Raleigh
Handel’s Messiah
Memorial Auditorium, Progress Energy CenterRing in the holiday season with the return of this homegrown take on George Frideric Handel’s classic. This show, featuring choreography by Robert Weiss, has been absent from the Carolina Ballet’s repertory for the past five years, though it has enjoyed an extraordinarily successful run in Philadelphia. Now, it’s back in Raleigh in a production that combines chamber musicians along with voices from the North Carolina Master Chorale. Hallelujah. The show opens Wednesday, Nov. 26, takes Thursday off and resumes tonight through Nov. 30. Tickets are $20-$60. For more info, visit www.carolinaballet.com. Zack Smith
Carrboro
Manchester Orchestra, Dead Confederate
Cat’s CradleManchester Orchestra’s loping majesty lodges itself between dream and indie pop, fueled by crashing guitars, swooning arrangements and frontman Andy Hull’s almost-emo plaintiveness. Only 22, Hull’s craft has grown dramatically, as shown by the second album of his solo project, Right Away, Great Captain. Tonight, he promises to premiere some of the heavier-but-still-poppy material from the upcoming Manchester album, which he calls “Pinkerton on steroids.” Dead Confederate’s sultry drone suggests the Black Angels dosed on the Allmans, flexing sweat-piped guns while luxuriating in a heat haze. Ex-bandmates in Red Belly Band, their old jam aesthetic now comes in distortion-drenched breaks. Pay $10-$12 at 8:30 p.m. Chris Parker