Highlights of the ISABELLA STEWART GARDNER MUSEUM’s concert schedule include the latest entries in the Borromeo Quartet’s magnificent Shostakovich cycle (March 2), the Clarement Quartet’s Schumann and Brahms series (January 13 + March 16), and Paavali Jumppanen’s Beethoven-sonata series (February 10; 617.566.1401).

And at the MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, I’d hate to miss the Valentine’s Day Prelude, a delicious program of American love songs with soprano Nancy Armstrong, baritone Robert Honeysucker, violinist Daniel Stepner, and gambist Laura Jeppesen (February 10; 617.369.3306). AMERICAN CLASSICS, a/k/a Benjamin Sears and Bradford Conner, presents American songs inspired by poet Carl Sandburg (Follen Church, March 7; Longy School, March 9; 617.254.1125).

The BOSTON CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY has evenings of Messiaen and Schubert (February 8 + 10) and Mozart, Beethoven, and Brahms (March 28 + 30), Fridays at Jordan Hall, Sundays at Sanders Theatre (617.349.0086).

Benjamin Zander, a legend himself, welcomes back to the BOSTON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA the legendary Russian cellist Natalia Gutman in Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1, on a bill with Tchaikovsky’s Pathétique Symphony (Sanders Theatre, February 21 + 24; Jordan Hall, February 23; 617.236.0999). David Feltner’s excellent CHAMBER ORCHESTRA OF BOSTON brings us violinist Heidi Braun-Hill in a concert called “Who Loves Dances” (First Church, Boston, January 19; 617.266.1626).

COLLAGE NEW MUSIC continues its tribute to Luciano Berio with the exciting mezzo-soprano Janna Baty (Longy School, January 28; 617.325.5200). The FROMM PLAYERS at Harvard are offering “60 Years of Electronic Music,” in two free programs, with music by, among others, Boulez, Stockhausen, and Davidovsky, and some outstanding live musicians and Scott Wheeler’s DINOSAUR ANNEX (Paine Hall, March 7-8; 617.496.6013). Gil Rose’s BMOP (Boston Modern Orchestra Project) has a Boston-composer concert (January 25) and “Double Entendre,” an evening of “inspired collaborations” (March 29), both at Jordan Hall (617.363.0396).

The BOSTON EARLY MUSIC FESTIVAL imports celebrity specialists in period instruments and performance practices: the Greek Byzantine Choir (Greek Orthodox Cathedral, January 19), gambists Jérôme Hantaï and Kaori Uemura (First Congregational Church in Cambridge, February 9), the Academy of Ancient Music (Emmanuel Church, February 22), and Ellen Hargis and Paul O’Dette (First Congregational Church in Cambridge, March 8; 617.661.1812).

SARASA features another early-music star, soprano Nancy Argenta (Friends’ Meeting House in Cambridge, February 9; First Parish Church in Concord February 10; 617.492.4758).