Around The Arts

IU professor performs faculty pieces\nVoice professor Patricia Stiles will present a recital of songs by composers who have taught or are currently teaching at the IU School of Music. Tonight's program will begin with a cycle of 13 songs, titled "Haiku," by Dr. Edwin Penhorwood of the Opera faculty. Stiles will also perform a world premiere of three songs by piano professor Emile Naoumoff set to the text of poets Paul Valery, Emile Verhaeren and Armand Marquiset. The program will also feature Sven-David Sandstrom's "Three Love Songs for Voice, Violin, and Piano"; "3 poems of E.E. Cummings," by the late Thomas Beversdorf; and "Songs of Living and Dying," a cycle of songs by jazz professor David Baker using texts from the Harlem Renaissance. \nThe program will begin at 8 p.m. in Auer Recital Hall. Admission is free. For more information contact 855--1583.\n'Sex and the City' comes to an end\nSunday's finale of "Sex and the City" promises to be a fight to the finish for the heart of Carrie Bradshaw. Hanging in the balance is not just the man (Aleksandr Petrovsky or Mr. Big?) or the place (Carrie's beloved Manhattan, or Paris, where she defected last week?), but also the feelings of fans after six randy seasons on the town.\nMany questions are afoot -- stylishly shod in Manolos, no doubt -- as "Sex and the City" concludes at 9 p.m. EST on HBO the show will be preceded at 8 p.m. by a series retrospective.\nJewish Mystical Music at Beth Shalom\nYossi Chajes, a musician and scholar of Jewish mysticism, will share a part of the Jewish culture at congregation Beth Shalom. Chajes will perform the melodies of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach and Haisidic chants. The concert will take place at 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21. Admission is $4 for children 3-12 and $8 for ages 13 and up. For more information contact 334--2440.\nThe 'Muppets' go Disney\nLos Angeles --The Walt Disney Co. said Tuesday it will buy the "Muppets" characters, including Kermit, Miss Piggy and others, from The Jim Henson Co.\nThe deal, which is expected to close in about two months, culminates a decades-long pursuit of the Muppets by Disney, which came close to acquiring the characters in 1990. The deal fell apart shortly after the death of company founder Jim Henson.The company then was bought by German media company EM.TV, which sold it back to the Henson family last year.\nThe Muppet characters already exist in Disney theme parks in a 3D film, while "Bear in the Big Blue House" is a long-running show on the Disney cable television channel. Disney plans to make new television shows, video games, movies and other products with the existing characters as well as develop new characters in the coming years.