Even among singers, this one’s pretty swift: Fox Island baritone Charles Robert Stephens, who was scheduled to be one of the four soloists for Tacoma Symphony’s annual performance of the “Messiah” Friday night, has bumped them at the last minute to fill in for an ailing Sanford Sylvan with Seattle Symphony. Tacoma baritone Barry Johnson has agreed to stand in for Stephens in Tacoma.

The soloist roles for the “Messiah,” Handel’s beloved oratorio telling the Christmas and Easter stories through aria and chorus, are vital to the success of a performance. Baritone arias include the famous earthquake recitative, the …

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New York Chamber Soloists play “Water Music”

Appropriately enough for a rainy November, the New York Chamber Soloists are in town courtesy of Tacoma Philharmonic to play Handel’s “Water Music,” plus three Mozart works. 7:30 p.m. Nov. 20. $32.50-$62.50. Pantages Theater, 901 Broadway, Tacoma. 253-591-5894, www.tacomaphilharmonic.org, www.broadwaycenter.org

MLKBallet does another Move!

Move! #15 features a stellar line-up, including MLKBallet with Vicci Martinez, Spectrum Dance, Barefoot Collective, Tacoma Dance Collective and Coriolis. Proceeds go to this downtown tuition-free ballet school. 7 p.m. Nov. 20, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Nov. 21. $12 advance/$15 at door. SOTA Theater, 1118 Commerce St., …

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It’s good, solid, all-American fare: Gershwin, Copland, Bernstein and Dvorak all on the same program for the season kick-off by the Tacoma Symphony Orchestra this Saturday night.

The program includes favorite evergreens like Dvorak’s romantic “New World” symphony, the brassy “Fanfare for the Common Man” by Copland and Leonard Bernstein’s “Symphonic Dances” from “West Side Story” (you’ll recognize the show themes instantly.)

But the highlight is probably American piano soloist Andrew Armstrong, who made a hit at the Van Cliburn competition in 1993 and hasn’t looked back since, performing around the country. He’ll be playing Gershwin’s jazz-inspired …

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