South Florida Classical Review

January 31

Florida Grand Opera
Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor
Eglise Gutierrez, Israel Lozano, Mark Walters
Ramon Tebar, conductor
2 p.m. Arsht Center/Ziff Ballet Opera House, Miami

Seraphic Fire
Kisses of his Mouth: Music of Ecstasy
4 p.m. Miami Beach Community Church
www.seraphicfire.org; 305-285-9060

Houston Symphony Orchestra
Hans Graf, conductor
Stravinsky: Scherzo fantastique
Dutilleux: Temps, espace, mouvement
Holst: The Planets (with NASA HD film)
7 p.m. Broward Center, Fort Laudedale

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December 21

Friends of Chamber Music
Elmar Oliviera, violinist; Andres Cardenas, violinist; Roberto Diaz violist, Andres Diaz, cellist, William De Rosa, cellist
Beethoven: String Trio No. 1 in G major
Dohnanyi: Serenade in C major for string trio
Schubert: Quintet in C major
8 p.m. Gusman Concert Hall
www.miamichambermusic.org; 305-372-2975

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November 28

Florida Grand Opera
Leoncavallo: Pagliacci
Puccini: Suor Angelica
Kelly Kaduce, Jay Hunter Morris, Mark Rucker; Andrew Bisantz, conductor
8 p.m. Arsht Center/Ziff Ballet Opera House
fgo.org; 800-741-1010

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October 30

Festival Miami finale
Jeff Hamilton
John Clayton
Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra
Frost Concert Jazz Band Miami
8 p.m. Gusman Concert Hall, Coral Gables
www.festivalmiami.com; 305-284-4940

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September 26

New World Symphony
Alasdair Neale, conductor
Free preseason concert
Adams: The Chairman Dances
Elgar: In the South
A. Schoenberg: Finding Rothko
Britten: Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra
7:30 p.m. Lincoln Theatre, Miami Beach
www.nws.edu; 305-673-3331.

Bizet: Carmen
Sondra Kelly, James C. Taylor, Nelson Martinez, Roseanne Ackerley
Miami Lyric Opera
8 p.m. Colony Theater, Miami Beach
www.miamilyricopera.org; 305-674-1040.

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August 30

Seraphic Fire Presents: Pianist Richard Dowling performs and discusses American ragtime, Rhapsody in Blue and other Gershwin works.
4 p.m. Miami Beach Community Church
www.seraphicfire.org; 305-285-9060.

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July 31

Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival
Saint-Saens: Fantaisie in A Major
Casella: Serenata
Mendelssohn: String Quintet No. 2
8 p.m.: Helen K. Persson Recital Hall, West Palm Beach
www.pbcmf.org; 800-330-6874

August 1

Miami Lyric Opera
Arrieta: Marina
Maruchi Urquiaga, Aurelio Gabaldon, Lilo del Campo, Ismael Gonzalez.
Alfredo Munar, conductor
8 p.m. Colony Theater, Miami Beach
www.miamilyricopera.org; 305-674-1040

Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival
Saint-Saens: Fantaisie in A Major
Casella: Serenata
Mendelssohn: String Quintet No. 2
8 p.m.: Eissey Campus Theatre, Palm Beach Gardens
www.pbcmf.org; 800-330-6874

August 2

Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival
Saint-Saens: Fantaisie in A Major
Casella: Serenata
Mendelssohn: String Quintet No. 2
2 p.m.  – Crest Theatre, Delray Beach
www.pbcmf.org; 800-330-6874

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June 18

Anne Akiko Meyers, violinist; Reiko Uchida, pianist
Miyagi: Haru no Umi (Sea in Spring)
Taki: Kojo no Tsuki (Moonlight over the Ruined Castle)
Beethoven: Violin Sonata No. 5  Spring              
Part: Spiegel im Spiegel 
Debussy: Beau Soir                                          
Schnittke: Stille Nacht               
Duke: Autumn in New York                                
Gershwin/Heifetz: Summertime  
8 p.m. Coral Gables Congregational Church                                   
www.communityartsprogram.org; 305-448-7421, ext. 33.

