Three of the area's most prominent guitarists will open this year's Southern Village Sunday Music Series on the Village Green Stage on May 4.

Armand Lenchek, Will MacFarlane and Danny Gotham will perform the first concert of the 2008 series at 7 p.m. on the green on Market Street. Every Sunday thereafter, until Sept. 7, music -- ranging from jazz to bluegrass to opera to a Grateful Dead tribute band -- will fill the evening air in Southern Village.

Most shows are free. Two concerts -- The Old Ceremony on Aug. 17, and The Ramblers on Aug. 31 -- carry a $5 admission.

After Lenchek, MacFarlane and Gotham get things cranked up this weekend, the Casablanca Orchestra will bring its big band sound to Southern Village on May 11. Casablanca is an 18-piece big band with vocalist Debbie Barnett.

The Doc Branch Band will do its bluegrass thing on May 18, and on May 25 the Magnolia Klezmer Band will perform Eastern European Jewish music blended with jazz and swing.

Edsel 500, a rockabilly group that performs the songs of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Chuck Berry, Bill Haley and others, will play on June 1.

The following weekend will bring a dramatic change of style, as Long Leaf Opera performs on June 8. On June 13 -- a Friday -- the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra will return for its eighth concert on the green. Starting time for the symphony concert is 8 p.m.

Other Sunday performances will include:

• June 15, Jon Shain and Charles Pettee playing blues and bluegrass.
• June 22, The Gravy Boys presenting acoustic Americana.
• June 29, Craicdown, playing Celtic, Brazilian and original compositions.
• July 6, The Decatur Street Beat returns with their Dixieland sound.
• July 13, The Galen Kipur Project plays acoustic originals.
• July 20, Saludos Compay performs Afro/Cuban/Latin music and world music: One Sun performs world beat.
• July 27, Raleigh vocalist Laura Ridgeway sings oldies, popular tunes and blues.
• Aug. 3, jazz vocalist Susan Reeves performs.
• Aug. 10, the Chris Boerner Quartet plays modern jazz and the Matt Douglas duo plays folk-rock.
• Aug. 24, a Grateful Dead tribute band, the B.O.D., performs.

The music series concludes on Sept. 7 with the Annual Russian Baby Orphanage Benefit Concert.

For information, see www.southernvillage.com.