On Monday, December 31, audiences are invited to join Seattle Symphony for “New Year’s Ninth,” a festive New Year’s celebration including a concert, swinging after-party with HB Radke & The Jet City Swingers and a countdown to 2008 led by Maestro Gerard Schwarz.

Broadway's smash hit JERSEY BOYS, the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, makes its exclusive Northwest premiere at The 5th Avenue Theatre through January 12, 2008. Directed by two-time Tony Award-winner Des McAnuff, JERSEY BOYS won four 2006 Tony Awards including Best Musical and remains one of the top-grossing shows in New York since opening in November 2005.

Conductor Christian Knapp will make a grand return to Benaroya Hall leading Seattle Symphony in five performances of the perennial favorite, Handel’s Messiah.

On Sunday, December 16, at 8 p.m., The Mount Zion Massed Choir will bring the soulful sounds of Gospel to Benaroya Hall. Phyllis M. Byrdwell, choir director and local music community leader, will lead the choir along with the University of Washington Gospel Choir, special instrumentalists, Liturgical Dancers and the Praise Dance Team for an evening celebrating highlights of the Gospel repertoire.

Seattle audiences will have the opportunity to hear the world’s premiere brass quintet, Canadian Brass, on two special nights, Tuesday, December 18, at 7:30 p.m. and Wednesday, December 19, at 7:30 p.m. Performances will include the group’s signature Baroque arrangements such as Bach’s Concerto in D major as well as contemporary favorites like Barber’s Adagio.

BRAVO!, Seattle Opera’s club for opera-goers age 21 to 39, reported record membership this November. The club now has 511 members, the highest since the organization began in 1996, which makes it one of the largest clubs of its kind for classical music.

Seattle Symphony Orchestra invites you to attend its Holiday Musical Salute presented by the Seattle Symphony Volunteers on Tuesday, Dec. 4, at 11 a.m. at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center Ballroom. This seasonal fundraising event includes a hot cider reception, followed by a luncheon and Seattle Symphony performance featuring 13-year old talent Marié Rossano.

Join guest conductor Rossen Milanov and Seattle Symphony Orchestra as they usher in the holiday season with a sampling of orchestral music celebrating the sounds of winter. Delights of the Holiday Season, will feature Seattle Symphony Principal Cellist Joshua Roman and rising young cellist Julian Schwarz in Vivaldi’s Concerto for Two Cellos in addition to works by Corelli, Barber, Grainger, Vaughn Williams and Tchaikovsky.

This winter, the Seattle Art Museum presents Roman Art from the Louvre, an exhibition of works from the Musée du Louvre in Paris which will be on view from February 21 to May 11, 2008.

The Seattle Art Museum will be the only West Coast venue for a stunning masterwork of the Italian Renaissance, three of Lorenzo Ghiberti’s celebrated panels from the doors of the Baptistery in Florence, known as the Gates of Paradise. The exhibit is scheduled for January 26 through April 6, 2008 at SAM Downtown.

Experience Music Project|Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame opened Innersphere: Sculptural Works by Rik Allen. This exhibition of works by Washington artist Rik Allen features glass and metal sculpture inspired by his life-long fascination with technology and science fiction.

On November 28 at 7:30 p.m. distinguished pianist Yefim Bronfman will perform a program that spans the mainstays of the piano repertoire, from the romance of Beethoven to the fantastical musings of Ravel. The program will begin with Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 13 in E-flat major followed by Schumann’s Fantasy in C minor. The second half will include Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit and Mily Balakirev’s formidable Islamey.