BEST BETS / Sunday 1/21

7pm

Comedy

Wayne Brady’s star is rising, thanks to winning appearances on the improvisational comedy show “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” on ABC, which now has Brady earmarked for his own variety series. You can catch him live at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza in an evening titled “Wayne Brady & Friends.”

* “Wayne Brady & Friends,” Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 East Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks, 7 p.m. $27 and $37. (805) 449-2787.

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4pm

Music

La Pieta, an 11-member string orchestra from Canada, makes its local debut with the Chamber Music in Historic Sites series at St. John’s Episcopal Church on West Adams Boulevard. The repertory the orchestra will play is written for young women by Vivaldi and Holst.

* La Pieta, St. John’s Episcopal Church, 514 W. Adams Blvd., L.A., 4 p.m. $32-$39. (310) 954-4300.

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4pm

Music

Songs from the musical “Annie Get Your Gun,” along with selections from other classic musicals, will be featured in “The Music of Irving Berlin,” an audience sing-along presented by the Sing! Sing! Sing! ensemble and led by Judy Wolman. Song sheets are provided.

* “The Music of Irving Berlin,” Jazz Bakery, 3233 Helms Ave., Culver City, 4 p.m. $17. (310) 271-9039, (310) 546-5470.

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All Day

Art

From the semi-functional furniture of designer Roy McMakin to a room-sized trailer home and bomb shelter created by Atelier van Lieshoth, “Against Design” spotlights works that blur the boundaries between art, architecture and design. Opening Sunday at the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, the traveling survey will also feature works by Kevin Appel, Jorge Pardo, Joe Scanlan, Pae White, Andrea Zittel, Tobias Rehberger, Angela Bulloch and Clay Ketter. Don’t be shy: Most of the pieces in the exhibition, which was organized by the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, are interactive.

“Against Design,” Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, 700 Prospect St., La Jolla. Daily, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.; Thursday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m.; closed Wednesday. Ends May 20. $2-$4. (858) 454-3541.

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2pm

Music

Young New York pianist Navah Perlman will play a recital of music by Bach, Corigliano, Schumann, Copland and Chopin at Pepperdine University.

* Navah Perlman, Raitt Recital Hall at Pepperdine University, 24255 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu, 2 p.m. $20. (310) 506-4522.

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2pm

Music

The last person to work on a film or TV show often is the composer, whose finishing touches can establish the perfect mood for the work. TV and film composers William Goldstein, Charles Fox, Cliff Eidelman and Maria Newman will show clips of their work--with and without the music--and discuss the process of film scoring for “Lights, Camera, Music!,” a benefit for the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony.

* “Lights, Camera, Music!,” Fox Studios, Newman Scoring Stage, 10201 Pico Blvd., L.A., 2 p.m. $125. (818) 753-6681.

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2 & 6pm

Pop Music

The Chieftains’ 1999 album “Tears of Stone” gathered a roster of female singers to collaborate with the traditional Irish group. One of them, Joan Osborne, will join the band on stage, along with star fiddler Natalie MacMaster, when the band comes to Cerritos.

* The Chieftains, Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, 12700 Center Court Drive, Cerritos, 2 and 6 p.m. $40 to $50. (800) 300-4345.

FREEBIE

Russian violinist Ilya Gringolts, who made his local debut last summer at the Hollywood Bowl, returns in recital in the “Sundays at Two” series at the Beverly Hills Public Library, 444 N. Rexford Drive, Beverly Hills, with American pianist Amanda von Goetz. Their program lists works by Ysaye, Chopin, Ernst, Brahms, Tartini and Kreisler. (310) 288-2205.