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May 31
Holocaust remembrance concert
Violinist Misha Vitenson; violist Michael Klotz; cellist Amit Peled; pianist Alon Goldstein
4 p.m. Gusman Concert Hall, Coral Gables
www.sundaymusicals.org. Ticketmaster: 305-358-5885; 954-523-3309; 561-966-3309.

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Renee Fleming was to appear in next season's FGO concert series

Florida Grand Opera is pulling the plug on its Superstar Concert Series, a project launched with much hype and lavish promotion this season, due to the company’s ongoing financial crisis.

 “The Superstar Concert Series had a deficit of $268,000 on a budget of $740,000 for the three concerts,” stated FGO general director and CEO Robert Heuer, in an emailed answer to questions about the series’ status.  “Both ticket sales and fund raising failed to achieve their goals.  Given the current difficult economic times, the Opera cannot take the risk of additional deficits next year.”  Heuer also indicated that the possibility of competition from the Arsht Center’s new classical series, to be announced shortly, was another factor.

 Dropping the concert series—a project Heuer hailed from the Knight Concert Hall stage just weeks ago— means Judy Drucker’s brief tenure as artistic adviser to FGO will end next month. 

 Founder and former president of the Concert Association of Florida, Drucker was hired by FGO to organize the new series and booked a starry trio of singers. The series was a clear artistic success, with rousing performances this season by Dmitri Hvorostovsy, Marcello Giordani and Bryn Terfel, which added cachet and vocal luster to a company whose main-stage productions tend to rely on young, lesser known singers.

Next season’s Concert Series lineup would have provided comparable vocal firepower with Drucker planning to bring in Renee Fleming, Angela Gheorghiu and Sondra Radvanovsky.

 With Florida Grand Opera cutting back to four productions next season, part of a thirty percent cut of overall expenses, Heuer said the company  “cannot justify taking more risk on something outside of its core mission.”  He stated that the FGO is projecting a deficit of $1.4 million this season, which includes the $268,000 loss from the Concert Series.

 While declining to be interviewed, Drucker said she is committed to ensuring that the three concerts featuring Fleming, Gheorghiu and Radvanovsky go on as planned under different auspices.

 Florida Grand Opera’s season-closing production of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly opens at the Ziff Ballet Opera House tonight.

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 Sunday Afternoons of Music will serve up yet another varied lineup of vocal, instrumental and chamber events in 2009-2010.

 Doreen Marx will open her 29^th season with a recital by acclaimed violinist Robert McDuffie (above) on September 13, a co-presentation with Festival Miami. Young Russian pianist Boris Giltburg will follow on Dec. 13, followed by series favorite, soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian on Dec. 20.

 Sunday Afternoons will start the new year with an unusual trio as the Cleveland Duo (violinist Steve Warner and pianist Carolyn Warner) are joined by saxophonist James Umble on Jan 10.  In a rare Saturday night event, the Eroica Trio will return for a concert on Feb. 6, followed by Russian pianist Olga Kern on March 21, and the Empire Brass on May 16. The season will close May 23 with the Amernet String Quartet and cellist Gary Hoffman. Program details for all events are yet to be announced.

Subscriptions are $250, $225 for seniors with individual events $40 and $32. Sunday Afternoons of Music will also offers its Chidren’s Series as well. Call 305-271-7150 or visit www.sundaymusicals.org.

