Tag Archives: classical music

Classical Music/Opera Listings for Jan. 27-Feb. 2 G Roald Smeets

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Metropolitan Opera (Lincoln Center), auditorium

Metropolitan Opera (Lincoln Center), auditorium (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

G Roald Smeets  Opera

★ ‘Anna Bolena’ (Wednesday) The Metropolitan Opera’s new production of this great, overlooked Donizetti opera returns for two final performances this season, starring the charismatic soprano for whom it was conceived, Anna Netrebko. David McVicar’s disappointing production is tamely traditional, and the impact of Donizetti’s score was muted on opening night by the routine, listless conducting of Marco Armiliato. The appealing cast includes Ekaterina Gubanova as Giovanna, Ildar Abdrazakov as Enrico, and Stephen Costello as Riccardo. At 7:30 p.m., Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, (212) 362-6000, metoperafamily.org; $104 to $490 remaining. (Anthony Tommasini)

★ ‘The Enchanted Island’ (Saturday and Monday) There are two more performances of this modern-day Baroque pastiche, a surprising delight. The librettist Jeremy Sams has devised a wonderfully convoluted and involving story that conflates two Shakespeare plays, “The Tempest” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” His original libretto, complete with witty recitative, is set to music lifted from operas and other works by Handel, Vivaldi, Rameau and other Baroque composers. Phelim McDermott’s imaginative production blends old-fashioned stagecraft with sophisticated videos and animation. The cast could not be better, with David Daniels as Prospero, Danielle de Niese as Ariel, Joyce DiDonato as Sycorax, Luca Pisaroni as Caliban, Lisette Oropesa as Miranda and, in a short but crucial star turn, Plácido Domingo as Neptune. (David Daniels will not appear Saturday night because of illness. Anthony Roth Costanzo will sing Prospero.) William Christie, an acclaimed exponent of Baroque opera, conducts. Saturday at 8 p.m. and Monday at 7:30 p.m., Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, (212) 362-6000, metoperafamily.org; $25 to $460. (Tommasini)

★ ‘Götterdämmerung’ (Friday and Tuesday) You cannot fairly judge a production of Wagner’s “Ring” until you see the entire four-opera cycle. The final installment of Robert Lepage’s production for the Met, “Götterdämmerung,” opens on Friday. Much is expected of the Siegfried of the tenor Jay Hunter Morris, who made a strong impression in the near-impossible title role of “Siegfried.” (The tenor Stephen Gould sings the second performance on Tuesday.) Deborah Voigt completes her first complete “Ring,” singing Brünnhilde. Eric Owens returns as Alberich. And in a bit of luxury casting, the soprano Waltraud Meier sings Waltraute. Fabio Luisi conducts. At 6 p.m., Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, (212) 362-6000, metoperafamily.org; $104 to $490 remaining. (Tommasini)

★ ‘Rienzi’ (Sunday) Wagner’s unabashedly grand third opera provided a big success for Eve Queler and her enterprising, invaluable Opera Orchestra of New York in 1980 and 1982. Now, a year after Ms. Queler stepped down as the company’s music director, she returns to the podium to conduct it with a cast that includes the tenor Ian Storey as the medieval Italian populist leader Cola di Rienzi and the soprano Elisabete Matos as his sister, Irene. At 2 p.m., Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, (212) 906-9137, operaorchestrany.org; $35 to $165. (Zachary Woolfe)

★ ‘Tosca’ (Saturday) The straightforward but heartfelt soprano Patricia Racette has long been underrated, but her performance in a Met revival of Luc Bondy’s production of “Tosca” in 2010 brought her the most notice she’d gotten in years. She ends her return to the title role alongside the tenor Marcelo Álvarez and the bass-baritone James Morris. This run offers the house debut of the young Finnish conductor Mikko Franck; Saturday marks the final Met performance of the veteran bass Paul Plishka, retiring after a 45-year career with the company. At 1 p.m., Metropolitan Opera, Lincoln Center, (212) 362-6000, metoperafamily.org; $111 to $470 remaining. (Woolfe)

