Blooming art

On spring cue, flowers are blossoming inside Carnegie Museum of Art this weekend during the second annual "Art in Bloom." Floral arrangements by regional garden clubs, local organizations and florists, inspired by artworks in the collection, enliven the galleries with color and fragrance.

A preview gala from 6:30 to 10 tonight, "April in Paris," features cocktails and hors d'oeuvres plus a silent auction that includes two round-trip airline tickets to Paris. Music and entertainment, coffee and confections, round out the evening. Tickets are $125 in advance, $150 at the door (call 412-622-3325 or visit http:members.carnegiemuseums.org/Art_In_Bloom_2010).

Friday Chris Giftos, retired Director of Special Events and Master Floral Designer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, will share memories of a career that included planning evenings for attendees like Jackie Onassis and Princess Diana. He'll also demonstrate technique, creating arrangements that will be raffled, and sign his book, "The Art of Floral Arranging." Doors open at 9 a.m., the lecture begins at 10:30, and a luncheon in the Music Hall Foyer will follow. Tickets are $60 for the lecture and luncheon ($50 per person for parties of 10 or more) and $30 for the lecture only.

Saturday the flowers remain in the galleries with family programming from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (free with museum admission). Sponsor level tickets with additional benefits are available.

Circus in town

The Shrine Circus is coming to the Mellon Arena this weekend, bringing its usual menagerie of clowns, acrobats and performers along with another familiar face, Batman. The Dark Knight will be along for the ride with a special guest villain.

Shows are 7 p.m. Friday; 10:30 a.m., 2:30 and 7 p.m. Saturday; and 11:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $10 on Friday (except for VIP seating). On other days, prices range from $14-$21. They're available at www.mellonarena.com or at the door or by calling 1-800-745-3000.

This will be the last time the Shrine Circus performs at the Mellon Arena.

Pittsburgh minstrels

This weekend the local period group Chatham Baroque returns to Gypsy Cafe on the South Side Friday for a special Wandering Minstrels Concert. What does this mean to you? Nothing less than a chance to listen to a superb ensemble playing music you don't hear every day, in a fun atmosphere, all with food and drink in hand. The program will be chosen from works by Arcangelo Corelli (his "La Folia"), J. S. Bach, Sylvius Weiss and Dietrich Buxtehude. There are two sets, 6 and 8:30 p.m, with tickets $50, meal inclusive.

More traditional, yet just as satisfying, concerts follow at 8 p.m. Saturday at Synod Hall, Oakland, and 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Laughlin Music Center, Chatham University, Shadyside. $10-$25. Call 412-394-3353.

Laser Jackson

The King of Pop is joining the music lineup at the Carnegie Science Center's Buhl Digital Planetarium.

The new "Laser Michael Jackson Show" combines a high-definition laser display with hits like "Thriller," "Man in the Mirror" and more.

It runs every Friday and Saturday at 9 p.m., with weekday matinees at 3 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday matinees at 1 and 3 p.m.

Information: 412-237-3400.

Jamal still strong

One of Pittsburgh's greatest jazz exports, Ahmad Jamal, comes home for a concert Friday night at the Byham with the MCG Jazz Orchestra.

The pianist is still a creative force at the age of 79. Jazz Times wrote of his chart-topping new album "A Quiet Time," "Jamal has achieved living legend status by constantly evolving and refining his sound throughout these albums, going well beyond the influential work that established his unique piano artistry and innovative trio conception back in the 1950s."

Tickets are $25.50 to $45.50. Go to www.pgharts.org or call 412-456-6666.

Thinking-man's pianist

In addition to performing at a high level, British-born pianist Stephen Hough pushes the envelope in writing on theology and social issues. In 2001 he won a MacArthur "Genius" grant for his efforts at probing questions and performances (and poetry, painting and composition, too). So it's no wonder that he would champion a lesser-known work by Tchaikovsky. Instead of coming to Heinz Hall to perform the Russian great's famous Piano Concerto No. 1, Hough (pronounced Huff) is bringing his obscure Second, heard for the first time at Heinz Hall.

Conductor Yan Pascal Tortelier leads the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra at 8 p.m. Friday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday in Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 2 and Prokofiev's Symphony No. 5. Tickets run $12.50-$83; call 412-392-4900 or visit www.pittsburghsymphony.org. See story, page W-20.

Outdoor adventures

The Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour makes a stop here this Friday and Saturday. Venture Outdoors is presenting the two evenings of five to seven short action, environmental and adventure films from this year's Banff Mountain Film Festival.

Among the highlights: On Friday, "Solo" tracks Andrew McAuley's quest to make a solo trip by kayak from Australia to New Zealand. On Saturday, "Take a Seat" follows Dominic Gill's journey by tandem bike from Alaska to South America.

The films will be shown at Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum in Oakland at 7 p.m.

Tickets are $7, $15 and $19 in advance. Information: 412-255-0564, extension 35 or www.ventureoutdoors.org. Advance tickets can be ordered through ProArts Tickets (www.proartstickets.org/events/view/520).

