The Capital City's newest destination set the bar high its opening weekend, with the International Festival and Raleigh World Wide Expo and Chuck Berry booked to play just outside the doors. So now what?

The center itself will largely leave arts and culture to the Progress Energy Center and the downtown amphitheater planned for next year. Area residents may find themselves inside for the Carolina Christmas Show and other events, but its stock-in-trade will be conferences on such topics as sustainability, biomass and geographic information systems.

The center's real effect on the cultural landscape will be measured by how well it revs the engine of downtown rejuvenation. Hundreds of extra people in the heart of Raleigh could serve to support more restaurants, clubs and galleries -- and make the city a livelier place.

Symphony

The name Yevgeny Sudbin might still stump a "Jeopardy!" champ, despite acclamations as the most exciting pianist of his generation. And since his January appearance with the N.C. Symphony, the Russian-born pianist has made a few more headlines.

His Scriabin recording on BIS Records won an award at the international MIDEM music fair. In July he made his debut at the BBC Proms, the world's largest music festival, and the next day got married.

Regardless of the heights he eventually hits, Sudbin will leave a permanent mark locally as part of the N.C. Symphony's first commercial recording venture. In November, he will return to Chapel Hill and Raleigh to render Nikolai Medtner's Piano Concerto No. 2 in concert and for CD. It will be paired with Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 4 from the January program.

The Sudbin-symphony disc is due in 2010 on BIS, a Swedish label.

Politics

Art and politics make an explosive mix -- especially in an election year. You might want to grab a ticket or two ... and hold onto your seat.

Duke Performances rolls out its "Art/Politics/Now" program with a trio of pre-election incendiaries: Billy Bragg, Laurie Anderson's "Homeland" and Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra featuring Carla Bley. "The Eyes of Babylon," a one-man play at Common Ground Theatre, Justice Theater Project's anti-war "Mother Courage and Her Children" at UNC-Chapel Hill and Raleigh's Cardinal Gibbons High School, and "Deer Hunting With Jesus" at Manbites Dog Theater will also expose political nerves. And two weeks before America votes, the Capitol Steps will lace their comedy with bipartisan acid at the Clayton Center.

The political edge will remain sharp after Nov. 4. Comedian Lewis Black, after stropping his wit on the McCain-Obama race, should be ready to lacerate in his December show at the new Duke Performing Arts Center. Duke Performances, meanwhile, continues its program of artistic engagement all year.

El Greco to Velázquez

Curator Sarah Schroth invested 20 years of research in "El Greco to Velázquez: Art During the Reign of Philip III." In the process of mounting the 52 paintings, she clarified an era of history and made some of her own: The exhibition at the Nasher Museum of Art, which runs through Nov. 9, marks the first time many of the works have been shown in the United States, and the show comprises the largest number of international loans of Spanish art ever assembled in the Southeast.

If those concerns seem academic, just feast your eyes on the art itself. The exhibition includes seven late El Greco works and three early ones by Velázquez. Besides these titans of Spanish painting, overlooked artists of the era are well-represented.

While you're out and about this season, you might encounter their influence in other venues -- in concert halls, on the ballet stage and on the wine list. Find details at www.nasher.duke.edu.

New blood

The shape of the Triangle's cultural life constantly shifts. Remembering that brings us to RTOOT, formally known as the Really Terrible Orchestra of the Triangle, which makes its concert debut in November.

Inspired by Scotland's Really Terrible Orchestra, the group has pursued players who aren't quite competent enough for the area's established ensembles. Among its ranks are a professional roller derby player (Carolina Rollergirl Holly Wanna Crackya), a Taekwondo blue belt (Douglass Little) and an expert in auto emissions (Ted Ehrhard). Founder and director W. Sands Hobgood is a professional musician whose duties include working on the Web page (rtoot.org) and dumbing down the music's hard parts.

RTOOT may never win a Grammy or a local battle of the bands. But clearly these questionably skilled musicians serve to remind all of us that everyone can find a place in the arts.

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