If you are looking for a musical way to celebrate Veterans Day, the Washington Chorus will perform its annual Tribute and Reflection concert this afternoon (November 11, 3 p.m.), in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall (tickets: $15 to $55). Their program includes Joseph Haydn's martial Mass in Time of War. Although there are not that many classical music concerts in the early part of the week, the schedule for next weekend is about as full as it could be, with far too much music for one pair of ears to hear. Just how we like it.

HEADLINES:
>> The biggest name of the week is cellist Yo-Yo Ma, who will give a recital on Monday evening (November 12, 8 p.m.), with pianist Kathryn Stott (piano), in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. This program, sponsored by Washington Performing Arts Society and long since sold out, features three important sonatas for the instrument, by Schubert (the "Arpeggione," D. 821), Shostakovich (D minor, op. 40), and Franck (A major). Some amuse-gueules by Piazzolla and Gismonti are thrown in for some extra flavor. Beg, borrow, or steal to get yourself in the door.

>> A less media-saturated but also excellent cellist, Heinrich Schiff, will be the featured soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra this week (November 15 to 17), playing Shostakovich's first cello concerto. Guest conductor Roberto Minczuk bookends it with the worthy Homenaje a Federico Garcia Lorca by Revueltas and an audience favorite, Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade. Tickets: $20 to $80 (student tickets for $10, through the Attend! program, for the November 16 performance only).

>> Violist Kim Kashkashian will give a recital on Sunday (November 18, 4 p.m.) with pianist Lydia Artymiw. This is the second concert in what is regrettably the last season of the concert series sponsored by the Foundation for Advanced Education in the Sciences, at Congregation Beth-El in Bethesda. Tickets: $30 (students, $12).

>> Perhaps the most exciting event of the week, however, is a free concert. An ensemble called red fish blue fish will perform the world premiere of a new work by Detroit-born composer Roger Reynolds, Sanctuary, on Sunday (November 18, 6:30 p.m.) at the National Gallery of Art (East Building, Ground Level). The Library of Congress has an online exhibit of materials relating to the composer, the only living composer so featured on their Web site.

OPERA:
>> Another world premiere is the new opera by John Musto, Later the Same Evening, presented by Maryland Opera Studio (November 15 to 18) at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. The libretto is based on paintings by Edward Hopper, and the opera is presented in conjunction with the National Gallery's Edward Hopper exhibit.

>> One of the most magical moments in recent memory was taking my son to see the Salzburg Marionnette Theater perform The Magic Flute. The troupe is back in the area this weekend, at Baltimore's Shriver Hall, for single performances of The Magic Flute (November 17, 7:30 p.m.) and Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel (November 18, 2 p.m.). The Humperdinck matinee is a free concert, long since fully reserved (call the box office to check for last-minute returns), but there are tickets remaining for the Mozart.

>> Peabody Opera Theater presents Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw at Peabody's Friedberg Hall in Baltimore (November 15 to 18). They should have scheduled this closer to Halloween, as it is an intensely creepy opera.

>> Baltimore Opera offers a production of the rarely heard Maria Stuarda by Donizetti, with performances remaining on Wednesday (November 14, 7:30 p.m.), Friday (November 16, 8:15 p.m.), and Sunday (November 18, 3 p.m.). The lead casting of Fabiana Bravo and Gregory Kunde promises to be worthwhile.

FREE, PLEASE:
>> Oboist Mark Hill and bassoonist Sue Heinemann give a free duo recital on Monday (November 12, 8 p.m.), at Clarice Smith.

>> Much more exciting is the free concert by the Quatuor Ysaÿe, an excellent string quartet, at the Library of Congress on Friday (November 16, 8 p.m.). The program combines music by Haydn, Saint-Saëns, and Schumann.

>> Christine Bethanne Johnson, winner of the Wideman Piano Competition, will give a free recital at the Phillips Collection on Sunday (November 18, 4 p.m.). She will play Debussy, Rachmaninoff (the second sonata), Granados, and Dutilleux. You still have to pay the admission fee to enter the museum.

>> For more concert information, go to Ionarts.