BOSTON LYRIC OPERA

A year from now, in September 2006, the BLO will cap its 2005–2006 " Diva Season " with two fully staged free performances of " Aida on the Common. " The rest you have to pay for. Tickets go on sale this Tuesday, September 6: Donizetti’s Lucie de Lammermoor (in French rather than the usual Italian), November 4-15; Verdi’s La traviata, March 31–April 11; Jules Massenet’s Thaïs, April 28-May 9 | Shubert Theatre, 265 Tremont St, Boston | $33-$166 | 800.447.7400.

ROCK AND SHOCK

The haunted-holiday season brings the second year of " two days of monsters, music, and mayhem " : a horror-movie convention at the DCU Center paired with a mini metalfest next door at the Palladium in Worcester. The musical guests include Gwar, Turbonegro, God Forbid, and the Haunted; the fright-flick convention brings in George Romero, the cast of Rob Zombie’s Devil’s Rejects, and dozens more actors, directors, distributors, vendors, and comic-book artists | October 8-9 at the DCU Center, 50 Foster St, and the Palladium, 241 Main St, Worcester | http://www.rockandshock.com/.