LITTON & HOUGH
Thursday-Saturday: It's a Russian program at the Minnesota Orchestra this week, conducted by Sommerfest artistic director Andrew Litton. He and his close friend and frequent collaborator, British pianist Stephen Hough, will perform Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, a kaleidoscopic set of 24 variations based on a violin tune by Niccolò Paganini that gives Hough a chance to show off. This is the first time the two have performed together with the Minnesota Orchestra. Litton opens the concert with "The Rock," an early Rachmaninoff tone poem, and concludes it with the Prokofiev Fourth Symphony, in its 1947 revision, a work of heroic character. (11 a.m. Thu., 8 p.m. Fri.-Sat., Orchestra Hall, 1111 Nicollet Mall, Mpls. $84-$22, 612-371-5656, www.minnesotaorchestra.org)
AN SPCO PREMIERE
Thursday-Saturday: A world premiere is the highlight of this week's St. Paul Chamber Orchestra concerts. Young American composer Mason Bates presents his "Garages of the Valley" for Chamber Orchestra. Bates, who is both a popular DJ and the composer-in-residence with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, is known for his imaginative blending of orchestral music with electronics and techno. SPCO artistic partner Edo de Waart conducts, opening the concert with Mozart's Symphony No. 29 and closing it with Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings, a work modeled on the Mozart style. (7:30 p.m. Thu., Trinity Lutheran Church, 115 N. 4th St., Stillwater; 8 p.m. Fri., Wayzata Community Church, 125 E. Wayzata Blvd., Wayzata; 8 p.m. Sat., St. Paul's United Church of Christ, 900 Summit Av., $12-$42, 651-291-1144, thespco.org)
WILLIAM RANDALL BEARD