Classical Music

★ American Composers Orchestra (Tuesday) This concert marking the 75th birthday of Philip Glass features the American premiere of his Ninth Symphony. (Fear not, superstitious types; Mr. Glass already has a 10th in the drawer.) Completing the program is Arvo Pärt’s stirring “Lamentate,” featuring the pianist Maki Namekawa. At 8 p.m., Carnegie Hall, (212) 247-7800, carnegiehall.org; $29 to $82, with limited availability. (Steve Smith)

Eve Beglarian’s RiverProject (Friday and Saturday) Prompted by the 2008 election to get back in touch with America, the composer and singer Ms. Beglarian kayaked and bicycled the length of the Mississippi River; since her return she has translated her findings into music of sophisticated rusticity. On Friday the agit-prop new-music ensemble Newspeak presents the New York premiere of “Waiting for Billy Floyd”; on Saturday Ms. Beglarian performs with the violinist Mary Rowell, the guitarist Taylor Levine and the singer Malcolm J. Merriweather. At 8 p.m., Abrons Arts Center, 466 Grand Street, at Pitt Street, Lower East Side, (866) 811-4111, abronsartscenter.org; $25, or $15 for students and seniors. (Smith)

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (Sunday and Tuesday) This program celebrates music for clarinet and cello. The clarinetist David Shifrin joins the society’s artistic directors, the cellist David Finckel and the pianist Wu Han, for Beethoven’s Trio in B flat for Clarinet, Cello and Piano; selections from Bruch’s Eight Pieces for Clarinet, Cello and Piano; and Brahms’s Trio in A minor for Clarinet, Cello and Piano. At 5 p.m. on Sunday and 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, (212) 875-5788, chambermusicsociety.org; Sunday sold out; Tuesday, $27 to $56. (Vivien Schweitzer)

Simone Dinnerstein (Thursday) This fine pianist juxtaposes Bach’s Partitas Nos. 1 and 2, Schubert’s Four Impromptus (Op. 90) and Chopin’s Nocturne for Piano No. 8 with a contemporary work: Daniel Felsenfeld’s “Cohen Variations.” At 8 p.m., Miller Theater, Broadway at 116th Street, Morningside Heights, (212) 854-7799, millertheater.org; $35. (Schweitzer)

Europa Galante (Thursday) The soprano Vivica Genaux joins Fabio Biondi and his period-instrument band in a program devoted mostly to concertos and arias by Vivaldi, Nardini and Locatelli. At 7:30 p.m., Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall, (212) 247-7800, carnegiehall.org; $54 to $64. (Allan Kozinn)

★ Focus! 2012 Festival (Friday, and Monday through Thursday) The Juilliard School provides a gift to the city in this year’s installment of its venerable annual new-music festival: six concerts celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of John Cage. It’s a rich selection of nearly 40 works drawn from every period of Cage’s pathbreaking career, from vocal music to compositions for percussion ensemble. That the shows are all free is the icing on the cake. (The finale concert is next Friday.) Friday, and Monday through Thursday at 8 p.m., the Juilliard School, Lincoln Center, (212) 769-7406, juilliard.edu; free tickets required. (Woolfe)

Gaudeamus Muziekweek New York (Friday and Saturday) A series mounted by the prestigious Dutch new-music festival Gaudeamus Muziekweek ends with two concerts featuring Ensemble MAE, the successor to the trailblazing Maarten Altena Ensemble. On Friday the International Contemporary Ensemble pitches in for works by Yannis Kyriakides; on Saturday, Iktus Percussion shares a program that includes pieces by Ligeti, Robert Ashley, Michel van der Aa and others. At 7:30 p.m., Issue Project Room, 110 Livingston Street, downtown Brooklyn, (718) 330-0313, issueprojectroom.org; $20. (Smith)

★ Susan Graham (Wednesday) There is no more satisfying singer than this eminent mezzo-soprano, with her rich, even voice, exquisite musicianship and warm presence. Her solo recital debut at Carnegie Hall in 2003 was widely acclaimed and resulted in a classic recording; she returned in 2007 with a program of French songs. This time, joined by the pianist Malcolm Martineau, her longtime collaborator, she focuses on musical versions of tragic female characters from history and literature, from Ophelia (Berlioz’s “Mort d’Ophélie”) to treatments of Goethe’s Mignon by Schubert, Schumann, Liszt, Duparc and Wolf. At 8 p.m., Isaac Stern Auditorium, Carnegie Hall, (212) 247-7800, carnegiehall.org; $15 to $85. (Woolfe)

