Audience invited for part in the show

By Kristen Peterson (contact)

Friday, Oct. 2, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Audience members at last month’s Las Vegas Philharmonic concert were almost hurling themselves at the stage after Giora Schmidt’s performance of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto.

Expect a different kind of unbridled excitement Saturday, when the Philharmonic will invite the audience to “come on down” to the stage for a trivia contest and prizes during its second pops season opener.

The family-friendly evening will celebrate the place where contemporary composers linger and thrive — movie music. Music director David Itkin will conduct a program dominated by works by John Williams — “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “Schindler’s List,” “E.T.,” “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “Harry Potter” — and including James Bond music.

The trivia portion will be volunteer-only. Audience members can sign up to play when they enter the concert hall. No need to worry about stage fright. “Nobody is forced to play against their will,” Itkin says.

Details: “A Night At the Movies,” 8 p.m. Saturday, UNLV’s Artemus Ham Hall, $35-$75, 895-2787.

Nevada Chamber Symphony

The Nevada Chamber Symphony launches its 25th season Sunday with a sampler of 19th- and 20th-century music.

This professional nonprofit group includes musicians from the Las Vegas Philharmonic and is led by its founder, Rodolfo Fernandez.

The program includes works by classical composers Tchaikovsky, Schubert, Grieg, Bizet, Puccini and Strauss, and jazz musicians Dave Brubeck and Glenn Miller.

Details: 3 p.m. Sunday, Clark County Library Theater, 1401 E. Flamingo Road, free, 433-9280.

Nekochan Quartet

The Nekochan Quartet also will dish out free classical music Sunday with a performance of Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major and Beethoven’s String Quartet, Op. 59, No. 3 at the Liberace Museum cabaret.

The group includes Tianna Heppner-Harjo, Mert Sermet, Naoko Taniguchi and Laraine Kaizer-Viazovtsev, a violinist with the Las Vegas Philharmonic who performs with various chamber ensembles, including the Mechta Trio.

Details: 1 p.m. Sunday, Liberace Museum, 775 East Tropicana Ave., free, 798-5595.

No strings attached

Not quite orchestral, but definitely lyrical, emotive and virtuosic, the female-centric Bay Area performance and spoken word group Sister Spit will be in town Sunday for an evening of back yard readings and performances.

The always-evolving group has been on the road on and off since 1997. This rendition includes writers Michelle Tea and Beth Lisick (“Everybody in the Pool”), tranny performance artist Ben McCoy, graphic novelist and former

“L Word” staffer Ariel Schrag, poet Kirya Traber, photographer/myth explorer Sara Seinberg, and “world-traveling novelist” Rhiannon Argo. The group will perform in lawyer and NPR commentator Dayvid Figler’s back yard in the John S. Park neighborhood.

Details: Sister Spit, 6 to 9 p.m. Sunday, 1302 S. 6th Street, $10 donation.