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April 25
Florida Grand Opera: Puccini’s Madama Butterfly
Shu-Ying Li, Arturo Chacón-Cruz, Katharine Goeldner, Jake Gardner; Stewart Robertson, conductor
7 p.m. Arsht Center/Ziff Ballet Opera House
www.fgo.org; 800-741-1010

Master Chorale of South Florida
Florida’s Singing Sons
Bernstein: Chichester Psalms
Lauridsen: Lux Aeterna
Copland: Old American Songs
8 p.m. Congregational Church of Boca Raton/ United Church of Christ
954-418-6232; www.masterchoraleofsouthflorida.org

April 26
Palm Beach Opera Vocal Competition
Grand Finals Concert; conductor Eve Queler
3 p.m. Kravis Center, West Palm, Beach
561-833-7888; www.pbopera.org

New World Symphony chamber music
Ives: Largo for Violin, Clarinet and Piano
Tilson Thomas: Street Song for Symphonic Brass
Harrison: Concerto for Violin and Percussion Orchestra
Crumb: Voice of the Whale
Bernstein: Prelude, Fugue and Riffs
3 p.m. Lincoln Theatre. $12
305-673-3331; www.nws.edu.

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For a time, it looked like Orchestra Miami was going to fall victim to the recession, and join the growing list of  small classical ensembles that are either not mounting events this season or quietly folding their tent and disappearing altogether.

 Fortunately, that is not the case. Orchestra Miami has announced that they will present two concerts in May and June.

On May 15 at 8 p.m. the chamber orchestra will present a program in alliance with the Chopin Foundation at Miami-Dade County Auditorium. Artistic director Elaine Rinaldi will lead the orchestra in Brahms’ Symphony No. 1 and Beethoven’s Leonore Overture No. 3. Ning An, 2000 winner of the Chopin Competition, will be the solo protagonist in the evening’s centerpiece, Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1.

 Another pianist, Miami native Geoffrey Loff, will perform with Orchestra Miami June 13 at the Lincoln Theatre in Miami Beach.  Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 19 will be the vehicle and the program is filled out with Mozart’s Symphony No. 25 and Tchaikovsky’s Suite No. 4, Mozartiana.

 A two-concert subscription costs $40-$100. Call 305-274-2103 or go to www.orchestramiami.org.

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March 29
New World Symphony/Peter Oundjian
Barber: Adagio for Strings
Mozart: Symphony No. 40
Nielsen: Symphony No. 5
3 p.m. Lincoln Theatre, Miami Beach.
$27-$63. 305-673-3330; www.nws.edu

Ysaye Quartet
3 p.m. Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach
$10. 561-655-7226; www.fourarts.org.

Guarneri String Quartet
8 p.m. Kravis Center, West Palm Beach
561-832-7469; www.kravis.org

March 30
Guarneri String Quartet
Beethoven
8 p.m. Gusman Concert Hall
$30. 305-372-2975; www.miamichambermusic.org

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 The New World Symphony’s 2009-2010 season —the last to take place entirely in the Lincoln Theatre—will be a characteristically bracing mix of familiar and envelope-pushing repertoire with an impressive lineup of visiting guest artists.

 Michael Tilson Thomas will open the season October 10 with a gala program of French and Russian showpieces, featuring Mikhail Simonyan in Glazunov’s Violin Concerto along with works of Mussorgsky, Berlioz and Ravel.

 The season proper will lead off October 24 and 25 at the Arsht Center with Tilson Thomas leading two performances of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and excerpts from Fidelio. The program boasts an imposing quartet of soloists: soprano Christine Brewer, mezzo Kendall Gladen, tenor Anthony Dean Griffey and bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni.  Other downtown Arsht programs will have MTT and the New World in Mahler’s Symphony No. 5, with Jeremy Denk as soloist in Copland’s Piano Concerto (April 10-11), and Robert Spano directs the orchestra Feb. 20 in a sort-of American program with Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 3, Gershwin’s An American in Paris, and Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg in Barber’s Violin Concerto.

Pianist Yuja Wang, who opened the current season in music of Ravel and Stravinsky, will return in April for Bartok’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with MTT on a program that also includes Liszt’s Mephisto Waltz No. 1 and Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8. And next January, Tilson Thomas will make a rare appearance as instrumentalist, performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 and conducting the orchestra in music of Grieg and Sibelius.

