Han Xiao “Helen” Lai, an 11th-grade classical music student at the Idyllwild Arts Academy, is one of 111 semifinalists in the Los Angeles Music Center’s 2016 Spotlight Awards. More than 1,100 performing arts students from Southern California auditioned. This year’s semifinalists come from Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties. The Music Center program, now in…

It’s here: season 15 of Ken Dahleen and his Idyllwild Summer Concert Series board’s gift to the community. This free event, designed for locals and presented under the stars at the Idyllwild Community Center site throughout the summer, kicks off at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, July 3, as the inaugural event of the Fourth of July…

For its first production under its new moniker, the Idyllwild Actors Theatre stages Pulitizer Prize-nominee Theresa Rebeck’s provocative comedy, “Seminar.” Presented as a staged reading, with sets, costumes and props, “Seminar” stars IAT Artistic Director Howard Shangraw as Leonard, an internationally famous writer who mentors aspiring young novelists in private writing classes. Charging $5,000 to…