2 pm: Music

Fresh from an engagement with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, young Alan Gampel, who made his debut at 7 playing at the Hollywood Bowl, brings a demanding program--important works by Schubert, Scriabin and Liszt--to the Stotsenberg recital series at Pepperdine University.

* Alan Gampel, Raitt Hall at Pepperdine University, 24255 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu. $15. (310) 456-4522.

3 pm: Latin Jazz

Conguero Poncho Sanchez brings his salsa-happy Latin Jazz Band to the Mesoamerican dreamscape that is downtown Los Angeles’ historic Mayan Theater, as part of the continuing series of “Chamber Music in Historic Sites,” sponsored by the Da Camera Society of Mount St. Mary’s College.

* Poncho Sanchez, Chamber Music in Historic Sites, Mayan Theater, 1038 S. Hill St., downtown. $17-$20. (310) 954-4300.

7 pm: Tango

The Argentine bandoneon, melancholy cousin of the accordion, is the instrument that gives the tango its sense of unrequited emotion. Buenos Aires-born bandoneon master Juan-Jose Mosalini, left, plays the music of celebrated tango composer Astor Piazzola and others, backed by an 11-piece orchestra, in this U.S. debut.

* Juan-Jose Mosalini and his Grand Orchestra de Tango, Veterans Wadsworth Theater, Wilshire Boulevard at the 405 Freeway, Brentwood. $37-$40, UCLA students $11. (310) 825-2101.

7 pm: Country Music

Trisha Yearwood has gone from unknown backup singer on then-unknown Garth Brooks’ first album to an equal partner with the country superstar, scoring a hit duet with Brooks last year on “In Another’s Eyes.” The reigning Country Music Assn. female vocalist of the year is also up for two Grammys later this month.

* Trisha Yearwood at Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd. Sold out. (805) 449-2787.

8:30 pm: Pop Music

Ben Folds is the singer-songwriter-pianist’s real name, but there are only three guys in Ben Folds Five, an anomalous outfit that emerged from the college-rock hotbed of Chapel Hill, N.C., with a sophisticated pop-rock style and not a guitar to its name. The band has graduated to major-label level, and its melancholy hit, “Brick,” has put it in the fast lane. The Palace show is the group’s biggest L.A. concert to date.

* Ben Folds Five at the Palace, 1735 N. Vine St. Sold out. (213) 462-3000.

4 pm: Poetry

The L.A. branch of the Poetry Society of America continues its monthly series of poetry readings at the Chateau Marmont with a presentation by Mark Doty, award-winning poet and author of four books including “My Alexandria,” “Atlantis” and the forthcoming “Sweet Machine.” Also appearing is Charles Harper Webb, a former rock singer-guitarist who is a professor of English at Cal State Long Beach. Performers in the series, now in its seventh year, have included Poet Laureates Robert Hass and Stanley Kunitz, Pulitzer Prize winners James Tate, Sharon Olds and others, and actors Blythe Danner, Paul Winfield, Tim Curry, Roscoe Lee Brown and John Lithgow.

* Poetry Society of America’s Reading at the Chateau Marmont, 8221 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood. $7, general; $5, seniors; $4, members. (310) 669-2369.

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FREEBIE: Pianist James Boyk performs classical music at Caltech’s Dabney Lounge, 2:30 p.m. (888)-2-CALTECH.