Here’s HELEN MUSA’s latest Arts in the City column, a potpourri of all things arts around Canberra.

German musician, Carolina Eyck, wizkid on the world’s first electronic instrument, the theremin, will join Richard Tognetti and the Australian Chamber Orchestra in a daring exploration of songs by the Beach Boys, the Star Trek theme, a new commission from Australian composer Holly Harrison and even the Flight of the Bumblebee. Llewellyn Hall, May 20.

Glass and print artist Rose-Mary Faulkner has an unusual exhibition, Stilleven, in which she fuses layers of decal imagery in glass to form softly-focused compositions, sometimes using light to enhance her work. ANCA Gallery, Rosevear Place, Dickson until June 1.

Blamey Street Big Band, having played The Beatles, James Bond and Disney, are now set to present a two-hour concert of Abba’s greatest hits, re-imagined for jazz orchestra. Maestro Ian McLean and the band, together with songstress Leisa Keen, will re-create Abba’s catalogue of chart-toppers. The B, Queanbeyan, May 24. 

The speaking group, ArtsNational Canberra, has a lecture by music historian Jamie Hayes on the birth of English comic opera through Gilbert and Sullivan, followed by refreshments. National Library of Australia, May 20.

Violist Alexina Hawkins, raised in Canberra and living in Berlin for the last 10 years, will appear with pianist Edward “Teddy” Neeman to perform contrasting viola music by Carl Stamitz and Béla Bartók. Wesley Music Centre on May 21. 

National Opera is running a month of masterclasses with Sarah Mann, Dianna Nixon, Don Christopher and Sonia Anfiloff at The Street Theatre, May 24-June 15. It’s a new initiative designed to develop local talent and support singers. Audiences are welcome, too. Inquiries at nationalopera.org.au 

The Australian National Eisteddfod’s annual bands and orchestras event will see more than 2700 people perform in 85 groups, with specialist adjudicator Warwick Tyrrell giving feedback and awarding prizes. Llewellyn Hall and Melba Copland Secondary School College until May 18.