Even though it is a holiday week, there are some excellent concerts to be heard. If you happen to be religiously inclined or can at least tolerate sitting through a religious service, this is also the week to hear lots of Renaissance polyphony and other historical music sung in resonant church spaces.

Krystian Zimerman, pianist

HEADLINES:
>> The last time that Polish pianist Krystian Zimerman was in the area, he dedicated one of the pieces he played to the cause of the prisoners detained at Guantanamo Bay. In fact, he was so upset about American foreign policy that he swore not to return to the United States until after President Bush’s term in office had ended. Well, there’s a new sheriff in town, and the legendary pianist, the winner of the Chopin Competition in Warsaw in 1956, will give a solo recital sponsored by Washington Performing Arts Society in the Music Center at Strathmore on Wednesday (April 8, 8 p.m.). The intriguing program combines some Bach and Brahms with Beethoven’s last piano sonata and a Polish tribute, Szymanowski’s Variations on a Polish Theme, op. 10.

>> You may have seen the story of El Sistema, Venezuela’s miraculous system of public music education, featured on 60 Minutes. The most public part of El Sistema is the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra, an ensemble of the most accomplished students, which has been giving acclaimed concerts around the world. They will come to Washington on Monday (April 6, 8 p.m.) for their first concert here, with their dynamic young conductor, Gustavo Dudamel, who is about to take over as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. You can try to contact Washington Performing Arts Society directly about tickets, but it has been sold out for a while.

>> The National Symphony Orchestra will perform the Brahms German Requiem this week (April 9 to 11), with guest conductor Kurt Masur and the Master Chorale of Washington, in one of that group’s final concerts before it ceases to exist.