★ David Lang (Friday) A founder of Bang on a Can, with Julia Wolfe and Michael Gordon, Mr. Lang writes in a colorfully accessible, energetic style. His “Little Match Girl Passion,” a wrenching setting of the Hans Christian Andersen story, won the Pulitzer Prize in 2008 and is the centerpiece of this Making Music program, which also includes the New York premiere of Mr. Lang’s “Death Speaks.” The starry cast includes Theater of Voices; Bryce Dessner and Shara Worden on guitars and vocals; the composer Nico Muhly on keyboards; and Owen Pallett on violin and vocals. At 6 p.m., Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall, (212) 247-7800, carnegiehall.org; $30, with limited availability. (Kozinn)

★ London Handel Players (Sunday) The music room at the Frick Collection is a superb place to hear period instruments, and this fine British ensemble offers a program in which the clarity of texture that the room’s acoustic promote is paramount. Included are a Flute Sonata by Quantz, the greatest flute virtuoso of his time, and a piece by Frederick the Great, the Prussian king and talented amateur flutist. Also on the program: a sonata from Bach’s “Musical Offering,” a Trio Sonata by C. P. E. Bach and a Benda Violin Sonata. At 5 p.m., Frick Collection, 1 East 70th Street, Manhattan, (212) 547-0715, frick.org; sold out, but returned tickets may be available at the box office. (Kozinn)

Denis Matsuev (Friday) This gifted Russian pianist, first prize laureate of the International Tchaikovsky Competition, returns to Carnegie Hall with a program featuring Schubert’s Sonata in A minor (D. 784), Beethoven’s “Appassionata” sonata, Grieg’s Piano Sonata in E minor and selections from Stravinsky’s “Petrushka.” At 8 p.m., Isaac Stern Auditorium, Carnegie Hall, (212) 247-7800, carnegiehall.org; $37 to $150. (Schweitzer)

Mimesis Ensemble (Saturday) This new-music group offers an appealing program of 20th- and 21st-century works, including Takemitsu’s “Entre-Temps,” Mohammed Fairouz’s “Furia,” Ned Rorem’s “Unquestioned Answer” and Kaija Saariaho’s “Terra Memoria.” At 8 p.m., Merkin Concert Hall, 129 West 67th Street, Manhattan, (212) 501-3330, kaufman-center.org; $20 in advance; $25 at the door; $15 for students and 65+. (Schweitzer)

New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, with Renée Fleming (Sunday) The soprano Renée Fleming spends an afternoon of alluring music, including Ravel’s sultry “Shéhérazade” and selections from “La Bohème,” “Tosca,” “Rusalka,” “Faust” and “The Merry Widow.” Jacques Lacombe conducts the performance, which includes a complementary clutch of overtures and showpieces. At 3 p.m., New Jersey Performing Arts Center, 1 Center Street, Newark, (800) 255-3476, njsymphony.org; $29 to $125. (Smith)

★ New York Philharmonic (Friday and Saturday) Before going on a European tour, Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic play two more performances of a program featuring the German violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann. Though the programs he has planned for his tenure as artist in residence are rather conventional, Mr. Zimmermann is an exciting and probing violinist. He plays the Beethoven Violin Concerto on this program which includes Stravinsky’s Symphony in Three Movements and Ravel’s “Daphnis et Chloé” Suite No. 2. At 8 p.m., Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, (212) 875-5656, nyphil.org; $33 to $127. (Tommasini)

★ Peter Orth (Sunday) The essential Peoples’ Symphony Concerts, which bring great artists to audiences at affordable prices, present Mr. Orth, the acclaimed pianist whose playing combines comprehensive technique and probing musicianship. He will perform works by Ravel, Stravinsky and Liszt. At 2 p.m., Town Hall, 123 West 43rd Street, Manhattan, (212) 586-4680, the-townhall-nyc.org; $13 and $16. (Tommasini)

