Piano

From a news perspective, the 1990s in Newport-Mesa had it all. Million-dollar embezzlements by officials in a city and a school district. A sexual harassment scandal in the Newport Beach Police Department that took down the chief and his top lieutenant. A hard-fought and highly emotional political campaign over a proposed airport that divided the north and the south. An ongoing environmental story. An international sports star in our backyard. A devastating car crash and its aftermath, including what many called a modern miracle.

Luis Pena The sounds of Beethoven and Mendelssohn resonated throughout Crown Cove Senior Residence community in Corona del Mar as talented young musicians from the Music Students' Service League of Orange Coast Cities North shared their love of music to help raise funds for a new piano. Crown Cove has a 90-year-old piano that the students use for performances. The piano has metal strings that connect prongs to the keys, which would cost more than $10,000 to replace, said Anne Kozma, activities director at Crown Cove.

When assigned to shoot Lang Lang, the 28-year-old classical piano superstar, at first I had no idea who he was. Then Daily Pilot copy editor Bradley Zint, who writes our "Classically Trained" column, told me he was the "Michael Jordan of classical music. " I then learned he was huge in the classical world. I arrived early and sat next to other folks who were waiting for him to exit a tour bus. Upon exiting the bus, hands in his pockets and aviator shades over his eyes, he posed for photos.

Newport Beach saxophonist Freddy Martin was a major figure of the Big Band era, commanding his own band at Manhattan's Hotel Roosevelt and other venues across America. Martin combined a popular sensibility with a thorough familiarity of classical music -- a blend that led to his 1941 No. 1 hit, a dance version of Tchaikovsky's "Piano Concerto in B Minor." Along the musical road, Martin performed with more than a few performers who went on to fame. Merv Griffin sang and played piano for Martin's band for five years.

Tom Titus The tenuous link between slavery and the 20th century African-American experience is examined both with meticulous detail and visceral emotionalism in August Wilson's compelling drama "The Piano Lesson," now on the main stage of South Coast Repertory. In Wilson's lengthy, measured and thoroughly involving work, tradition and superstition face off against ambition and avarice in 1937 Pittsburgh, where descendants of slaves work to carve out better and more meaningful lives.

Mrs. K. once gave piano lessons in her living room to a number of young people who since have grown up and moved on. Now, widowed and approaching the final chapter in her life, she feels the urge to reconnect with some of her former students. The title character of Julia Cho's "The Piano Teacher," now enjoying an impressive world premiere at South Coast Repertory, may be alone, but she's hardly lonely. Not with an audience to share her cookies with, which she does early in the play, severing the mythical fourth wall.

Christine Carrillo Two pianists sit at a 1920s midsize Steinway and try to meld their individual sounds into one. They calculate every movement of their fingers with surgical precision while one of them orchestrates the pedals, so as to not step on the other's toes. These are the complexities of a piano duet, which M'lou Dietzer, who frequently performs as a soloist and chamber musician, and Pennie Foster, who is an accompanist for the Saddleback Master Chorale and an organist-pianist for a Laguna Beach church, have mastered.

Yumi Kato will perform her sophomore piano recital at 12 p.m. Thursday at Orange Coast College's Music Room 101, 2701 Fairview Road, Costa Mesa. Kato, a native of Japan, began playing the piano at age 3 and is studying English, piano, and music at Orange Coast College. Admission is free. Information: (714) 432-5725. Dorothy off to see 'Wizard' at Lincoln Lincoln and Newport Coast elementary schools will present "The Wizard of Oz" at 7 tonight and 6:30 p.m. Saturday at Lincoln Elementary School, 3101 Pacific View Drive, Corona del Mar. To mimic the movie, black and white costumes and sets are being used to depict the initial scenes in Kansas, and a track constructed by parents is used to give the illusion the witches are floating.

TODAY 'BREATH OF SPRING' When a maid with a shady past is suspected of stealing a mink sole, a former Army major and several other lodgers of a boarding house endeavor to return the fur without being caught. They take such delight in the secretive scheme that they form a syndicate for stealing and returning furs, all for the excitement of the adventure. Written by Peter Coke and directed by Terri Miller Schmidt, the play will be performed at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at the Newport Theatre Arts Center, 2501 Cliff Drive, Newport Beach.

TODAY 1Mr. Mandy. Tony and Emmy winner Mandy Patinkin will appear at 8 p.m. as part of the Spotlight series at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. The concert will feature music from Patinkin's latest CD, "Kidults." The Center is at 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. $28 to $52. (714) 556-2787. SUNDAY 2Playing piano. Sarkis Baltaian will perform a piano recital at 3 p.m. as part of the Newport Beach Public Library's Sunday Musicale series.