Best of the week: Gorillaz, Rhiannon Giddens, FinnFest, Gene Simmons, 'Mala,' more

At 6 p.m. Tuesday, Minnesota Orchestra music director Osmo Vänskä will lead a free concert at the Commons park near U.S. Bank Stadium. Later in the week, the orchestra will mark 100 years of Finland's independence with a Finnish program of Kalevi Aho's "Minea," Jaakko Kuusisto's Violin Concerto with soloist Elina Vähälä (pictured) and Sibelius' Second Symphony, a Vänskä specialty. There's a NightCap ($25) after Saturday's concert with more Sibelius.

TERRY BLAIN

8 p.m. Fri.-Sat.; Orchestra Hall, Mpls., $12-$79, minnesotaorchestra.org

For only the second time in the rather mind-boggling 16-year career of his "virtual band," Damon Albarn of Blur fame and his animator collaborator Jamie Hewlett have taken Gorillaz out on an extended tour through North America. This outing supporting the wildly assorted new album "Humanz" is more visually driven and doesn't have the all-star cast like the 2010 tour with Bobby Womack, De La Soul, members of the Clash and others. But opener Vince Staples and a few other up-and-comers are part of the act.chris riemenschneider

7:30 p.m. Wed., Roy Wilkins Auditorium, St. Paul, $70, Ticketmaster.com

An underappreciated American musical treasure, Rhiannon Giddens delivered a stellar solo debut in 2015 covering songs associated with Nina Simone, Patsy Cline and Dolly Parton. On her sophomore CD, "Freedom Highway," Giddens rises up by creating mostly originals in the folk/soul vernacular that trace the history of black culture, from the slavery piece "At the Purchaser's Option" to Pop Staples' title track that became a 1960s civil rights anthem.

JON BREAM

Kiss' Gene Simmons is a proud capitalist who can be charitable. He's proudly affiliated with Matter, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit, and will headline a benefit concert for hurricane relief for children. Simmons will share a stage with estranged Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley for the first time since 2001. Power-pop stalwarts Cheap Trick, ex-Eagles guitarist Don Felder and the Twin Cities' own Jayhawks and Flipp round out the three-hour program.

JON BREAM

7 p.m. Wed. CHS Field, St. Paul, $60-$250, thechildrenmatter.ngo

This solo exhibit features three decades of text-based works, abstract paintings and one public artwork by Edgar Heap of Birds, an Oklahoma artist from the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes. His work both challenges and asks viewers to confront the romanticization narrative of the American Indian, instead reconciling with the ways that colonizers of North America attempted to tear apart native cultures' spiritual practices, languages and the land where they lived.

alicia eler

For a decade or two, the world's best blues has been played by Tuareg guitarists in the African desert. Like his forefathers in the Mississippi Delta, Nigerian Mdou Moctar taught himself to play on a rudimentary instrument. But modern technology — from cellphone videos of his wedding gigs to his starring role in a Nigerian film that deliberately matches the plot of "Purple Rain" — has enhanced his fame. The movie will be screened, followed by Moctar live.

BRITT ROBSON

Film at 7 p.m., show at 8:30 p.m. Sat. Cedar Cultural Center, Mpls., $22-$25, thecedar.org

Playwright/performer Melinda Lopez's solo show "Mala" has been likened to Joan Didion's "The Year of Magical Thinking," a work that finds heartwarming ways to cope with loss. Dealing with the final year in Lopez's mother's life, this 80-minute play has been described as elegiac and humorous, turning grief into wan light. It comes to the Guthrie as part of its innovative Level Nine Initiative.

ROHAN PRESTON

Nature's best is ripe and ready for the picking at Afton Apple Orchard. Raspberries and 13 varieties of apples are ready to be plucked, eaten raw or baked into a soul-satisfying dessert. Have some fun on the playground or dive into the straw mountain. A challenging 15-acre corn maze design pays tribute to local heroes. Extra additions to the maze include rubber hose and rope mazes.

melissa Walker

Orchard: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. daily. Free; corn maze: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. today and next Sun.; 4-10 p.m. Fri.; 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Sat. Afton Apple Orchard, Hastings, $7-$9, aftonapple.com.

British alterna-pop singer Alison Moyet first popped up as a member of Yaz with Vince Clarke of Erasure and Depeche Mode fame. She went on to score her own minor hit with "Invisible" in 1984, and would be a bit player in big '80s moments such as Live Aid. Her enormous and dramatic Annie Lennox-like voice still draws goosebumps on her new album, "Other," which follows a recent return to the mainstream after Selena Gomez covered her "Only You."

CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER