Opera
Amore Opera (Friday through Oct. 27) This company has lately made a valuable habit of pairing standard-repertory works with related rarities. This fall the classic is Mozart’s “Zauberflöte,” being performed in repertory with its hardly-ever-seen sequel, “Das Labyrinth.” The two works share a librettist, Emanuel Schickaneder, but not a composer: “Labyrinth,” which had its premiere eight years after Mozart’s death, was composed by Peter Winter. “Die Zauberflöte”: Friday, Saturday, Thursday and next Friday at 7:30 p.m., Sundays at 2:30 p.m.; “Das Labyrinth”: Sunday, Tuesday and Oct. 26 at 7:30 p.m., Connelly Theater, 220 East Fourth Street, East Village, (866) 811-4111, amoreopera.org; $40, $30 for students and 65+. (Zachary Woolfe)
★ ‘Baden-Baden 1927’ (Wednesday) The agile, adventurous Gotham Chamber Opera opens its season with a reconstruction of a seminal evening at the Baden-Baden Festival of Contemporary Music in July 1927: one-acts by Kurt Weill (the “Mahagonny Songspiel”), Paul Hindemith, Darius Milhaud and Ernst Toch. Paul Curran directs a production designed by Court Watson and the painter Georg Baselitz; Neal Goren, the company’s founder and artistic director, conducts. Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., next Friday at 8 p.m., Gerald W. Lynch Theater, John Jay College, 524 West 59th Street, Clinton, (212) 279-4200, gothamchamberopera.org; $30 to $175. (Woolfe)
★ ‘Eugene Onegin’ (Saturday) The excellent starring singers are the reason to see the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Tchaikovsky’s great “Eugene Onegin.” The baritone Mariusz Kwiecien brings a virile voice and brooding allure to Onegin, a bored aristocrat who hovers above life until it is too late; the ravishing soprano Anna Netrebko excels as the bookish Tatiana, who falls impulsively for the aloof Onegin; and the impressive tenor Piotr Beczala is an impassioned and impulsive Lenski, Onegin’s friend. This muddled staging may be a result of its troubled preparation period. Deborah Warner introduced the production at the English National Opera but then withdrew for medical reasons. The acclaimed actress Fiona Shaw stepped in for the Met performances, but had to juggle it with a previous commitment. There were moments of urgent intensity and drama in the performance on opening night, whipped up by the conductor Valery Gergiev, despite some shaky execution in the orchestra. Pavel Smelkov conducts on Saturday, and Alexander Vedernikov will conduct the rest of the run. (Through Dec. 12.) At 8 p.m., Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, (212) 362-6000, metoperafamily.org; $124 to $495. (Anthony Tommasini)
‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ (Saturday and Wednesday) Many productions of Shakespeare’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream” cannot sort out the comic and creepy elements of the play. Is it an enchanted forest romp with fairies intervening in the lives of mismatched mortal couples? Or is it a dark exploration of stolen infants, partner swapping and thinly-veiled pederasty? Britten, a towering composer completely at home in the theater, conveys both elements of the play in his ingenious 1960 operatic version, adapted from the Shakespeare by Britten and Peter Pears. For the Britten centennial 1996 production by the director Tim Albery, James Conlon conducts a cast that includes the countertenor Iestyn Davies as Oberon, the king of the fairies; the soprano Kathleen Kim as his alienated wife, Tytania; and the bass Matthew Rose as Bottom, the town weaver and an endearingly hapless amateur actor. (Through Oct. 31.) Saturday at 1 p.m., Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, (212) 362-6000, metoperafamily.org; $25 to $445. (Tommasini)
★ ‘Norma’ (Friday and Thursday) Sondra Radvanovsky proves vocally and theatrically compelling in her first American performances of the title character of this Bellini opera. (She will be replaced by Angela Meade for the Thursday and Oct. 28 performances.) Her talented cast mates include Kate Aldrich as Adalgisa (Jamie Barton on Thursday and Oct. 28); Aleksandrs Antonenko as Pollione; and James Morris as Oroveso (Ievgen Orlov on Thursday), with Riccardo Frizza providing sparks from the pit. The only dud is John Copley’s dismal production. (Through Nov. 1.) At 7:30 p.m., Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, (212) 362-6000, metoperafamily.org; $27 to $445. (Vivien Schweitzer)
★ ‘The Nose’ (Tuesday and Oct. 26) William Kentridge’s 2010 staging of Shostakovich’s first opera has been one of the Metropolitan Opera’s most acclaimed productions of recent seasons, and with good reason. With unflagging energy and unfettered imagination, it powerfully seconds both the irreverent zaniness of the Gogol story on which the opera is based and the teeming exuberance of Shostakovich’s music. The baritone Paulo Szot stars as the beleaguered and temporarily noseless bureaucrat Kovalyov. Pavel Smelkov conducts. Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., Oct. 26 at 1 p.m., Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, (212) 362-6000, metoperafamily.org; $25 to $430. (James R. Oestreich)
