From now until Thanksgiving, the classical music schedule is seriously overloaded with concerts we have to hear. So, here are the essentials.

>> The string of fine piano recitals continues this week with the Italian master, Maurizio Pollini (pictured), who will perform on Wednesday (October 29, 8 p.m.) in the Music Center at Strathmore. Beethoven, Schumann, and Chopin are on the program.

>> If you cannot make it to Pollini, one of my favorite young string quartets, the Jupiter Quartet will give a free concert on Wednesday (October 29, 7:30 p.m.) at the Freer Gallery of Art. They will play music by Haydn, Shostakovich, and Gubaidulina.

>> If it’s opera you want, the biggest event of Washington National Opera‘s fall season is the production of Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia, which opens on Saturday (November 1, 7 p.m.). Incredible as it seems, it will be the company debut of soprano Renée Fleming. Performances continue through November 17, some with Sondra Radvanovsky instead of Fleming.

>> For those with an 18th-century inclination, Opera Lafayette opens its fall season on Sunday (November 2, 7:30 p.m.) with a double-bill of Haydn’s cantatas Armida Abbandonata and Arianna a Naxos, at La Maison Française.

>> Also at La Maison Française on Tuesday night (October 28, 7:30 p.m.) the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia will perform with cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras, in a program of 17th- and 18th-century music. Tickets: $30.