Last minute

Two operas: Cincinnati Opera presents a double bill The Emperor of Atlantis by Viktor Ullmann and the North American premiere of The Maids by Peter Bengtson, at 8 p.m. today in Music Hall. The new production is directed by artistic director Nicholas Muni.

A special exhibit in the center of Music Hall's main lobby will provide background about the Theresienstadt (Terezin in Czech) concentration camp, where composer Ullmann and librettist Petr Kien created The Emperor of Atlantis.Tickets: 241-2742 or www.cincinnatiopera.org.

— Janelle Gelfand

Local filmmakers on TV: Andre Hyland and John Parker, local filmmakers honored as audience favorites at the 2003 Best of Underneath Cincinnati show, will appear at 7:30 p.m. today on Viewfinder on WCET Channel 48 to discuss their work with host Alphonzo Wesson III.

— Margaret A. McGurk

FYI

Jones named chairman: Northern Kentucky University has announced that NKU professor Ken Jones will become chairman of the theater and dance department effective July 1. Jones, who has been at NKU since 1987 and had been the department's longtime playwright-in-residence, was the 2003 recipient of the Frank Sinton Milburn Outstanding Professor Award.

— Jackie Demaline

Premiere earns award: The Franz Liszt Society of Budapest, Hungary has awarded James Conlon, the May Festival Chorus and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra its 30th International F. Liszt Record Grand Prix, for the world premiere recording of Liszt's unfinished oratorio, Saint Stanislaus.

The festival performed the work's world premiere in 2003. The Telarc recording features soloists mezzo-soprano Kristine Jepson and baritone Donnie Ray Albert.

— Janelle Gelfand

Local in HBO film: The film Everyday People, which played at the Sundance Film Festival this year, features Cincinnati native Sydnee Stewart in a lead role. The actress, poet and playwright makes her feature-film debut in the movie (9 p.m. Saturday, HBO), an ensemble drama about life in an interracial Brooklyn neighborhood. Log on to hbo.com for a complete schedule.

— C.E. Hanifin

Barbershop 'Daze': The Delta Kings Chorus will perform Knights 'n' Daze, a musical comedy based on the life of English ruler King Richard I, known as the Lionheart. Showtimes are 8 p.m. Friday and 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday at Deer Park High School's Crawford Auditorium, 8351 Plainfield Road. For tickets ($12) and more information call 851-0984 or visit deltakings.org.

— C.E. Hanifin

MOVIES OPENING FRIDAY

Coffee and Cigarettes

Fahrenheit 9/11

The Notebook

This So-Called Disaster

Two Brothers

COMING FRIDAY IN WEEKEND

Greek Week: Don't know your spanikopita from your evzon? Read WEEKEND for a glossary of Greek terms that will help you talk the talk at the annual Panegyri Festival.