The aud-o-file

This weekend begins with a Friday evening show and Saturday matinee presented by Opera in the Ozarks. Show times are 7:30 Friday evening and 2 and 3:30 on Saturday. Tickets are $10 and will be available at the door.

Monday kicks off the three-week run of the CICA Music Festival with a 7 p.m. Extraordinary Artists Series recital by three CICA string faculty, Dr. Carlton McCreery on cello, Dr. Shih-Peng Chang on violin, and Margaret Carey, viola. Tuesday continues with members of the brass faculty in recital featuring Dr. John Irish, trumpet and Dr. Tony Baker -- reputed to be the world's only trombone virtuoso.

Wednesday through Saturday brings alternating nights of performances from the St. Petersburg String Quartet and the Eroica Trio. Elswhere in this issue is a full performance repertoire.

Friday afternoon the Eroica Trio kicks back and performs everything from Gershwin to perhaps a "cello throwdown" with Leonid Shukayev of the St. Petersburg. High tea and high fun in an intimate salon setting at the Grand Central Hotel's Grande Taverne at 2 p.m. Come early and your $20 ticket will also get you a discount on lunch! For a full three-week schedule go to www.cicamusicfestival.org.

Questions I got on last week's column about tuning the Aud's piano to A=441 for a couple of performances mostly asked, "One measly Hertz? C'mon, what difference can that make?" Here's the poop: An old (as in four or five hundred years) opera trick was for soloists to sing a hair sharp so their voices stood out above the chorus. It's sort of the same effect a guitarist goes for by dialing in a bit of chorus (the effect pedal, not singers) to make his solo pop to the front of the mix. Of course, for a vocalist the art and talent is to precisely nail the exact same amount of sharpocity on every note. Definitely not an easy task.

And that, boys and girls, is why the Eroica Trio's contract specifies their piano be tuned to A=441.

Ray Dilfield

Always Aud-acious