ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT REPORTS FROM THE TIMES, NEWS SERVICES AND THE NATION’S PRESS.

MUSIC

More Connections: The Pacific Symphony will expand its Classical Connections Series from three to four Saturday concerts during the 2000-01 season. Now in its sixth season, the series offers informal 90-minute concerts in which music director Carl St.Clair talks about the works to be played and illustrates them with musical examples. All concerts begin at 3:30 p.m. at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, in Costa Mesa.

The series:

* Oct. 7: Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2, with soloist Jean-Philippe Collard.

* Nov. 18: A Copland program, including “Fanfare for the Common Man,” “A Lincoln Portrait” (narrator to be announced) and a rare performance of the entire music for the full-length documentary, “The City,” which will simultaneously be screened.

* Feb. 10: A Mozart program, including Overture to “The Marriage of Figaro” and Symphony No. 39.

* April 12, 2001: Strauss’ “Don Quixote,” with Timothy Landauer, the orchestra’s principal cellist, as soloist.

Subscriptions, on sale April 5, will run $100 to $116 ($48 for full-time students). Single tickets: $28 to $32. (714) 755-5799.

Come to the cabaret: Barbara Cook and Keely Smith, veteran singers who first made their marks in the 1950s, will sing this fall in the annual cabaret series at the Orange County Performing Arts Center’s 300-seat Founders Hall. Four performers who have emerged on Broadway in the ‘90s round out the 2000-01 Cabaret series announced Wednesday. Cook, known for acclaimed performances on Broadway in “Carousel” and “The Music Man,” has made cabaret singing a long second chapter in her career. Smith, who is approaching 70, was one of the originators, in tandem with her bandleader husband, Louis Prima, of the Vegas-lounge style that is now retro-chic among a younger set. Her hits include “That Old Black Magic” and “Just a Gigolo/I Ain’t Got Nobody.” Also appearing will be Audra McDonald, who earlier this month made her Southern California concert debut with an acclaimed, sold-out performance at the Irvine Barclay Theatre, Faith Prince, who won a Tony for her performance in a 1992 revival of “Guys and Dolls,” Kristin Chenoweth, a 1999 Tony winner as Sally in “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” and David Campbell, a young Australian who recently starred in Stephen Sondheim’s “Saturday Night.” Subscribers will be invited to renew next month; new subscriptions will be available June 4, at $190 and $210. (714) 556-2787.