Classical Music

Chocolate festival Chocolate cookies, chocolate brownies, chocolate fountain, chocolate candy, chocolate cakes, chocolate milk and more chocolate. Also includes a silent auction, pie throwing, Valentine crafts for children, cookie contest and Willy Wonka movie. Today, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Trinity Lutheran Church, 16 N. Main St., Smithsburg. One-man show Michael Cooper's one-man show features handcrafted masks, original stories of courage and wonder, outlandish stilt dancing and a physical repertoire that ranges from the madcap to the sublime.

HAGERSTOWN - Sydney Tooley, 13, started taking harp lessons because her mother wouldn't let her play the drums. She listened to a tape of harp music and decided the harp was a pretty instrument, she said. Sydney, 13, started playing the classical instrument in August and by Christmas was performing concerts for the candlelight tour of historic churches in Frederick, Md. She is performing again this year for visitors to Frederick's historic churches. Sydney also is one of 15 harpists in the Tri-State Harp Ensemble directed by Sally Lay that will be featured Saturday in a concert at Hagerstown Seventh-day Adventist Church.

A violin performance of Vivaldi's Concerto in A minor: two to three minutes. "Valse Gracieuse," a performance piece for flute: four minutes. Vocal performances of "My Johann" and "Pieta Signore": seven minutes. Total performance time at the Cumberland Valley School of Music Performathon: 13 to 14 minutes. Gabrielle Sanfilippo, 15, has spent several months and dozens of hours practicing these flute, violin and vocal pieces to make her contribution to this weekend's continuous music performance fundraiser.

Sitting in his office at The Maryland Theatre, Executive Director Brian Sullivan is listening to classical music, but has papers with band names such as Dashboard Confessional and The Fray on his desk. Sullivan said he's hoping to bring those bands and others frequently featured on MTV and VH1 to the theater. He said he wants the area's young people to be regular ticket holders. "Now, it's my job to go find the bands," he said. Sullivan took over the role of executive director of the downtown Hagerstown theater more than six months ago and said his goals include bringing good, affordable programming to Hagerstown.

CLEAR SPRING -- Little did Beth Smith realize the impact that a performance of "Camelot" at Wolf Trap years ago would have on her life. That performance pointed her in a direction that brought her back 10 years ago to Clear Spring High School, her alma mater, as drama teacher. "Art and music are so important for kids," Smith said. "For some kids, high school is their last chance for such an experience. " Smith fiercely strives to maintain a high level of such activities for her students in the wake of budget cuts in art and music nationwide.

1. Murderer among friends "The Mousetrap" by Agatha Christie will be presented 6 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; matinee Sunday, Feb. 24, at The Washington County Playhouse Dinner Theater, 44 N. Potomac St., downtown Hagerstown. Show opesn Friday, Feb. 8, and continues through Saturday, March 23 A group of strangers are trapped in a manor house during a storm. One of them is a murderer. Tickets cost $29 to $42. Reservations recommended. Call 301-739-7469 or go to www.wcpdt.com . 2.  Sweetheart of an evening Sweetheart Gala will be from 6 to 11 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 9, at Fountain Head Country Club, 13316 Fountain Head Road, north of Hagerstown.

Andrew Rolland Strock of Hagerstown, Md., entered into God's eternal care Nov. 14, 2012. Born Aug. 28, 1948, he was the son of the late Edgar Rolland Strock and Helen Moore Strock. He graduated from North Hagerstown High School in 1966 in the top 1 percent of his class; from the University of Rochester in New York in 1970; and the Roosevelt School of Psychology of the University of Chicago in 1973 with a master's degree in clinical psychology. He worked for Elgin State Hospital of Psychology for two years in Chicago, Ill. He was vice president of Roman & Strock Inc. Neon Signs from 1965 to 1978.

Blues music usually comes down to two people feeling kind of sexy, explained blues guitarist Don Oehser. "It's not an ethereal thing. It's not a heady thing like classical music, where it's all in your head. (Blues is) all about the feeling of it," said Oehser. "And usually that feeling comes down to a man and a woman. " On Sunday, Oehser will perform at the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts as part of a program called "Grace and the Blues on This Sexy Planet," which will wed the blues with poetry.

Euge Groove By KATE COLEMAN / Staff Writer When Tina Turner takes to the stage of the MCI Center in Washington, D.C., Saturday night, she'll be backed on sax by one of Hagerstown's very own. continued The sold-out concert is part of Turner's "Twenty Four Seven Millennium Tour 2000. " Joe Cocker will be there. And so will Steven Eugene Grove, a 1980 South High grad. How did he get from here to there? And how in the world did he come to be known as "Euge Groove" with a self-titled debut CD?

Cellist William De Rosa said he is looking forward to working with Elizabeth Schulze and the Maryland Symphony Orchestra for the first time next weekend. But an "old friend" will be with him at The Maryland Theatre. That's what he called Antonin Dvork's Cello Concerto in B Minor, Op. 104. He's been playing it with orchestras since he was 12. It's the pinnacle of all cello concertos, he said: "(It's) huge and wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. " The 38-year-old California native will be joined by his "trusty companion," a 1739 cello crafted by Domenico Montagnana in Venice, Italy.