Mark Morris' King Arthur
Mark Morris Dance Group, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, and the UC Chamber Chorus combine for a spirited interpretation of Henry Purcell's opera King Arthur. The production was cocommissioned by the English National Opera, Cal Performances, and the New York City Opera. Jane Glover conducts; Adrianne Lobel, Isaac Mizrahi, and James F. Ingalls designed the production. Sept. 30 and Oct. 3, 5, 6, 7; 8 p.m., Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley, $42-$110, (510) 642-9988, www.calperfs.berkeley.edu/presents. (L.H.)

Shostakovich Mini-Festival
Join the Alexander String Quartet, pianist Roger Woodward, and lecturer Robert Greenberg in singing Happy Birthday to Dmitri, born a hundred years ago on Sept. 25 (unless you're on the Julian calendar), in San Francisco Performances' mini-festival dedicated to the other big birthday boy this year. (See the feature this week.)Sept. 24, 1 p.m. and 7 p.m., Sept. 25, 7 p.m., Herbst Theatre, San Francisco, $22-$89, (415) 392-2545, www.performances.org. (M.B.)

MTT and Upshaw
The San Francisco Symphony currently holds the number-one spot among Bay Area listeners with a love for innovative music making, and there are many performances to be grateful for on the fall calendar. In late September, Michael Tilson Thomas conducts and Dawn Upshaw stars in a program of Berlioz (Overture to Benvenuto Cellini) and Brahms (Symphony No. 4), plus Lukas Foss' Time Cycle. Sept. 27-30, 8 p.m., Davies Hall, San Francisco, $25-$114, (415) 864-6000, www.sfsymphony.org. (H.T.)

Symphony Silicon Valley
Emil de Cou, well known in the Bay Area and now associate conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra, guest conducts Symphony Silicon Valley in Jennifer Higdon's Concerto for Orchestra. While Robert Spano and the Atlanta Symphony's first-rate CD makes an excellent case for the work, Marin Alsop's Cabrillo Festival Orchestra in 2004 even better plumbed the greatness and power of Higdon's score, a piece that, as much as any other, puts 21st century symphonic music firmly on the map. Sept. 30, 8 p.m.; Oct. 1, 2:30 p.m.; California Theatre, San Jose, $36-$72, (408) 286-2600, symphonysiliconvalley.org. (S.M.)

Tilden Trio
In 2004, violinist Sarn Oliver, cellist Peter Wyrick, and pianist June Choi Oh, who studied together at the Juilliard School of Music, formed the Tilden Trio, after years of collaboration in different Bay Area music groups. Oliver and Wyrick are both members of the San Francisco Symphony (Oliver is one of the first violins and Wyrick is associate principal cello). Oh is on the faculty at Dominican University and the San Francisco Conservatory. They’re performing Dvorák's Dumky Trio, Ravel's Trio in A Minor, two works by Piazzolla, and Sarn Oliver's own Tilden Park, written this year. The performance takes place at a small Berkeley venue, the Hillside Club, which has an eclectic series of world music, jazz, and classical concerts. Sept. 24, 7 p.m., Hillside Club, Berkeley, $10-$15, (510) 845-1350, www.hillsideclub.org/concerts.htm. (L.H.)

The Maybeck Trio
The beautiful Berkeley City Club, designed by famed architect Julia Morgan, has a ballroom that houses Berkeley Chamber Performances. Its first concert of the year features the Maybeck Trio — Roy Zajac, clarinet, Elaine Kreston, cello, and Jerome Kuderna, piano — in a beguiling program of works by Janácek, Zemlinsky, Debussy, and Mendelssohn. Sept. 26, 8 p.m., Berkeley City Club, $20, (510) 848-7800, www.berkeleychamberperform.org. (L.H.)

Sheldon Piano Trio
Seventh Avenue Presbyterian Church, in San Francisco’s Inner Sunset District, hosts both an ongoing choral series (with San Francisco Renaissance Voices) and a chamber music series. The next chamber concert features the Sheldon Piano Trio (Karen Heather, piano; Wang Chen Long, violin; and Michael Graham, cello). They will perform the Brahms Piano Trio, Opus 101 in C Minor, and — more unusually— the Turina Piano Trio No. 1, and excerpts from Martinu’s Bergerettes. Sept. 23, 7:30 p.m., Seventh Avenue Presbyterian, San Francisco, $12-$15, (415) 664-2543, www.seventhavenuechurch.org. (L.H.)

