Add some whimsy

“Performances are always a little eccentric, stubbornly personal, impassioned, and committed to invigorating old traditions with an ever-youthful perspective,’’ Scolnick said.

The group’s final concert of the 2010-2011 season is today at West Parish Church in Andover.

It features “Pinocchio’s Adventures in Funland,’’ a retelling in music and spoken word of the marionette’s adventures, by Boston composer Michael Gandolfi.

Former radio host Richard Knisely takes on the role of storyteller.

Scolnik said that although the piece ws intended for xchildren, she knew it “was too good not to share with adult audiences.’’

The program also includes a rarely played single-movement piano trio by Shostakovich; the Tarantella for flute, clarinet, and piano by Saint Saens; and Brahms’ clarinet trio.

Performers include clarinetist and Grammy Award-winner Todd Palmer, as well as Boston Trio members Allison Eldredge, cellist; violinist Irina Muresanu; and pianist Heng-Jin Park.

The concert begins at 4 p.m. Tickets are $30. Call 978-474-6222 or visit www.andoverchambermusic.org.

FILLED WITH GLEE: The Firehouse Center for the Arts in Newburyport is getting on the “Glee’’ bandwagon with a spring break program for young performers from second through 12th grade.

The Firehouse Glee Club includes voice instruction, choreographed pop vocal tunes, and a culminating performance.

Instructors Johanna Hoyt Kimball and Julie Pike Edmond teach the basics of good breath support, posture and vocal production, and performance techniques.

Kimball has a master’s degree in music performance from the New England Conservatory. She has many years of experience performing in classical, operatic, and musical theater in Boston, San Francisco, and locally. She teaches at The Musical Suite in Newburyport.

Edmond studied dance education and performance at Columbia College in Chicago and graduated with a bachelor of fine arts degree from Bradford College in Haverhill. She has performed with numerous dance companies and now dances with EgoArt Inc. She teaches ballet, creative movement, modern, and jazz at The Dance Place in Newburyport and The Ipswich Moving Company Dance School.

Glee Club runs April 18-22. A morning session, 9 a.m. to noon, is for grades 2 through 5. An afternoon session, from 1 to 4 p.m., is for grades 6 through 12. The final performance is April 22 at the Firehouse.

Enrollment fee is $125 per student. Call 978-499-9931 or visit www.firehouse.org.

AUTHOR’S CORNER: Elyssa East discusses her book, “Dogtown: Death and Enchantment in a New England Ghost Town,’’ at Endicott College in Beverly at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. The book intertwines the story of a murder in the Dogtown section of Gloucester in 1984 with the strange, dark history of the isolated Colonial ruin and woodland. . . . The Peabody Institute Library in Peabody is participating in a statewide program called Common Threads: Seven Poets and a Wealth of Readers. Organized by Massachusetts Poetry, the program hopes to get 10,000 people in various locations to read seven poems by seven poets who have worked or currently work in Massachusetts. The event is 10:30 a.m. Tuesday and is facilitated by Salem State professor J.D. Scrimgeour.

IN LOCAL GALLERIES: “Exterior/Interior,’’ an exhibit of paintings by Paul Kerepka and Marcia Hermann, is at The Governor’s Academy in the Byfield section of Newbury tomorrow through June 13. Kerepka paints vivid cityscapes and landscapes of New England. Hermann paints tongue-in-cheek vignettes of her life. Longtime friends, Kerepka attended the Art Institute of Boston and Hermann majored in painting at Montserrat College of Art in Beverly. . . . “Looking @ Lowell,’’ an exhibit of art featuring architecture, landscapes, festivals, rivers, canals, and people of the city, is at Whistler House Museum of Art in Lowell through April 30. . . . The season’s first Newburyport ArtWalk is 3-7 p.m. Saturday, with 18 galleries opening for the event. Maps for self-guided tours are at participating galleries, which are marked with blue and yellow balloons, and the Newburyport Chamber of Commerce. A free guided tour begins at 3 p.m. in Market Square, in front of the Firehouse Center for the Arts.

Items can be sent to wdkilleen@gmail.com.