The performance is serene. The six months before it are not.

Dr. Harold Rosenbaum comes to the Brubeck Room to describe what actually goes on in the lives of singers, players, conductors, managers, coaches, hall staff and publicists in the weeks before an audience hears a note. His promise is that the answers will surprise you, and he is well placed to make it: he founded both the professional New York Virtuoso Singers and the volunteer Canticum Novum Singers, has led American choirs on 31 tours of Europe, Canada and Costa Rica, and taught at Juilliard, Queens College and SUNY Buffalo. Questions follow the talk.

Good to know. Free. Registration is required, but walk-ins are welcome as space allows.

Where to go. The Brubeck Room at Wilton Library, 137 Old Ridgefield Road.