Best Bets CLASSICAL Norr Es Michigan Opera Theatre presents The Pearl Fishers, with a seductive opera score by composer Georges Bizet ( Carmen) sung in French with English surtitles, June 5-13, at the Detroit Opera House. A deadly triangle of forbidden love set in ancient Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), the production — after an absence from the MOT schedule of 24 years -- features set and costume design by Zandra Rhodes and the MOT debut of baritone Nathan Gunn. Performance times: 8 p.m. Saturday, June 5; 2 p.m. Sunday, June 6; 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 9; 8 p.m. Friday, June 11; 8 p.m. Saturday, June 12; 2 p.m. Sunday, June 13. $26-$113. (313) 237- 7464. In Hungarian composer Bela Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra, almost every musician in the orchestra appears as a soloist. Neeme Jarvi leads the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in this work, as well as Haydn's Symphony No. 96 ("The Miracle") and Szymanowski's Violin Concerto No. 2, with guest violinist Leonidas Kavakos, 10:45 a.m. and 8 p.m. Friday and 8:30 p.m. Saturday, June 11-12, at Detroit's Max M.Fisher Music Center. $15-$105. Following the evening performances, in a program titled Up Front, Center Stage, DSO players will discuss the joys and challenges of orchestra perform- ance; free. (248) 576-5111. POP/ROCK/JAZZ/FOLK DTE Energy Music Theatre hosts country star Clay Walker, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, June 5, $18.50- $30; classic rockers Grand Funk Railroad, 7:30 p.m. Sunday, June 6, $10-$29; Rush, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 8, $35.50-$72.50; "Disco Mania Tour," with headliners KC and the Sunshine Band and Village People, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, June 10, $18.50-$35.50; and "Rock Never Stops," with Vince Neill, Ratt and Slaughter, 7:30 p.m. Friday, June 11, $18.50-$32.50. (248) 645-6666. In the British brass band tradition, Motor City Brass performs The Story of Music: From Caveman to Current Man, a lighthearted approach to music in its evolution from man's early days to present day, 3 p.m. Sunday, June 6, at the Costick Center, 28600 W. 11 Mile Road, just east of Middlebelt, in Farmington Hills. $8-$10/tickets .available at the door. (248) 473-1857. British pop songstress Dido performs 7:30 p.m. Sunday, June 6, at Detroit's Fox Theatre. $30-$50. (248) 433-1515. Classic rockers the Moody Blues take the stage at Freedom Hill in Sterling Heights 7:30 p.m. Sunday, June 6. $25-$46.40. (248) 645-6666. The Ark in Ann Arbor hosts the Global Jazz Trio, featuring sax player Mark Hershberger, percussion- ist Muruga Booker and bass guitarist Richard Smith, 8 p.m. Thursday, June 10, $12.50; and pop singer-songwriter Juliana Hatfield, 8 p.m. Friday, 6/ 4 2004 3 6 June 11, $15. (734) 761-1451. Pop superstars Aaron Neville and Linda Ronstadt perform a benefit concert with a 40-piece orchestra as part of Music Hall's third annual Cars & Stars gala, 7 p.m. Friday, June 11, at Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts. $45-$125. (248) 645-6666. FESTIVALS A Taste of Ann Arbor and the Rest of the World offers bite-size culinary delights (50 cents per food taste), as well as entertainment and family activities (free), 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday, June 6, in downtown Ann Arbor. (734) 668-7112. Held until now in mid-September, the Detroit Festival of the Arts, produced by the University Cultural Center and Wayne State University and featuring visual and performing artists from around the world — with more than 100 performances on 10 stages — moves to .a new time period, June 11- 13, in Midtown — Detroit's Cultural District and Wayne State University Campus. Hours are 4-11 p.m. Friday, 12-11 p.m. Saturday and 12-9 p.m. Sunday. Performers include rock and soul artist Solomon Burke, South African jazz trumpet legend Hugh Masekela and Australian installation per- formance artists Strange Fruit. For a complete schedule of performers and events, including a chil- dren's fair with more than 50 interactive activities and performances centered around the theme of "eco-arts," go to wvvw.detroitfestival.com or call (313) 577-5088. Israeli singing star David Broza head- lines this year's Greater Chicago Jewish Folk Arts Festival, featuring local and national Jewish talent on three stages, a juried art fair, activities for children, a book fair and a strictly kosher food court, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday, June 13, at the St. Paul Forest Preserve, on Dempster and Lehigh, a mile and a half west of Edens Expressway in Morton Grove, Ill. For more information, go to www.jevv- ishfestival.org or call (847) 933-3000. ON THE STAGE The Treetown Performance . Festival presents the Dexter Center for the Performing Arts in Robert Patrick's Kennedy's Children, a comic elegy of pass- ing youth and opportunity set in 1974 in which five characters are brought together in a New York bar by the loss of President Kennedy, 8 p.m. Thursdays- Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays, June 10 - 21, at Performance Network Theatre in Ann Arbor. $17- $20/pay what you can Thursdays. (734) 663-0681. BlackBag Productions presents Barton Bund's Margaritaville, a comedy about same-sex marriage, 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, June 10-26, at the Blackbird Theatre, 1600 Pauline Blvd., in Ann Arbor. The play's protagonist is a Jewish woman from a wealthy family who returns home to Florida to get married and shake things up in her conserva- tive family. $17/$5 on Thursdays. (734) 332-3848. Australian installation performance artists Strange Fruit take part in this year's Detroit Festival of the Arts, running June 11-13 in Midtown. phone number, to: FYI: For Arts and Life related events that you wish to have considered for Out & About, please send the item, with a detailed description of the event, times, dates, place, ticket prices and publishable Notice must be received Gail Zimmerman, JN Out & About, The Jewish News, 29200 Northwestern Highway, Suite 110, Southfield, MI 48034; fax us at (248) 304-8885; or e-mail to gzimmerman@thejewishnews.com at least three weeks before the scheduled event. Photos are appreciated but cannot be returned. All events and dates listed in the Out & About column are subject to change.