Critics' picks on the culture front

The Great Zazzini returns.

Philadelphia-born countertenor Lawrence Zazzo, known as "The Great Zazzini" in his boyhood days as a magician, has been bringing a different kind of alchemy to baroque opera as well as in this solo debut on Harmonia Mundi,

A Royal Trio: Arias by Handel, Bononcini & Ariosti

. He's not a powerhouse countertenor like Bejun Mehta; his sound isn't stentorian and his coloratura passagework is less than bulletproof. But he distinguishes himself with heartfelt use of words. More lyrical arias go splendidly in this collaboration with conductor David Bates and La Nuova Musica, and even heroic arias from Handel's

Giulio Cesare

are projected with an exceptional sense of character and meaning.

- David Patrick Stearns

Adieu, Maurice. This might be your last chance to see Maurice Sendak at the Rosenbach Library and Museum. With the close at 6 p.m. Sunday of the Sendak in the '60s exhibition, the museum, on Delancey Place at 20th Street, brings down the curtain on more than four decades of making connections between the author/illustrator and the long literary tradition from which he sprang. Sendak's estate has asked for the return of 10,000 items housed there, and while future shows are hoped for, nothing at this point is assured. www.rosenbach.org, 215-732-1600. - Peter Dobrin

Dueling pianos. Pairing high-personality superstar pianists gives "event" status to this new Deutsche Grammophon disc, Martha Argerich/Daniel Barenboim Piano Duos. But like so many two-piano pairings, it leaves you wanting to hear the artists individually. After some well-mannered Mozart and Schubert, things kick into high gear with a two-piano The Rite of Spring that grows pretty confrontational and, at times, downright abrasive. That's probably how Stravinsky meant it to be - but that doesn't mean you always want to hear it played this way, shorn of its orchestral upholstery. - D.P.S.

Under the sea. If the Seahorse is a trumpet and the Hermit Crab a cello, you must be at a Curtis Institute of Music family concert. In performances at 2 and 4 p.m. Sunday, students of the Curtis will play Michael Djupstrom's The Seahorse and the Crab, a musical fairy tale based on the fable "The Tortoise and the Hare." The hour-long concerts will also introduce various musical instruments to children ages 5 to 12, not to mention any adults they may have in tow. www.curtis.edu, 215-893-7902. - P.D.