Regional arts and entertainment events

Sunday

Family secrets The old saying that all politics are personal is given deeper meaning in Wendy Hammond's drama Absence, in which a couple's marriage and beliefs are strained by the husband's long career in the CIA. The show goes on at 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday at People's Light & Theatre, 39 Conestoga Rd., Malvern, and continues with performances at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, and 2 and 7 p.m. next Sunday. Tickets are $29 to $48. Call 610-644-3500.

Four by Rands Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Bernard Rands has a long and mutually fruitful relationship with Network for New Music. The troupe plays a quartet of Rands works, with mezzo Janice Felty as guest, at 3 p.m. at the Settlement Music School's Curtis Branch, 416 Queen St. Tickets are $25; $20 seniors; $15 students. Call 215-848-7647.

Monday

Curtis plus One The piano quartet Opus One plays a trio of recitals this week at the Curtis Institute of Music's Field Concert Hall, 1726 Locust St.: first, an all-Schumann program with Curtis students at 8 p.m. Monday. Next, also with students, a program of works by Schuman and George Tsontakis at 8 p.m. Friday. The week ends with the ensemble alone playing works by Schumann and Marc Neikrug at 8 p.m. Saturday. Admission to all three recitals is free. Call 215-893-5252.

Tuesday

Locked in The 1980s art superstar Julian Schnabel showed himself to be an accomplished filmmaker in the late 1990s and early 2000s. His magisterial 2007 drama, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, is based on a memoir by fashion editor Jean-Dominique Bauby, paralyzed by a stroke and able only to move his left eye, which he used to write by blinking when the letter he needed was recited. The visually dazzling film screens at 7:30 p.m. at the Bryn Mawr Film Institute, 824 W. Lancaster Ave., Bryn Mawr. Tickets are $9.50; $6.75 seniors and students. Call 610-527-4008.

Wednesday

Still frosty Though it was the mysteries behind the froth on the model pictured on the album cover of Whipped Cream & Other Delights that obsessed us back in adolescence, it's now clear that the real lesson was in art of the cool. After all, Herb Alpert may have been a hit maker with the Tijuana Brass back in the day, but he was also a top songwriter ("Wonderful World") and A&R man (discovering the Carpenters), and even turned in a disco-era, slow-groove smash with "Rise." And the cool goes on, as the trumpeter and his wife, singer Lani Hall (of Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66 fame), perform at 7:30 p.m. at the Annenberg Center's Zellerbach Theatre, 3680 Walnut St. Tickets are $20 to $45. Call 215-898-3900.

Thursday

Good folk Yep, we love Dar Williams. Can you blame us? The divine singer-songwriter sings at 8 p.m. at Sellersville Theater 1894, 24 W. Temple Ave., Sellersville. Tickets are $33 and $45. Call 215-257-5808. . . . The excellent singer-songwriter Pete Yorn has lately mixed in a bit more pop. Suits us fine. He plays at 8:30 p.m. at the Electric Factory, 421 N. Seventh St. Tickets are $23. Call 215-336-2000.

Friday & Saturday

The greatest Mozart, Beethoven, Mahler - all make the list of the best composers of all time, we agree. But for us, it will always be Haydn at the top. Valentin Radu leads the Ama Deus Ensemble in an all-Haydn program at the Kimmel Center's Perelman Theater, Broad and Spruce Streets, at 8 p.m. Friday. Tickets are $20 to $60. Call 215-893-1999.

Distinctive voices The quirky combo Elizabeth and the Catapult bring a jazzy jam-band feel to their chamber pop. They open for the soulful Justin Nozuka at the Trocadero, 1003 Arch St., at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Tickets are $19. Call 215-922-6888. . . . Grubstake honcho Patrick McHugh has two side projects: The Roots Project is a Balkan-accented Americana duo, while Johnny II Bad features a Turkmenistan reggae take on standards ranging from Ernest Tubb to Jacques Brel. The bands play at the Ugly American, 1100 S. Front St., at 9:30 p.m. Saturday. Admission is free. Call 215-336-1100.

He's hip The great Mose Allison may be a bluesman, but the source of his angst is distinctly cerebral rather than visceral (hey, he wrote a song called "Monsters of the Id"), and he mixes in a bit of bop. He plays at Roller's Flying Fish, 8141 Germantown Ave., at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Tickets are $27.50 to $52.50. Call 215-247-0707.

Jazz time Singer Giacomo Gates uses his steady baritone to lend depth to his swing. He performs at Chris' Jazz Cafe, 1421 Sansom St., at 8 and 10 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $20. Call 215-568-3131.

On the edge The intrepid Kronos Quartet plays a recital including works by Steve Reich and Aleksandra Vrebalov and arrangements of songs by Sigur Rós and Ramallah Underground at the Kimmel Center's Perelman Theater, Broad and Spruce Streets, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $19 to $32. Call 215-893-1999.