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Natalie Merchant is used to it by now—the startled gasp from the audience when she emerges on stage. The reaction says more about our celebrity-crazed culture than it does about Merchant, embraced by fans in the 1980s as the hip vocalist and literate lyricist/songwriter for the alt-folk-rock band 10,000 Maniacs.

Born in Havana, Cuba, the versatile D'Rivera—flute, saxophone, clarinet—performed with the National Theater Orchestra at age 10. He studied at the Havana Conservatory of Music and became a featured soloist with the Cuban National Symphony at age 17.

Under bright stage lights, before an audience of empty chairs, Eli Stalzer runs his fingers across the keys of a large, black piano. He’s come for an interview, not a rehearsal, but he can’t help himself: He’s been a piano player since age eight.

In just over three years, Nicolò Spera has put CU-Â鶹¹ÙÍø on the map as a true global mecca for classical-guitar teaching, performance and competition.

Reid will give a free performance at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 18 in Grusin Music Hall. The College of Music Concert Jazz Ensemble, directed by Brad Goode, will perform Reid's original compositions from Quiet Pride, nominated for a Grammy Award in 2014 for best Large Jazz Ensemble Album.

The trio, a hit on the jam-band circuit pioneered by the Grateful Dead, and the versatile, 20-member, alt-classical band will jam together and separately for an eclectic program that draws on everything from the work of brain-bending science-fiction author Philip K. Dick to Egyptian mythology, Herman Melville and Detroit jazz.

The College of Music will host a memorial for student Rob Miles at 7:30 p.m. Monday Feb. 2, in Grusin Music Hall.

There was a time when the New York-based Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company traveled with the same musicians when it toured the country.

Although he divided his time between Arizona and Alaska, the late Eugene D. Eaton Jr. never lost his connection to the Â鶹¹ÙÍø, where he earned three degrees in economics from 1961 to 1971.

Dan Kellogg talks about his new chamber-opera based on the story of Alferd Packer.