Other soloists next season include soprano Measha Brueggergosman (left) in Berg songs, violinist Jennifer Koh performing John Adams’ Violin Concerto, cellist Alban Gerhardt in Haydn, and clarinetist David Krakauer playing music of Golijov.

 There will be only two Sounds of the Times events next season. Jeffrey Milarsky will conduct works of Lang, Ziporyn and Gordon with keyboardist Andrew Russo, cellist Felix Fan and percussionist David Cossin.  And Finnish conductor Susanna Malkki will lead a program of contemporary music from her homeland including music of Saariaho, Murail and Lindberg. Guests in the six-concert Sunday chamber series include violinist Todd Phillips, violist Roberto Diaz, and baritone Randall Scariata.

 Osmo Vanska, music director of the Minnesota Orchestra, and Ludovic Morlot will make their New World podium debuts next season, and returning conductors include Alasdair Neale, Mark Wigglesworth, and Nicholas McGegan. The season will close (April 25-May 1) with Reflections of Debussy, a three-day series featuring the French composer’s music and that of contemporaries he inspired.

 Subscriptions range from $20-$369. Call 305-673-3331 or go online to www.nws.edu.

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Florida Grand Opera’s 69^th season is not exactly one to strike a blow for adventurous programming.  The company has already announced it is going from five productions to four, as part of a thirty percent slice in its $14 million annual budget.  Also, like many companies across the country that have seen a sharp decrease in donor gifts and, are fearful of declining subscriptions following suit, FGO is playing it safe with popular repertoire, even more than has been the case in recent years. .

 The season will open Nov. 14 with Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, paired not with Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana as usual, but Puccini’s Suor Angelica, the single programming novelty of the season.  Soprano Kelly Kaduce, will perform the roles of Nedda and Angelica in all performances. Jay Hunter Morris is Canio and Mark Rucker, Tonio. FGO resident conductor Andrew Bisantz will conduct.

 Miami favorite Eglise Gutierrez, who made her company debut earlier this season in La Traviata will return to sing the role of the doomed title heroine in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, opening Jan. 23. The tenor is yet to be announced.

 Rossini’s The Barber of Seville will follow, opening Feb. 20 with soprano Sarah Coburn, baritone Roderick Williams and tenor Frederic Antoun who made an impressive Florida debut last month in La Cenerentola. The season will close with Bizet’s Carmen opening April 24 with Kendall Gladen in the title role. Miami native Elaine Alvarez will make her belated debut in the role of Micaela, and tenor Adam Diegel will portray Don Jose.

 With Stewart Robertson departing the company in May, conductors for three of next season’s four operas are yet to be announced. In another cost-saving move, a single team will do the production work for all four operas: stage director Renaud Doucet and set and costume designer André Barbe, whose last FGO assignment was staging the ill-fated Szulamit in 2004.

 The company is offering a four-opera subscription for the price of three, from $32 to $752. Call 800-741-1010 or go online to www.fgo.org.

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Feb. 28
Palm Beach Opera: Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro
Maurizio Lo Piccolo, Layla Claire, Timothy Kuhn, Sóla Braga, Patricia Risley; Bruno Aprea, conductor
7:30 p.m. Kravis Center, West Palm Beach
$34-$175. 561-833-7888. www.pbopera.org

New World Symphony Percussion COnsort
Takemitsu: Rain Tree
Marta: A Doll’s House Story for Percussion Ensemble
Druckman: Animus II for Soprano, Two Percussion and Tape
Naidoo: Sentient Weather for Percussion Ensemble (world premiere)
7:30 p.m. Lincoln Theatre, Miami Beach
305-673-3330; www.nws.edu

Florida Grand Opera: Delibes’ Lakme
Evelyn Pollock, Chad A. Johnson, Burak Bilgili, Aaron St. Clair Nicholson/Stewart Robertson
8 p.m. Arsht Center/Ziff Ballet Opera House
800-741-1010; www.fgo.org

Frost Opera Theater
Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte
8 p.m. Gusman Concert Hall, Coral Gables
$20; Seniors $10; Students and faculty, $5
305-284-4886

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Jan 27
Budapest Festival Orchestra/Ivan Fischer
Violinists Jozsef Lendvay Sr., Jozsef Lendvay Jr.
Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 3
Brahms: Hungarian Dances Nos. 1, 11 and 15
Sarasate: Zigeunerweisen
Brahms: Symphony No. 1
8 p.m. Kravis Center, West Palm Beach
561-832-7469; www.kravis.org.

