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[Future Events]

GLOBETROTTING: The winter World Music series schedule is out, with a typically broad spectrum of sounds and visions from as far away as Senegal and China, including Afropop superstar Baaba Maal (January 11 at the Somerville Theatre), Cape Breton fiddler Natalie MacMaster (March 24 at Symphony Hall), and Morocco’s Emil Zrihan (April 25 at the Somerville Theatre). But the biggest development this year comes via the organization’s CrashArts wing, which in the wake of the demise of Dance Umbrella has stepped up its programming of contemporary-dance performances. Look for visits by Susan Marshall and Company (February 7 and 9 at the Emerson Majestic), Stephen Petronio Company (February 8 and 10 at the Majestic), Maureen Fleming (March 1 through 3 at the Majestic), Momix (March 22 through 24 at the Majestic), and the multimedia troupe Tens the Limit (May 10 and 11 at Green Street Studios). Also look for monologuist (and former Phoenix copy editor) Josh Kornbluth to give the Boston debut of his Ben Franklin: Unplugged (April 6 at the Somerville Theatre), and the local premiere of Paul Zaloom’s zany one-man show Velvetville. Tickets are on sale now; call (617) 876-4275, or visit www.worldmusic.org for a complete schedule.

SQUASHED: A couple of months back, in a different America, we told you about plans to stage the first sporting event in the 100-year history of grand old Symphony Hall — the US Open Squash Championships, which were to have graced the home of the Boston Symphony via a specially outfitted glass-encased court beginning on September 13. Like almost everything else that week, the tournament was cancelled, and it’s only now been rescheduled — but not, alas, at Symphony Hall, which will for the time being remain free of competitive sport. Instead, the tournament — renamed the Memorial US Open Squash Tournament in memory of the terrorist attacks — will take place January 6 through 9 at the Sheraton Boston Hotel, 39 Dalton Street. Once again, the top six ranked players will compete; for tickets, call (877) 524-5685.

NEXT WEEKEND:

Compliments of the season

If it’s truly a wonderful life, then you’ll have all your holiday shopping done by next Friday, December 14, and will be ready to enjoy some seasonal music. What’s more likely is that December 14 will find you trying to get into the holiday spirit so you can start your shopping. Whichever, try to leave yourself some room next weekend, because there are more attractive concerts than even Santa could stuff into his pack, including a face-off between two performances of Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s Messe de minuit de No‘l on Sunday.

Just by itself Friday has an embarrassment of riches. At 8 p.m., Chorus pro Musica will present "A Venetian Christmas": multiple-choir works by Andrea Gabrieli, Giovanni Gabrieli, Heinrich SchŸtz, and Michael Praetorius (no, Heinrich and Michael are not Venetian, or even Italian, so we assume they’re visiting for the holidays — certainly they’re welcome guests); the evening will be rounded off by a carol sing-along with brass choir. That’s at Old South Church, in Copley Square, and tickets are $20 and $25; call (617) 267-7642. Also at 8, over at Jordan Hall (30 Gainsborough Street), Martin Pearlman and Boston Baroque will be performing Handel’s Messiah, with soprano Esther Heideman, mezzo Deanne Meek, tenor William Burden, and bass-baritone Dean Ely. Tickets for this one are $19 to $53; the number is (617) 484-9200. Martin & Co. are doing it at 8 on Saturday as well, so you can go to "Venice" tonight and Messiah tomorrow. Unless, of course, you want to be there for the opening of The Christmas Revels, which this year journeys back to the Tudor era of Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, and Will Shakespeare. Famous fool and morris dancer extraordinaire Will Kempe will be on hand (Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing, Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, possibly Falstaff), and there’ll be the usual presentation of a St. George and the Dragon mummers’ play, plus the traditional audience procession from Sanders Theatre out into the grand lobby of Harvard’s Memorial Hall at intermission. The good news is that these Revels will be celebrated through December 30; see "Play by Play," in Arts, for a complete schedule. Tickets are $18 to $38, and this production does tend to sell out; call (617) 496-2222.

Saturday evening offers a less Christmasy alternative to the Boston Baroque Messiah: the Boston Chamber Music Society will perform Bach’s Concerto for Oboe and Violin BWV 1060 (with Richard Killmer and Pamela Frank) and his Double Violin Concerto and Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 (with violinists Ida Levin, Joseph Lin, and Theodore Arm and BSO flutist Fenwick Smith) and finish off with Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons (with a different violin soloist for each season). That’s at Faneuil Hall Saturday at 8 and Sunday at 4. Tickets are $30 to $50; call (617) 349-0086.

Sunday afternoon, however, brings another musical traffic jam. At 3 p.m. at the Jesuit Urban Center in the Church of the Immaculate Conception (775 Harrison Avenue, in the South End), the FleetBoston Celebrity Series is presenting William Christie’s renowned Les Arts Florissants in a Charpentier program whose highlight is his "Midnight Mass for Christmas Eve"; they’ll also perform the dramatic motet In nativitatem Domini and the Advent antiphon series O. Tickets are $40 to $60; call (617) 482-6661. But first, consider that over at Jordan Hall, also at 3 p.m., the Handel & Haydn Society with assistant conductor John Finney will likewise be performing the Messe de minuit de No‘l, along with seasonal works by William Byrd, Orlando Gibbons, Peter Philips, and Henry Purcell. What this city needs is some kind of music-traffic control. Fortunately, H&H will be repeating the program on Friday December 21, so midnight can indeed strike twice. Tickets are $27 to $54; call (617) 266-3605.

BY JEFFREY GANTZ

Issue Date: December 6 - 13, 2001

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