RUSSELL SHERMAN | Boston's legendary pianist will be appearing in two venues. With his former student Minsoo Sohn and the Emmanuel Orchestra, in the Celebrity Series of Boston, he'll be "accompanying" the Boston premiere of Mark Morris's Mozart Dances in some of the best music ever choreographed, at the Opera House, 539 Washington St, Boston | January 29-31 | $47-$82 | 617.482.2595 or www.celebrityseries.org. Sherman also has on tap a three-part exploration of Haydn sonatas and Schoenberg suites, beginning March 28 at Emmanuel Church, 15 Newbury St, Boston | $10-$50 | 617.536.3356 or www.emmanuelmusic.org.
HANDEL AND HAYDN SOCIETY | In a concert alluringly titled "Passion in Vienna" and led by its new music director, Harry Christophers, Boston's oldest choral society presents some of the most sublime music of the 18th century: excerpts from Gluck's landmark opera, Orfeo ed Euridice, and then Mozart's C-minor Mass, with soprano Gillian Keith, mezzo-soprano Tove Dahlberg, countertenor Iestyn Davies, tenor Thomas Cooley, and bass-baritone Nathan Berg, at Symphony Hall, 301 Mass Ave, Boston | January 29-30 | $18-$75 | 617.262.1815 or www.handelandhaydn.org.
CHRISTIAN TETZLAFF | One of the most probing and compelling of the younger generation of violinists returns to Boston all by himself in a Celebrity Series program of virtuosic pieces for solo violin by Bach, Ysaÿe, and Paganini, at Jordan Hall, 30 Gainsborough St, Boston | January 31 | $45-$58 | 617.482.2595 or www.celebrityseries.org.
BOSTON LYRIC OPERA | At an intriguing new venue, Boston's biggest opera company presents Benjamin Britten's beautifully chilling opera (some say his greatest) based on Henry James's famous ghost story The Turn of the Screw, with a cast and production team all making their BLO debuts. The Castle is at 130 Columbus Avenue, Boston | February 3, 5, 6 | $39–$85 | 617.542.4912 or www.blo.org. (BLO returns to the Shubert Theatre March 12-23 for the North American premiere of the Welsh National Opera production of Richard Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos.)
BOSTON BAROQUE | Monteverdi specialist Martin Pearlman conducts that composer's most ambitious religious work, the Vespro della Beata Vergine of 1610. (His recording of this was nominated for a Grammy.) The strong cast of familiar soloists includes sopranos Mary Wilson and Kristen Watson, tenor Aaron Sheehan, and baritones Sumner Watson and Donald Wilkinson, at Jordan Hall, 30 Gainsborough St, Boston | February 19-20 | $25-$69 | 617.484.9200 or www.bostonbaroque.org.
LEIPZIG GEWANDAUS ORCHESTRA | After the stupendous success of the Berlin Philharmonic, which it presented last fall, the Celebrity Series of Boston is bringing another of the world's great orchestras, with the superb Ricardo Chailly at its helm and the elegant, sparkling Brazilian pianist Nelson Freire at the keyboard. The program isn't hard to take either: Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 and the Emperor Concerto, at Symphony Hall, 301 Mass Ave, Boston | February 25 | $38-$85 | 617.482.2595 or www.celebrityseries.org.
BOSTON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA | February 25, 27-28 | Some will be disappointed and some relieved that conductor Benjamin Zander has substituted Mahler's Ninth Symphony for the previously announced Mahler Seventh. His last completed symphony is perhaps more beautiful (but also more frequently performed) than the intriguing Seventh. Zander, of course, is a Mahler specialist, and his many fans will want to hear what he's found new to say about this great work. He'll tell us at his popular pre-concert talks. The usual three performances: Sanders Theatre, 45 Quincy St, Cambridge | February 25, 28 | Jordan Hall, 30 Gainsborough St, Boston | February 27 | $25-$78 | 617.236.0999 or www.bostonphil.org.