Florida Grand Opera: Rossini’s La Cenerentola.
Jennifer Rivera, Frederic Antoun, Gaetan Laperriere. Joel Revzen, conductor.
8 p.m. Arsht Center/Ziff Ballet Opera House
800-741-1010; www.fgo.org.

Jan. 28
Florida Grand Opera: Rossini’s La Cenerentola.
Julie Boulliane, Frederic Antoun, Gaetan Laperriere. Joel Revzen, conductor.
8 p.m. Arsht Center/Ziff Ballet Opera House
800-741-1010; www.fgo.org.

Czech Symphony Orchestra/Theodore Kuchar
Violinist Jennifer Frautschi
Smetana, Mendelssohn, Dvorak
8 p.m. Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach
561-655-7226; www.fourarts.org

Budapest Festival Orchestra/Ivan Fischer
Violinists Jozsef Lendvay Sr., Jozsef Lendvay Jr.
Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 3
Brahms: Hungarian Dances Nos. 1, 11 and 15
Sarasate: Zigeunerweisen
Brahms: Symphony No. 1
8 p.m. Adrienne Arsht Center/ Knight Concert Hall, Miami
305-949-6722; www.concertfla.org.

Jan. 30
Cleveland Orchestra/Franz Welser-Most
Measha Brueggergosman, soprano
Wagner: Wesendonck Lieder
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 7, Leningrad
8 p.m. Arsht Center/Knight Concert Hall
305-949-6722. www.arshtcenter.org.

Florida Grand Opera: Rossini’s La Cenerentola. 
Jennifer Rivera, Frederic Antoun, Gaetan Laperriere. Joel Revzen, conductor.
8 p.m. Arsht Center/Ziff Ballet Opera House
800-741-1010; www.fgo.org.

Jan. 31
Cleveland Orchestra/Franz Welser-Most
Measha Brueggergosman, soprano
Wagner: Wesendonck Lieder
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 7, Leningrad
8 p.m. Arsht Center/Knight Concert Hall
305-949-6722. www.arshtcenter.org.

Florida Grand Opera: Rossini’s La Cenerentola.
Julie Boulliane, Frederic Antoun, Gaetan Laperriere. Joel Revzen, conductor.
8 p.m. Arsht Center/Ziff Ballet Opera House
800-741-1010; www.fgo.org.

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Dec. 4. Florida Grand Opera: Verdi’s La Traviata. Ailyn Perez, Leonardo Capalbo, Mark Walters/Aldo Sisillo 8 p.m. Broward Center, Fort Lauderdale. $21-$200. 800-741-1010; www.fgo.org.

 Dec. 5. SoBe Music Institute: Morton Feldman’s Rothko Chapel. SMI Chamber Ensemble. 8 p.m.  2150 Washington Ave., Miami Beach. Free event. 305-674-9220; www.sobemusic.org.

 Dec. 6. New World Symphony/Michael Tilson Thomas. Beethoven: Symphony No. 5, Wellington’s Victory, Piano and Wind Quintet. 7:30 p.m. Lincoln Theatre, Miami Beach. 305-673-3330; www.nws.edu.

 Dec. 6. Florida Grand Opera: Verdi’s La Traviata. Eglise Gutierrez, Stephen Costello, Luis Ledesma/Aldo Sisillo. 8 p.m. Broward Center, Fort Lauderdale. $21-$200. 800-741-1010; www.fgo.org.