★ Tragicomedia (Friday) The Boston Early Music Festival is presenting Tragicomedia, a period-instrument group directed by Stephen Stubbs, in a program devoted mostly to early Handel cantatas as well as works by Strozzi, Guerau, Steffani and Arrigoni. The singers are the soprano Shannon Mercer and the bass-baritone Douglas Williams, and the ensemble includes Mr. Stubbs and his co-director at the Boston Early Music Festival, Paul O’Dette, on Baroque guitars and theorbo; Erin Headley on viola da gamba; and Kristian Bezuidenhout on harpsichord. At 7:30 p.m. (with a preconcert talk at 7), Morgan Library & Museum, 225 Madison Avenue, at 36th Street, (212) 685-0008, Ext. 560, themorgan.org; $45. (Kozinn)

Trio di Clarone (Saturday) This clarinet trio, whose members are Sabine Meyer, Wolfgang Meyer (her brother) and Reiner Wehle (her husband), offers works by Mozart, Poulenc, Stravinsky, J. S. Bach and C. P. E. Bach. At 8 p.m., 92nd Street Y, 1395 Lexington Avenue, (212) 415-5500, 92y.org; $40 and $58, or $25 for under age 35. (Schweitzer)

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G Roald Smeets Classical Music and Opera Listings for June 1 — 7

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American Composers Orchestra (Friday and Saturday) The music director George Manahan presides over this year’s Underwood New Music Readings, in which six young composers — Ryan Chase, Peter Fahey, Michael-Thomas Foumai, Paul Kerekes, Pin Hsin Lin and Benjamin Taylor — will have pieces played during a Friday morning open rehearsal and a Saturday evening run-through. Each will receive expert feedback from a panel of composers; one will come away with a $15,000 commission, and a People’s Choice prize will also be awarded. Friday at 10 a.m. and Saturday at 7:30 p.m., DiMenna Center for Classical Music, 450 West 37th Street, Manhattan, americancomposers.org; free, but reservations are recommended. (Steve Smith)

Bargemusic (Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday) This week brings characteristic variety to the barge. Friday is the latest installment in the Here and Now series, featuring works by modern masters like Takemitsu and Carter alongside the contemporary composers Scott Wheeler and Caroline Mallonée. The weekend brings works for violin and piano by Brahms, Beethoven, Schubert and Sarasate, and Wednesday features string arrangements of Bach, Rachmaninoff and De Falla by Steve Cohen as well as the premieres of Mr. Cohen’s “Song for Strings” and Dina Pruzhansky’s “Song of Songs.” At 8 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Wednesday and 2 p.m. on Sunday, Bargemusic, Fulton Ferry Landing next to the Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn, (718) 624-2083, bargemusic.org; Friday, Saturday and Sunday, $35, or $30 for 65+; $15 for students; Wednesday, $40, or $35 for 65+, $20 for students. (Zachary Woolfe)

★ Darmstadt 2012 (Friday and Saturday) For an immersion in avant-gardes past and present, head to Issue Project Room for Nick Hallett and Zach Layton’s stimulating annual festival. The first weekend features a celebration of the composer Pauline Oliveros’s 80th birthday and a concert pairing the Mivos Quartet and the Wet Ink Ensemble in works by Sam Pluta, Alex Mincek and Kate Soper. At 8 p.m., Issue Project Room, 22 Boerum Place, downtown Brooklyn, (718) 330-0313, issueprojectroom.org; $15. (Woolfe)

Dorian Baroque Orchestra (Saturday) This recently formed ensemble makes its debut with the program “A German Feast,” celebrating the banquet tradition of aristocratic 17th- and 18th-century German households. The program includes selections by Graupner, Biber, Schmelzer, Schein and Telemann. At 8 p.m., Church of the Epiphany, 1393 York Avenue, Manhattan, dorianbaroque.org; $10 (cash only at the door; no advance tickets). (Vivien Schweitzer)

Ensemble ACJW Neighborhood Concert (Sunday) One of the most admirable ventures of the Ensemble ACJW is its series of free neighborhood concerts. The players are all exceptional postgraduate student musicians participating in a two-year fellowship program run by the Juilliard School, Carnegie Hall and the Weill Music Institute. For this program at Our Saviour’s Atonement Church in Upper Manhattan, the musicians perform pieces by Martinu, Ravel and Schoenberg (the composer’s landmark work for vocalist and chamber ensemble “Pierrot Lunaire”). At 5 p.m., Our Saviour’s Atonement Lutheran Church, 178 Bennett Avenue, at 189th Street, Washington Heights, (212) 923-5757, carnegiehall.org; free. (Anthony Tommasini)

