Anoushka Shankar to Launch Series

A solo recital by Anoushka Shankar, daughter of master sitarist Ravi Shankar, will open the 2002-03 World Stages series presented by the Irvine Barclay Theatre and the Philharmonic Society of Orange County.

Now 20, the younger Shankar began studying sitar at the age of 9 with her father and made her debut with him at 13 in New Delhi. She will play a recital at the Irvine theater at 8 p.m. on Oct. 16 as part of the Eclectic Orange Festival 2002.

The series will continue at the theater:

* Nov. 2: Huun Huur Tu, throat singers of Tuva. The quartet was formed in 1992 to help preserve the traditional style of xoomei, or throat-singing, which requires each vocalist to produce two distinct pitches simultaneously.

* Jan. 16, 2003: Habib Koite, Afro-pop guitarist from Mali. Born into a family of griots, hereditary musician-historians central to West African musical culture, Koite tunes his guitar to the pentatonic scale and plays on open strings. Unlike the griots, his singing style is restrained and intimate.

* March 15: Trinity Irish Dance Group, contemporary Irish dance. A majority of this Irish American troupe trained at the prestigious Trinity Academy of Irish Dance, based in Chicago/Milwaukee, which has graduated a large number of world-class titlists honored at the annual World Championships of Irish Dance.

* April 1: Music, Dance and Martial Arts of Manipur, India. The Anjika Manipuri Dance Troupe will be one of several performing from the northeastern valley of Manipur.

May 3: Orquesta Aragon. Founded in 1939 by bass player Orestes Aragon, the band became synonymous with the cha-cha rhythm. Several of the founding members’ grandchildren perform in the band.

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Series subscriptions, priced at $150 and $174, are on sale now. Tickets for single events will go on sale later this spring. All concerts start at 8 p.m. Information: Irvine Barclay Theatre box office, 4242 Campus Drive, (949) 854-4646; Philharmonic Society, (949) 553-2422.