Tomorrow, Seattle Symphony single tickets go on sale to the general public. Today, heretofore known as On-Sale Eve, we celebrate the astounding variety of the Seattle Symphony’s 12/13 season.

Stretch out your metronome-flicking finger. You — yes, YOU — may be one of the audience performers in Ligeti’s Poeme symphonique for 100 metronomes at the Symphony’s inaugural [untitled] series concert. Join us before this late-night concert in the Samuel & Althea Stroum Grand Lobby for a pre-concert performance of Gabriel Prokofiev’s Concerto for Turntables and Orchestra. (!)

Music of the Mad Men era: Get swept away in the sounds of the ’50s and ’60s. Yes, revel in nostalgia of a time gone by; no, don’t smoke cigarettes indoors.

Powder your wig — we’re playing Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons in March. Bid good riddance to winter at this concert, celebrate spring, or wonder: will the sun return in June, July or August?

Britten’s War Requiem — a work both sacred and secular, this chorale masterpiece features two orchestras, three vocal soloists and three choirs, and is one of the most poignant musical commentaries yet written on the tragedy of warfare.

Do you favor the eerie sounds of the otherworldly ondes Martenot? Don’t miss Ludovic Morlot conducting the Orchestra in Messiaen’s impressive Turangalîla Symphony. The concert opens with a behind-the-scenes tour of this remarkable masterpiece.

Sonic Evolution: Celebrate Seattle’s musical heritage in this unique concert. Hear world premiere symphonic compositions inspired by grunge, hip hop and more, followed by the Symphony performing with Star Anna (below)  and the Laughing Dogs.

Rach-em sach-em! Kick off the New Year with some wildly talented pianists. Ludovic Morlot brings four young talents to the stage to perform Rachmaninov’s four thrilling piano concertos. Concert #1 features Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2, concert #2 features — you guessed it — Nos. 3 and 4.

Beethoven’s Fifth: Beyond the Score® — Learn more about Beethoven’s musical calling card with an exciting audiovisual presentation before you hear the performance. Duh duh duh DUUUUUHHHH.

Don’t worry — there’s more! Be sure to visit our website for more details, or check out the season brochure here.

Our friends at Classical KING FM have some news: the local classical music station launched its new, free iPhone app this month! Now you can get the station’s broadcasts on your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad. Now you’ll have mobile access to the following features:

• • Four KING FM streams: KING FM 98.1, The Evergreen Channel, Symphonic Channel and the Opera Channel
• • KING FM’s music playlist, plus the station’s website — KING.org — and Facebook page
• • Arts interviews from the KING FM Arts Channel on-demand
• • Ability to purchase the music you hear, and to donate to the station

Plus, you can set the app to stream in the background while you use other apps on your device, or use KING FM as your alarm clock. (Who doesn’t love the sound of Sibelius in the morning?)

So be sure to download the app via the iTunes App Store, tune in and continue to support this wonderful station!

Meine Damen und Herren! Ladies and Gentlemen! Join Max Raabe & Palast Orchester tomorrow night at 7:30pm for A Night in Berlin at Benaroya Hall, featuring cabaret classics, film music, and new favorites. Check out Raabe’s mellifluous version of that 1930s fave, “Cheek to Cheek”:

Tickets still available. Get them here.

So remember a few weeks ago on the “Throwdown” episode of Glee when Sue Sylvester and Will Schuster went head to head as antagonistic co-pilots of the Glee Club? And remember when Sue stormed out of Principal Figgins’ office backed by a frightening, awesome chorus of voices singing some of the freakiest minor strains you’ve ever heard?

Yeah. That’s Carl Orff’s Carmina burana — specifically, the mind-blowing “O Fortuna” section that opens and closes the work. Stupendous, right?

Okay, okay, maybe you don’t watch Glee. But you do know Carmina. Promise. How about this: recall John Boorman’s 1981 film Excalibur? Carmina played a major role in the epic Arthur-fest; clips from the oratorio scored prime spots in the flick’s bloody battle scenes.

