"Prelude to a Tragedy" was premièred by the Palo Alto Philharmonic in April 2004. Upcoming performances of some of Actor's other works include "Redwood Fanfare" on Oct. 23 by the Palo Alto Philharmonic. That performance will be at 8 p.m. at Cubberley Theater in Palo Alto with Thomas Shoebotham conducting.

Actor's Symphony No. 1 will be performed by the Saratoga Symphony on Jan. 23, Jason Klein conducting.

Actor is composer-in-residence of the Palo Alto Philharmonic and lives in Monte Sereno.

ARTISTS AT LIBRARY: The work of photographer Anita Schiller and textile artist Anne Lamborn is on view at the Saratoga Library through October. Anne Lamborn is an artist and designer specializing in dyes, weaving and paintings. She colors unwoven warp threads with dyes before weaving them. This process is called painted-warp weaving.

Lamborn recently won a three-month-long residence fellowship at New Pacific Studio in Mt. Bruce, New Zealand. There she created art weavings, dye-painted silk panels and watercolors. Her work was shown under the theme "Pacific Light."

Now she's back home, working from her Los Gatos studio. To view the library exhibit from home, visit www.saratoga
.ca.us/arts.htm.

Anita Schiller was given her first camera early on and has been taking photographs for as long as she can remember. Her black-and-white photos of children were taken this year during story time at the Saratoga Library. Schiller particularly likes to photograph the presumed innocence of children.

"They accept one another without judgment or bias. We can strengthen our community and build unity by celebrating diversity," she says, a theme that echoes Saratoga's Building Bridges program being celebrated in Saratoga in October.

Schiller's documentary photos that were taken on the set of the film The Other Side of Heaven are published in the book Journey of Faith: The Making of the Other Side of Heaven.

LEGACY WINS GOLD: Saratogan Rebecca Tougas' vocal group "Legacy" won a gold medal and three silver medals at the World Championship of the Performing Arts held in Los Angeles this summer. The event is referred to as the Olympics of the performing arts.

Some 3,000 performers from 40 different countries competed. Rebecca entered as both a soloist and part of Legacy. The 16-year-old singer has well-known Saratoga antecedents. Her grandparents are Bernard and Doris Tougas, who own Jake's Pizza on Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road, and Maree Luban, portrait artist.

Luban's portrait of Maestro Mitchell S. Klein, conductor of the Peninsula Symphony, recently won plaudits when it was displayed at an event celebrating Klein's 20-year tenure with the symphony. Luban captured the essence of the maestro's personality, not just his likeness, said onlookers.

HIGH HATS: The Saratoga Senior Center's High Tea annually brings forth the best in elegant attire, especially hats, and two women won distinction for most beautiful hats. Fiorella Bano was awarded top hat honors and Aracely Callaway received an honorable mention.

Bano's hat was flat of crown and fringed in white feathers, circa 1960. Callaway's was a wide-brimmed black number trimmed in cream and silver, purchased a couple of years ago. Bano had on a magnificent, ivory-colored Empress dress; Callaway was attired in a natty suit.

This was their first senior tea showing. Now that jeans are even evident at the opera, this tea is one of the few places left to get gussied up to one's heart's content.

A scattering of men were in attendance: As witness John Feemster, president of the Senior Center board. He served as emcee, decked out in tux and top hat, and took an honorable mention, too. Ten women wore hats provided by Louise Webb, whose collection is legendary. Music was provided by Sue Dinwiddie on harp and husband Ken Dinwiddie on flute, called Wind in the Strings. Their number is 650.325.3033.

CRAFTY MUSEUM: Saratogan Ken Riding is a board member of the new San Francisco Museum of Craft+Design, which opens Oct. 23 at 550 Sutter St. It features the collection of arts and crafts from furniture-maker Garry Knox Bennett and his wife, Sylvia.

The Bennett Collection covers studio craft in the United States from the 1960s to the present. Forty-five objects from 36 artists make up the inaugural exhibition, including five Bennett pieces. The number is 415.773.0303.

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