Classical Music

Auburn Symphony

With the Pacific Northwest Ballet’s busy and versatile pit orchestra as its core, this ensemble’s grown to over 80 players to celebrate its 10th anniversary in style. Conductor Stewart Kershaw is not only bringing his group downtown to Seattle’s highest-profile music venue, he’s showing them off with a reprise of a performance that blew away his audience last season, Shostakovich’s searingly cinematic Symphony No. 11—a work last heard in Benaroya just last fall played by no less than Valery Gergiev and the Kirov Orchestra, not to mention the subject of one of Shostakovich specialist Gerard Schwarz’s most impressive recordings with the Seattle Symphony. The ASO’s long been secure in its status as greater Seattle’s silver-medal orchestra, but this concert, enthusiastically backed by the Auburn city government and generous donors, seems more ambitious: a point of suburban pride and even a bit of a gauntlet throwing. Pianist Craig Sheppard will apply his grand manner to Chopin’s Concerto No. 2, and the evening opens with Wagner’s Overture to Die Meistersinger. Benaroya Hall, Third Avenue and Union Street, 253-939-8509, www.auburnsymphony.org. $20–$60. 3 p.m. GAVIN BORCHERT

Music

Barrington Levy

More than a stone’s throw from the sun-soaked beaches of Jamaica, Seattle’s reggae and dancehall scene thrives nonetheless, with an abundance of artists (ragamuffin MC DJ Collage and DJs Element and Soul One are among the notables) and a well-stocked, one-stop shop (Capitol Hill’s Zion’s Gate Records) for the aforementioned, plus roots reggae, reggaeton, and other stylistic offshoots. The Lo Fi, Ximaica, and Baltic Room all host regular dancehall parties; DJ Kid Hops’ Positive Vibrations show on KEXP makes the morning after (if it happens to be Saturday) sweet. So when living legends like Lee “Scratch” Perry (who visited Neumo’s last November) and, now, Barrington Levy come through, you can expect a show of support and respect from the Northwest massive. Levy came up as a teenager in late ’70s Kingston, recording his first track at the age of 15. He went on to become one of dancehall’s first original singers—though he’s done many covers since, including a rendition of Horace Andy’s “Skylarking”—ushering in a new, soulful era of the genre. Levy’s known as reggae’s “mellow canary” because of his pure vocal strength; his hits like “Murderer” and “Under Mi Sensi” are essential listening whether on their own or chopped up in a jungle remix. Just as reggae seems to know no geographical boundaries, its ability to link musical bridges owes mightily to the success of artists like Levy. Neumo’s, 925 E. Pike St., 709-9467, www.neumos.com. $20. 21 and over. 8 p.m. RACHEL SHIMP