BEAUTY AND THE FEAST is my idea of a perfect fundraiser as the event sounds delightful and the cause is irresistible. It is an evening of drinks, dinner, fashion and fun at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 23 at the Jewish Community Center’s Arts and Education Building, 2 Millstone Campus Drive. Nordstrom Galleria’s personal stylist manager and the store’s cosmetic stylists will present the latest trends in fashion and make up with fashionista Rena Abrams serving as Mistress of Ceremonies. Funds raised will help provide senior meals including Shabbat dinners and home-delivered meals for families. This was formerly the JCC Nutrition Program, now Kitchen J, which caters meals for low-income seniors who are served in the Covenant I Dining Room and open to the whole community. I was amazed to learn that this program provided 189,000 healthy meals for seniors and children last year.

Now that you know all this, I am sure that you will want to become a part of Beauty and the Feast.  For reservations ranging from $40 per person to $100 (premium seating) send your check to JCC, Attention Susan Kaplansky, 2 Millstone Campus Drive, St. Louis Mo. 63146. Registration deadline is May 14. Tickets are available online at www.jccstl.org or by contacting Kaplansky at [email protected] or 314-442-3148.

SING FOR SITEMAN: Tracy Dahl, an internationally-acclaimed coloratura soprano, will serve as the Host of Sing for Siteman 2012: FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY!, a benefit concert on June 4th at Whitaker Hall at Washington University, that will benefit advanced cancer research and patient care at the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center at Washington University School of Medicine. The evening will feature nine talented young vocal artists who will be performing on their night off from this season’s performances at Opera Theatre of St. Louis. Dahl has “a voice filled with sunshine, rainbows and laser light” according to Opera Magazine and the San Francisco Chronicle finds her “bright, sparkling, and bouncing, accurate and winning.” “Where pure, well-tuned, characterful, and seemingly easy acrobatics through two and a half octaves are required, Dahl is among a relative few who can do it all superlatively well,” comments the Calgary Herald. In 2009 she was awarded the prestigious Opera Canada Award. She has performed with the Saint Louis Symphony under Leonard Slatkin. She has also performed with maestro Slatkin at the Hollywood Bowl. Tickets for this “SING”-ular musical event are $100 for preferred seating and $50 for general open seating. They are available at http://www.opera- stl.org/SingForSiteman or call the OTSL box office at 314-961-0644.

THE ST. LOUIS SYMPHONY is going to perform at London’s Royal Albert Hall as part of the BBC Proms. Want to go? You can join Music Director David Robertson and the orchestra members when they go to overwhelm the Brits on Sept. 4, during the orchestra’s first European tour since 1998. In addition to the London performance, the orchestra will perform at the Musikfest Berlin, Berliner Festspiele, the Lucerne Festival and at the Salle Pleyel in Paris. The Symphony is hosting a special tour rally concert Tuesday, Aug. 28 at 5:30 p.m. at Powell Hall.  The event is free and open to the public, but tickets are required and may be reserved starting Aug. 1 at www.stlsymphony.org. More information about the tour is available at the same website.

HELP BRING THE GALILEE CIRCUS TO AMERICA. Circus Harmony, Jessica Hentoff’s great creation, is asking for support for Peace through Pyramids to bring the Israeli troupe here this summer so its members can work with St. Louis Arches to create and present shows throughout the St. Louis area. These remarkable young people show the world that it really doesn’t matter where you are from or what your background is, it is who you are and what you do that makes the difference.  This cross-cultural, bridge-building social circus project demonstrates what can happen when people of different nationalities and backgrounds build something together. You can easily make a donation to this cause by going on the following link Peace through Pyramids Kickstarter Project (http://goo.gl/hXHax)