The Serious music scene in Chucktown tends to explode in October – and this week promises to be the busiest one yet. I’ve been running myself ragged keeping up with it all. So watch for imminent commentary – either printed or online – about Chamber Music Charleston’s latest house concert and the New Music Collective’s presentation of the NYC’s fabulous Claudia quintet. But right now, I’ve got to tell you about some other hot prospects.

First, the Charleston Symphony (see my report on their “Backstage Pass” season opener below) will offer two more events this week. Most urgently, you need to know about their first “Out-of-the-Box” event, tomorrow evening (9:00 p.m.) at the Charleston Music Hall – featuring local legend Quentin Baxter, jazz drummer extraordinaire, in a program of jazz and classical fusion. Come hear what he does with such amazing music as Darius Milhaud’s Creation du Monde. Then, on Saturday (8:00 p.m. at the Gaillard), be there for their McCrady’s Pops series opener celebrating the 50th anniversary of Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story, one of America’s supreme Broadway productions. Just click HERE for details on both of these, or to order your tix.

Next week, the College of Charleston’s on Fall Break – but one of their artistic year’s most important events will still be happening – as part of their dependable International Piano Series Tuesday evening (8:00 p.m.) at the Sottile Theatre. Appearing will be American piano icon Leon Fleisher, along with his wife and fellow pianist Katherine Jacobsen-Fleisher. Fleisher – who was our own Enrique Graf’s primary teacher – has one of the most touching and triumphant human-interest stories to tell of any American musician. In the 1960’s, at the height of his career, he was afflicted with a mysterious neurological malady now known as focal dystonia that crippled his right hand, leaving him with only the very limited left-hand repertoire to perform. But in recent years, treatments have been discovered that have allowed him to return to performing with both hands. To boot, we’ve learned in recent weeks that Fleisher will be one of 2007’s Kennedy Center honorees – only the fourth pianist ever to be chosen. Read more about him and reserve your ticket HERE.