There may not be many concerts happening during this coming work week, but the number of concerts scheduled for the weekend will require shrewd planning for serious listeners.

SYMPHONY:
>> Renaud and Gautier Capuçon, the brothers from France who play violin and cello with exceptional flair, will join the National Symphony Orchestra this week. The program in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall includes the Brahms double concerto (for violin and cello), Debussy's iconic symbolist poem Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, and Harmonielehre by John Adams, with Leonard Slatkin conducting. Nice programming, Maestro! February 15 and 16, 7 p.m.; February 17, 8 p.m. (full-time students are eligible to buy $10 tickets for the Thursday and Friday performances through the Attend! program).

>> For less money, you can also hear the University of Maryland Symphony and Choirs perform Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms and music by Brahms and Haydn on Saturday (February 17, 8 p.m.) at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center in College Park. Tickets: $20 (students, $7).

>> If you are a devoted symphonic listener, you will work in one of the performances by the Baltimore Symphony, too. Their program this week features pianist Orli Shaham playing Messiaen's colorful Oiseaux exotiques, along with music by Wagner, Debussy, Berlioz (with Jun Markl conducting). Both concerts are in Baltimore's Meyerhoff Symphony Hall: February 15 and 16, 8 p.m.

>> A tour of the region's orchestras could end on Sunday (February 18, 5 p.m.) with a concert by the Washington Metropolitan Philharmonic at the Church of the Epiphany (1317 G Street NW). Violinist Elisabeth Adkins will play the solo part in Beethoven's violin concerto, along with a new symphony by Steven Gerber and the first symphony of Hailstork. Tickets: $15.

ALSO RECOMMENDED:
>> We have heard strong reports on the Cuarteto Casals. This weekend, they will play three performances (February 16 to 18) on the Friends of Music Series at Dumbarton Oaks.

>> Talented French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet plays a recital on Saturday (February 17, 4 p.m.), including music by Chopin, Liszt, and Messiaen. This concert in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall is sponsored by WPAS.

>> Also on Saturday night (February 17, 8 p.m.), the Washington Bach Consort will give a concert of solo cantatas featuring the lovely soprano Elizabeth Futral as soloist. This is in the Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center in Alexandria.

THE FREE KIND:
>> Benjamin Bagby brings his musical recitation/adaptation of the Old English epic Beowulf to the Library of Congress for a free concert on Thursday (February 15, 8 p.m.).

>> The University of Maryland Opera Studio gives two free concerts in its New Works Reading Series, on Friday and Saturday ((February 17 and 18, 7 p.m.) in the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Studio in College Park.

>> Also on Friday (February 16, 8 p.m.), Robert Mann and Geoff Nutall (violins), Nicholas Mann (viola), and Bonnie Hampton (cello) will play a program of music by Mann, Mozart, and Bartók (6th quartet) at the Library of Congress.

>> On Sunday (February 18, 4 p.m.) the Silver-Garburg Duo (piano, four hands) will play a free concert at the Phillips Collection (you still have to pay to get in the museum).

>> To cap off your weekend, the National Gallery of Art opens its Sixty-second American Music Festival with a free concert on Sunday (February 18, 6:30 p.m.) by Mark Kaplan (violin) and Yael Weiss (piano). The program includes music by Carter, Feigin, and Sessions.

>> For more concert information, go to Ionarts.