Christopher Houlihan (Saturday) This young organist begins a six-city tour in honor of the 75th anniversary of the death of the French composer and organist Louis Vierne, who died at 66 while performing at the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. Mr. Houlihan will play all six of Vierne’s colorful works for solo organ in two concerts on the French-built Manton Memorial Organ. At 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., Church of the Ascension, 36 Fifth Avenue, at 10th Street, Greenwich Village, (212) 358-7060; voicesofascension.org; $10 to $35 (includes admission to both concerts). (Vivien Schweitzer)

The Knights and Friends (Sunday) Precisely what this feisty, inventive Brooklyn indie-classical orchestra has planned for these two sets celebrating John Cage’s 100th birthday is a mystery. But the ensemble is full of bright players and has clever friends, so whatever transpires is bound to be fascinating. At 8 and 10 p.m., the Stone, Avenue C and Second Street, East Village, thestonenyc.com; each set $10. (Smith)

The Mannes Beethoven Institute Faculty Concert (Tuesday) The Mannes College Beethoven Institute, a weeklong annual event that explores Beethoven’s works and relevant themes in panels, workshops and concerts, presents a faculty concert featuring Colin Carr, Thomas Sauer, Ignat Solzhenitsyn and Soovin Kim. The program includes Beethoven’s “Ghost” Piano Trio and the “Kreutzer” Sonata for Piano and Violin. At 8 p.m., Mannes College the New School for Music, 150 West 85th Street, Manhattan, (212) 580-0210, Ext. 4879, mannes.edu; $20. (Schweitzer)

Musica Nuova (Sunday) This early-music ensemble likes to highlight the intrinsically dramatic elements of Baroque music through staging, story-telling and inventive rethinking of works. Here, under the artistic direction of Amanda Keil, it promises to give a modern gloss to Monteverdi’s 1608 work “Il Ballo delle Ingrate” (The Dance of the Ungrateful Woman). The production combines singing, dance, staging and English dialogue. At 7:30 p.m., Le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker Street, near Thompson Street, Greenwich Village, (212) 505-3474, musicanuova.org or lepoissonrouge.com; $20. (Tommasini)

New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (Thursday) This admirable, ambitious orchestra concludes its season with Mahler’s transcendent Symphony No. 9, conducted by its music director, Jacques Lacombe. (The program repeats in Morristown, N.J., on June 9 and then returns to Newark June 10.) At 1:30 p.m., Prudential Hall, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, 1 Center Street, Newark, (800) 255-3476, njsymphony.org; $20 to $85. (Smith)

New York Virtuoso Singers (Wednesday) The composer C. Edward Hupton’s work has taken him into classical, jazz, folk and world music styles. In 2010 his “Requiem for Victims of Genocide” had its premiere, a large-scale work for chorus and orchestra, described by the composer as a multiethnic tribute to those who suffered and died in Cambodia, Rwanda, the Russian gulags and other atrocities. The excellent New York Virtuoso Singers, conducted by its founding director, Harold Rosenbaum, will perform the work with the Salome Chamber Orchestra, joined by the SilverCloud Native American Singers. At 8 p.m., St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, 145 West 46th Street, Manhattan, nyvirtuoso.org; $20. (Tommasini)

★ Orchestra of the League of Composers (Monday) In 1923, the League of Composers was founded as an organization to foster contemporary music. In 1954 it became the United States chapter of the International Society of Contemporary Music. But what should matter to curious concertgoers is that the ensemble that performs today under the name Orchestra of the League of Composers is technically topnotch and continually adventurous. The orchestra’s next concert presents works by Copland and Ursula Mamlok (Concerto for Oboe and Chamber Orchestra), a premiere by Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez, and New York premieres by Anthony Cheung and Pierre Jalbert. James Baker conducts; John Schaefer of WNYC radio hosts. At 8 p.m., Miller Theater of Columbia University, Broadway at 116th Street, leagueofcomposers.org; $20. (Tommasini)

★ Riverside Symphony (Wednesday) For its season-finale concert, the Riverside Symphony offers another typically imaginative program, “Poetry in Motion,” conducted by George Rothman. The actress Cynthia Nixon is the narrator for Poulenc’s adaptation of “The Story of Babar, the Little Elephant.” This work is followed by a musical reflection on children’s literature inspired by a French picture book, the composer Evan Hause’s “Tree Without End,” a remiere commissioned by the orchestra. To conclude, the thoughtful pianist Shai Wosner will be the soloist in Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto. At 7:30 p.m., Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, (212) 721-6500, riversidesymphony.org; $24 to $55. (Tommasini)

