Critic's picks - classical music

Emmanuel Music — The music of Bach forms the core of the Emmanuel community, so it seems appropriate that Emmanuel's new season is commencing this week with an evening devoted to all six of the composer's Brandenburg Concertos. Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Emmanuel Church, 15 Newbury St., 617-536-3356 or www.emmanuelmusic.org.

Longy School of Music — Longy is opening its new season with a concert series called SeptemberFest, featuring performances by faculty, students, alumni, and guests. It kicks off with an eclectic program on Friday night (works by Rachmaninoff, Satie, Gershwin, among others) and continues Saturday with an intriguing lecture and concert exploring the legacy of the famed Parisian pedagogue Nadia Boulanger through the works of her students (Copland, Carter, Blitzstein, and Virgil Thomson). Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 6 p.m. (lecture) and 8 p.m. (concert). Longy School of Music in Cambridge, 617-876-0956 or www.longy.edu.

— Jeremy Eichler