Verdi's best?

A handful of Verdi's two-dozen-odd operas are among the greatest ever written, and of these "Otello" may be the finest. The libretto, skillfully filleted from Shakespeare's play by Arrigo Boito, elicited from the composer music of simmering intensity, darkened by Iago's plotting yet searingly lyrical in moments of tenderness between Otello and his fated wife, Desdemona. A concert performance of Verdi's masterpiece brings the Minnesota Orchestra's Sommerfest to a conclusion, with American tenor Carl Tanner as the Moor tormented by jealousy, and the redoubtable Andrew Litton on the conductor's podium. (7:30 p.m. Sat., Orchestra Hall, Mpls. $30-$80, 612-371-5656 or mnorch.org)

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In March, Milwaukee-based classical guitarists Ben Dameron and Nathan Bredeson won top prizes in the Schubert Club's scholarship competition. They return to the Twin Cities with Milwaukeean Brandon Kempf for a recital featuring all three in solo performances. Although there are some arrangements of music by Bach, Chopin and Scarlatti, the main interest lies in the inclusion of lesser-heard pieces originally written for guitar by Agustín Barrios, Ronaldo Miranda, Manuel de Falla, Antonio Lauro, Johann Kaspar Mertz and Frank Martin. (7 p.m. Tue., Schubert Club Museum, Landmark Center, 75 W. 5th St., St. Paul. Free. BenDameron.net)

Forty young musicians join the Minnesota Sinfonia for its annual Youth Outreach program, culminating in a free outdoor concert with Mendelssohn's balmy Italian Symphony as the main item. Violinist Joyce Zhao, winner of the Sinfonia's Young Artist Competition, is the soloist in Lalo's Symphonie Espagnole, and Kabalevsky's feisty "The Comedians" also gets an outing. (7:30 p.m. Fri., Lake Harriet Band Shell, Mpls. Free. mnsinfonia.org)

Scoop of the week is a free recital in the Plymouth Congregational Church's Summer Music series. The outstanding male vocal ensemble Cantus will cherry-pick items from its extensive repertoire of popular and classical pieces. The group has technical chops to die for, and could sing an inventory list and make it interesting. (7 p.m. Tue., Plymouth Congregational Church, 1900 Nicollet Av. S., Mpls.; free, plymouth.org)

Minnesota Orchestra trumpeter Charles Lazarus is as schooled in jazz as he is in classical, and the two styles mix fizzily together in "A Night in the Tropics." The program, curated by Lazarus and featuring the orchestra with jazz pianist Mary Louise Knutson and bassist Jeff Bailey, includes music from Brazil, Cuba and Hawaii, with a special tribute to composer Antônio Carlos Jobim, who wrote "The Girl From Ipanema." (8 p.m. Fri., Orchestra Hall, Mpls. $30-$70, 612-371-5656 or mnorch.org)

Terry Blain