The 2007 edition of The Duke Ellington Jazz Festival, D.C.’s largest music festival, got off to a glowing start with last night’s opening gala, held at the Inter-American Development Bank. The show was a bit delayed due to some technical difficulties with the piano, but the organizers wisely chose to hold the curtain in order to fix the problem because, as festival executive producer Charlie Fishman told the audience, “If the musicians be happy, then…

TUESDAY We were wondering what the best way to entice you to come hear Maria Arana discuss her new book Cellophane, an alternately hilarious and disturbing tale of her native Peru, but then we remembered it was being held at the Inter-American Development Bank Conference Center Auditorium and we thought, heck, who DOESN’T spend Tuesday night at the Inter-American Development Bank Conference Center Auditorium? 1330 New York Ave. NW. at 6:30 p.m. Free. WEDNESDAY Over…

>> The National Gallery has just opened the first major U.S. exhibition of art by Gerard ter Borch, one of the finest — but unrecognized — Dutch painters from the 17th century. (ter Borch’s “The Suitor’s Visit” is at right.) Also new at the NGA is “Six Centuries of Prints and Drawings: Recent Acquisitions,” featuring works on paper that the museum has acquired within the last five years. Highlights include etchings by Rembrandt and drawings…