September is just around the corner, and the classical music season in Western New York is about to shift into high gear. Here is a rundown of some of the season highlights through the end of December.

Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra

BPO Classics Series

The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra season’s gala opening night concert on Saturday, September 15 celebrates a truly unique event in the history of 20th-century classical music, the 50th anniversary of Van Cliburn’s Moscow gold medal victory. It was a significant moment in post World War II history: At the height of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, the Russian jury in the Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow awarded the first prize to Van Cliburn, a 24-year-old Texan. Van Cliburn’s completely unexpected victory made international headlines, and he was the first musician ever honored with a ticker-tape parade in New York City.

Van Cliburn later invited the Soviet conductor Kiril Kondrashian to come to the US to lead performances of the concerto that he had played to win the gold medal in Moscow. The recording of that work, Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1, became the first classical album to reach platinum status and has since gone on to sell more than three million copies.

BPO Music Director JoAnn Falletta will be on the podium on opening night for the all-Russian program. The Shostakovich Festive Overture opens the concert, appropriately enough, followed by Van Cliburn playing the Tchaikovsky concerto. The evening concludes with a performance of Stravinsky’s score for the ballet Petrushka. Back in 2001, former BPO Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas returned to lead an electrifying performance of the shorter Petrushka Suite, but the last performance of the complete ballet score was in 1993 under the baton of Maximiano Valdes. This will be the first time that Falleta leads the work on a BPO Classics Series concert. Opening night usually sells out well in advance, so purchase your tickets early to avoid disappointment.

Falletta leads a pair of concerts on September 29 and 30, featuring the BPO debut of French pianist Philippe Bianconi, the silver medalist in the Seventh Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. That event, founded by Cliburn in 1962 and held every four years since, has developed into what is perhaps America’s premiere piano competition. After Rossini’s delightful Overture to La Cenerentola, Bianconi will perform the sparkling Saint-Saëns Piano Concerto No. 2, and the program will conclude with a performance of the perennial exotic crowd-pleaser Scheherazade, by Rimsky-Korsakov.

On October 12 and 13, the young, London-based Chinese pianist Sa Chen joins Falletta for the BPO premiere of Clara Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A Minor. Falletta recorded this unjustly neglected masterpiece during her ten-year tenure as the music director of the now disbanded, San Francisco-based Women’s Philharmonic. That orchestra tried to “change the face of what is played in every concert hall by incorporating works by women composers into the orchestral repertoire,” and it is great to see that Falletta is keeping some of that spirit alive. The program for this concert is very much a family affair, with the Symphony No.2 by Robert Schumann, Clara’s husband, and the Tragic Overture by Johannes Brahms, Robert’s protégé and Clara’s lifelong admirer.

Falletta continues her innovative concert programming on November 10 and 11, offering a pair of BPO premieres of new versions of works by Franz Schubert. The enigmatic but much loved Unfinished Symphony, of which only the first two original, completed movements survive, will be performed in a version “completed” by Schubert scholar Brian Newbould and conductor Mario Venzago. A version of Schubert’s highly dramatic string quartet Death and the Maiden, expanded to symphonic proportions, rounds out the program.

All six of the Brandenburg Concertos by J.S. Bach will be featured on the program for November 30 and December 1. After Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, the Brandenburgs are probably the most popular of all baroque works. BPO Concertmaster Michael Ludwig will conduct the orchestra for the first time, as well as taking the formidable solo violin part, with the other principal chair players of the orchestra featuring as soloists.

Falletta returns on December 14 and 15 for a program entitled “A Classical Christmas.” The wide-ranging program travels from the baroque era of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, with Michael Ludwig as soloist in the Winter Concerto, and Corelli’s exquisite Christmas Concerto, to the 20th-century sleigh rides of Leroy Anderson and Sergei Prokofiev (Troika). Stops along the way include excerpts from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, Respighi’s Magi, Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitor and Waldteufel’s Skaters Waltz.

Johnny Mathis

BPO Pops

On Saturday, October 6, Johnny Mathis is the headliner for the opening night of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra Pops Series. Mathis recorded his first song in 1956 and he is one of only five recording artists to have Top 40 Hits spanning each of the four decades since 1955. One of the most popular singers of the last 50 years, he’ll be performing his hit songs “Chances Are,” “Too Much,” “Two Little, Too Late” and “Misty,” the Erroll Garner song that has become his signature piece.

