Highlights

There’s much more than the Spokane Symphony when it comes to classical music in the Inland Northwest this fall. Among the highlights:

• Allegro – Baroque and Beyond opens its season Oct. 15 at The Met with Henry Purcell’s “King Arthur” – not quite an opera, but more than just a play with music. Allegro’s version will use actors and dancers along with musicians.

In January, internationally acclaimed flutist Janet See will return to her native Spokane, and Allegro’s season will close in March with Philador’s operatic spoof “The Marriage of Fat Kate.”

• Coeur d’Alene’s Opera Plus begins the region’s opera season with two performances of Donizetti’s unbelievably silly but tune-filled comedy “The Elixir of Love” on Oct. 9 and 10 at North Idaho College. Opera Plus also will present Seattle Opera Young Artists in concert Nov. 13 at Coeur d’Alene’s First Presbyterian Church.

• Spokane’s resident opera company, Spokane/Coeur d’Alene Opera, saves its major production (this season, “La Boheme”) and its dinner theater production (this time “The Secret of Susanna”) for the late spring, with dates yet to be announced.

But the company’s traditional “Men’s Night Out” on Oct. 13 at Far West Billiards will feature soprano Ann Fennessy with the Brent Edstrom Trio. And the annual winter gala, Diamonds and Divas, is scheduled for Dec. 31 at The Davenport Hotel.

• The Spokane String Quartet opens its Met season on Nov. 15 with a concert of quartets by Mozart, Schumann and Bartok. Featured guest artists later in the season include pianist Duane Hulbert (April 10), violinist Rachel Barton Pine (May 8) and flutist Anna Povich de Mayor (May 22).

The quartet also is playing three dinner concerts at the downtown CenterStage performance venue this season, starting Oct. 24.

• The University of Idaho has a remarkable chamber music series that presents some cutting-edge contemporary classical music. A Chicago-based ensemble of mostly young musicians, the eighth blackbird, can be heard in Moscow on Nov. 10.

Unless otherwise noted, tickets are available through TicketsWest outlets (325-SEAT, 800-325-SEAT, www.ticketswest.com).

Sept. 21 – Rainier Chamber Winds, University of Idaho Auditorium

Sept. 25 – Washington Idaho Symphony, Beasley Coliseum, Pullman

Sept. 29 – Onyx Brass, Bryan Hall Theater, Pullman

Oct. 9-10 – Opera Plus, “The Elixir of Love,” North Idaho College (800-423-2849)

Oct. 10 – Spokane British Brass Band, Brass on the High Seas, Spokane Falls Community College

Oct. 13 – Spokane/Coeur d’Alene Opera, Men’s Night Out, Far West Billiards (533-1150)

Oct. 15 – Allegro, Purcell’s King Arthur, The Met

Oct. 15 – Seattle Symphony, Bryan Hall Theater, Pullman

Oct. 16 – Coeur d’Alene Symphony, Fall Fantasy, North Idaho College

Oct. 17 – Spokane Area Children’s Chorus, Musicking I, Westminster Congregational Church (624-7992)

Oct. 24 – Spokane String Quartet, Variations on a German Theme, CenterStage (747-8243)

Nov. 10 –Yunjie Chen (piano), Kimbrough Concert Hall, Pullman

Nov. 13 – Seattle Opera Young Artists, First Presbyterian Church, Coeur d’Alene (208-773-6076)

Nov. 14 – Spokane String Quartet, Mozart/Bartok/Schumann, The Met

Nov. 16 – eighth blackbird, University of Idaho Auditorium

Dec. 4-5 – Coeur d’Alene Symphony, Christmas Showcase, North Idaho College

Dec. 5 – American Carols, St. John’s Cathedral (two performances; free)

Dec. 7 – Spokane British Brass Band, An Olde English Christmas, Spokane Falls Community College

Dec. 8 – Spokane String Quartet, Russia in the Dark of Winter, CenterStage (747-8243)

Dec. 10-11 – Spokane Area Children’s Chorus, Holiday Concert, Westminster Congregational Church (624-7992)

Dec. 31 – Spokane/Coeur d’Alene Opera, Diamonds and Divas, Davenport Hotel (533-1150)

— Travis Rivers