Chapel Hill
THEME AND VARIATION
ACKLAND ART MUSEUMPrints by Matisse, Klinger and Albers are spotlighted in Theme and Variation: Print Sequences from Ornament to Abstraction, which opens today. The nine sequences, all from the museum’s permanent collection, combine ornament, landscape and abstraction themes. Go to www.ackland.org for details. Karlie Justus
HANDEL’S MUSIC
MEMORIAL HALLThe North Carolina Symphony caps three weekend performances of Handel’s “Messiah” (also in Raleigh and Southern Pines) at 8 p.m., concentrating on an authentic Baroque experience with a small chorus (about 30 members) and a scaled-back orchestra. Music director Grant Llewellyn brings five years of experience with Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society. Featured soloists are Nancy Argenta (soprano), Daniel Taylor (countertenor), Benjamin Butterfield (tenor) and Philip Cutlip (baritone). Tickets are $28-$45. On Saturday, also at Memorial Hall, the school’s music department presents a lesser-known (but still widely performed) Baroque work, Handel’s “Acis and Galatea.” Tickets are $15 for an 8 p.m. performance. Margaret Hair