Best classical concerts of the week: Das Rheingold at Minnesota Opera, Minnesota Orchestra kicks off Mahler project

The 24 songs of Schubert's "Winterreise" (Winter Journey) contain some of the composer's most beautiful music, but also some of his most anguished. The tale of a lonely, love-spurned traveler is further unpicked in this multimedia presentation featuring baritone Justin Spenner and pianist Jerrod Wendland, with dancer Jennifer Mack and photography by Jeff Korte adding a visual element. Seating is extremely limited as the audience is invited to contemplate issues of trauma, obsession and mental illness from a variety of angles while immersed in Schubert's haunting music. (8 p.m. Fri. & Sat.; Nautilus Music-Theater, St. Paul; $12-$15, winterjourney.brown papertickets.com)

Hard on the heels of the Minnesota Orchestra's acclaimed completion of its Sibelius symphony recordings comes another announcement: The orchestra is working with the Swedish label Bis to record all of Gustav Mahler's symphonies. Two concert performances of the mighty Sixth Symphony set the ball rolling, paired with a new clarinet concerto by Claudio Puntin. The Sixth is Mahler's grimmest symphony, stupendously orchestrated and rising to a shattering series of climaxes in the fatalistic final movement. With music director Osmo Vänskä conducting, a white-knuckle ride is certain. (8 p.m. Fri. & Sat.; Orchestra Hall, Mpls.; $29-$96, 612-371-5656 or minnesotaorchestra.org)

Early Italian baroque music meets the world of contemporary jazz in "Alma Gentil," a program by Consortium Carissimi juxtaposing six madrigals by Belli, Biagio and Monteverdi with five by Twin Cities jazz musician and composer Jeremy Walker. Walker's own jazz trio swaps licks with the baroque instruments of the Consortium. (7:30 p.m. Fri., 2 p.m. Sun.; Landmark Center, St. Paul; $10-$25, consortiumcarissimi.org)

The band pit at the Ordway is too small to hold a Wagner-sized orchestra. So Minnesota Opera can't do Wagner, right? Wrong. By merging pit and stage, the company is totally re-imagining the performing area for its first-ever staging of Wagner's "Das Rheingold," part one of the vast "Ring" cycle, with singers and players intermingling. The must-see operatic event of the fall season.

Principal string players from the Minnesota Orchestra and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra combine talents as the chamber group Accordo opens a new season. The main serving is Schoenberg's steamily emotional, late romantic sextet "Transfigured Night." Hugo Wolf's Italian Serenade and Beethoven's String Quintet are also featured. (7:30 p.m. Mon., Plymouth Congregational Church, Mpls.; $21-$32.50, 651-292-3268 or schubert.org)