BEST BETS Friday 10/19

8pm

Music

Chinese composer Tan Dun wrote a Concerto for Erhu and Chamber Orchestra for Ang Lee’s acclaimed film, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” But the work was not included in the movie. Orange County gets to hear the world premiere, along with the West Coast premiere of his Concerto for Water Percussion and Orchestra. Dun will conduct. The soloists will include Karen Han, erhu (an ancient Chinese instrument akin to the violin), and David Cossin, water percussionist. The concert, to be repeated Saturday and Sunday, is part of the Eclectic Orange Festival.

* Tan Dun, Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Drive, Irvine, 8 p.m. Also Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. $33 to $38. (949) 854-4646.

11am-4pm

Art

The works of 20 contemporary Chinese artists are shown at the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art in Santa Ana. Titled, “The Emancipated Brush: Contemporary Paintings from the People’s Republic of China,” the show includes traditional ink methods, oil and mixed media, and highlights the contrast in contemporary and folk styles. The exhibition is co-curated by Beijing’s retired chief of the International Exhibition Agency Hao Zhan, art professor Jiang Zhuqing and OCCCA director of exhibitions Clayton Spada.

* “The Emancipated Brush: Contemporary Paintings from the People’s Republic of China,” Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, 117 N. Sycamore, Santa Ana. Gallery hours: Wednesday-Sunday, 11 a.m-4 p.m.; closed Monday and Tuesday. Free. Ends Nov. 18. (714) 667-1517.

8pm

Theater

“Foxfire” premiered in 1982 as a vehicle for Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy; they played Hector and Annie Nations, an aged couple in Georgia’s Blue Ridge mountains who cling to their land and their old ways in the face of onrushing change. Cronyn co-wrote the piece with novelist Susan Cooper; the show incorporates mountain-style music. In this production, the veteran Orange County husband-and-wife acting duo of Stu and Joyce Eriksen take on the Cronyn/Tandy parts. Directing is Caprice Spencer Rothe, who last year oversaw Vanguard’s staging of George Bernard Shaw’s “Heartbreak House.”

* “Foxfire,” Vanguard Theatre Ensemble, 699A State College Blvd., Fullerton. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m., Sundays, 6 p.m. Ends Nov. 10. $13 to $15. (714) 526-8007.