★ ‘Two Boys’ (Monday and next Friday) When Nico Muhly’s opera, inspired by a bizarre true story of love, identity and murder on the Internet, had its premiere in London in 2011, it was that rarity: an opera about ideas that also had a propulsive police procedural at its core. The work, with a libretto by the playwright Craig Lucas, has been substantially revised and sharpened for its run at the Metropolitan Opera, making an infrequent foray into new music. The production, directed by Bartlett Sher, is the same one that appeared at the English National Opera, but the cast, with Alice Coote as a troubled police officer and Paul Appleby as a hapless teenager, is new. So is the conductor, David Robertson, an inspired advocate for contemporary work. (Through Nov. 14.) Monday and next Friday at 8 p.m., Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, (212) 362-6000, metoperafamily.org; $25 to $445. (Woolfe)
Classical Music
Aeolus Quartet (Sunday) The fine Schneider Concert Series begins a new season with a performance by the Aeolus Quartet in Beethoven’s String Quartet in B flat (Op. 18, No. 6) and Christopher Theofanidis’s “Ariel Ascending.” The guest violist, Michael Tree, joins in for Brahms’s Viola Quintet in G. At 2 p.m., Tishman Auditorium of the New School, 66 West 12th Street, Greenwich Village, (212) 229-5873, newschool.edu/mannes/schneider-concerts; $17.50, $15 for 65+. (Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim)
★ Britten’s Complete Songs for Tenor and Guitar (Friday) As part of the commemorations of Britten’s 100th birthday on Nov. 22, the wonderful tenor Rufus Müller and the guitarist David Leisner take on this loving body of work, composed from 1953 to 1963 for Britten’s life partner, the tenor Peter Pears, and the couple’s friend, the guitarist Julian Bream. Mr. Leisner will also perform “Nocturnal” for solo guitar, based on a Dowland song. At 7:30 p.m., Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway, at 95th Street, (212) 864-5400, symphonyspace.org; $32, $20 for 30 and under. (Woolfe)
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (Sunday and Tuesday) String quintets, scored for piano and the standard instruments of the string quartet, tend to get a little frisky with competitiveness between the piano and the strings. But piano quartets, scored for piano, violin, viola and cello, have tended to foster a little more integration and equality, starting from the two popular piano quartets by Mozart. The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center will explore the genre in a program, “Great Piano Quartets,” with works by Mozart, Brahms and Turina. The pianists Gilbert Kalish and Orion Weiss join four string players from the society’s impressive roster. Sunday at 5 p.m., Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., Alice Tully Hall, (212) 875-5788, chambermusicsociety.org; $30 to $70. (Tommasini)
Five Boroughs Music Festival (Saturday and Sunday) This ambitious vocal and chamber music series offers a sprawling two-day, five-program celebration of Britten’s songs in time for the composer’s 100th birthday on Nov. 22. The singers, more than a dozen, include the tenors Dominic Armstrong and Nicky Spence and the mezzo-soprano Naomi O’Connell; among the pianists is the distinguished accompanist Malcolm Martineau. Saturday at 1, 4 and 7 p.m., Brooklyn Historical Society, 128 Pierrepont Street, near Clinton Street, Brooklyn Heights; Sunday at 1 and 4 p.m., Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Avenue, at 25th Street; (718) 222-41115, (646) 312-4085, 5bmf.org; $25 for each program, $90 for an all-program pass. (Woolfe)
The 5 Browns (Friday) This lively quintet of piano-playing siblings offers a program of works transcribed for five pianos, including an arrangement of Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring” and Holst’s “Planets,” as well as music by Lutoslawski, Chopin, Rachmaninoff and Muczynski. At 7:30 p.m., Isaac Stern Auditorium, Carnegie Hall, (212) 247-7800, carnegiehall.org; $14 to $110. (Schweitzer)
Michael Hersch Portrait Concert (Saturday) The enigmatic, alluring works of this pianist-composer are featured in a concert of his music, including selections from “The Vanishing Pavilions.” Mr. Hersch, who rarely performs in public, will join performers including the violinist Miranda Cuckson. At 8 p.m., DiMenna Center for Classical Music, 450 West 37th Street, Manhattan, michaelhersch.com/news.html; free. (Schweitzer)
★ Juilliard Orchestra (Monday) It is a testimony to the conductor Alan Gilbert’s commitment to education that while busy with his work as music director of the New York Philharmonic he is also the director of conducting and orchestral studies at the Juilliard School. For an important concert at Carnegie Hall, Mr. Gilbert conducts the Juilliard Orchestra in Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony, a program that begins with Bartok’s Violin Concerto No. 1 featuring the violinist Elizabeth Fayette, currently in the Artist Diploma program at Juilliard. At 8 p.m., Isaac Stern Auditorium, (212) 247-7800, carnegiehall.org; $15 to $30. (Tommasini)
★ Valentina Lisitsa (Saturday) Having resurrected her flagging career via YouTube and garnered a vast online audience, this passionate Ukrainian-born pianist now has a busy performing schedule. She opens the 92nd Street Y’s fall season with a program (decided by audience vote) of Liszt, Rachmaninoff, Chopin and Shostakovich. At 8 p.m., 92nd Street Y, 1395 Lexington Avenue, (212) 415-5500, 92y.org; $39 to $61, $25 for ages 35 and under. (Schweitzer)
