Here’s arts editor HELEN MUSA’s latest Arts in the City column.

The ups and downs of midlife are back on stage in a new production of Menopause The Musical starring Catherine Alcorn, Sally Bourne, Lena Cruz and Chelsea Gibb. Canberra Theatre, October 15-18.

The ANU Classical Chinese Music Ensemble marks its 20th anniversary with Echoes of Twenty Springs, the World Renewed, featuring traditional Chinese music and a festive afternoon tea. Big Band Room, ANU School of Music, October 11.

Canberra writers Christopher Nailer and Nina Kavunenko will launch The Kyiv Poems, a collection of 66 poems inspired by the war in Ukraine, which brings together poems Nailer has been sending to a friend in Kyiv. White Eagle Polish Club, October 11.

Tobias Cole is back from an international tour of Smile: The Story of Charlie Chaplin with his son Marcel in time to lead Sing the Space, a 30-minute vocal experience inside James Turrell’s Skyspace. National Gallery, October 11.

Australian Parliament House will present People, Place, Portraits, a major exhibition curated by Big hART, bringing together 17 painted portraits by leading Australian artists alongside digital portraits created by young people from around the country. Australian Parliament House, October 12-July 11.

Canberra-trained pianist Ronan Apcar returns with Brahms and the Opposite of Brahms, a recital contrasting the lyrical beauty of Brahms with contemporary works by Australian and American composers. Wesley Music Centre, October 17.

Oriana Chorale’s Aurora Sun concert will draw inspiration from the Aurora Borealis and the Aurora Australis. Larry Sitsky Recital Room, ANU School of Music, October 18.

Leah Purcell and George Palmer’s operatic adaptation of Henry Lawson’s The Drover’s Wife, which we reviewed at the Sydney Opera House earlier this year, has been shortlisted in the World Premiere category of the International Opera Awards. 

News all day, every day at CityNews.com.au.