BPO Resident Conductor Robert Franz leads the orchestra Saturday, October 20 in Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story. The performance celebrates the 50th anniversary of Leonard Bernstein’s Broadway smash hit, with acclaimed guest singers offering favorite numbers including “Maria,” “I Feel Pretty,” “Tonight” and many others.

The Oscar- and Grammy-winning film composer and conductor Marvin Hamlisch returns to the stage of Kleinhans on Saturday, November 3, for a program entitled “New York, New York!” The versatile Broadway singer and theatrical actor Darius de Haas joins Hamlisch in a program that pays tribute to both the Big Apple and the Broadway musical.

Nick Clooney, the former Buffalo TV news anchor who is now the host of Turner American Classics, returns to town for “Saturday Night at the Movies” on November 17. The brother of the late singer Rosemary Clooney and the father of the internationally acclaimed actor George Clooney hosts an evening of film score favorites including music from Dr. Zhivago, Ben Hur, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Lawrence of Arabia and Casablanca.

On Friday, December 7, Saturday, December 8 and Sunday, December 9, Robert Franz will lead the BPO, the BPO Chorus and guest artists in a brand new production of “Holiday Pops.” The annual offering of holiday favorites has become a “can’t miss” event for many concertgoers.

Turtle Island String Quartet

Buffalo Chamber

Music Society

On the homepage of its Web site, the Buffalo Chamber Music Society, one of the oldest chamber music series in America, proclaims “World Class Artists” and “Affordable Prices.” If there were ever a candidate for a truth in advertising award, this would be it. Single tickets to the Tuesday night seven-concert series in the Mary Seaton Room of Kleinhans Music hall are inexpensive, and a subscription series ticket has to be the best classical ticket deal going.

The Society’s 84th season begins on October 16, with a joint concert featuring the Turtle Island String Quartet and the Ying Quartet. Along with a performance of the very traditional Haydn Opus 77, No.1, the program includes an all string version of Darius Milhaud’s groundbreaking La Creation du Monde featured on Turtle Island’s 2006 Best Classical Crossover Grammy-winning album. Mark Summer’s Julie-O, David Balakrishnan’s Mara’s Garden of False Delights and Evan Price’s Variations on an Unoriginal Theme complete the highly unusual program.

The Zehetmair Quartet, who are unique in the world of chamber music as they play all their programs without music, are the artists for November 6. The group won the highly prestigious Gramophone Magazine Record of the Year Award for their Schumann CD, and the will be playing the Schumann String Quartet No. 1 from that recording, as well as works by Hindemith and Mozart.

On December 4, the Claremont Trio presents a program of piano trios. The young group made a very favorable impression on a 2004 Gift to the Community concert before going on to win the first Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Award. The program includes the ever-popular Archduke Trio by Beethoven, as well as trios by Schumann and Frank Martin.

The Chamber Music Society also sponsors the Gift to the Community, a series of three free concerts on Sunday afternoons, featuring recent winners of the coveted First Prize in the Young Concert Artists International Auditions. Mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke will sing at the October 14 event, while Chu-Fang Huang offers a piano recital on November 15. Harpist Emmanuel Ceysson appears on February 3, in a program originally cancelled by last October’s snowstorm. Visit www.bflochambermusic.org for more information.

Gabriela Montero

Ramsi P. Tick Concert Series

The Ramsi P. Tick Concert series at Holy Trinity Church on Main Street in Buffalo is unique in the area. Tickets to the five concert series are sold by subscription only. Single tickets are not available. By keeping administrative costs low, the volunteer committee that puts on the series has been able to offer programs consistently featuring both nationally and internationally acclaimed artists at a very reasonable price. Virtually the entire subscription price goes to pay the artists fees, and Holy Trinity Lutheran generously provides its space free of charge. While the venue size is perfectly suited to a wonderful listening experience, seating is limited to 575 people, so be sure to subscribe early.

Hungarian-born pianist Andras Schiff performs an all-Beethoven program on October 19. Schiff is a dynamic performer who has made more than 100 recordings, with many international awards including two Grammies. Schiff is a pianist in the grand manner, whose style recalls the best features of the late-19th- and early-20th-century greats.

