In "Building Blocks: Winds and Piano in Combination," the Santa Cruz Chamber Players combine the melodic sophistication and variety of the wind quintet with the rich sonorities of the piano, creating an array of organic "building blocks" of sound. Compositions from the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries are played both in their entirety and in smaller combinations (the "building blocks") for one or two instruments. Works include Paul Hindemith's "Kleine Kammermusik," a masterpiece for wind quintet; Carl Reinecke's "Trio for Oboe, Horn and Piano"; and Gordon Jacob's magnum opus, the elegiac and witty "Sextet." Saturday, Feb. 4 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 5 at 3 p.m. at Christ Lutheran Church, 10707 Soquel Dr., Aptos. Tickets are $10-$25 at santacruztickets.com or by calling 831-420-5260. Details at www.scchamberplayers.org.

Freefall Improvisational Theater bridges conventional dramatic theater and comedy improvisation by creating unscripted, completely improvised plays. The group will be performing one night only at the Broadway Playhouse, 526 Broadway in Santa Cruz at 8 p.m. Tickets are $12; reservations by emailing improv@loon.com or at the door

The Distinguished Artists Concert & Lecture Series presents the Chamber Orchestra Kremlin with pianist Sara Davis Buechner, Tchaikovsky Bronze medal winner, on Saturday, Feb. 4 at 8 p.m. at the new Crocker Performing Arts Theatre, Cabrillo College campus. Buechner will be performing Mozart's Concerto No. 13, Mozart's Divertimento in D and Dvorak's Serenade in E Minor on the Theatre's new Yamaha CFX nine-foot grand piano. On Sunday, Feb. 5 at 3 p.m., Buechner will give a solo recital of music by Haydn, von Weber, Turina and Gershwin. Tickets are $25-$45 at www.ticketguys.com, phone 831-656-9507. Details at www.distinguishedartists.org.

Members of the SLV community, including San Lorenzo Valley High School students, will read from some of their favorite works of literature during the Second Annual Felton Library Readathon on Wednesday, Feb 8 from 3 to 6 p.m. at the Library, on Gushee Street in Felton. Come for all or any part of this three-hour event to celebrate and enjoy the fine art of the spoken word. Works will include authors Rudyard Kipling, Edgar Allen Poe, William Butler Yeats and more. Full details at www.feltonlibraryfriends.org.

The local chapter of National Active & Retired Federal Employees will meet at 11:30 a.m. at Seascape Sports Club, 610 Clubhouse Dr., Aptos. Col. Sharon Bystran, a retired nurse in the U.S. Army, will be featured speaker. Col. Bystran was the featured veteran at the Annual Veteran's Day Observance at the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, DC last November. Cost is $17. For details and reservations, call 831-724-6970/3775.

The Meet the Author Series continues around the fireplace from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Today's offering is The Soquel History Book, the work of ten Soquel Pioneer and Historical Association members, including local historian Carolyn Swift. Several of the authors will talk about their roles in this massive undertaking. Refreshments and coffee will be served. The library is located at 3050 Porter St. For details call 831-475-3326 or visit www.porterml.org.