The New York Times-20080125-Classical- -Schedule-

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Classical; [Schedule]

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CLASSICAL

Full reviews of recent music performances: nytimes.com/music.

Opera

'IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA' (Saturday and Wednesday) The Metropolitan Opera's streamlined and effective production of Rossini's deathless standard offers a true star in Elina Garanca as Rosina. Jose Manuel Zapata as Almaviva is assuredly in better health than he was on opening night earlier this month. Franco Vassallo returns as Figaro. Saturday at 1:30 p.m., Wednesday at 8 p.m., Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, (212) 362-6000, metopera.org; sold out on Saturday, $15 to $175 on Wednesday. (Bernard Holland)

'HANSEL AND GRETEL' (Saturday and Thursday) Humperdinck's richly Wagnerian yet tune-filled Hansel and Gretel has come to the Met as family fare -- a dark, surreal, sometimes baffling yet intriguing new production by Richard Jones. All three acts are set in strange kitchens: the drab 1950s kitchen of Hansel and Gretel's impoverished family; an Expressionistic kitchen-dining room with leafy wallpaper to symbolize the forest where the siblings become lost; and an industrial-size stainless-steel kitchen where the Witch bakes her child victims into gingerbread. Alice Coote and Christine Schafer are charming as Hansel and Gretel, though their English diction is hopeless. The tenor Philip Langridge makes a daffy and glutenous Witch. At 8 p.m., Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, (212) 362-6000, metopera.org; $42 to $220 on Saturday, $15 to $175 on Thursday.

(Anthony Tommasini)

'MANON LESCAUT' (Tuesday) For the first time in 18 years, the Metropolitan Opera presents Puccini's ardent, impassioned and savvy early opera in a production originally conceived by Gian Carlo Menotti. The charismatic soprano Karita Mattila, who has had widespread success with the title role in recent years, sings it at the Met for the first time. Manon's impulsive lover Des Grieux is the tenor Marcello Giordano. The baritone Dwayne Croft sings Lescaut. And James Levine conducts the work for the first time since 1981. At 8 p.m., Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, (212) 362-6000, metopera.org; $15 to $175. (Tommasini)

'DIE WALKURE' (Monday) After 45 years Lorin Maazel has finally returned to the Met, conducting five of the six performances this season of Wagner's touchstone. On opening night he drew a lucidly textured, rhythmically incisive and strongly conceived account of the score from the orchestra and the top-notch cast. The cast featured the fearless soprano Lisa Gasteen as Brunnhilde, the stirring heldentenor Clifton Forbis as Siegmund and the chilling bass Mikhail Petrenko as Hunding. James Morris recalled the days of his prime with his rich, powerful and authoritative Wotan. Deborah Voigt, an acclaimed Sieglinde, takes over the role, and Michelle DeYoung is Fricka. At 6:30 p.m., Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, (212) 362-6000, metopera.org; $15 to $175. (Tommasini)

Classical Music

AMERICAN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (Friday) Underground and above ground, Soviet Russia and its Communist brethren had their own avant-garde. Alexander Mosolov's Iron Foundry turns the symphony orchestra into heavy industry. He and Shostakovich will join less famous colleagues like Arthur Lourie, Gavriil Popov and Vladimir Shcherbachov on Russian Futurists, a program devised and conducted by Leon Botstein. At 8 p.m., Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, (212) 721-6500, lincolncenter.org; $27 to $55.

(Holland)

AULOS ENSEMBLE (Saturday) This noted period-instrument ensemble and the soprano Kendra Colton present a program of Rameau, Handel and Bach for their debut in the popular Peoples' Symphony Concerts series, which continues its long tradition of offering the chance to hear renowned performers at a fraction of normal ticket prices. At 8 p.m., Washington Irving High School, 40 Irving Place, at 16th Street, Manhattan, (212) 586-4680, pscny.org; $9. (Vivien Schweitzer)

LES BOREADES DE MONTREAL (Friday) As part of the Miller Theater's continuing Bach series, this Canadian ensemble offers a program of orchestral works, including the Ouverture No. 2, the Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, the Violin Concerto in A minor and a Recorder Concerto in E flat, transcribed (and performed) by Francis Colpron. At 8 p.m., Columbia University, Broadway at 116th Street, Morningside Heights, (212) 854-7799, millertheater.com; $35; $21 for students. (Allan Kozinn)

CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER (Wednesday) The dynamic Pacifica Quartet, champions of the music of Elliott Carter, offer a noteworthy contribution to the Carter centennial with a marathon performance of his five daunting string quartets, written between 1950 and 1995. It's an impressive feat, which the members of Pacifica (who also recently recorded the quartets for Naxos) have accomplished in recitals on both sides of the Atlantic. At 7:30 p.m., New York Society for Ethical Culture, 2 West 64th Street, Manhattan, (212) 875-5788, chambermusicsociety.org; $30 to $54. (Schweitzer)

CLARION MUSIC SOCIETY (Thursday) Led by Steven Fox, this ensemble offers a program of chamber and vocal music from the Court of Frederick the Great, including flute works by the king himself and J. S. and C. P. E. Bach, Quantz and Benda. Performers include the violinists Robert Mealy and Cynthia Roberts. The concert is the opening event of a weeklong collaboration with the New York Collegium, which includes master classes, performances and lectures on 18th-century performance practice. At 8 p.m., Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall, (212) 247-7800, carnegiehall.org or clarionsociety.org; $40. (Schweitzer)

DAVID DANIELS (Monday) This remarkable singer, heard recently in Giulio Cesare and Orfeo ed Euridice at the Met, was the first countertenor to give a solo recital on Carnegie's main stage. He returns with an eclectic program of works by Brahms, Peri, Frescobaldi, Hahn, Handel, Quilter, Vaughan Williams and Elgar in the more intimate Zankel Hall, accompanied by Martin Katz. At 7:30 p.m., (212) 247-7800, carnegiehall.org; $34 and $40. (Schweitzer)