Old-time music

Calliope closes its season with the Music from the Crooked Road tour, which celebrates the deep musical roots of Southwest Virginia. It will feature Appalachian guitar master Wayne Henderson, bluegrass banjo virtuoso Sammy Shelor, family old-time string band The White Top Mountain Band, old-time fiddle and banjo masters Kirk Sutphin and Eddie Bond, young bluegrass band Amber Collins and No Speed Limit and even younger balladeer Elizabeth LaPrelle.

The concert is at Carnegie Lecture Hall at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $38 (advance), $43 (door), $20 (student rush). Call 412-394-3353 or go to www.proartstickets.org.

Comedy Party

The lineup for the Gab Bonesso Comedy Party at Bricolage Theater reads like TV/radio listings: Victor Varnado, the star and director of "The Awkward Kings of Comedy," which premiered on Comedy Central yesterday; Baron Vaughn, who you may have seen yesterday on Jimmy Kimmel's late-night show and a Comedy Central special, and a star of the new USA Network show "Chasing Kate"; and Joshua Grosvent, a writer for "Saturday Night Live's" Weekend Update and a Syracuse morning radio talker.

The show starts at 8 p.m., with John McIntire as host. Each comedian will do a 25-minute set, and there will be a brief intermission. Ticket info: gabbonesso.com.

Chili day

It's supposed to be a little chilly, but the SouthSide Works will heat up Saturday for a Chili Festival featuring dozens of local restaurants competing for Best in the 'Burgh status. Chili tasting tickets are $5 for 4 tastings and $2 for 3 additional tastings. Students with a valid college ID only pay $3 for 4 tastings.

There also will be more than 60 local art vendors and a Kids Korner in the former Joseph-Beth Booksellers store, and music by Miguel's Mariachi Fiesta Band, Jimbo and the Soup Bones and Airborne featuring Jeff Jimerson. For details, go to www.southsideworks.com.

Steinway series

The Steinway Society of Western Pennsylvania wraps up its new piano recital series with a performance by pianist Alec Chien, among other things the grand prize winner of the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition. At 7:30 p.m. he will perform two major works at the Creative and Performing Arts High School, Downtown: Schubert's Piano Sonata in B-Flat Major and Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition." Tickets $5-$15; call 412-394-3353 or 412-559-8210.

Wilco the concert

Wilco was generous with its time and set list on the band's last visit to Pittsburgh at the Palumbo Center. This time, expect it to be even more so.

The beloved Chicago band -- which has run the gamut from alt-country to psych-pop to noise-rock -- is on the road playing nearly three-hour sets, including an acoustic session at center stage. Once again, leader Jeff Tweedy will be sharing the spotlight with guitar ace Nels Cline, whose brought new virtuosity to the band.

Expect new stuff from "Wilco (the Album)," lots of old favorites and a choice Big Star cover. The sold-out show is at 8 p.m. at Carnegie Music Hall in Oakland.

Rock for Haiti

Scott Blasey of the Clarks and Liz Berlin of Rusted Root have organized an all-star production at the Hard Rock at Station Square on Sunday afternoon to benefit Brother's Brother, a Pittsburgh-based charity that supplies medical supplies, food and other humanitarian aid.

Joining them will be Shari Richards, Tom Breiding, David Foolhardy, Tony Lee, Mark Muretisch, Day One, DNA, The Regular Joes and Greg Odenthal & Full Circle. It runs from noon to 7 p.m. Tickets are $15. Call 412-779-3882.

Playwrights Theatre

The Friday and Saturday shows are sold out, but there are more opportunities to see "The Ancestor Series," a trilogy by P.J. Gibson at Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre.

In Pittsburgher Gibson's three works -- "The Taking Circle," "Blood on the Seats" and "Weeding" -- women call upon their African ancestors to help them make difficult decisions.

Seats are available for Sunday and future shows through April 24. Buy one ticket to shows Sunday, April 15 or 22 and get a second ticket to the same performance free.

Tickets are $20 through ProArts, at proarts.org or 412-394-3353, or $25 at the door. Times are 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday.

Green music

The ensemble IonSound will get into the recycling business this weekend, so to speak. The pieces for its program at 7 p.m. at Bellefield Hall Auditorium on the University of Pittsburgh's campus, explore the many ways composers reuse or "borrow" other composer's melodies and harmonies.

It's an age-old practice, but the chamber ensemble will focus on more recent examples: works by Joan Tower, Daron Hagen, Francis Poulenc, and Lukas Foss, whose "Solo Observed" will be performed by Pitt pianist and composer Amy Williams.

There also will be an unveiling of an installation by visual artist Cheryl Capezzuti. Tickets are $5-$15; visit www.proartstickets.org or www.ionsound.org.

Critics Andrew Druckenbrod and Scott Mervis talk about music on "The Beat," available exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.