Fall Stars: Classical

Wu Man: Bank of America Celebrity Series continues to present celebrity attractions (Yo-Yo Ma, Cecilia Bartoli, and Deborah Voigt among them this fall), but it has expanded its agenda to include world music and exciting young performers. Pipa virtuoso Wu Man, for example, plays her first Celebrity Series recital in Sanders Theatre Nov. 18. Wu Man has introduced her ancient Chinese instrument to large audiences in the West, in part because so many composers have written works especially for her. Her Sanders Theatre program includes one of them, Chen Yi's ''Ancient Dances," a multimedia work for pipa, percussion, and projected images of Chinese calligraphy. 617-482-6661, www.celebrityseries.org.

''Piano Masters": Boston is full of wonderful tucked-away events offered by schools, museums, libraries, churches, and other presenters. One example is the virtuoso ''Piano Masters" series coordinated by Michael Lewin of the Boston Conservatory and presented free in Seully Hall there. The fall series includes recitals by Benjamin Pasternack, Max Levinson, and the Turkish pianist Idil Biret, who is making her first local appearance in more than 40 years. Since the 1990s, Naxos has sold more than 1 million copies of Biret's CDs. On Nov. 29 she plays Chopin's Op. 25 Etudes, a Ligeti group, and her own transcription of Stravinsky's ''Firebird" Ballet. 617-912-9222.

Opera around town: Opera has had a hard time in Boston for more than a century, but companies keep presenting it, and audiences keep showing up. Currently there are two major resident companies, Boston Lyric Opera and Opera Boston. The latter opens its season with Menotti's ''The Consul," with Boston soprano Joanna Porackova re-creating one of her most famous roles (Oct. 21, 23, and 25 in the Cutler Majestic Theatre). Boston Lyric Opera has made the most adventurous choice for the fall, the local premiere of Donizetti's ''Lucie de Lammermoor," a revised 1839 version that the composer prepared for Paris including some alternate music for the hapless heroine from the Scottish highlands. The production, starring soprano Tracy Dahl and tenor Yasu Nakajima, comes from Glimmerglass Opera. There are six performances (Nov. 4, 6, 9, 11, 13, and 14 in the Shubert Theatre). Opera Boston: 800-447-7400, www.operaboston.org. Boston Lyric Opera: 800-447-7400, www.blo.org.

Verdi's Requiem: The Cantata Singers and music director David Hoose have won widespread admiration for their intense interpretations of Baroque, classical, and modern works. They have even performed a few masterpieces of the Romantic period, but never Verdi's mighty Requiem, which they bring to Jordan Hall for two performances Nov. 11 and 13. They have lined up an impressive quartet of soloists -- soprano Barbara Quintiliani, mezzo-soprano Janna Baty, tenor Yeghishe Manucharyan, and bass-baritone Robert Honeysucker. 617-868-5885, www.cantatasingers.org.

''Dido and Aeneas": In 2002, conductor Grant Llewellyn and the Handel & Haydn Society began an exciting collaboration with the Chinese director Chen Shi-Zheng. Co-productions of the three Monteverdi operas with the English National Opera begin next season; meanwhile Chen revives his acclaimed 2001 production for the Spoleto Festival USA of Purcell's opera ''Dido and Aeneas" to open the H&H season. The production incorporates video elements and features Boston mezzo-soprano Paula Murrihy as Dido and the Boston debut of the Panamanian-American baritone Nmon Ford, who sings Aeneas. Performances are Oct. 14-16 in the Cutler Majestic Theatre. 617-266-3605, www.handelandhaydn.org.

Boston Modern Orchestra Project: This group, under the direction of Gil Rose, is one of the city's most impressive ensembles devoted to new music. Its Nov. 4 concert in Jordan Hall brings the North American premiere of ''Trilogy of the Last Day" by the influential Dutch composer Louis Andriessen, which shares a program with a new work by local composer Evan Ziporyn, ''The Ornate Zither and the Nomad Flute." Andriessen's three pieces, composed a decade ago, are about the responses different cultures and periods have had to death. 617-363-0396, www.bmop.org.