Anna Netrebko as Iolanta

Apparently it’s March tomorrow, and the pile-up of concerts one could hear this week is impressive. Here are some picks for all kinds of budgets.

BIG GUNS:
>> After conducting part of the music for the closing ceremony at the Vancouver Olympics, Valery Gergiev returns to the Kennedy Center Opera House this week to conduct more performances by his Mariinsky Opera and Orchestra. On Wednesday and Thursday, there will be scenes from Russian operas, including excerpts of Rimsky-Korsakov, Mussorgsky, and Borodin (March 3, 7:30 p.m.) and some of the Tchaikovsky operas, including the Mariinsky’s one-time product and now superstar, soprano Anna Netrebko, as Iolanta (March 4, 7:30 p.m.). There is a special offer, two tickets for the price of one, to the Wednesday concert: mention offer number 48074 if you purchase over the phone.

>> The only opera that will be staged during the visit of the Mariinsky Opera is Prokofiev’s mammoth, unforgettable War and Peace (March 6 and 7). If you want to understand the opera more, you could also attend a lecture on it by Saul Lillienstein on Saturday afternoon (March 6, 3 p.m.) in the Kennedy Center South Opera Tier Lounge.

>> Pianist Ingrid Fliter returns to Washington this week, to play one of the Mozart piano concerti with the National Symphony Orchestra (March 4 to 6) in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall.