The magic word this week is opera, and just taking in all of the opera performances on the schedule is going to keep you busy. You will find options other than opera after the jump.

PLEASURES OPERATIC:
>> After Rossini’s Il Viaggio a Reims this weekend, the Kirov Opera will perform Verdi’s Falstaff on Wednesday (January 31, 7:30 p.m.), Friday (February 2, 7:30 p.m.), and Saturday (February 3, 7:30 p.m.) in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. This is the last opera Verdi (shown at right) finished in his lifetime, and many think it one of his best. The excellent libretto by Arrigo Boito is derived from Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor. The score is an absolute wonder. Tickets: $45 to $195.

>> Even more delightful is the Kirov Opera’s single concert performance on Sunday (February 4, 3 p.m.) of Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. This actually has much less to do with Shakespeare than with last year’s centenary celebration of Dmitri Shostakovich. This disturbing opera, far too rarely performed, is one of the masterpieces of the 20th century. Valery Gergiev will conduct in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. Tickets: $25 to $150.

>> More opera, more Shakespeare. A trip to Baltimore is worth your time again this week for a production of Benjamin Britten’s lovely chamber opera The Rape of Lucretia, based partially on Shakespeare’s poem The Rape of Lucrece. Peabody Chamber Opera has scheduled performances for Friday (February 2, 7:30 p.m.), Saturday (February 3, 7:30 p.m.), and Sunday (February 4, 3 p.m.) in the intimate space of Baltimore Theater Project. Tickets: $24 (students, $10).

>> Torquato Tasso may not be as well known to English speakers as Shakespeare, but Philip Kennicott’s article today in the Post should get you up to speed. Opera Lafayette brings us a concert performance of one of the most famous operas derived from Tasso’s Gerusalemme liberata on Saturday (February 3, 3 p.m.), Lully’s Armide, at Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center in College Park. Tickets: $25 to $45.