Springing ahead

Mark, Yo-Yo, Renée, and more

by Lloyd Schwartz

Is this the last year of the millennium, or is next year? It depends on how earthshaking you find the upcoming musical events. Here are a few I'm looking forward to.

Special Occasions

Two of America's most beloved artists, Mark Morris and Yo-Yo Ma, join forces at the Wang Center in Falling Down Stairs, the work they collaborated on for Ma's controversial TV series on the Bach cello suites. They reunite in Morris's exuberant Rhymes with Silver -- a rare chance to hear anything by West Coast guru Lou Harrison -- February 25 through 28. For the Saturday family matinee, we're promised one of Morris's delightfully unpredictable Q&A sessions. For information, call the BankBoston Celebrity Series at (617) 482-2595.

Emmanuel Music's Mozart Birthday bash features Craig Smith conducting the great Russell Sherman in the exquisite/tragic C-minor Piano Concerto, excerpts from the neglected singspiel Zaide (including Kendra Colton singing the heavenly "Ruhe sanft"), and the D-major String Quintet, with Betty Hauck joining the Lydian Quartet on January 30. Emmanuel's 1725 version of Bach's St. John Passion comes April 1 and 3, and baritone Sanford Sylvan takes over a Schubert cycle concert at Suffolk's C. Walsh Theatre on February 28. Call (617) 536-3356.

Brandeis University is celebrating its 50th anniversary, and the Celebrity Series is presenting a special commemorative concert featuring Mstislav Rostropovich, the Lydian String Quartet, and Yehudi Wyner at Jordan Hall on May 22. (617) 482-2595.

Spring Symphonies

The Boston Symphony Orchestra starts the new year with the best of its guest conductors, Sir Simon Rattle, leading two fascinating programs: a Rameau suite and Beethoven's "Eroica" Symphony on January 7 through 9 and January 12; and Stravinsky's Fireworks, Oliver Knussen's Flourish with Fireworks, a new work by Judith Weir with soprano Dawn Upshaw, and Mahler's heavenly Symphony No. 4 (also with Upshaw) on January 14 through 16. Andre Previn returns the following week to conduct a rare performance of Benjamin Britten's enchanting Spring Symphony (which is really a song cycle), with Dame Felicity Lott, tenor Anthony Dean Griffey, and best of all, mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt, on January 21 through 23. Call (617) 266-1492.

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The local orchestra with the most passionate following is surely the Boston Philharmonic, led by Benjamin Zander, who has now played every complete Mahler symphony except the huge Eighth, the "Symphony of a Thousand." He's finally tackling it at Symphony Hall on March 9 and 13. Call (617) 868-6696.

And master musician Gunther Schuller leads the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra in the Saint-Saens Cello Concerto No. 1, with George Seaman, Bizet's enchanting Symphony in C, Charles Ives's evocative Set No. 1, and the US premiere of a piece by the late Icelandic composer (and former Schuller student) Leifur Thorarinsson, at Sanders Theatre January 10. Call (617) 661-7067.

Celebrity Events

Only a month after her melting voice melted our hearts in her sensational BSO debut, soprano Renée Fleming will be back with an entire program to herself at Symphony Hall on January 31. The Celebrity Series is also importing one of the world's great orchestras, the Royal Concertgebauw of Amsterdam, with its imaginative conductor Riccardo Chailly. The program is Viennese with a twist: Brahms's Violin Concerto, with Vadim Repin, and lilting Second Symphony, with Schoenberg's Five Pieces for Orchestra, for a savory February 10. Matinee idol Thomas Hampson, baritone, will give a solo recital on February 20.

The Celebrity Series' Emerging Artist Series presents the celebrities of the future. This spring the featured performer is violinist Irina Muresanu, on March 5. Call (617) 482-2595.

Opera

Opera in Boston means primarily the Boston Lyric Opera, which has a shaky track record but is nearly all we have in the way of fully-staged operas (and sometimes the Lyric really is in the way of fully-staged operas). They lead off 1999 with Gounod's romantic classic Romeo et Juliette, with Stephen Mark Brown, Helen Todd, and Christophoren Nomura, on January 27. Call (617) 542-4912.

The BSO's venture into operaland is Puccini's Madama Butterfly, with soprano Paula Delligatti, heartthrob tenor Roberto Alagna, and costumes by Hanae Mori, on February 20, 24, and 27. Call (617) 266-1492.

And the Boston Musica Viva gives 20th-century opera a shot in the arm with the world premiere of Osvaldo Golijov's The Distance of the Moon, staged by Nicholas Deutsch at BU's Tsai Center April 30 and May 1. Nicholas Maw's Ghost Dances fleshes out the program. Call (617) 354-6910.

Solos

The most exciting solo concert of the season -- and the least expensive (it's free) -- may be the one by prizewinning Russell Sherman student Christopher Taylor. The eclectic program: Beethoven's Opus 22 sonata, Cesar Franck's neglected Prelude, Aria, and Finale, Roger Sessions's First Sonata, and Ligeti etudes, at Williams Hall on February 17. Call (617) 536-2412.