 Dec. 6. The Florida Symphony Orchestra/Jose Antonio Molina with pianist Michel Camilo. Ginastera: Estancia: Suite; Camilo: Piano Concerto; Sibelius: Symphony No. 1. 8 p.m. Arsht Center, Miami; 305-949-6722; www.concertfla.org.

 Dec. 6. Miami Symphony Orchestra/Eduardo Marturet. Antonio Serrano, harmonica. Britten: The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra; Arnold: Harmonica Concerto; Piazzolla: Suite for Harmonica; Marquez: Danzon No. 2; Ravel: Bolero. 8 p.m. Gusman Concert Hall, Coral Gables. $15-$60. 305-275-5666; www.miamisymphony.org

 Dec. 7. Boca Raton Symphonia/Alexander Platt; violinist Vadim Gluzman. Mozart: Symphony No. 38 Prague; Stravinsky: Dumbarton Oaks; Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto. 1:30 p.m. Saint Andrews School, Boca Raton. 888-426-5577; 561-376-3848; www.bocasymphonia.org.

 Dec. 7. New World Symphony/Michael Tilson Thomas. Beethoven: Symphony No. 5, Wellington’s Victory, Piano and Wind Quintet. 3 p.m. Lincoln Theatre, Miami Beach. 305-673-3330; www.nws.edu.

 Dec. 7. Miami Symphony Orchestra/Eduardo Marturet. Antonio Serrano, harmonica. Britten: The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra; Arnold: Harmonica Concerto; Piazzolla: Suite for Harmonica; Marquez: Danzon No. 2; Ravel: Bolero. 8 p.m. Lincoln Theatre, Miami Beach. . $15-$60. 305-275-5666; www.miamisymphony.org

 Dec. 9. Pianist Di Wu. 7:30 p.m., Kravis Center, West Palm Beach. $30. 561-832-7469; www.kravis.org.

 Dec. 12. New World Symphony/Michael Tilson Thomas with pianist Emanuel Ax. Toch: Bunte Suite; Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3; Brahms: Symphony No. 1. $29-$76. 7:30 p.m. Lincoln Theatre, Miami Beach. 305-673-3330; www.nws.edu.

 Dec. 12. Palm Beach Opera: Verdi’s Rigoletto. Nelson Martínez, Albina Shagimuratova, James Valenti/Bruno Aprea. 7:30 p.m. Kravis Center, West Palm Beach. $34-$175. 561-833-7888. www.pbopera.org.

 Dec. 12. Master Chorale of South Florida with Empire Brass Quintet. Holiday Concert. $30, $35 at the door. 8 p.m. First Presbyterian Church, Pompano Beach. 954-418-6232. www.masterchoraleofsouthflorida.org.

 Dec. 13. New World Symphony/Michael Tilson Thomas with pianist Emanuel Ax. Toch: Bunte Suite; Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3; Brahms: Symphony No. 1. $37-$84.  7:30 p.m. Lincoln Theatre, Miami Beach. 305-673-3330; www.nws.edu.

 Dec. 13. Palm Beach Opera: Verdi’s Rigoletto.   Chen-Ye Yuan, Hanan Alattar, Eric Margiore/Bruno Aprea. 7:30 p.m. Kravis Center, West Palm Beach. $23-$115. 561-833-7888. www.pbopera.org.

 Dec. 13. Master Chorale of South Florida with Empire Brass Quintet. Holiday Concert. $30, $35 at the door. 8 p.m. Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, Miami. 954-418-6232. www.masterchoraleofsouthflorida.org.

 Dec. 14. Palm Beach Opera: Verdi’s Rigoletto. Nelson Martínez, Albina Shagimuratova, James Valenti/Bruno Aprea. 2 p.m. Kravis Center, West Palm Beach. $23-$105. 561-833-7888. www.pbopera.org.

 Dec. 14. New World Symphony/Michael Tilson Thomas with pianist Emanuel Ax. Toch: Bunte Suite; Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3; Brahms: Symphony No. 1. $26-$66. 3 p.m. Lincoln Theatre, Miami Beach. 305-673-3330; www.nws.edu.

