Check It Out:

Back to school means back to books, but at the library you’ll find a lot more than books this fall. The Newport Beach Public Library is starting a new season of programs and special events for all ages, including ongoing computer classes, story times for children, craft programs, classical music concerts and special events.

One of the most exciting programs being introduced is “Seasoned with Theatre,” a series of free performing-arts enrichment programs for young people. The library is hosting them in partnership with South Coast Repertory.

“Seasoned with Theatre” will include free performances, acting workshops and “behind the scenes” theater activities presented by talented staff members and professional artists from South Coast Repertory on Saturdays until May. The first program in the series, “Acting Workshop I,” will be from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Saturday at the Central Library. The programs are appropriate for school-age children 6 and older who are accompanied by an adult. A schedule of “Seasoned with Theatre” events and more information is available at www.newportbeachlibrary.org and (949) 644-3296. The program is sponsored by the library and generously funded by the Argyros Foundation.

For music lovers, a new season of Sunday Musicales kicks off with pianist Beth Sussman at 3 p.m. Sept. 21 in the Friends Meeting Room of the Central Library. Sussman’s performance of “Just Desserts” will feature familiar and not-so-well-known pieces interspersed with information about the composer and the music itself. Popular selections by George Gershwin, as well as from classical composers such as Mozart and Beethoven, make up her appealing repertoire.

“A violin is a fiddle, and a fiddle is a violin,” says Paul Stein, a member of the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra who leads the first family concert of the season, “Fiddle Fireworks,” at 2 p.m. Oct. 4. Stein will set off musical “fireworks,” playing selections such as “Hot Canary,” Mozart and “Fiddling the Fiddle” in this performance geared to entertain children ages 5 and older with their families.