Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble welcomes music lovers to the annual Composers Cookoff fundraiser, an “Iron Chef” sort of event where composers face off creating the tastiest work.

Opera Orlando’s site-specific production of “Rusalka” at the Maitland Art Center is beautifully designed, but storytelling needs a boost.

SEE IT: Rusalka plays at the Keller Auditorium, 222 SW Clay St., 503-248-4335, portlandopera.org. 7:30 pm Friday, April 28, and 2 pm Sunday, April 30. $40-$250.

Milwaukee Opera Theatre (MOT) and Danceworks dive back into the enchanted waters of “Rusalka,” with their second collaborative production of Antonín Dvořák’s classic opera. Once again ...

After meeting Rusalka’s father Vodnik (baritone Aleksei Isaev), we meet Rusalka herself, bemoaning the fact that she can’t join the humans who she’s heard have more fun than water spirits.

Rusalka, who actually wants a soul, pretends the witch is wise and all-knowing to get her to help. One of the few major world operas performed in Czech, Jezibaba often speaks in a diminutive form.