Boston Symphony Orchestra

The Boston Symphony, under the direction of James Levine, will continue a wonderful season this weekend with a series of performances; we’re going to highlight Saturday night, when, with soprano Hei-Kyung Hong (pictured), baritone Matthias Goerne and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, they’ll perform a work of monumental beauty and feeling.

Johannes Brahms’ majestic, moving A German Requiem (Ein Deutsches Requiem) was written in memory of his mother, and his mentor, Robert Schumann. It’s ostensibly a religious work, but, as critic Jan Swafford wrote in the BSO’s program notes, it has “no trace of incense, no bowing to the altar. . . . It is a spiritual work in the universal language of music.”

Yes indeed.

The Boston Symphony Orchestra and guests will perform Brahms’ A German Requiem at 8:30 PM Saturday (July 24) at Tanglewood’s Koussevitzky Music Shed (Lenox, Mass.). Tickets are $18 (lawn)-$89. For more info, call (413) 637-5165.

Rent: The Broadway Tour

The ads for this touring production stress the presence of actors Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp, who’ve performed the show something like a gazillion times. And that’s fine. But the real reason to see Rent—from the day it opened on Broadway to the day this company hits the stage at Proctors—is the score, by the late Jonathan Larsen. It was, and remains, fantastic.

By now, you know the musical’s plot: It’s La Boheme on the Lower East Side. It’s got tears, laughs, and struggling with AIDS. The only thing we don’t understand is why (spoiler alert) the junkie girl gets to live. Oh well. We’re old-school.

Rent: The Broadway Tour will be performed at Proctors (432 State St., Schenectady) beginning Tuesday (July 28) and continuing through Aug. 2. Tuesday-Saturday performances are at 8 PM; additional 2 PM matinees will be presented Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $20 to $65. For more info, call 346-6204.

Lil Wayne

Wee ooh wee ooh wee. Wee ooh wee ooh wee. Be forewarned, lady cops: Weezy’s coming to town.

The always prolific Lil Wayne has had an outstanding run over the last 18 months or so. Besides the multi-platinum success and multiple Grammy wins for his Tha Carter III disc and its gaggle of hit singles, he’s appeared on hits by about a dozen other artists. He also became the first rap artist to perform at the Country Music Awards, and wound up prognosticators with the promise of Rebirth, his oft-delayed foray into hard rock, now due for release in August.

This week’s show makes up for Weezy’s canceled date last December, with interest. In front of Lil Wayne is Young Jeezy, who, like Wayne, has been making the guest-appearance rounds: His spot on Usher’s “Love in This Club” earned him a Grammy nomination this February. Also on the bill is inexplicably durable Internet sensation Soulja Boy and unsigned (but surely not for long) rapper Drake.

Lil Wayne, Young Jeezy, Soulja Boy and Drake will perform Wednesday (July 29) at Saratoga Performing Arts Center (Saratoga Spa State Park, Saratoga Springs). Tickets for the 7:30 PM performance range from $35.75 (lawn) to $125.75. Call the SPAC box office at 587-3330 for more information.