Arts editor HELEN MUSA looks to the days ahead and lists lots of arts events in her latest Artsweek column. 

Hana Hou! – the eight-member music ensemble from the US Air Force Band of the Pacific, will play a diverse range of music, including classic rock, R&B, Top 40 hits, Hawaiian favourites and jazz classics at Tuggeranong Arts Centre, August 22. Free.

Owners Paul Eldon and Daniel Sanderson bid farewell to Muse Café after nine years of operation in the East Hotel. Last trading day is August 25.

Into the Moonlit Village – The Battle of Crete is a new bilingual book of poetry and notes by Cretan-born Australian Poli Tataraki Sansey, with 15 linocuts by local artist Michael Winters. The book is to be launched at the Hellenic Club, Woden, on August 22.

Stage

• Indigenous-intercultural dance company, Marrugeku, will have a frank conversation about the rates of indigenous Australians in custody in Jurrungu Ngan-ga (Straight Talk). The Playhouse, August 23-24.
• An all-star cast of contortionists, acrobats and dancers will present Cirque Bon Bon, Canberra Theatre, August 22-24.
• The Merry Widow plays The Q, Queanbeyan, August 23-25.
• Mark Shelley appears as Roy Orbison in a show about the man, his music, and his life at The B, Queanbeyan, August 24.

Galleries

• Artist Wendy Sharpe will be in conversation with visual arts journalist and writer Elizabeth Fortescue for the opening of her exhibition, Games of Chance at Aarwun Gallery, Federation Square, August 23.
• Canberra Potters Gallery in Watson presents an exhibition celebrating 55 years of Malcolm Cooke’s ceramic practice. August 22-September 22.

Concerts

• Mehfil e Mausiqui is a sitar recital followed by Ghazals with Pandit Harvinder Sharma and Aman Pal at the Wesley Music Centre, Forrest, August 23.
• Sydney Philharmonia Choirs will perform Voices of the Italian Baroque, Snow Concert Hall, August 24.
• Greenaway Studio, Chapman, is hosting a concert in partnership with the Orange Chamber Music Festival, featuring a solo cello recital by Noah Oshiro on August 25.
• The duo Boyd and Girl – Australian classical guitarist Rupert Boyd and American cellist Laura Metcalf – plays Smith’s Alternative, Civic, August 25.
• Canberra’s music community celebrates its most famous composer, Larry Sitsky, who has made his home in the city since 1965. ANU School of Music, August 26.
• Talented young musicians from Canberra Girls Grammar School perform works by Vivaldi, Mozart, Telemann, Beethoven, Danzi, Conner, and Fauré. Wesley Music Centre Lunchtime Concert, August 28.