In case my recent admission that I first heard Vivaldi on the Kramer vs. Kramer soundtrack didn’t give you a big enough clue, I’ll confess that I’m a commoner who always comes to classical music in a somewhat sideways manner. I discovered the great American composer Aaron Copland when a version of his heart-in-throat Fanfare for the Common Man served as the opening theme for some Saturday TV sports show (and, no, I didn’t watch that—thus my deft use of “some Saturday TV sports show”—but my dad did and he was a good guy to hang around with in front of the television). Anyway, my affection for Copland continued well into adulthood, which meant I also at some point stumbled upon conductor Leonard Slatkin, whose Copland: Music for Films CD with the Saint Louis Symphony remains one of my favorites.

Whatever. This is a long way of saying that Slatkin, now the director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and one of the most prestigious conductors in the world, arrives for a four-day guest appearance with Seattle Symphony to lead Berlioz’s dizzyingly romantic and deliriously doom-laden Symphonie fantastique. And I’ll be there hoping that nobody tries to engage me in banter about Berlioz (“Ah, yes, he was my favorite kitten in The Aristocats”).

On Friday I’ll continue to prove my frustrated devotion to On the Boards; we’re like ex-lovers who occasionally say discouraging things about each other but still remember the good times we’ve shared. I’m giving their engagement of Theatre Replacement’s That Night Follows Day a chance even though it features kids on stage saying precocious things about the world. I can’t repeat this mantra enough, however, about On the Boards or, hell, about the arts in general: Risk and chance are key or you’ll be damned to a life of CATS and commerce.

Emily Hubley will be at Northwest Film Forum this weekend to introduce her first feature film, The Toe Tactic. Hubley’s parents, Faith and John, made jazzy, Oscar-winning animated shorts (recently featured in NWFF’s Children’s Film Festival) and Hubley herself created the memorable animation for “The Origin of Love” song sequence in the fabulous film version of Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Toe combines cartoon and live action for a story about a grieving young woman whose life can’t be all bad because it includes cameo appearances by actors Jane Lynch (Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, et al) and Mary Kay Place (The Big Chill and, of course, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman) as well as director John Sayles (whose 1996 Lone Star remains one of the best films of the last 20 years in my book).

On Sunday I finally get to see k.d. lang (yes, there are still tickets). I have a short list of singers whom I need to hear live before I expire and lang’s always been near the top despite the e.e. cummings conceit with her name. She’s somebody whose voice will be remembered for decades to come and I want to be able to say “Oh, but you should’ve heard her in concert…”

Berlioz was one of the Aristocats, right?

Here’s Emily Hubley’s work in Hedwig (any excuse to view the movie again works for me):