This Week

For a complete listing of this week’s events, visit newsreview.com/reno

North Lake tahoe SNowFeSt

Snow or no snow, the 32nd annual celebration starts at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 27, with a kick-off party and fundraiser at Gar Woods Grill & Pier, 5000 N. Lake Blvd., Carnelian Bay. The fête will feature the SnowFest Queen candidates, a raffle, an auction and music by Groove Foundry. Admission is a $25 donation. This year’s festival, which has a 1980s theme, continues through March 9 with special events, fireworks show, parades, races, parties, concerts, skiing and other winter sports events and activities at various bars, restaurants, ski resorts and other venues across North Lake Tahoe. For more info, call (530) 583-7167 or visit www.tahoesnowfestival.com.

AfricAn children’s choir

Artown’s Encore season continues with a performance by this large choir comprised of children ages 7 to 12 from several African nations. The choir will perform well-loved children’s songs, hand clapping, traditional spirituals and contemporary tunes, accompanied by musical instruments commonly played in their homelands. Since its inception in 1984, the choir has included children from Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Nigeria and Ghana. All of these children are victims of extreme poverty, and many of them have lost one or both parents to AIDS or other diseases. The African Children’s Choir offers educational tools to the choir members, and once they have completed a concert tour they will return to their homelands with the tools necessary for improving their future. The concert begins at 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 28, at the Celebrity Showroom inside John Ascuaga’s Nugget, 1100 Nugget Ave., Sparks. Tickets are $20-$30. Call 356-3300 or visit www.renoisartown.com.

MArdi GrAs dAnce PArty

The Reno Blues Society presents its 20th annual dance party and fundraiser. There will be a silent auction of a variety of items to benefit the Washoe County School District’s music program. The California Honeydrops, a blues, New Orleans jazz and traditional R&B band from Oakland, headlines the event. Local blues act Guitar Woody and the Boilers opens the show, which begins at 7 p.m. on Saturday, March 1, at the Ramada Reno Downtown Hotel and Casino, 1000 E. Sixth St. Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at door with a $5 discount for RBS members. Call 247-3011 or visit www.renoblues.org.

reno PhilhArMonic: clAssix five

The Reno Philharmonic Orchestra continues its 2013-2014 season with the fifth concert in the Classix series conducted by music director Laura Jackson. The program features Igor Stravinsky’s 1947 ballet Petrushka. Pianist Conrad Tao joins the orchestra for Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3. Tao, the only classical musician on Forbes’ 2011 “30 Under 30” list of people changing the world, will perform on the Reno Phil’s new E. L. Wiegand Grand Piano. The concert begins at 4 p.m. on Sunday, March 2, and at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 4, at the Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts, 100 S. Virginia St. Tickets are $26-$77. Call (775) 323-6393 or visit www.renophil.com.

clAssicAl revolution reno: in the Month of lePrechAuns

Join professional musicians from the Reno Philharmonic, Reno Chamber Orchestra, Reno Pops, TOCCATA Tahoe Symphony and other groups for an opportunity to play, sing and/or just listen to live classical music. This month’s gathering goes green with St. Patrick’s Day-themed surprises and green drinks such as absinthe. The classical jam begins at 8 p.m. on Monday, March 3, at The Golden Rose Café, 4395 W. McCarran Blvd., at the Wildflower Village. Admission is free. Call (775) 747-8848 or visit http://www.wildflowervillage.com. —Kelley Lang