Here are a selection of brief news items pertaining to arts, entertainment, culture and other fun things to do in your spare time:

Bavarian Orchestra to perform at Viterbo

The outstanding musicians of the Bavarian Philharmonic will perform in concert in the Viterbo University Fine Arts Center Main Theatre at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 26.

Considered by many critics to be one of Europe’s most exciting young orchestras, the Bavarian Philharmonic is directed by Enoch zu Guttenberg and consists of some of the finest musicians from the Berlin and Munich Philharmonics. This incredible orchestra was founded in 1997 by violinists Andreas Reiner and Josef Kroner with the goal of achieving Guttenberg’s unique musical ideals.

Joining them will be accomplished American pianist Orion Weiss, winner of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant.

The program will include Mozart’s Overture to Don Giovanni, Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5, Op. 73 “Emperor” and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, Op. 55.

This performance is sponsored by Holiday Inn Hotel and Suites. Tickets are $38 for lower balcony and $33 for upper balcony seating. For more information, contact the Viterbo University box office at 796-3100 or log onto www.viterbo.edu/finearts1.aspx.

Grammy-winning reggae band coming

The Grammy Award-winning Maytals Band will give a concert at UW-La Crosse. The group performs at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 1, in Valhalla, Cartwright Center-Gunning Addition.

The Maytals Band helped establish the foundation of reggae music. Continually redefining the sound of modern reggae, the band infuses its music with rock, blues, funk, pop and soul for a rich tapestry of energetic sound with universal appeal.

The Maytals Band is no stranger to hit music. It has been well-known for decades for albums and world tours with Toots Hibbert, the godfather of reggae. In 2005, the band’s album “True Love” won the Grammy for Best Reggae Album.

Band members hold the Guinness World Record for shortest time between the recording and release of a live album — “TOOTS LIVE at the Hammersmith Palais.”

The band has performed with legendary musicians such as Bob Marley and the Wailers, the Rolling Stones, Willie Nelson, Jack Johnson, Bonnie Raitt, Paul Simon, Cat Stevens, Eric Clapton, Al Green, Jimmy Cliff, No Doubt, Ryan Adams, Ben Harper and more. The Maytals band is known for Leba Hibbert’s voice, backed up by a number of accomplished musicians.

Tickets are $6 for UW-L students and $10 for others. Tickets are available at the Cartwright Center Info Counter or at 785-8898.

For more about the band, log onto www.myspace.com/themaytalsband.

‘On the Verge’ to be staged at UW-L

The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse’s theater department will stage the time-traveling comedy, “On the Verge.”

Performances of the play are set for 7:30 p.m. Nov. 2-3 and 7-10 and 2 p.m. Nov. 4 and 11. Performances will be in the newly remodeled Frederick Theatre in Morris Hall, State and 16th streets.

In this kaleidoscopic adventure by Eric Overmyer, three courageous Victorian women explorers cross the continents and time to find Terra Incognita — the last undiscovered place on earth.

During their travels, the 19th-century women vanquish such challenges as a Yeti and encounter puzzling objects, including an “I Like Ike” button and a rear-view mirror from a car.

Overmyer, an award-winning playwright, uses intriguing language to cleverly bring to life a vibrant safari based on actual Victorian explorers.

Tickets are $3 for UW-L students, $8 for senior citizens and $10 for others. Tickets go on sale Oct. 29.

For reservations, contact the box office at 785-8522 or in the lobby of the Center for the Arts, 16th and Vine streets. Box office hours are 1 to 4:30 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays. Seating is limited.

Herbal cigarettes will be smoked during the performance.

‘Robinson Crusoe’ coming to Viterbo

Audiences will be treated to an adventure classic with a twist when “The Amazing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe” comes to the stage in Viterbo University’s Fine Arts Center Main Theatre at 1 and 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 3.

In this version of the famous Daniel Dafoe story, Robinson Crusoe and a goat named Wilson are shipwrecked on an island, but not just any island. The island is a tourist destination complete with a singing leopard, a native tribe with colorful hair, and Friday’s Seaside Resort.

“The Amazing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe” is part of Viterbo’s Ronald McDonald Arts for Young America Family Series and is presented by Missoula Children’s Theatre. The company provides a week-long residency “starring” local students in a full-scale musical.

The troupe’s mission is the “development of life skills in children through participation in the performing arts.”