John Scott (Saturday) This prominent organist performs Bach’s German Organ Mass, a collection of compositions Bach published in 1739 that feature some of his most complex and technically demanding work for the instrument. This will be Mr. Scott’s first performance of the complete work in one sitting. At 4 p.m., St. Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue and 53rd Street, (212) 664-9360, saintthomaschurch.org; free, with $20 suggested donation. (Vivien Schweitzer)

★ Margaret Leng Tan (Wednesday) In a program called “SATIEfaction,” this magisterial modern-music pianist plays works by Satie (including a very rare live performance of his “Extended Lullaby”) and those inspired by him in a multimedia performance featuring projections, film and readings of texts by Satie and John Cage. At 8 p.m., Roulette, 509 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, (917) 267-0363, roulette.org; $15, or $10 for students and 65+. (Woolfe)

Kent Tritle (Wednesday) This beloved chorus master takes the solo stage at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, where he was once head of music, for a program of organ music by Bach, De Grigny, Franck and Daniel Pinkham under the auspices of the Sacred Music in a Sacred Space program. At 7:30 p.m., Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, 980 Park Avenue at 84th Street, Manhattan, (212) 288-2520, smssconcerts.org; $20, $15 for students and 65+. (Woolfe)

Tribeca New Music Festival (Friday and Monday) Nomadic despite its name, this worthy grass-roots series concludes with two concerts in downtown Brooklyn. For the first, on Friday evening, the composer Eve Belgarian reprises material from her “River Project,” inspired by a rafting trek down the Mississippi; on Monday, the violinist Mary Rowell and the pianists Geoffrey Burleson and Kathleen Supové offer premieres by Mohammed Fairouz, Preston Stahly, Randall Woolf, David Rakowski and Gary Philo. At 8 p.m., Roulette, 509 Atlantic Avenue, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, (917) 267-0363, roulette.org; $20, or $10 for students and 65+. (Smith)

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: June 2, 2012

A classical music entry in the Listings pages on Friday about Darmstadt 2012, at Issue Project Room at 22 Boerum Place in Brooklyn, misidentified the area of the borough where Issue Project Room is situated. It is in downtown Brooklyn, not Gowanus.

Saturday Market in Mainz

Saturday Market in Mainz (Photo credit: szeke)

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Classical Music and Opera Listings for June 22-29 G Roald Smeets

Posted by groaldsmeets on
Saturday on Sunday

Saturday on Sunday (Photo credit: Willamor Media)

¶ Opera

¶ ★ ‘The Most Happy Fella’ (Friday through July 8) In March the Dicapo Opera Theater had a big success with its sensitive, lively and finely cast production of Frank Loesser’s ambitious and charming musical. The production, directed by Michael Capasso, is now back by popular demand for a three-week run with the same performers in the leading roles. The appealing baritone Michael Corvino is Tony, a lonely middle-aged vineyard owner who falls for a young mail-order bride whom he calls his Rosa Bella, played by the luminous, lovely soprano Molly Mustonen. Pacien Mazzagatti conducts. Friday, Saturday and Thursday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 4 p.m., Wednesday at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m., Dicapo Opera Theater, 184 East 76th Street, between Lexington and Third Avenues, (212) 288-9438, (212) 868-4444, mosthappyfella.com; $35 to $100. (Anthony Tommasini)

¶ ★ ‘Oceanic Verses’ (Monday) Paola Prestini’s wistful dreamlike multimedia “folk opera,” concerning lost songs, ghosts and memory, has been glimpsed in workshop performances around the city in recent years. Now the completed work has its stage debut, mounted by Beth Morrison Projects with VisionIntoArt, and presented under the banner of the River to River Festival. Kevin Newbury directs; Julian Wachner conducts performers from Trinity Wall Street, the Washington Chorus and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus Academy. At 7:30 p.m., Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts, Pace University, 3 Spruce Street, Lower Manhattan, (212) 219-9401, rivertorivernyc.com; free. (Steve Smith)

