in Berlin and Vienna and opening Seattle’s Town Hall Virtuoso Piano Series. She’s won international competitions like the Viotti, Schubert and World

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Ariel Lance, Vorece Miller, Grace Chakerian and Faith Stevens dance in MLKBallet Company’s “The Funeral.” Photo: Grace Sullivan.

MLKBallet’s going alternative. The tuition-free Hilltop ballet school and dance company is putting on its next couple of shows in some really funky venues: The Warehouse nightclub and the Robert Daniel art gallery.

This Saturday, the show is part of the MOVE! series of contemporary dance events that MLKBallet has put on for the last few years. They’re part fundraiser (to keep the free tuition going for needy kids), part dance concert, part

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Three Redneck Tenors rock the Temple

In a white-trash spoof of the Three Tenors gig, three beer-bellied (but operatically trained) boys from Paris, Texas do their Elvis-meets-Puccini thing. 7:30 p.m. tonight. $38/$48. Temple Theater, 47 Saint Helens Ave., Tacoma. 253-591-5894, www.broadwaycenter.org.

Nearly 200 onstage for Tacoma Symphony finale

The final concert of the TSO’s season features soloists, chorus and youth chorus onstage for Bizet’s "Carmen Suite" and Orff’s "Carmina Burana." 7:30 p.m. tomorrow. $22-$75. Pantages Theater, 901 Broadway, Tacoma. 253-272-7264, www.tacomasymphony.org

Northwest Sinfonietta Jazz at the art museum

Hot club jazz

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David Macaulay helps install David Macaulay: The Way He Works, on view at Tacoma Art Museum through June 14, 2009. Photo: Phoebe Keleman.

It’s all happening at Tacoma’s three big museums on the weekend. Plan now, because there’s a busy schedule lined up.

At Tacoma Art Museum on Sunday, illustrator David Macaulay (above) is the big draw at The Big Draw, a free afternoon festival of community drawing (and more.) Macaulay, the author of the famous “The Way Things Work” series of children’s books, among other things, will discuss his work at

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“Moon Mask,” du’Kwibahl. Photo courtesy SPSCC.

The South Puget Sound Community College will hold its first Native American Heritage Day this Saturday from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. at the Minnaert Center for the Arts. The Gallery will display Native American visual arts (through April 30), local artists will lead workshops in carving, beading, basket weaving and kids activities, and the Canoe Families will perform with traditional storytelling and dance. There’ll be food vendors, craft for sale and more.

Artists involved include Andy Wilbur-Peterson (Skokomish (Twana) Nation), Shelton; Bill White (Chickasaw), Lacey; Cindy

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Pianist Leon Fleischer. Photo courtesy Tacoma Philharmonic.

This Sunday, one of the world’s greatest pianists will play the Pantages, courtesy of the Tacoma Philharmonic. Not only that, but he’ll play with what for him is a relatively recent phenomenon–using both hands.

It’s Leon Fleischer, of course, that child prodigy of two Jewish immigrants who began playing at four just by listening to his brother’s piano lessons. Soon after, he studied with piano great Artur Schnabel, debuting with the New York Philharmonic at 16 and launching into an international career. Until, at 37,

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Tibetan Monks make sand mandala at UPS

Monks from Tibet’s Drepung Loseling Monastery will create a 10-foot-wide floor mandala out of sand on the Reading Room floor of the Collins Library. The painting, which takes three days, will culminate in a Dance for World Healing tomorrow night, featuring masks, costumes, horns, percussion and multiphonic singing. Mandala making today and tomorrow, performance 8 p.m. tomorrow ($11/$6). Mandala at Collins Library, performance at Kilworth Chapel, University of Puget Sound, North 15th and North Warner Streets, Tacoma. www.ups.edu

Frost Park chalk challenge is

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