S.F. Opera's A Masked Ball
San Francisco Opera's first season under General Director David Gockley opens with Verdi's midcareer A Masked Ball (see review). Deborah Voigt stars as Amelia, with debuting tenor Marcus Haddock as the jolly King Gustav and debuting baritone Ambroglio Maestri as Amelia's fatally jealous husband, Ankarström. Marco Armiliato conducts. Sept. 20, 23, 26, 29, times vary, War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco, $25-$235, (415) 864-3330, www.sfopera.com. (L.H.)

Opera San José's Roméo et Juliette
The South Bay scene kicks off with a rarity of particular interest. Beginning early this month, Opera San José starts its run of eight performances at the California Theatre of Gounod's lyric Roméo et Juliette, not heard in the Bay Area since Festival Opera's 2004 production. OSJ sports a new lineup of headline talent, including soprano Rochelle Bard making her debut as Juliette. The prize-winning Bard comes with a pedigree of East Coast companies, most recently in major roles with the Baltimore Opera. Sept. 21, 23, 8 p.m.; Sept. 24, 3 p.m.; California Theatre, San Jose, $65-$85, (408) 437-4450, www.operasj.org. (S.M.)

S. F. Lyric Opera’s Il Trovatore
The “other” opera company in San Francisco opens its 2006-2007 season with Verdi’s hot-blooded Il Trovatore, the archetypal romantic opera, complete with gypsies, noblemen, a convent, romantic rivalries, and poison concealed in a ring. Performed in English at the Florence Gould Theater at the Palace of the Legion of Honor, it will likely make for a lively and entertaining production with plenty of impact. Barnaby Palmer, SFLO’s talented artistic director, conducts. Sept. 22, 7:30 p.m.; Sept. 24, 1:30 p.m.; Florence Gould Theater, Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, $15-$28 (under 12 free), (415) 392-4400, www.cityboxoffice.com. (L.H.)

Rigoletto
Verdi's great masterpiece returns in Michael Yeargan's striking, Chirico-esque production. The vivid and moving Paolo Gavanelli shares the title role with Valeri Alexejev; Mary Dunleavy is Rigoletto's besotted daughter Gilda and Giuseppi Gripali is the Duke of Mantua. Stephen Lord conducts. Sept. 30; Oct. 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 21, 24, 29, times vary, War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco; $25-245, (415) 864-3330, www.sfopera.com. (L.H.)

Kiri Te Kanawa, soprano
and Frederica von Stade, mezzo-soprano

Kiri and Flicka Together
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Frederica von Stade, nearly retired from the operatic stage, give a joint recital. It is likely to be both nostalgic and full of charm and affection. Sept. 21, 8 p.m, Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley, $48-$110, (510) 642-9988, www.calperfs.berkeley.edu/presents. (L.H.)

"Complete" Schubert Sonatas
Whether he plays all of the Schubert sonatas (20 of them), or all the complete sonatas (11), Meng-Chieh Liu's four recitals (three this fall) are bound to be a rare treat for those who cannot get enough music of the composer whose "brief existence was neither very successful nor eventful" (David Mason Greene). Liu's own existence might have been even briefer — it has certainly been plenty eventful. At age 21, he was diagnosed with a commonly fatal and debilitating form of vasculitis, a disease of the connective tissue. Despite being told he would never play again, he persevered, and through heroic retraining he was able to return to his calling (and to rave reviews) three years later in 1998. Sept. 22, 8 p.m., Sept. 24, 4 p.m., Old First Church, San Francisco, $12-$15, (415) 474-1608, www.oldfirstconcerts.org. (J.D.)

Rolando Villazón
Acclaimed tenor Rolando Villazón, a grad of the 1998 Merola Opera Program, will be in town for a recital at UC Berkeley, as part of Cal Performance's lineup. What's on the program? That part is still a mystery. Sept. 24, 3 p.m., Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley, $68, (510) 642-9988, www.calperfs.berkeley.edu. (M.V.C.)

Mark Simons and Friends
Guitarist Mark Simons is joined by flutist Carmen Lemoine and the other members of the San Francisco Guitar Quartet for a marvelously eclectic concert of works by J.S. Bach, Ravel, Miles Davis, Piazzolla, Towner, Rosheger, Cordoso, Garato, Ravel, Villa-Lobos, Bartók, Yocoh, Dresher, and Poulenc. Sept. 29, 8 p.m., Old First Church, San Francisco, $12-$15, (415) 474-1608, www.oldfirstconcerts.org (L.H.)