¶ ★ Princeton Festival (Saturday) This double bill of operatic one-acts mixes a classic — Puccini’s comic “Gianni Schicchi” — with Rachmaninoff’s far less well known “Francesca da Rimini,” inspired by Dante. At 8 p.m., McCarter Theater Center for the Performing Arts, 91 University Place, Princeton, N.J., (609) 258-2787, princetonfestival.org; $30 to $125. (Zachary Woolfe)

¶ ‘Tosca’ (Wednesday) Vincent La Selva and his indefatigable New York Grand Opera have long brought free performances to Central Park, and this summer’s first offering is Puccini’s classic melodrama, conducted by Mr. La Selva and starring Claire Stadtmueller, Alejandro Olmedo and Raemond Martin. At 7:30 p.m., Naumberg Bandshell, Central Park, Manhattan, (212) 245-8837, vincentlaselva.com/pages/nygohome.aspx; free. (Woolfe)

¶ Classical Music

¶ Aston Magna Festival (Friday and Saturday) This festival, devoted to the performance of early music on period instruments, is celebrating its 40th anniversary. Friday’s program features repertory by Mozart and Franz Krommer for winds, strings and fortepiano; it is repeated on Saturday. Friday at 8 p.m., Olin Hall, Bard College, 30 Campus Road, Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y.; $35, $25 for 62+, tickets can only be purchased at (845) 758-7425. Saturday at 6 p.m., Daniel Arts Center, Bard College at Simon’s Rock, 84 Alford Road, Great Barrington, Mass.; $35, $25 for 62+, (413) 528-3595, astonmagna.org. (Vivien Schweitzer )

¶ ★ Bargemusic (Saturday and Sunday) Mark Peskanov, the violinist who now runs this floating concert hall on the East River, will be joined by the cellist Edward Arron and the pianist Jeewon Park for a program of rich-hued piano trios — Saint-Saëns’s Trio No. 2, Beethoven’s “Ghost” Trio and Ravel’s sole work for this combination. Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m., Bargemusic, Fulton Ferry Landing next to the Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn, (718) 624-2083, bargemusic.org; $35, $30 for 65+; $15 for students. (Allan Kozinn)

¶ Caramoor International Music Festival (Saturday and Sunday) This vibrant festival opens its last season under the artistic direction of Michael Barrett, who has appreciably enlivened its offerings. For Saturday’s opening gala, Roberto Abbado conducts the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and members of the Bel Canto at Caramoor Young Artist and Apprentice Program in a Mendelssohn evening, with Gil Shaham as the soloist in the Violin Concerto in E minor and Bebe Neuwirth narrating “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” On Sunday the guitarist Jason Vieaux plays an intimate recital. Saturday at 8:30 p.m., Sunday at 4:30 p.m., Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, 149 Girdle Ridge Road, Katonah, N.Y., (914) 232-1252, caramoor.org; $15 to $85 on Saturday, $15 and $30 on Sunday. (Smith)

¶ ★ Chelsea Music Festival (Friday and Saturday) This enterprising festival, now in its third year, is focusing on Debussy’s 150th anniversary, looking especially at his interest in Japan, a fascination he shared with many artists in late 19th-century France. The festival draws to a close with a program on Friday titled “Violin Daybreak,” featuring works by Debussy, Takemitsu, Chausson and Ysaye, and the violinists Augustin Hadelich and Fanny Clamagirand. And the finale on Saturday, “Cherry Blossom Road,” will feature the Adam Birnbaum Trio and others. Friday at 7 p.m., Rubin Museum of Art, 150 West 17th Street, Chelsea, $40, $30 for students with ID and 65+. Saturday at 7:30 p.m., Eyebeam Art + Technology Center, 540 West 21st Street, Chelsea, $65, $55 for students with ID and 65+. A complete lineup and other festival information is at chelseamusicfestival.org. (Tommasini)

¶ Darmstadt Institute 2012 (Friday and Saturday) This lively, casual series devotes welcome attention to important works by avant-garde composers, both established and up-and-coming. On Friday the long-running ensemble Gamelan Son of Lion showcases the “braid” compositions of one of its founders, Barbara Benary, alongside pieces by David Demnitz, Philip Corner and Daniel Goode. Saturday’s concert splits the bill between two vital outfits: Either/Or, playing works by the Australian composers Chris Mann, Andrew Byrne and Thomas Meadowcroft; and Object Collection, presenting the conceptual multimedia piece “New York Girls.” At 8 p.m., Issue Project Room, 22 Boerum Place, at Livingston Street, downtown Brooklyn, (718) 330-0313, issueprojectroom.org; $15. (Smith)

