It’s January, although it may not have seemed much like it outdoors this week. Where are the snow days? It’s about time to make a winter journey.

BLEAK MIDWINTER:
>> Schubert’s final song cycle, the somber and menacing Winterreise, is about a man wandering in the winter night. It is almost always best sung by a low voice, which suits the tone of darkness in the songs, as it was at its last performance in Washington by François Loup. One exception is soprano Christine Schäfer, who made a recording of the cycle recently. She will perform Winterreise, with the accompanist from that recording, Eric Schneider, at the Austrian Embassy this Wednesday (January 16, 7:30 p.m.). To buy a ticket at this point, you need to call the Vocal Arts Society directly (202-365-9064).

>> A close second this week is a concert that offers its own somber qualities, the latest installment of the Emerson String Quartet’s series with the Smithsonian Resident Associates (January 19, 6 p.m.). The program at the National Museum of Natural History combines the two op. 51 Brahms quartets, featured on the Emerson’s recent recording, and Bartók’s third quartet, which the group has also recorded magnificently.

>> From the local musicians, there is a program of Bach violin and harpischord concertos presented by members of the Washington Bach Consort (January 20, 3 p.m.) in their new home venue downtown, the Sidney Harman Center for the Arts. The soloists will be the group’s conductor, J. Reilly Lewis, and concertmaster, Tim Haig.

>> The National Symphony Orchestra returns from vacation this week, with a program featuring American composer John Corigliano’s second symphony (January 17 to 19) in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. Guest soloist Sarah Chang will try her hand at the demanding Brahms violin concerto, with the uninspired choice of Mozart’s overture to The Magic Flute as filler (by chance also the choice, no less inspired, to round out Marin Alsop’s program this week from the Baltimore Symphony).