It’s that time of the year again, when every choral group in the city has a Lenten concert, an Easter concert, or a Holy Week concert. We start this week with some of the best ones for the upcoming week.

PREACHING FROM THE CHOIR:
>> When the first concert on the list requires a trip to Baltimore, you know that it is going to be good. The Tallis Scholars, one of the best choral groups in recent history, will performing a ravishing program of Renaissance and Baroque music for Lent, including works by Monteverdi, Palestrina, Gombert, and Lassus. The venue is Shriver Hall, on the campus of Johns Hopkins University, on Sunday, with tickets at $33 (students, $17). April 1, 5:30 p.m.

>> Closer to home, the choirs of Washington National Cathedral will perform J. S. Bach’s St. John Passion with a Baroque orchestra on (Passion) Sunday. Robert Petillo will sing the part of the Evangelist. Tickets range from $10 to $62. April 1, 4 p.m.

>> It is a mystery to me why some choruses feel that Holy Week is a good time to program Requiem Masses — a man who supposedly rose from the dead certainly does not need a Requiem Mass. Still, you may enjoy the Master Chorale of Washington’s Sunday concert in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, which features the Brahms German Requiem. It is not for everyone, but I find its somber, melancholy tone quite beautiful. Tickets: $20 to $69. April 1, 3 p.m.

>> Finally, on Saturday evening, the Cantate Chamber Singers will present a concert at St. John’s Norwood Parish in Chevy Chase, Md. This program is one of the most inventive of the week, combining Alberto Ginastera’s settings of the Lamentations of Jeremiah (now those are texts that are proper to Holy Week!) and Frank Martin’s Mass for Double Choir. Choral settings of traditional Icelandic, African, and Australian music, for some reason, round out the concert. Tickets: $25 (students, $10). March 31, 8 p.m.

Opera and free concerts after the jump.