A WINTER GUIDE TO MUSIC, OPERA AND BALLET AROUND THE GLOBE

By REBECCA SCHMID

Shostakovich’s “The Nose,” staged by Barrie Kosky, arrives in Australia after a run at the Royal Opera House in London in 2016. Credit Robbie Jack/Corbis, via Getty Images

A look at coming performances of music, opera and ballet around the world.

HELSINKI, FINLAND

Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Music Center

Dec. 6

The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra celebrates its 90th anniversary and a century of national independence with two world premieres by native composers. Magnus Lindberg, a former artist-in-residence with the New York Philharmonic, unveils the orchestral work “Tempus Fugit,” while Lotta Wennakoski employs a male choir in “Uniin asti” (“Until Dreams”). Also included is Sibelius’s “Kullervo,” a symphonic poem that established the composer as the voice of National Romanticism in the late 19th century.

The Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal owns an octobass, an approximately 11-foot instrument. Only two others are known to exist. Credit Antoine Saito for the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA

“The Nose,” Sydney Opera House

Select dates, Feb. 21-March 3

Shostakovich’s “The Nose,” staged by Barrie Kosky, arrives in Australia for the first time. Based on Nikolai Gogol’s absurdist tale of the nose of a civil servant that escapes and sends St. Petersburg into disarray, the opera was dropped from repertory by Soviet authorities in 1930 and rediscovered by the West in the 1960s. This production, first seen at London’s Royal Opera in 2016, features an English translation by David Pountney. The bass John Tomlinson, bass-baritone Martin Winkler and tenor Alexander Lewis return from the original cast.

MONTREAL

Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal

Feb. 14-15

At the Maison Symphonique de Montréal, a modern concert hall unveiled in 2011, the Iranian-born composer Behzad Ranjbaran’s Concerto for Double Bass and Orchestra receives its first performance. If the program’s inclusion of the overture to Wagner’s “Lohengrin” and Mahler’s First Symphony seems conventional, there is a twist: The Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal owns an octobass, an approximately 11-foot instrument of which only two others are known to exist. Kent Nagano, the music director, conducts.

BEIJING

“Thaïs,” National Center for the Performing Arts

Feb. 2-6

Jules Massenet’s “Thaïs,” about a courtesan in ancient Egypt who dies shortly after converting to Christianity, receives its Chinese premiere. The opera is well known in the West but not performed as often as the composer’s “Manon” or “Werther.” Ermonela Jaho stars in the title role alongside Plácido Domingo as the monk Athanaël. The rising star tenor Antonio Poli appears as the philosopher Nicias. The Massenet specialist Patrick Fournillier conducts, while Hugo de Ana presides over staging.

A portrait of Bach in a stained glass window at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, Germany, where the composer served as cantor for nearly three decades. Credit DeAgostini/Getty Images

LEIPZIG, GERMANY

“Weihnachtsoratorium,” St. Thomas Church

Dec. 15

The holiday season in Germany would not be complete without a performance of Bach’s “Weihnachtsoratorium” (Christmas Oratorio). In Leipzig, the work returns to St. Thomas Church, where the composer served as cantor for nearly three decades. The current Thomaskantor, Gotthold Schwarz, leads the Gewandhausorchester and the church choir, which performed the score for the first time in 1734. The program also includes the “Magnificat,” written shortly after Bach began his tenure.

The Swedish choreographer Alexander Ekman will make his company debut with “Play” at the Palais Garnier. Credit Artyom Geodakyan/TASS, via Getty Images

PARIS

“Play,” Palais Garnier

Dec. 6-31

The Swedish choreographer Alexander Ekman, known for works that mix theatricality with a vocabulary drawing on both classic and contemporary dance, makes his company debut. The 33-year-old sets out to explore what it means to play as an adult through a mix of individual movements and synchronized gestures. “Let’s give ourselves permission to be crazy,” he says in a statement, “to forget the everyday.” Mr. Ekman also designs sets and collaborates on costumes. Music is provided by the Swedish composer Mikael Karlsson.

MUNICH

“Il Trittico,” Bavarian State Opera

Select dates, Dec. 17-Jan. 1

Kirill Petrenko, the general music director, conducts his first Puccini opera in a staging by the Dutch director Lotte de Beer. The production is the first time that “Il Trittico” — a trilogy of one-act operas shadowing the passage from hell to heaven — will be performed in the original Italian in Munich. The celebrated baritone Ambrogio Maestri makes his debut as the title character of “Gianni Schicchi,” the second installment, while the soprano Ermonela Jaho returns to a signature role in “Suor Angelica.”

A rehearsal for “Nureyev,” a new ballet, at the Bolshoi

HONG KONG

“Götterdämmerung,” Hong Kong Philharmonic

Jan. 18, 21

The Hong Kong Philharmonic performs the final installment of a “Ring” cycle that began in 2015. Jaap van Zweden, the music director, leads a cast including the tenor Daniel Brenna as the antihero Siegfried and the soprano Gun-Brit Barkmin as Brünnhilde, daughter of the father of the gods. The mezzo Michelle DeYoung, who sang in “Das Rheingold,” takes on the role of Brünnhilde’s sister, Waltraute, while the bass Eric Halfvarson steps in to replace Mikhail Petrenko as the evil Hagen.

ZURICH

“Idomeneo,” Opernhaus Zurich

Select dates, Feb. 4-March 2

The lakeside opera house presents Mozart’s Dramma per musica in three acts. Set at the end of the Trojan War, the story tells of the romantic triangle among two princesses and Idamante — son of Idomeneo, king of Crete — and how he escapes being sacrificed to the gods. The soprano Hanna-Elisabeth Müller makes her house debut as Princess Ilia, while the tenor Joseph Kaiser, who played Tamino in Kenneth Branagh’s 2007 film version of “The Magic Flute,” sings the title role. The early music specialist Giovanni Antonini conducts the Orchestra La Scintilla.

MOSCOW

“Nureyev,” Bolshoi Theater

Dec. 9-10

A new ballet about the life of the Soviet-born dancer Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev is scheduled to finally take the stage. “Nureyev” was postponed at the last minute in July, and its librettist, director and designer, Kirill Serebrennikov, remains under house arrest, accused of embezzling state funds. The show’s exploration of Nureyev’s homosexuality also stirred up controversy given Russian laws against “gay propaganda.” The young Russian composer Ilya Demutsky provides music, while the San Francisco-based Yuri Possokhov presides over choreography.

BERLIN

Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Philharmonie

Jan. 10

The Japanese-born composer Dai Fujikura unveils his Cello Concerto, described by The New York Times last year as “overtly seductive,” in a new version for large orchestra. The international soloist Jan Vogler performs the part originally conceived for Katinka Kleijn, while Manfred Honeck conducts. The program also includes Debussy’s “Six Épigraphes Antiques,” a four-hand piano suite posthumously scored for orchestra by the American composer Alan Fletcher, and Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony.

LONDON

“Messiah,” Southbank Center

Dec. 15

In London, where the German-born Handel established himself as the country’s leading composer in the early 18th century, the Southbank Center evokes his most famous oratorio’s historic origins with period costumes and a candlelit setting. The Mozart Festival Orchestra, which specializes in baroque and classical repertoire, joins the City of London Choir under the baton of Hilary Davan Wetton. The quartet of soloists includes the soprano Jennifer France and the baritone George Humphreys.

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