Cantus, the male a cappella vocal ensemble, offers a varied program on December 5. Formed in 1995 at St. Olaf College in Minnesota, the ensemble has won acclaim for “the sheer beauty of the unaccompanied male voices…the art of these professional singers proved overwhelming” (Stereophile Magazine).

The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra appears with guest violinist Nikolaj Znaider on January 30. Well known to classical music lovers, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra has been performing at the highest levels for 34 years—without a conductor. The high degree of musicianship necessary to accomplish this feat is evident in the dozens of recordings, including Grammy Award winners, that the group has made over the years. As an added bonus, the young Danish violinist Nikolaj Znaider will be the soloist in the Mozart Violin Concerto No. 5. Znaider is already well launched into an international career, having appeared with numerous major orchestras in Europe and America.

The young Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero offers a solo recital on April 29. The winner of many international prizes, Montero recently made her New York Philharmonic debut under the baton of Lorin Maazel, and has been interviewed on National Public Radio and featured on 60 Minutes. Besides performing some of the most difficult works in the repertoire with superb élan, Montero has become one of the leading exponents of the now nearly forgotten art of improvisation, improvising on themes or pieces suggested by audience members.

Cellist Alisa Weilerstein appears along with pianist Inon Barnaton on May 13. The daughter of Donald Weilerstein, former first violinist of the Cleveland Quartet, and pianist Vivian Weilerstein, Alisa is no stranger to Western New York audiences, having appeared on the BCMS series with her parents, and being heard on the radio in NPR’s Live From Lincoln Center.

Visit www.HolyTrinityBuffalo.org for more information.

University at Buffalo

The UB Department of Music always offers a strong selection of programs at Lippes Concert Hall in Slee Hall on the Amherst campus, and this year is no exception. The first four events in this year’s Slee/Visiting Artist Series are particularly enticing. On Saturday September 8, the New York New Music Ensemble brings its cutting-edge talents to UB as the first guests in the series. Works by Jacob Druckman, Paul Schonfield and UB’s own David Felder will be performed, along with a rare staged performance of Peter Maxwell Davies’ Eight Songs for a Mad King, featuring soprano Haleh Abghari as King George.

Buffalo native and UB graduate Laura Aikin returns to Slee Hall for two performances and a Master Class. It seems that it was just yesterday that Aikin was singing the lead roles in productions by the late, much-missed UB Opera Workshop. However, enough water has gone under the bridge since then that Aikin returns home as a Metropolitan Opera star, with a European-based international career. Aikin gives a solo recital on October 15 that features works by Richard Strauss and Ned Rorem. On October 17, Aikin joins the Slee Sinfonietta for a performance of Pierre Boulez’s masterpiece Pli selon pli for soprano and orchestra, presented by the Center for 21st Century Music.

On October 26, the Dorian Wind Quintet, a recognized leader among wind quintets, is the guest ensemble.

Organist Todd Wilson, chair of the organ department at the Cleveland Institute of Music and organ curator for the Cleveland Orchestra, performs on November 16. Wilson’s performance will include selections from his recent highly acclaimed Delos CD of the complete organ works of Maurice Duruflé.

A faculty recital on November 27 by pianist Alison d’Amato with Cheryl Gobbetti Hoffman on flute offers a pair of intriguing selections: Michael Gandolfi’s Geppetto’s Workshop and Israeli composer Lior Navok’s The Old Photo Box.

Visit www.slee.buffalo.edu for more information.

Viva Vivaldi Festival

The Ars Nova Chamber Musicians, under the baton of founder and Music Director MaryLouise Nanna, begin their 29th season on Sunday, October 28 at Westminster Presbyterian Church on Delaware Avenue in Buffalo. The Ars Nova Chamber Musicians include many BPO players as well as the most talented local freelance artists.

Maestra Nanna has done a remarkable job over the last three decades of bringing Baroque music to life in Western New York. Through her advocacy and musicological investigations, she has insured a new, vibrant life for many neglected and even completely forgotten masterpieces by Vivaldi and his contemporaries.

The remaining three concerts of this year’s festival run are on November 4 at First Presbyterian Church on Symphony Circle, November 11 at Holy Trinity Lutheran on Main Street, and for the first time at St. Benedict’s Roman Catholic Church at the corner of Main and Eggert in Amherst. All concerts begin at 6:30pm on Sunday evenings, and tickets are only available at the door ($10, $8 seniors and students).