Stepping into a new year means embracing its promises but also facing its challenges. Fortunately, the performing arts offer a reliably inspiring source of motivation. Following are some recommendations — by no means exhaustive — of classical music events to mark on your calendar for the coming months. May you find them inspirational in the new year.
“Les Troyens in Concert”
The most ambitious project undertaken by Hector Berlioz, a defining figure of 19th-century Romanticism, was to transform Virgil’s “Aeneid” into an epic opera. In a company debut, Seattle Opera presents the second part of this vast work in a concert format starring tenor Russell Thomas as the hero Aeneas and mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges as his doomed lover Dido, queen of Carthage. Berlioz expert Ludovic Morlot returns to conduct a large ensemble comprising 80 members of the Seattle Symphony, the 60-voice Seattle Opera Chorus (prepared by Michaelle Calzaretta) and eight principal singers.
7:30 p.m. Jan. 17 and 2 p.m. Jan. 19; McCaw Hall, 321 Mercer St., Seattle; tickets start at $35; 206-389-7676, seattleopera.org
Seattle Chamber Music Society: Winter Festival 2025
In six concerts spread over two weekends, SCMS focuses on what Artistic Director James Ehnes calls “perhaps the richest hundred years in the history of chamber music” — 1850 to 1950 — in this edition of the Winter Festival. Along with beloved works by Brahms and his contemporaries, Ehnes has chosen 20th-century treasures like William Grant Still’s Suite for Violin and Piano and Rebecca Clarke’s Viola Sonata. Special tip: As part of its Signature Series between seasons, SCMS presents the Hagen Quartet, one of the world’s most-acclaimed ensembles, in a Haydn-Schumann program on Feb. 28.
Jan. 24-26 and Jan. 31-Feb. 2; Benaroya Hall, 200 University St., Seattle; $36-$76; 206-283-8808; free recital starts one hour before each concert; seattlechambermusic.org
“Canon for Racial Reconciliation”
Cappella Romana is acclaimed for its expertise in early sacred music from orthodox traditions, but this choral ensemble has increasingly expanded its scope to give voice to contemporary composers drawing from those roots. “Canon for Racial Reconciliation” is a collaboration between Isaac Cates, who comes from the world of African American gospel, and Nicholas Reeves, an innovator blending orthodox influences with new musical expressions. “Canon” sets Carla Thomas’ poem by the same name to music.
7:30 p.m. Feb. 28; Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Ave., Seattle; $33-$58, $15 students, $5 SNAP card holders; cappellaromana.org
“Beyond Baroque” spring festivals
Early Music Seattle continues its new model of mini-festivals in partnership with other local arts organizations. The programming is intended to expand awareness of the historical diversity of early music. Upcoming highlights include music combining Spanish and Mexican Baroque guitar (Tembembe Ensamble Continuo, March 12), a 15th-century manuscript of sacred music transposed for women’s voices (the Oslo-based Trio Mediæval, March 16), Handel’s pastoral cantata “Aminta e Fillide” (Twelfth Night Ensemble, March 21) and a musical celebration of the Persian New Year, Nowruz (the Afro-Persian Siriya Ensemble, March 23).
March 12-16 and March 19-23; venues include Town Hall at 1119 Eighth Ave. and Benaroya Hall, 200 University St.; single tickets $16-$60, festival passes $150; 206-325-7066, earlymusicseattle.org
Xian Zhang conducts “The Planets”
There’s an added aura of anticipation around this first program with Xian Zhang since she was named Seattle Symphony’s new music director (starting with the 2025-26 season). Zhang will combine Gustav Holst’s interplanetary orchestral voyage “The Planets,” along with “Diaspora,” a new concerto by Billy Childs written for the electrifying saxophone virtuoso Steven Banks. (She returns June 12-15 for a program of Prokofiev and Beethoven, featuring violin soloist Hilary Hahn.)
March 27, 29 and 30; Benaroya Hall, 200 University St., Seattle; tickets from $36; 206-215-4747, seattlesymphony.org
Bach’s B minor Mass
With an unbeatable reputation for its annual “Messiah” performances, Harmonia takes on another glory of the Baroque era — and one of the pinnacles of Western music overall — when Music Director William White leads the choral-orchestral collective in Bach’s towering summation of his art.
7:30 p.m. March 29; First Free Methodist Church, 3200 Third Ave. W., Seattle; tickets $10-$25; harmoniaseattle.org
Third Coast Percussion and Jessie Montgomery at Meany Center
The dazzlingly inventive percussion quartet based in Chicago presents a new work by Jessie Montgomery, one of today’s most sought-after American composers, along with music by Tigran Hamasyan and Philip Glass. Also an outstanding violinist, Montgomery will join Third Coast to perform as the soloist in Lou Harrison’s Concerto for Violin and Percussion Orchestra.
7:30 p.m. May 3; Meany Hall, Gerlich Theater, University of Washington campus, 4040 George Washington Lane N.E., Seattle; tickets from $25; meanycenter.org
“The Dawn Arises: Music of Finnish Women”
The sonically adventurous Seattle Modern Orchestra concludes its season with a program curated by Seattle-based soprano and organist Maria Männistö, honoring the incredible contributions of Finnish women to contemporary music. In addition to recent works by Maija Hynninen, Lotta Wennäkoski and Rebecka Ahvenniemi, SMO will present a chamber arrangement of music from the late Kaija Saariaho’s radiant millennial opera “L’Amour de loin.”
8 p.m. June 6; Tagney Jones Hall, 363 Mercer St., Seattle; tickets $10-$30; seattlemodernorchestra.org