5 Things You Need to Know Today: March 18

1. In an environment where public schools across the country are cutting music and arts classes and programs, the Belmont School District continues to introduce and encourage students to participate in the arts. Belmont residents are invited to see the results of preserving the arts in the public schools by attending the Belmont High School annual Band and Orchestra Concert at 7 p.m. in the High School auditorium. Both the Symphonic Band and the Wind Ensemble will perform and the orchestra program will feature the winners of the School's annual concerto competition; Joseph Chen, pianist and violinist, and violinist Enchi Chang. 

2. Belmont World Film's International Film Festival, "Found in Translation," continues tonight with the Massachusetts premiere of "Caesar Must Die" by the famous Italian film directors, brothers Paolo and Vittorio Tavianio, of "Padre Padrone" and The Night of the Shooting Stars" fame.

View the "Caesar Must Die" Vimeo trailer here.

The film will be screened at the Studio Cinema, 376 Trapelo Rd., at 7 p.m.

This award-winning film was filmed completely inside Rebibbia, a high-security prison in Rome, showing the rehearsals and public performance of William Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" as performed by inmates – many linked to the Costa Nostra – who are part of an acting program inside the prison. 

After the film, Peter Keough, film critic of the "Boston Phoenix," which ceased operations last week after 47 years, will lead a discussion on the film. 

3. Music & Movement with Rubi, a movement and music program that is geared to children 3 to 5 (but 2 year olds are welcome) will be holding two sessions in the Assembly Room of the Belmont Public Library: early-birds can attend the 9:30 a.m. session and the sleepy-heads at 10:30 a.m.

4. It continues to be what the swells play in New York City, Palm Beach and Newport. Bridge was the game America played before poker, so embedded in the culture that the card game was featured in song and film: In the Marx Brother's film, "Animal Crackers," Chico and Harpo con fellow female players at the card table while in "Sunset Boulevard," William Holden watches Gloria Swanson play a bridge game with old silent film stars, including the legendary Buster Keaton.

So now it's your turn to learn the game with Beginner Bridge Game, held Mondays from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at the Beech Street Center. The cost is $10 per game. Players can walk-in after you sign in at the reception desk. Two hours of bridge for Beginner/Novice bridge players which includes a 15 minute mini-bridge lesson followed by the playing of 10 to 12 bridge hands. This game is sanctioned by the ACBL as a “chat” game where you can ask questions and use your notes during the bridge playing time. Non-Beginners can come and be mentors to their beginner friends. This is a fun game where the emphasis is on learning and gaining confidence in your bridge playing.

5. On this day in 1990, the largest art theft in US history took place at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston's Fenway neighborhood when a dozen paintings by masters such as Vermeer's The Concert and Rembrandt's painting, The Storm on the Sea of Galilee, collectively worth around $300 million, are stolen.

If you know anything about the whereabouts of the paintings, drop me a line.