In brief: Music, dance, family fun

Music

ISRAEL PHILHARMONIC
VISITING SMITH CENTER

The Israel Philharmonic - led by renowned music director Zubin Mehta - will perform Brahms, Chopin and Schubert during a Monday visit to The Smith Center's Reynolds Hall.

Pianist Yuja Wang will perform Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor with the orchestra; Schubert's Symphony No. 3 in D major (written a few months after the composer's 18th birthday) opens the concert; the program concludes with Brahms' Symphony No. 1 in C minor.

The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. Monday at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts, 361 Symphony Park Ave. Tickets ($39-$150) are available by phone at 749-2000 or online at www.thesmithcenter.com.

Family fun

ALL ABOARD FOR
HALLOWEEN THRILLS

The passenger list is expanding this weekend at the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Boulder City, with scary (and not-so-scary) ghosts, ghouls and goblins set to ride the historic Nevada Southern Railroad's Halloween Express this weekend.

Along with a seven-mile rail excursion, 40-minute rail excursion through the desert along the historical Boulder Branch Line to Railroad Pass, the museum's Halloween celebration includes face painting and balloon twisting.

Kids 11 and younger can ride the Halloween Express for free if they are in costume; tickets are $10 for passengers 12 and older, $5 for children 4-11 and free for children under 4.

The Halloween Express departs at 10 and 11:30 a.m., 1 and 2:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday from 601 Yucca St., Boulder City. For more information, call 486-5006 or visit www.NevadaSouthern.com or museums.NevadaCulture.org.

Music

HOLMES, EASTON
HEADLINE 'LIFE' BENEFIT

Musical - and medical - professionals team up Saturday night at The Smith Center for the 18th annual "Serenades of Life: Doctors in Concert," which will benefit Nathan Adelson Hospice.

Sheena Easton, Clint Holmes and "The Voice's" Chris Mann lead the celebrity contingent, along with actor and comedian Brad Garrett, who will introduce the event, which features musical selections ranging from rock to soul to opera. Also performing: physicians Alan Arnold, Morton Hyson, Robert Lieberman, Michael E. Seiff, Henry Wang and Linda Woodson, along with Alter'd Ego.

The concert begins at 7 p.m. Saturday in Reynolds Hall at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts, 361 Symphony Park Ave. Tickets ($58-$313.30) are available by calling 749-2000 or going online to www.thesmithcenter.com.

Music

MUSICAL ARTS SOCIETY
PERFORMS 'MACCABAEUS'

Everybody knows Handel's "Messiah."

On Sunday afternoon at UNLV, the Southern Nevada Musical Arts Society will introduce local audiences to Handel's oratorio "Judas Maccabaeus " as part of its 50th anniversary season.

Four guests soloists will join the Musical Arts Chorus and Orchestra, conducted by Douglas Peterson: soprano Amy Cofield Williamson, mezzo-soprano Juline Gilmore, tenor Scott Williamson and bass-baritone Neil Wilson.

"Judas Maccabaeus" ranks second behind "The Messiah" as Handel's most frequently performed oratorio; it focuses on the title hero, also known as Judah Maccabee, who led a fight for religious freedom against the Greco-Syrian empire.

The oratorio will be performed at 3 p.m. Sunday in Artemus Ham Hall at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 4505 S. Maryland Parkway. Tickets ($18 for adults, $12 for seniors, disabled, and military and $8 for students with ID) are available by calling 895-2787 or going online to pac.unlv.edu.

Dance

CSN DANCE STUDENTS
PRESENT FREE CONCERT

The wide world of dance - at least as experienced by College of Southern Nevada students - will be showcased in a free informal concert Wednesday afternoon.

From ballet to ballroom, from Middle Eastern to modern, from jazz to yoga, CSN students will show off their best moves.

The performance takes place at 1 p.m. Wednesday in the Nicholas J. Horn Theatre at CSN's Cheyenne campus, 3200 E. Cheyenne Ave., North Las Vegas. For more information, contact CSN's dance program at 651-4201.

- By CAROL CLING