BEST BETS: Sunday 6/2

7pm Music

Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung will be the soloist in Brahms’ “Alto Rhapsody” and Mahler’s “Songs of a Wayfarer” in the closing concert of the Pacific Chorale’s 34th season. DeYoung won two Grammys for the London Symphony’s 2000 recording of Berlioz’s “Les Troyens.” Chorale music director John Alexander also will conduct the Pacific in Brahms’ “Gesang der Parzen” and “Nanie” and Howard Hanson’s Symphony No. 7 (“A Sea Symphony”). Composer-in-residence Eric Whitacre will give the pre-concert lecture at 6 p.m.

Pacific Chorale, Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa, 7 p.m. $16 to $50. (714) 662-2345.

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4pm Theater

“The Merchant of Venice,” Shakespeare’s provocative comedy of love, money and intolerance, opens the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum’s 2002 season of outdoor summer theater. Artistic director Ellen Geer directs a cast headed by Alan Blumenfeld in the controversial role of moneylender Shylock.

“The Merchant of Venice,” Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum, 1419 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd., Topanga, Sundays at 4 p.m. (Pre-show discussion, July 14, 3 p.m.) Ends Sept. 29. $14 to $22. (310) 455-3723.

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7:30pm Pop Music

L.A.’s Vagrant Records has cornered the market on young rock bands with punk drive in their tempos, pop buoyancy in their arrangements and hearts on their sleeves. Two of the label’s acts, the Get Up Kids and Hot Rod Circuit, are hitting the road with music from their new albums, “On a Wire” and “Sorry About Tomorrow,” respectively.

Get Up Kids, with Hot Rod Circuit, House of Blues. 8430 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, 7:30 p.m. $15. (323) 848-5100. Also Monday and Tuesday.

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7pm Music

Renowned Brazilian percussionist Airto Moreira will lead the Music of Brazil Ensemble in a program of vocal and percussion music from various regions of the country. Moreira, an original member of Weather Report, brought Brazilian beats to albums by Miles Davis, Stan Getz and Chick Corea, and can still be counted on for remarkable percussion solos. Also on the bill, the African-American Ensemble, which will perform a diverse mix of gospel music.

Airto Moreira & the Music of Brazil Ensemble, the African-American Ensemble, Schoenberg Hall, UCLA, Hilgard Avenue, Westwood. 7 p.m. Free. (310) 206-3033.

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all day Festivals

“Man does not live by bread alone ...” and this Sunday, two festivals will set out to prove the truth of that statement. Oodles of Noodles in Torrance celebrates that community’s diverse cultural heritage with traditional music, dance, art and tastes of different noodle dishes of various ethnic cuisines. The Streetful of Tamales Festival near MacArthur Park will feature tamales from different Latin America cuisines plus chalk-art street murals.

Oodles of Noodles Festival, Torrance Cultural Arts Center, 3330 Civic Center Drive, Torrance, noon-4 p.m. Free admission. (310) 618-6342.

Streetful of Tamales Festival, MacArthur Park, 2230 W. 6th St., L.A., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Free admission. (323) 254-8865.