It's a First Friday weekend, which means downtown galleries will be bursting with art exhibits.

But it won't only be the visual arts taking center stage.

At the Pennsylvania Academy of Music, music and film will be part of the mix as well.

The academy will feature an exhibit of the work of Lancaster's Florence Starr Taylor, to be on display from 6 to 8 p.m., followed by two screenings of a film about her life, "Whatever She Saw," made by Mary Haverstick. The half-hour film will be shown at 6:15 and 7:15 p.m.

That will be followed by a concert of American music featuring the Academy Chamber Players and opera singer John Darrenkamp.

 Several of the portraits in the exhibit will feature musicians. One is a portrait of academy founder Frances Veri, another a study of Polish pianist, composer and diplomat Ignacy Paderewski, when he was appearing at the Fulton.

Another is a pastel drawing of Darrenkamp.

It was 1963, and Darrenkamp was starring in the flashy role of the toreador in the Lancaster Opera Workshop's production of "Carmen."

"They told me to go to this artist's house, that she was going to do a painting," Darrenkamp recalls. "She was a very nice lady, but I had no idea who she was."

The painting turned out to be a pastel and Darrenkamp was struck by how fast Taylor worked.

"In 10 minutes, she was done," he remembers. "She knew what she was doing."

The sitting may have been quick, but Darrenkamp remembered it well.

"What struck me about her was that she was so interested in what I was doing," he says. "She asked me all kinds of questions. 'How did you get started in opera?' 'What is your character like?' I felt really important."

In 1963, Darrenkamp was at the very beginning of what would become an impressive career, including 22 years singing at the Metropolitan Opera Co. in New York.

It wasn't until 1965 that Darrenkamp started attending the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia. After graduating in 1970, he worked for City Opera in New York for seven years before joining the Met in 1979.

On Friday, Darrenkamp will be singing Samuel Barber's "Dover Beach," from a poem by Matthew Arnold, scored for baritone and string quartet.

"It's a moody piece," says Darrenkamp. "It's about the beach, and man's inhumanity to man, war."

He remembers singing the piece at an outdoor party at Conestoga House three years ago.

"The clouds had been ominous all day, it looked like a typhoon, but there was no rain," he remembers. "Then, the moment I started signing, the clouds opened up and it rained. And then the moment the music stopped, the sun came out. I don't think God wanted me to sing that number."

The evening also will include another work by Barber, a native of Pennsylvania. His cello sonata will feature cellist Sara Male and pianist Xun Pan, two-thirds of the Newstead Trio.

Darrenkamp also will introduce Haverstick's "Whatever She Saw," a look back at Taylor and her many connections to Lancaster County, which was made in 2005.

She drew, sketched and painted prolifically and was, by all accounts, fascinated with people and life.

In a quote from her obituary (at age 87) in 1991, WITF TV's Mike Greenwald, who worked with Taylor in the 1960s, said, "I remember her as being one of the most energetic, effervescent, flamboyant, outspoken, total free spirits I've ever known."

THAT'S THE TICKET

Women's History Month Arts Celebration

Fri. Art show and film screening, 6-8 p.m., free

concert, 8 p.m.

$25 adults, $15 students

Pa. Academy of Music

42 N. Prince St., 399-9733
www.pamusacad.org