Weekend Picks: Quetzal, Pasadena Symphony, ‘Blues in the Night,’ ‘School of Rock’ and more

If you’re looking for a little culture this weekend, you can find it at a Cinco de Mayo show with Quetzal, the return of LCD Soundsystem or concerts by Angélique Kidjo and Meshell Ndegeocello in downtown L.A. In classical music, pianist André Watts performs with Pacific Symphony, and Pasadena Symphony wraps its 90th season. On the stage, “Blues in the Night” comes to the Wallis in Beverly Hills, and “School of Rock” rocks the Hollywood Pantages.

Quetzal at the Soraya

Celebrate the Mexican army’s defeat of French forces at the Battle of Puebla in 1862 with a Cinco de Mayo show featuring Quetzal. Frontwoman Martha Gonzalez leads the veteran East L.A. band in a stew of Chicano rock, jazz, R&B and traditional Mexican folk music. Also on the bill: New York-based all-female mariachi band Flor de Toloache. Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts, 18111 Nordhoff St., Northridge. 8 p.m. Saturday. $33 and up. www.thesoraya.org

Singing the ‘Blues’ at the Wallis

Women sing of good love gone wrong in “Blues in the Night.” Creator-director Sheldon Epps helms an intimate revival of his revue featuring classic blues tunes, ballads and torch songs from the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s by Bessie Smith, Duke Ellington, Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer and others. Lovelace Studio Theater, Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills. 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 2:30 and 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; more performances through May 20. $60-$75. www.thewallis.org

Pasadena Symphony’s season finale

Music Director David Lockington and Pasadena Symphony close out the orchestra’s 90th season with an all-Beethoven program that includes the Third Symphony, “Eroica,” plus his Violin Concerto featuring violinist Angelo Xiang Yu. Ambassador Auditorium, 131 S. St. John Ave., Pasadena. 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday. $35 and up. www.pasadenasymphony-pops.org

Kidjo and Ndegeocello play DTLA

Two fierce and funky artists let out their inner fan girls this weekend. First up, Grammy winner Angélique Kidjo performs her reimagining of the 1980 Talking Heads album “Remain in Light” at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Theatre at Ace Hotel, 929 S. Broadway, L.A. $29.50-$59.50. www.cap.ucla.edu. The next night, Grammy nominee Meshell Ndegeocello plays an all-ages show in support of “Ventriloquism,” a new collection of her covers of pop and R&B hits from the 1980s and ’90s. Teragram Ballroom, 1234 W. 7th St., L.A. $27. 8 p.m. Sunday. www.tickemaster.com

Pacific Symphony welcomes pianist Watts

Pianist André Watts joins Pacific Symphony for Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5, “Emperor.” The program also includes Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10. Segerstrom Center for the Arts, Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday. $25 and up. www.pacificsymphony.org

LCD Soundsystem at the Bowl

After a sold-out, five-night stand at the Palladium last November, James Murphy and his dance-rock collective LCD Soundsystem return to Tinseltown for two shows at a far bigger venue. Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the indie outfit fronted by Karen O, opens the show. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave., Hollywood. 6:15 p.m. Friday and Saturday. $40 and up. www.hollywoodbowl.com

‘School of Rock’ in session

A slacker guitarist poses as a substitute teacher and molds youngsters into bona fide riff-meisters in “School of Rock,” the stage adaptation of the hit 2003 movie that starred Jack Black. Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote the music. Hollywood Pantages, 6233 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood. 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday; additional performances through May 27. $35 and up; children under 5 not admitted. www.hollywoodpantages.com. (Also running July 24-Aug. 5 at Segerstrom Center in Costa Mesa.)