¶ Music Mountain (Sunday) This long-running festival continues with the Arianna String Quartet performing Mendelssohn’s Andante and Scherzo for String Quartet and Tchaikovsky’s String Quartet No. 3 in E flat minor. The ensemble will be joined by the pianist Tanya Bannister for Franck’s Piano Quintet in F minor. Nicholas Gordon, president of Music Mountain, offers a post concert discussion titled “The String Quartet Literature Through the Lens of the Music Mountain Repertory.” At 3 p.m., Music Mountain, Falls Village, Conn., (860) 824-7126, musicmountain.org; $30 in advance, $35 at the door. (Schweitzer)

¶ ★ New York Guitar Seminar at Mannes (Friday and Saturday) This annual guitar festival — a week of concerts and master classes by some of the guitar world’s stars — ends its 12th season with a pair of inviting recitals. First, Jason Vieaux gives a Friday night concert that begins with favorites by Giuliani, Bach and Albéniz, takes a jazzy detour by way of Pat Metheny, and veers back toward modern classicism in works by Dan Visconti and Leo Brouwer. The Saturday evening program by the Amadeus Guitar Duo — Dale Kavanagh and Thomas Kirchhoff — includes music by Handel, Telemann, Jolivet, Mario Gangi and Mr. Kavanagh. At 7:30 p.m., Mannes Concert Hall, Mannes College the New School for Music, 150 West 85th Street, Manhattan, (212) 580-0210, Ext. 4883, newschool.edu; $25. (Kozinn)

¶ ★ New York Philharmonic (Friday, Saturday and Tuesday) On Friday and Saturday, Alan Gilbert conducts the season’s last subscription program, pairing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 22 (with Emanuel Ax as the soloist) and “Great” Mass in C. Then on Tuesday the orchestra salutes the distinguished French composer Henri Dutilleux, the winner of its first Marie-Josée Kravis Prize for New Music, and presents three key works: “Métaboles”; the cello concerto “Tout un Monde Lointain” (with Yo-Yo Ma as the soloist); and “Ainsi la Nuit,” played by the Miró Quartet. Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, (212) 875-5656, nyphil.org; $45 to $132 on Friday and Saturday; $45 to $125 on Tuesday. (Smith)

¶ Orchestra of the League of Composers (Saturday) This adventurous ensemble, an outgrowth of the League, a cherished advocate for new music, performs works by Ben Weber, Dorothy Rudd Moore and other unsung American composers as a celebration of the 75th anniversary of the American Composers Alliance. The cellist Fred Sherry is among the soloists. At 8 p.m., Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway, at 95th Street, (212) 864-5400, symphonyspace.org; $25 in advance, $30 day of show. (Woolfe)

¶ Rhythms of One World (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) This international choral festival highlights a diverse range of musical traditions, beginning with four programs at Merkin Concert Hall. On Monday the Norwegian Girls Choir will sing music from Norway, including selections by Grieg and contemporary composers. On Tuesday the program features the Kearsney College Choir from South Africa. On Wednesday the lineup features the Voices International from Luxembourg, at 6 p.m., and the University of Newcastle Chamber Choir from Australia, at 8 p.m. On Thursday seven international ensembles join forces at Avery Fisher Hall. Monday at 6 p.m., Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., and Wednesday at 6 and 8 p.m., Merkin Concert Hall, 129 West 67th Street, Manhattan, (212) 501- 3330, kaufman-center.org; $20, $12 for students and $65+. At 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Avery Fisher Hall, lincolncenter.org, (212) 721-6500; $25. (Schweitzer)

¶ Tanglewood (Friday and Sunday) The 75th anniversary season of this venerable festival, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, opens with a favorite performer, Yo-Yo Ma, and his multicultural, genre-pushing Silk Road Ensemble. At 8 p.m., Seiji Ozawa Hall, Tanglewood Music Center, 297 West Street, Lenox, Mass., (888) 266-1200, bso.org; $20 to $99. (Woolfe) G Roald Smeets posting

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