 Dec. 14. Dranoff Foundation. Duo-pianists Anthony and Joseph Paratore and Susan and Sarah Wang. 3 p.m. St. Martha’s Church, 9301 Biscayne Blvd., Miami Shores. $10, $20. 800-595-4849; www.saintmartha.tix.com.

 Dec. 14. Master Chorale of South Florida with Empire Brass Quintet. Holiday Concert. $30, $35 at the door. 4 p.m. Pine Crest School, Boca Raton. 954-418-6232.  www.masterchoraleofsouthflorida.org.

 Dec. 14. Pianist Shai Wosner. Vivier: Shiraz; Debussy: Preludes Book I; Schumann: Carnaval. 4 p.m. Gusman Concert Hall, Coral Gables. $32, $40. Ticketmaster:305-358-5885; 954-523-3309; 561-966-3309. www.sundaymusicals.org.

Dec. 14. Delray String Quartet. Mozart: Quartet in B flat. K.458, The Hunt: Dvorak: Quartet in F major, American. 4 p.m. Colony Hotel, Delray Beach. $35. 561-213-4138; www.delraystringquartet.com.

Dec. 15. Palm Beach Opera: Verdi’s Rigoletto. Chen-Ye Yuan, Hanan Alattar, Eric Margiore/Bruno Aprea. 2 p.m. Kravis Center, West Palm Beach. $23-$115. 561-833-7888. www.pbopera.org.

Dec. 17. Florida Symphony Orchestra/Jose Antonio Molina with cellist Alisa Weilerstein. Verdi: Overture to La Forza del Destino; Dvorak: Cello Concerto; Sibelius: Symphony No. 1. 8 p.m. Broward Center, Fort Lauderdale. (954) 462-0222; www.concertfla.org.

 Dec. 19. Seraphic Fire and Firebird Chamber Orchestra: Handel’s Messiah. 8 p.m. Arsht Center, Miami. $30-$75. 305-949-6722. www.arshtcenter.org.

Dec. 20.  Miami Pops Orchestra.  Zarzuela Tonight! with Elizabeth Caballero, Susana Diaz,  Mabel Ledo, Sandra Lopez, Nelson Martinez, Eduardo Calcano, Eduardo Aladren, Angel Marchese, Maria Aleida Rodriguez, and Betsy Diaz. Conductors Jose Ramon Tebar and Alfredo Munar.  8 p.m. Arsht Center, Miami.  $36-$95. 305-949-6722.   www.concertfla.org.

Dec. 21. New World chamber concert with hornist Jennifer Montone. Mozart: Horn Quartet; Ligeti: Horn Trio. Brahms: Piano Quartet No. 1. 3 p.m. Lincoln Theatre, Miami Beach. $12. 305-673-3331; www.nws.edu.

Dec. 21.  Miami Pops Orchestra.  Zarzuela Tonight! with Elizabeth Caballero, Susana Diaz,  Mabel Ledo, Sandra Lopez, Nelson Martinez, Eduardo Calcano, Eduardo Aladren, Angel Marchese, Maria Aleida Rodriguez, and Betsy Diaz. Conductors Jose Ramon Tebar and Alfredo Munar.  8 p.m. Arsht Center, Miami.  $36-$95. 305-949-6722.   www.concertfla.org.

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In these economically straitened times, most organizations are cutting back on the number of performances they present. The New World Symphony, however, is adding more events to its season.

In addition to this weekend’s already announced Beethoven program with Michael Tilson Thomas, the Miami Beach orchestra has added three extra concerts this season: a repeat of the season-closing all-Tchaikovsky program with MTT and pianist Vladimir Feltsman May 3 at the Arsht Center; Peter Oundjian leading the New World in Barber, Mozart and Nielsen March 27; and an extra children’s concert March 15 at the Lincoln Theatre.

Tickets are $10 for the children’s concert; $28-$73 March 27, and $16-$129 May 3. 305-673-3331; www.nws.edu.

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