London Symphony Orchestra (Sunday and Monday) One of Britain’s finest symphonic ensembles opens Lincoln Center’s Great Performers series under the baton of the venerable Bernard Haitink in Shostakovich’s heart-wrenching Symphony No. 4. The fine pianist Emanuel Ax joins the orchestra in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 9 “Jenamy.” Monday’s program features the heroic Symphony No. 15 by Shostakovich and Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 27, also with Mr. Ax. Sunday at 3 p.m., Monday at 8 p.m., Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, (212) 875-5030, lcgreatperformers.org; $35 to $100. (da Fonseca-Wollheim)
New York Philharmonic (Friday, Saturday, Thursday, next Friday and Oct. 26) On Friday and Saturday, the dynamic conductor Semyon Bychkov takes the podium for an all-Russian program featuring Shostakovich’s formidable Symphony No. 11, “The Year 1905,” and Rachmaninoff’s popular Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, with the brilliant and brainy pianist Kirill Gerstein as the soloist. Another audience favorite, Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” (in Ravel’s orchestration) concludes a program that the acclaimed conductor Charles Dutoit has chosen for his appearance (Thursday through Oct. 26). Of special interest is an unusual work Krzysztof Penderecki composed in 2000: Concerto Grosso No. 1 for Three Cellos and Orchestra. The soloists will be Carter Brey, Alisa Weilerstein and Daniel Müller-Schott. Friday at 2 p.m., Saturday, next Friday and Oct. 26 at 8 p.m., Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, (212) 875-5656, nyphil.org; $30 to $122. (Tommasini)
Orchestra of St. Luke’s (Wednesday) This fine orchestra’s principal conductor, Pablo Heras-Casado, opens its season at Carnegie Hall with Mendelssohn’s Overture to “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”; Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings (featuring the febrile tenor Ian Bostridge and the horn player Stewart Rose); and Shostakovich’s bright Symphony No. 9. At 8 p.m., Isaac Stern Auditorium, Carnegie Hall, (212) 247-7800, oslmusic.org; $15 to $86. (Woolfe)
Poème Harmonique (Saturday) This stellar French early-music ensemble led by Vincent Dumestre presents “Combattimenti,” a program of 17th-century madrigals on themes of battle and warfare. At the center is Monteverdi’s rousing cantata “Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda,” but the real draw may be the lesser-known works by Giovanni Maria Trabaci, Il Fasolo and Marco Marazzoli that make the most of the rough-and-ready sounds of period instruments. At 8 p.m., Miller Theater, Broadway at 116th Street, Morningside Heights, (212) 854-7799, millertheatre.com; $35 to $45, $21 to $27 for students. (da Fonseca-Wollheim)
Matthew Polenzani, Corrine Winters and Ken Noda (Sunday) The George London Foundation, organized in memory of the great Canadian bass-baritone, opens its season with the first of its Sunday afternoon voice recitals at the Morgan Library. The series pairs a noted opera singer with an emerging artist. For this program the tenor Matthew Polenzani, a mainstay of the Metropolitan Opera, is joined by the soprano Corrine Winters, whose schedule this season includes a debut appearance with Opera Hong Kong and the English National Opera. The program, accompanied by Ken Noda, offers works by Massenet, Ravel, Rachmaninoff, Strauss and other composers. At 4:30 p.m., Morgan Library & Museum, 225 Madison Avenue, at 36th Street, (212) 685-0008, Ext. 560, themorgan.org; $45, $35 for members. (Tommasini)
★ Tetzlaff Quartet (Thursday) The superb German violinist Christian Tetzlaff, who maintains a demanding international concert schedule as a solo artist, is also devoted to chamber music, especially his work with this quartet. This ensemble includes his sister, the cellist Tanja Tetzlaff; the violinist Elisabeth Kufferath; and the violist Hanna Weinmeister. For their Zankel Hall program, they will play works by Haydn, Bartok and Beethoven (the late Quartet in A minor, Op. 132). At 7 p.m., Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall, (212) 247-7800, carnegiehall.org; $52 and $62. (Tommasini)
★ Chris Thile (Tuesday) This brilliant mandolin virtuoso is a member of the Punch Brothers, an irresistible bluegrass band. Mr. Thile has also dedicated considerable time to Bach, whose music he renders beautifully on the mandolin. Here he will perform some of Bach’s sonatas and partitas for solo violin (which he has just recorded) as well as some of his own original compositions. At 7:30 p.m., Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall, (212) 247-7800, carnegiehall.org; limited availability. (Schweitzer)
★ Yuja Wang (Tuesday) This powerhouse pianist returns to Carnegie Hall for a solo recital that draws on the full range of her physical and interpretive powers. Prokofiev’s theatrical Piano Sonata No. 3 in A minor and Stravinsky’s “Three Movements From Pétrouchka” will bookend a program that also includes works by Chopin and Nikolai Kapustin’s jazz-inflected Variations for Piano. At 8 p.m., Isaac Stern Auditorium, (212) 247-7800, carnegiehall.org; $18 to $105. (da Fonseca-Wollheim)