Members of the public are being asked to watch every move of a Minnesota resident who's in town for a couple of days and then evaluate her, critique her, be nice or not so nice, share their opinions on paper.

People are invited to gather at the Belle Mehus City Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and watch her - and then focus their written comments on a number of things - such things as her ability to keep a beat with her right hand, to show expression with her left hand and whether they think she knows what she's doing.

Will Beverly Everett, a candidate for the position of conductor for the Bismarck-Mandan Symphony Orchestra, keep looking down at her music during Saturday's concert, or does she know the music well enough that she can spend more of her time making eye contact with the musicians?

"How is she communicating to the musicians? Is she looking at them? Is she relaxed? Is she looking like she's having fun?"

That's what Karen daSilva, operations manager of the Bismarck-Mandan Symphony Orchestra, wants to know from Saturday's audience.

Everett is the first of the three conductor finalists who, as the next step in the selection process, will conduct an actual concert with the symphony after having spent time picking the music, preparing and rehearsing with the symphony this week.

After her, candidate Travis Hatton, music director of the Sunnyside Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in Portland, Ore., will be on the podium for the symphony's Nov. 17 concert. Candidate Jason Love, music director for the Columbia Orchestra in Columbia, Md., will conduct the Feb. 10 concert.

The three are what's left from the pool of about 100 applicants who applied when the symphony started a long search process after the previous conductor, Tom Wellin, resigned in 2005.

Everett might take a surprising step Saturday.

Audience members in Bemidji, where she is currently the music director and conductor of the Bemidji Symphony Orchestra, have told her they enjoy watching her and have used the word "dance" when describing her time at the podium.

"I don't intentionally dance," Everett said.

But apparently there have been moments.

And maybe that's appropriate for a conductor who works at "moving" her audience.

Everett said in a past interview she has a main goal.

She explained how she has attended concerts of well-known orchestras and found the pieces were done well mechanically, but she wasn't moved.

"You won't have the physical experience, the tug at the chest, tears in your eyes or that feeling in the center of the chest," she said. It sounds good, the right rhythms, "but it's what's beyond that that really reaches people."

Then she'll go to a smaller orchestra that's playing a piece that would seem totally beyond what the musicians should be capable of, and it happens. She's moved.

"They get it. It's so moving, so inspiring," she said. "That's what I'm after as a musician."

Everett, who drove to Bismarck this week, said Tuesday she's not nervous about Saturday.

"It's not about me," she said. "It's about doing our best with the music."

The music she chose was built around the soprano soloist the symphony had already picked to feature for this concert - Maja Lisa FritzHuspen, who is from Bismarck and has just finished her degree in vocal performance at the University of Iowa.

The concert will begin with the overture "La Gazza ladra" by Rossini and end with "Symphony No. 5 in E Minor, Op. 64" by Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky.

In between, FritzHuspen will be featured on "Pace, pace mio dio" from "La forza del destino" by Verdi; "lo son l'umile ancella" from Adriana Lecouvreur by Cilea; and "Tacea la notte placida" from "Il Trovatore" by Verdi.

Everett said she picked music that she thought would showcase the orchestra well and would be somewhat familiar to the audience.

"I was also trying to be respectful to the fact I'm just a guest here," she said.

She said she won't be here the rest of the season, but the orchestra will, and she wanted to pick music for this opening concert that would catch the interest of the audience and entice them back for the rest of the season.

As she conducts Tchaikovsky's symphony, she said she may be thinking about what music scholars say was the emotional content of the piece for composer Tchaikovsky, which was "one of accepting fate and being able to march forward to the future no matter what."

Everett is asking people out there not to assume classical music is for snobs, and to attend Saturday and give it a try.

"It's for everyone, no matter what type of music you listen to during the day," she said.

She said she read a billboard once that stated, "A great city has a great orchestra."

"Bismarck is lucky to have one," she said. And she urged people to support it.

Everett is in her fourth season with Bemidji. Since Everett's arrival in Bemidji, the organization has had a 75 percent increase in both ticket sales and funding, and the season has increased from four to seven annual concerts. Everett helped create the Bemidji Youth Symphony, for which she serves as conductor. In November 2006, Everett instituted the first Bemidji Symphony Dance project, modeled after similar projects of the Berlin Philharmonic. Members of the Bemidji Area Boys and Girls Club performed an original dance to Copland's ballet "Appalachian Spring."

In 2006, Everett conducted the North Dakota All State Orchestra festival.

Before coming to Bemidji, Everett served as music director of the Muscatine Symphony Orchestra. Everett grew up in Waxahachie, Texas, and has degrees in organ and conducting from Baylor University and a doctorate from the University of Iowa.

The doors will open at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Belle Mehus City Auditorium, 201 N. Sixth St., and there will be a preconcert chat at 7 p.m. to discuss the program for the 7:30 p.m. concert.

Tickets are $15-$25 for adults, $1-$20 for seniors and $7 for students.

What to look for when watching a conductor

Karen daSilva, operations manager for the Bismarck-Mandan Symphony Orchestra, said a good conductor does the following things, which the audience should consider when rating Beverly Everett:

* The conductor brings diverse instrumentalists into a cohesive musical unit.

* The conductor inspires the players to perform at their utmost.

* The beat and the speed of the music are shown with the conductor's right hand.

* The volume and expressive details are indicated with the conductor's left hand.

* The conductor knows every note and expression in the music. Are they constantly looking at the score, or are they looking up at the musicians?

* The conductor strives to realize the intent of the composer by studying the score, understanding the time period in which the piece was written, and feeling the emotional meaning of the composition.

* The conductor performs pieces that contrast and complement one another.