Photo of mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor by Dario Acosta

>> Marin Alsop is in her second year as Music Director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. After a tour of all nine Beethoven symphonies last year, she will spend this season working her way through the music of her mentor, legendary American conductor Leonard Bernstein. She opens the tribute this week with Bernstein's first symphony, "Jeremiah," matching it with Mahler's first symphony, sometimes known as the "Titan." Luscious mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor is the soloist at the Thursday performance (September 25, 8 p.m.) in the Music Center at Strathmore.

>> The Folger Consort performs its first program of early music on historical instruments this weekend, Music from the Court of Isabella d'Este (September 26 to 28). The setting is the warm, intimate acoustic of the Folger Shakespeare Library's theater (201 E. Capitol St. SE).

>> After an eclectic recital by unclassifiable French pianist Benoît Delbecq earlier this week, another young French modern pioneer comes to Washington. Pianist Francesco Tristano Schlimé, winner of the 2004 International Piano Competition for Twentieth-Century Music, will play a mix of his own compositions and improvisations and pieces by Cage, Bach, and Debussy in a recital on Monday (September 22, 7:30 p.m.) at the Embassy of France, La Maison Française (4101 Reservoir Rd. NW).

>> The other major piano recital this week is the one that opens the season of Washington Performing Arts Society, by Anna Vinnitskaya, the 24-year-old winner of last year's Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition. On Saturday afternoon (September 27, 2 p.m.) in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater, she will play a daring program pairing sonatas by Rachmaninoff (no. 2) and Liszt (B minor), with pieces by Gubaidulina and Medtner.

THE FREE KIND:
>> This week's free Tuesday concert (September 23, 12:10 p.m.) at Church of the Epiphany (1317 G St. NW) features ArcoVoce.

>> Tuesday's Millennium Stage concert (September 23, 6 p.m.) will feature the NSO Chamber Ensemble playing world premieres of commissioned works in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

>> The absurdist Squonk Opera returns to the Clarice Smith Center in College Park this week for performances of its UFO music theater piece AstroRama. From September 24 to 26, visitors can gather in the Theater Courtyard, behind the center, at 8 p.m. to watch for free.

>> The Hampton Trio performs in the free concert series on Friday afternoon at Georgetown University's McNeir Hall (September 26, 1:15 p.m.).

>> Later that day (September 26, 6 p.m.), the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra will give a free performance at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage.

>> University of Maryland faculty members Evelyn Elsing (cello), Loren Kitt (clarinet), Santiago Rodriguez (piano), and David Salness (violin) will play at the ceremony presenting the winners of the Walsum Awards for New Music on Sunday (September 28, 2 p.m.) in the Clarice Smith Center. The pieces are all composed for the same combination as Messiaen's Quatuor pour la fin du temps.

FURTHERMORE:
>> Local group the Fessenden Ensemble plays a concert of music by J. C. Bach, Jacob, and Rheinberger at St. Columba's Episcopal Church on Tuesday (September 23, 8 p.m.).

>> On Sunday (September 28, 5 p.m.), members of the Capital City Symphony will play a Chamber Music Concert at the Atlas Performing Arts Center (1333 H St. NE).

>> Finally, violinist Shunske Sato and pianist Tao Lin will play a recital at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater on Sunday (September 28, 7:30 p.m.).

>> For more concert information go to Ionarts.