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My faithful classical-music-in-schools-zealot correspondent, Robert Bullwinkel, dropped me a note today about cellist Zuill Bailey, the guest soloist for this weekend's Fresno Philharmonic concerts -- I have a story in this morning's 7 section about the program -- and his visit this morning to Kingsburg:

I just saw Zuill Bailey perform for students at Rafer Johnson Junior High in Kingsburg as a part of the Fresno Philharmonic's Concertos for Kids program. Mr. Bailey wowed the students with his performance of Bach's Cello Suites, but really connected with them when he spoke of the misconceptions about classical music. Bailey said that when he walks through the airport wearing shades and a black leather jacket with his black cello case strapped to his back, he is often asked what rock band he plays for. People are disappointed when he says that he is a classical musician, but when he played musical examples from popular movies, the students quickly realized that they did have a strong connection with orchestral music.

The students all came from classes taught by teachers in the Keeping Score Education program, a project of the Fresno County Office of Education and the San Francisco Symphony. This week, they studied Bach and listened to his music performed by today's special guest. I also heard the Phil rehearsing the Tchaikovsky Suite last night. It's going to be a GREAT concert!

From our 7 Things to Do list:

It's a long-standing tradition for the Fresno Art Museum's Council of 100 to designate a female artist of the year. The honor this time around goes to Joan Tanner, whose "as is: installation 09" runs through Jan. 10. Today's opening reception includes an appearance by Tanner, who modifies ordinary objects and building materials into exaggerated, arcane sculptural elements.

5-7 p.m. Friday / Fresno Art Museum, 2233 N. First St. / fresnoartmuseum.org, (559) 441-4221 / $5, free admission Sundays

If you can't make the reception, Tanner will give a lecture 2 p.m. Saturday in the Bonner Auditorium.

I swung by the museum yesterday as Tanner worked to get the exhibition ready. You can read about it in my upcoming Sunday Spotlight column.

The stars aligned at the Star Palace last night for Ashley Taylor and, by extension, the strong inaugural performance of the Organic Theater Factory.

For years, the hard-working Taylor has tackled one character role after another on the Fresno community theater scene -- from Mary Sunshine in "Chicago" to Gertrude the Bird in "Seussical" -- as a solid performer. But something special happens in Jason Robert Brown's intimate musical "The Last 5 Years." As Cathy Hiatt, the struggling actress whose story of a disillusioned marriage is told in reverse chronological disorder, Taylor gives a transluscent performance. Her voice is absolutely gorgeous -- there were times when I closed my eyes and thought about how often it matched the level of Sherie Rene Scott's version on the original cast recording.

Just as impressive is the way Taylor mines the emotional territory of her character, never overplaying the sentiment or joking up the giddy moments, always relating on a fiercely human level. She's a wonderful fit for the role, and she gives an already moving play even more of an impact.

My singling Taylor out for special notice isn't in any way meant to slight her partner on stage, Peter Allwine, or the production overall, which has a scrappy, low-key charm. It's just that when it comes to Taylor, it seems this is one of those rare times for an actor when everything truly clicks -- performance, type, spirit -- and it's a beautiful thing to behold.

I caught up with Anthony Taylor, artistic director of the new Organic Theater Factory, to ask him some questions about the inaugural performance tonight at the Star Palace at Warnors Theatre. (The show continues various nights through Nov. 27.) Here's the interview:

As far as you know, will this be the first theater production at the Star Palace?

I'm not sure if this is the first theater production in this space, but I wouldn't be surprised. It's a very interesting space though and part of the mission of the company is to find new places to produce theater in Fresno. It doesn't have to be in a traditional theater to be enjoyable and in some cases the unique nature of the space can add to the overall product.

How will you use that space? How many seats?

We will be seating 100 people in the space and using the stage that exists there for concerts as the primary space for acting. Our director, Danielle Jorn, has really brought a fresh perspective to using space in exciting ways too. The first thing she told me was that we were going to need a projector, and so we are using a projector to enhance scenes and speak to where characters are throughout the show. In the future I'd love to do a show with the large floor to ceiling windows as the backdrop and the skyline in the background, but we'll save that for another show.