Tickets are $10 for adults and $8 for children for main floor seating and $8 for adults and $6 for children for lower balcony seating.

For more information, call the Viterbo box office at

796-3100 or log onto www.viterbo.edu/finearts1.aspx.

UW-L plans open house Nov. 2 to celebrates theater renovation

UW-La Crosse Department of Theatre Arts invites the public to an open house celebrating the newly renovated Frederick Theatre space.

The open house will run from 2 to 4:30 p.m. Friday Nov. 2, in the lower level of Morris Hall, on the corner of 16th and State streets. All are welcome.

The Frederick Theatre, the original performing arts space on the UW-L campus, has been completely renovated, transformed from a proscenium theatre to a thrust space, also called “three-quarters round.”

In the new configuration the audience sits on three sides of the stage. A new, level floor and new seats have been installed along with updated sound and light systems.

“The new space is wonderful! We can’t wait to open our first play there,” said Beth Cherne, chair of the Department of Theatre Arts.

Interim Associate Dean and Director of the School of Arts and Communication Billy Clow and Technical Director Ron Stoffregen worked with UW-L facilities staff and the architects to complete the project over the summer.

The comedy, “On the Verge,” opens in the updated theatre on Friday Nov. 2, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available starting Monday Oct. 29. Call 785-8522 to reserve tickets. Seating is limited.

Swan watch bus tour set for Nov. 17

A bus trip that will offer close-up views of migrating tundra swans and other waterfowl is planned Saturday, Nov. 17, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge.

The bus tour will leave Winona, Minn., and visit Rieck’s Lake near Alma, Wis., and the Mississippi River near Brownsville, Minn., for spectacular sights and sounds.

Interpreters will be on-board to answer questions and binoculars, spotting scopes and brochures will be provided for the day. There is limited seating and reservations are required. Cost is $20 per person, which includes a box lunch.

To make reservations, call Mary Stefanski at the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge before Nov. 9 at (507) 494-6229.

Children’s Museum offers special art

The Children’s Museum of La Crosse is committed to making opportunities for creative expression available to people with limited mobility and other special needs through a new outreach program called Camp Can-Do.

At no charge, trained and experienced volunteers will help groups of five to 10 individuals, either on-site or at the Children’s Museum, create unique works of art with adaptive equipment and techniques. The art activities — to be customized for the participants’ special needs, interests and abilities — can include mural painting, chalk drawing, tabletop printing and other activities.

Some Camp Can-Do activities will be demonstrated at the Children’s Museum from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 13, and 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 21. These activities will be available, included with the regular cost of admission, to museum attendees of all abilities.

Camp Can-Do is made possible with funding from Ronald McDonald House Children’s Charities, special equipment from Zotz Arts for All, and the commitment and expertise of local artist and educator Sandy Musolf.

For more information or to inquire about arranging a Camp Can-Do visit for a group of children with limited mobility, contact Sandy Musolf at 783-4849 or srmusolf@ charter.net or Leanne Poellinger at the Children’s Museum 784-2652 or museumlax@centurytel.net.

Children’s Museum hosts traveling Hmong exhibit

“Hmong at Heart,” an award-winning traveling exhibit, is on display at the Children’s Museum of La Crosse, through Dec. 21.

“We are thrilled to host such an impressive international cultural presentation,” said Anne Steuer, the museum’s executive director. “Based on the popularity of this exhibit in other parts of the country, we expect it to draw families and school groups from throughout our region.”

The Hmong are an Asian ethnic group from the mountainous regions of China. At the turn of the 18th century many of the Hmong migrated to Southeast Asia and later to Vietnam and Thailand. After the communist takeover of Vietnam in 1975, many Hmong sought refuge in other countries, including the United States. About 4,000 Hmong people currently live in the La Crosse area.

“Hmong at Heart” visitors will participate in activities that simulate the daily life of a Hmong community, including three hands-on learning centers: a Hmong village in Laos, a refugee camp in Thailand and a Hmong-American home. Activities including weaving bamboo sheathing and planting a rural garden allow participants to experience the basic rustic lives of this culture.

A grant from the La Crosse Rotary Foundation allows the Children’s Museum to offer schools and other youth groups a discounted rate for field trips during the exhibit’s visit.

“Hmong at Heart” was created by the Wisconsin Children’s Museum in Madison.