One of the joys of summer in St. Louis is attending the Shakespeare Festival in Forest Park adjacent to the Art Museum. Now in its eighth year of presenting The Bard’s best plays, it is free to the public. Whether reclining on a blanket or sitting in your own folding chair or the Festival’s rental chair, it is a wonderful opportunity for a pre-production picnic complete with a bottle of wine. This year’s Shakespeare Festival offering will be The Tragedy of King Richard the Third. Throughout the year the Festival presents to students their Education Tour Productions, reaching as many as 25,000 who learn through exploration of Shakespeare’s verse. Adaptations of Richard the Third and A Midsummer Night’s Dream will tour for thirteen weeks appearing at more than 120 schools and community venues.

Need I tell you that this all costs money, and the great actress Lynn Redgrave is coming to St. Louis to help fill the coffers that keep the show on the road here in our city? On Sunday, March 29 at 7:30 p.m. at The Sheldon, 3648 Washington Boulevard, Shakespeare Festival brings her for “An Evening with Lynn Redgrave.” She will present a vivid account of her career on both stage and screen intermingled with selections from Shakespeare. Preferred seating and cocktail reception with Ms. Redgrave following the presentation costs $200 a person, while general seating and the reception with Redgrave is $150. A limited number of student tickets are available at $30. All proceeds will benefit the Festival’s artistic and educational programs. For tickets, call the festival office at 314-531-9800.

Born in London into perhaps the most illustrious family of actors of the 20th century, Lynn Redgrave has enjoyed a remarkable career on stage, screen and beyond. Besides being nominated for three Tony Awards, two Oscars, two Emmys and a Grammy, she has won 10 Golden Globe awards, has been honored with the appointment of the Order of the British Empire, and was presented with the Golden Quill award for her contributions to the Shakespeare legacy. She has appeared in everything from the 1966 film Georgy Girl to a 2007 episode of Desperate Housewives and could be seen this winter in the Off Broadway production of Grace. Imagine the stories she has to tell! You can share them while supporting the Shakespeare festival on March 29.

THE GLASS SISTERS — LORRAINE AND FERN, both outstanding musicians, will display their talents at a special concert at The Sheldon on Monday evening, March 24 at 7:30 p.m. Lorraine, a St. Louis Symphony Orchestra violinist and Fern, a Missoula Symphony Orchestra cellist and professor of cello at the University of Montana will present the St. Louis premiere of Holocaust victim Erwin Schuloff’s Duo. Composed in 1925, the virtuosic and dynamic work shows strong Czech folk influence. Lorraine Glass tells me the works of Schuloff, who died in a concentration camp in 1942, have only recently gained popularity among chamber musicians and their audiences. Other works on the program explore various aspects of Jewish life. They include Tefilah (Prayer) for cello and piano by Julius Chajes; Elegy for a Woman who Died too Young, by the late Robert Starer; Yemenite Wedding Dance by Israeli composer Marc Lavry; and Marche Miniature Viennoise by Fritz Kreisler. The program will begin with a joyous tonal romp, the Duo for Violin and cello by the Czech composer Bohuslav Martinu. Joining the Glasses will be former Saint Louis Symphony pianist Barbara Liberman. Tickets at $10 will be available at the door of The Sheldon the evening of the performance.

Lorraine Glass-Harris has been a member of the SLSO since 1972. St. Louis audiences know her for her chamber music and solo performances on both modern and baroque violin. Her instrument, made in 1779, is a beautifully preserved example of the Neapolitan violin maker, Joseph Gagliano. Her sister Fern performs on a fine English cello dated 1811, made by Joseph Hill of London. Chamber music lovers will have a treat in store when the Glass sisters play at The Sheldon.