Compare and contrast, shall we, two singer-songwriters of somewhat different stripes: The ever-clever Irish/Englishman known as Elvis Costello (real name Declan MacManus) is nothing if not open-eared about his musical endeavors, from his 1977 debut, in which his snarling-crooning vocals and witty-witty wordplay first reared their pointy heads, onward to an amazingly varied list of collaborative projects with the likes of Burt Bacharach, Paul McCartney, the Brodsky Quartet and The Roots. Mr. MacManus will assay his innumerable hits and shoulda-beens in a swanky, jazzed-up mode with the aid of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Ben Folds, the multiplatinum-selling, Nashville-based song stylist and fellow eclectic, opens the night with a rocking slew of his piano-pop crowd pleasers, plus a movement from his new piano concerto. Also Saturday, Sept. 6.

Fri., Sept. 5, 8 p.m.; Sat., Sept. 6, 8 p.m., 2014
(Expired: 09/06/14)

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