'CASANOVA'S HOMECOMING'
Nov. 14-22, Ordway Center
If the music business were a meritocracy, the operas of Dominick Argento (right) would be as familiar as Puccini's. But it isn't, and they're not. Which makes the Minnesota Opera's revival of this shrewd comedy, written for the 1985 opening of the Ordway Center, all the more eventful. Backward-looking in temper and technique, the piece is brought off brilliantly -- never more so than in the opera-within-an-opera of Act I. (Perhaps because Argento was his own librettist, words and music dovetail dazzlingly.) Baritone John Fanning sings the title role in James Robinson's new production; the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra is in the pit, as it was for the premiere. 7:30 p.m. Nov. 14, 17, 19, 21; 2 p.m. Nov. 22. Ordway Center, 345 Washington St., St. Paul. $20-$200. 612-333-6669, www.mnopera.org.
Chamber music/recitals: The Artaria String Quartet, resident in St. Paul, inaugurates a four-concert series with a strong Haydn/Bartok pairing. The newly formed Accordo, mixing principals of the Minnesota and St. Paul Chamber orchestras, debuts with a mostly Russian program. The Frederic Chopin Society launches its season with pianist Nareh Arghamanyan (who'll play the Humoreske of Robert Schumann). Music in the Park opens with a quintet comprising four Minnesota Orchestra string players and, wearing his clarinetist's hat, Osmo Vänskä. And the Schubert Club presents the superlative Greek violinist Leonidas Kavakos in music by Bach, Schumann and Georges Enescu.
Artaria: 4 p.m. next Sun. Sundin Hall, Hamline University, 1536 Hewitt Av., St. Paul. $44-$52/series. 651-523-2459 or www.artariaquartet.com.
Accordo: 7 p.m. next Sun., 8 p.m. Sept. 22. Southern Theater, 1420 Washington Av. S., Mpls. $20. 612.340.1725 or www.southerntheater.org.
Chopin Society: 3 p.m. Oct. 4. Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center, 130 Macalester St., St. Paul. $12-$20. 612-822-0123 or www.chopinsocietymn.org.
Music in the Park: 4 p.m. Oct. 11. St. Anthony Park United Church of Christ, 2129 Commonwealth Av., St. Paul. $22. 651-645-5699 or www.musicintheparkseries.org.
Schubert Club: 8 p.m. Oct. 26. Ordway Center, 345 Washington St., St. Paul. $25-$50. 651-292-3268 or www.schubert.org.
Minnesota Orchestra: New music tends to suffer in an economic slump, as presenters seek to shore up their fortunes at the box office. But don't tell the orchestra, which, after an initial salvo of Tchaikovsky, has scheduled world premieres by Finland's Kalevi Aho ("Minea") and Britain's Sally Beamish (Cello Concerto No. 2, with soloist Robert Cohen) in successive November weeks, then presents the latest edition of the invaluable Future Classics program, showcasing the work of seven young composers from as far away as Spain. Osmo Vänskä conducts.
