Season highlights: Classical music
Opera: The city's two opera companies vying for attention do not appear in the Opera House, now occupied by "The Lion King." Both companies are leading off with comedies. The Boston Lyric Opera presents Rossini's "L'Italiana in Algeri" ("The Italian Girl in Algiers") in the Shubert Theatre Nov. 3-16. The cast is headed by Phyllis Pancella in the title role, and the production is directed by former company artistic director Leon Major. Opera Boston leads off with Offenbach's "La Vie Parisienne" in the Emerson Majestic Theatre Oct. 15 and 17. The complete cast for this has not yet been announced, but tenor Frank Kelley and baritones Robert Honeysucker and Aaron Engebreth will appear in a production staged by Rick Lombardo and conducted by Gil Rose. Both companies offer more ambitious fare after the first of the year (the Lyric has two local premieres, Jonathan Dove's "Flight" and Rachel Portman's "The Little Prince"; Opera Boston schedules Gluck's "Alceste" and Robert Ward's "The Crucible"). The popular touring company Teatro Lirico d'Europa is back in the Emerson Majestic with "La Boheme" and "Carmen."
Pianists: The
Early music: Martin Pearlman of Boston Baroque has had a bit of bad luck. His outstanding series of semistaged operas continues with Handel's "Giulio Cesare" in Jordan Hall -- on the very night of James Levine's first concert as BSO music director across the street, Oct. 22. Fortunately there's a second performance the next night. Countertenor David Walker sings the title role with soprano Lisa Saffer as Cleopatra.
Choral: 9/11 and its aftermath robbed the BSO and its public of scheduled performances of Schumann's rarely performed masterpiece "Scenes From Goethe's `Faust.' " The Cantata Singers, always enterprising, perform this work under music director David Hoose in Jordan Hall Oct. 15 and 17, which will be an interesting prelude to Mahler's response to the same cosmic verse drama in Levine's debut concert.
Chamber music and art song: The singers and instrumentalists associated with Emmanuel Music and artistic director Craig Smith embark on a new five-year series presenting the complete piano, vocal, and chamber works of Robert Schumann. There are seven concerts this season in Emmanuel Church, two before Christmas (Oct. 3 and 24). Both feature familiar works alongside pieces known only to specialists.
New music: The city is full of ambitious new-music ensembles -- and these days, most other ensembles regularly program new music too. Dec. 10 brings something unusual, a concert in Harvard University's Paine Hall devoted to the music of the eminent British composer Sir Harrison Birtwistle. Works of Birtwistle have been played here before, but this free event must be the city's first all-Birtwistle concert.
Ives anniversary: This year marks the 50th anniversary of the death of one of America's most fascinating composers, maverick Charles Ives. Two Sunday-afternoon programs at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum salute Ives (Oct. 24 and 31) -- a nice way to prepare for New England Conservatory's schoolwide Ives festival next year.