FOCUS! 2008 (Friday, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday) The Juilliard School is devoting its Focus! Festival this year to the music of Elliott Carter, in anticipation of his 100th birthday in December. On Friday Pierre Boulez leads the New Juilliard Ensemble and musicians from the Lucerne Festival Academy Ensemble in Mr. Carter's Triple Duo, Penthode and Clarinet Concerto. And over the next week the school's student players will offer an expansive survey of Mr. Carter's chamber music, as many as 10 works at time, before the series concludes on Feb. 2 with an orchestral concert led by James Levine. At 8 p.m., Peter Jay Sharp Theater, 155 West 65th Street, Lincoln Center, (212) 769-7406, juilliard.edu; free, but tickets are required for some concerts. (Kozinn)

FORT WORTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (Saturday and Sunday) On Saturday these visitors from Texas, led by Miguel Harth-Bedoya, bring a new piece for cello and orchestra by Osvaldo Golijov, Brahms's Double Concerto and the Tchaikovsky Fifth Symphony. Augustin Hadelich, violinist, and Alban Gerhardt, cellist, are the soloists. The orchestra returns for a family concert the next afternoon with John Lithgow as the narrator for Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf. Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ($20 to $100), Sunday at 2 p.m. ($9), Carnegie Hall, (212) 247-7800, carnegiehall.org. (Holland)

RICHARD GOODE (Sunday) This eminent American pianist puts standard items on this late-afternoon program, including Bach, Beethoven and Chopin. But listen closely for two of Debussy's late, great Etudes. It will also be interesting to hear Mr. Goodeaddress the less than demonstrative, less performed, always elegant and always sophisticated music of Gabriel Faure. At 5 p.m., Rose Theater, Broadway and 60th Street, (212) 721-6500, lincolncenter.org; $30 to $60. (Holland)

VIVIANE HAGNER (Thursday) This young German violinist gave an exquisite performance of the Mendelssohn Concerto with the New York Philharmonic a few weeks ago, and now returns to play a hefty recital program that includes two big, unaccompanied works -- the Bach Chaconne and the Bartok Solo Sonata -- as well as pieces by Brahms, with the pianist Tatiana Goncharova. At 8 p.m., 92nd Street Y, 1395 Lexington Avenue, (212) 415-5500, 92y.org; $40. (Kozinn)

MET CHAMBER ENSEMBLE (Sunday) James Levine's splendid troupe, taken from his orchestra at the Metropolitan Opera, gives over an entire late afternoon to the Second Viennese School. All the big stars of that style and period are represented, with duo pieces by Webern and Berg, the Berg Chamber Concerto with Yefim Bronfman as pianist, and two Schoenberg items: the Six Little Pieces for piano, and Pierrot Lunaire, with Anja Silja as singer-speaker. At 5 p.m., Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall, (212) 247-7800, carnegiehall.org; $56 and $68.

(Holland)

MMARTISTS IN CONCERT (Friday) This resident house band of the Metropolitan Museum features a roster of talented young performers. On Friday the violinists Colin Jacobsen and Yosuke Kawasaki, the violist Nicholas Cords, the cellists Edward Arron and Raman Ramakrishnan, and the pianist John Novacek perform works that include Kirchner's Triptych for Violin and Cello, Bolcom's Graceful Ghost Rag for Solo Piano, and Beethoven's Kreutzer Violin Sonata arranged for string quintet. At 8 p.m., (212) 570-3949, metmuseum.org; $40. (Schweitzer)

MONTEVERDI'S VESPERS (Tuesday) This set of Vespers, published in 1610, is one of the greatest sacred works of the Baroque, which is saying a lot, given the copious amount of extraordinarily beautiful sacred music the age produced. The fine Trinity Choir performs it, with support from the Rebel Baroque Orchestra, led by Andrew Megill. At 7:30 p.m., Trinity Church, Broadway at Wall Street, Lower Manhattan, (212) 602-0800, trinitywallstreet.org; $25 and $40; $15 for students and 65+. (Kozinn)

NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC (Wednesday and Thursday) It was only last season that Lorin Maazel led a not particularly edifying account of the Brahms Fourth Symphony. Now he's giving it another try on a program that also includes one of his relatively rare forays into contemporary music, a performance of Luciano Berio's Sinfonia, one of that composer's most enduring scores. At 7:30 p.m., Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, (212) 721-6500, nyphil.org; $29 to $99. (Kozinn)

'OFFENBACH CABARET' (Friday and Saturday) The French Institute-Alliance Francaise and Opera Francais de New York present what looks to be a fanciful evening of theatrical cabaret. As conceived, the show is inspired by letters written by Offenbach during his visit to New York. There will be dramatized songs and arias from his works and readings from the letters, presented in a cabaret setting, complete with French wine. At 7:30 p.m., Le Skyroom, 22 East 60th Street, Manhattan, (212) 355-6160, fiaf.org; $40.

(Tommasini)

'THE SONG CONTINUES' (Friday) The Marilyn Horne Foundation is devoted to keeping the song recital a continuing enterprise by providing grants to young singers and presenting them in recitals across America. This week, in cooperation with the Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall, the foundation has been offering its annual festival, ending on Friday with the annual gala concert. For the program some successful alumni of the foundation have been invited, among them the soprano Nicole Heaston, the mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe, the tenor Garrett Sorenson and the baritone Rod Gilfry. At 7:30 p.m., Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall, (212) 247-7800, carnegiehall.org; $37 to $45. (Tommasini)