Or what about this, a circa-2008 Gatorade commercial:

Intense! Cataclysmic, even! Hear Maestro Schwarz lead the Orchestra, Seattle Symphony Chorale, Northwest Boychoir and Vocalpoint! Seattle (yes, Carmina requires DeMille-worthy cast) perform Orff’s masterwork today and tomorrow. Limited tickets, people; get them here, get them now. Everyone loves Carmina.

A boy’s best friend is his mother.

Halloween is just around the corner, kiddies, and what better way to spend Fright Night than watching Alfred Hitchcock’s thrilltastic Psycho on the big screen at Benaroya Hall while Seattle Symphony plays the über-creepy soundtrack? Watch:

The scarefest starts October 29, and continues through Halloween night. Click for tix — from just $17, people!

Don’t get us wrong: we’re all about B & B here at Seattle Symphony. But we also like to mix it up a little — check out this lineup of Bach-less performances coming up in November.

• • THESE HILLS OF GLORY: An Earshot Jazz Collaboration, 11/4 @ 7:30pm. Composer Wayne Horvitz premieres his new work for string quartet and improviser — a merger that blends contemporary improvisation with chamber music traditions. Presented in association with the Earshot Jazz Festival.
• • FLAMENCO, 11/6 @ 8pm (ps., the 11/5 show is SOLD OUT!). Seattle meets Spain for an evening of flamenco music and dance, featuring dance-master Isabel López and crew.
• • RUFUS WAINWRIGHT, 11/8 @ 7:30pm. Ready to raise the Rufus? We are! Join us for Wainwright’s Benaroya Hall debut. It’s your chance to listen to one of the greatest vocalists and songwriters of our time in one of the world’s raddest concert halls. Teaser: Here’s RW himself, singing his big hit “Hallelujah”:
• • GUITARIST XUEFEI YANG, 11/10 @ 7:30pm. As part of our Celebrate Asia series, classical guitarist Xuefei Yang comes to Seattle to share the music of Regondi, Albéniz, Brouwer and Tárrega, the titans of guitar composition, plus a new work written especially for her.

Lots of great performances coming up, folks. See you at Benaroya Hall!

This will be a fun concert that you don’t want to miss! As part of the Popular Culture series, Ben Folds is coming to Benaroya Hall to play with the Seattle Symphony! Join us on October 20 at 7:30 pm for a night of rock, funny lyrics and awesome music.

Check out this video of Ben’s recent hit “Landed”:

Pick up tickets here. See you on 10/20!

Watch this! It’s a tweenage Leila Josefowicz, performing Paganini’s La Campanella. Wowser.

And here she is now, performing the first movement of Bruch’s Violin Concerto with our very own Maestro Gerard Schwarz at the BBC Proms. My oh my.

Tonight through Sunday, Josefowicz performs a new concerto by Thomas Adès, sandwiched between Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain and Stravinsky’s complete Firebird ballet score. Awesome program, no? Get your tickets asap.

Remember this awesome — and, of course, a little nightmarish — scene from Disney’s classical music extravaganza Fantasia?

This is Modest Mussorgsky’s thrilling showpiece, A Night on Bald Mountain, in a posthumous orchestration by Mussorgsky’s composer-colleague, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. (Read more about the complicated genesis of this repertoire powerhouse in the online program notes — you won’t believe the route this piece took to get to the concert hall!)

Hear it live this weekend at Seattle Symphony (sans giant winged demons), June 11–14, alongside a fresh violin concerto by Thomas Adès, performed by Leila Josefowicz, and Stravinsky’s mighty ballet score, The Firebird.

Get tickets here.

Our very own Principal Pops Conductor Marvin Hamlisch visited KCTS Television’s Conversations whilst in town in May. He talks with Conversations host Enrique Cerna about his storied career in showbiz — and offers a few musical examples from the piano bench — and about Seattle Symphony’s 2009/10 Seattle Pops season. Click through for a sneak preview of the upcoming show.