When the 46-voice St. John’s University Men’s Chorus rattles the apses and naves of Lansing’s First Presbyterian Church Saturday, local music lovers will have a chance to witness one of America’s regional wonders without hitting the interstate..

Holding hand-made valentines with slogans like “clean energy = true love,” a series of student speakers pushed MSU’s “Be Spartan Green” slogan up against the reality of its T.B. Simon Power Plant, the largest on-campus coal-burning power plant in the nation and one of the largest 500 coal plants in the nation.

Master orchestrator and arranger (and Michigan State University alum) William Brohn has crafted many award-winning sonic canvases, from Broadway’s "Miss Saigon," "Wicked" and "Ragtime" (for which he won a Tony for best orchestrations) to intense new takes on Prokofiev’s "Ivan the Terrible" and "Alexander Nevsky.

Suddenly, it seemed absurd to do anything normal, but she had to. Her Friday gig at East Lansing’s Wharton Center, and the usual promotional interviews were scheduled before the Grammy dropped..

A new artistic director, Michael Stewart, was installed last month and is already planning the 2011-12 season. This spring, a new board of directors with business savvy will take over the theater, replacing the old membership guild system. Fundraising, day-to-day business and promotion will be kept separate from the artistic side of the operation.

Crafting a fivepart mosaic of the great emigration of Southern blacks to the industrial cities of the north, composer/bassist Rodney Whitaker had to dive into cross-currents of racism, hope, self-destruction and forbidden love..

The saga of the “mild-mannered murderer” climaxed with a low-speed chase more spectacular than Simpson’s flight in the Bronco.

Kelly plays a Glissentar, a guitar that snakes through the bendy notes and semitones of Indian music ' or Delta blues, depending on his mood. Bringi thrums his fingers and palms on the mridangam, a cylindrical drum with a face on each end, like a hammerhead shark.

Right to the end, Isaac Kalumbu called Gregory Isaacs “Mr. Isaacs.”Growing up in Zimbabwe, Kalumbu never imagined he would meet his musical idol, dubbed “ruler of reggae” by The New York Times — let alone hang with him in Jamaica, record with him, and help him get a fourth Grammy nomination.

Over the past five years, Muffitt has excelled at keeping butts in seats while stretching the brains above them. With each subscription concert, he has found a way to expand Lansing’s classical music experience without sending the squeamish into the streets screaming for Andre Rieu.