Wed. March 21

 We suppose it's both a burden and a joy to have the name Grace Kelly. There is instant name recognition. And, then there is all that explaining to do - even the most famous Grace - actress, Princess of Monaco - took a fatal turn many years ago. Brookline's Grace Kelly - a jazz saxophonist/singer/arranger - is of Asian descent, so perhaps she avoids most Princess Grace lines. She has also just released her third CD, "Every Road I've Walked." She is 14 years old. Is she the Michelle Wie of the sax? Check her out at Scullers Jazz Club Wednesday March 21 at 8 p.m. Tickets: $8.

400 Soldiers Field Rd., 617-562-4111 scullersjazz.com

Mon. March 19 - Wed. March 21

We know, you think of Honk Kong films and you think of chop-socky extravaganzas by John Woo and his ilk. But of course it's not quite that simple. Take Ann Hui. Born in Manchuria to a Chinese father and Japanese mother, Hui moved first to Macao and later Hong Kong, where she studied at the University. She then studied film in London, wokred in television, assisting King Hu. While still working in TV, she directed "The Boy From Vietnam," in 1978, the first of a trilogy of films about Vietnam fefugees. She's since done martial arts films, multi-generational family melodramas, and contemplative films about growing older. Harvard Film Archive kicks up a six-day retrospective look an Hui's work, continuing through Wednesday. at 7:30. Films include "The Postmodern Life of My Aunt," films to be shown: "Boat People" (1982), "July Rhapsody" (2002), "Love in a Fallen City" (1984) and "Zodiac Killers" (1991). All are subtitled. Check out the website below for film times. Tickets: $8.

24 Quincy St., Cambridge, 617-496-3211 hcl.harvard.edu/hfa

Mon. March 19

Two ways to see the yearning Pete Yorn, who got his break by landing a song in the Farrelly Brothers "Me, Myself & Irene": At Avalon Monday night with a 9 p.m. show costing $25 or for free at First Act Guitar Studio at 745 Boylston St. at 6. First Act sits under 100 people, and loves featuring soft-rock or folkie acts. Problem is, Yorn is so popular he'd cause Boylston street traffic delays - like that'd be new - so you must listen to WFNX-FM (101.7) throughout the day in attempt to win a pass. Sorry, we don't make the rules. For this tour, supporting his current disc "Nightcrawler," Yorn is being backed by the Brit band Minibar, which also precedes him. As does Moses Mayfield. That's at Avalon. We're guessing Yorn goes it alone at First Act.

Avalon, 15 Lansdowne St., 617-262-2437 livenation.com First Act, 745 Boylston St., ground floor, 617-226-7923 firstact.com

 March 18

Last day! Some have no heads, some have heads looking downward with blank expressions, some have their heads covered with mesh masks. They are the 100 or so slender, white mannequins who are taking up the space at the Gund Gallery at the Museum of Fine Arts through March 18. And they’re wearing some of the most gorgeous dresses, vests and clothing combinations you’d want to see. Ten design houses are represented – Chanel, Christian Lacroix, Azzedine Alaia and Valentino, to name but four – and they represent a slice of the 2006/2007 collections from these houses.
“We were the first museum to have a textile and fashion arts department back in 1930,” said MFA Director Malcolm Rogers, addressing the press at a pre-opening tour. This, exhibit, he hailed “as a first for Boston. … We have a passion to bring objects that have been neglected by other museums.”
In some ways, “Fashion Show: Paris Collections 2006” echoes the Ralph Lauren cars and the guitars exhibit the MFA has hosted in recent years: It presents objects you might not necessarily consider art as you walk in, but objects you will most certainly consider art as you walk through. The cars and guitars were skewed toward men, of course, and this one is more female-centered. Which means, ladies, if your husband dragged you to the sports cars, you drag him to this haute couture display. Really, he won’t mind. All of these whiz-bang exhibits are intended to bring new and younger faces to the MFA, to make the museum an even more vital part of the contemporary art world. (And don’t forget the competition looming sometime when the new Institute of Contemporary Art opens … someday.)
   

Sun. March 18

 "Arbeit Macht Frie." You probably weren't there to see those benign, yet chilling, words on banners over the Nazi concentration camps, but you've probably seen them in movies about the Holocaust. Such lies, such evil in such a banal phrase - Work Makes One Free. The Brookline Chorus has given that old Nazi slogan a twist with a night called "Musik Macht Frei," or "Music Makes You Free." On Sunday March 18, they will be singing songs written by those who were in the camps, music that survived because of the deliberate preservation of individuals in the camps. It features Stephanie Kacoyanis, mezzo-soprano and Artist in Residence, Cantor Elias Roseberg, pianist Jenny Tang and the Brundibar children's chorus from the studio of Barbara Gawlick. Music is at the center of this production, but it's not all music. There will be stories of the performances and archival images. Guest speakers, including surviver Edgar Krasa of Newton, will speak about the horrors of Terezin and the music made there.

Music director Lisa Graham explains: "When I did my docotral thesus at USC I decided to research the music from the camps, and one of the most fruitful places was Terezin. It was an unusual camp, because of activities permitted to take place. It was used as a propaganda tool by the Nazis; they wanted to show the world the Jews could have music and organized activities. The truth is it was an awful place and many people perished." While they were there, they had, what Graham calls "a kind of freedom and they did performances, had choirs, even a jazz band." Graham started as Director of Chorale Music at Wellesley College in 2001 and staged a program of music by women two years later. It's there she met Krasa, who was a chef by trade, but became involved in music at Terezin. It was after that meeting that Graham decided to stage the concert on March 18.

"When you first get into this topic," she says, "it is very emotional. You hear the stories and you hear the context. But if you look at the music and step back, it actually stands alone as extraorindary stuff. little gems and jewels, written by musicians that would have gone on" to produce more great work had they survived. The performance  takes place at Temple Emmanuel in Newton Centre at 7 p.m. Tickets: $20

385 Ward St., Newton Centre, brooklinechorus.org