Ear Taxi Festival: Chicago gets its first and most comprehensive celebration of contemporary classical music ever, a mega-event enlisting the talents of more than 300 local musicians and nearly 90 living composers — more than 27 hours of new music, in back-to-back concerts across the city, through Monday. Festival musicians, including CSO violinist Yuan-Qing Yu and CSO cellist Kenneth Olsen, play new works by Augusta Read Thomas, Lee Hyla, George Flynn and others; noon Friday, PianoForte Studios, 1335 S. Michigan Ave; $5. World and Chicago premieres by Samuel Adams, Tomeka Reid, George E. Lewis, Chris Fischer-Lochhead and others are played by the Avalon and Spektral quartets, Ensemble Dal Niente and others; 3:30-10 p.m. Friday, Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 E. Randolph St.; $5-$15; eartaxifestival.com/tickets
Chia-Ying Chan: The pianist presents a musical journey from Europe to America. 7:30 p.m. Friday, PianoForte Studios, 1335 S. Michigan Ave.; $20; www.pianofortefoundation.org
Chicago Opera Theater: The city’s second opera company presents the Chicago premiere of a staged version of Frank Martin’s “Le Vin Herbe” (“The Love Potion”), a 1942 oratorio based on the Tristan and Isolde legend. The cast of 12 is conducted by Emanuele Andrizzi, in a production directed and designed by COT general director Andreas Mitisek. Final performance, 3 p.m. Sunday, Music Box Theater, 3733 N. Southport Ave.; $50-$75; 312-704-8414, www.chicagooperatheater.org
Chicago Philharmonic Chamber Players: The ensemble begins its new season at City Winery with “Different Folks,” a program exploring the intersection of folk, classical and jazz. noon Sunday, City Winery, 1200 W. Randolph St.; www.chicagophilharmonic.org
Chicago Symphony Orchestra: James Gaffigan is the conductor, CSO trombonist Michael Mulcahy the soloist, for the world premiere of Australian composer Carl Vine’s “Five Hallucinations” for Trombone and Orchestra. Franck’s “Le Chasseur maudit” and a suite from Prokofiev’s “Cinderella” round out the program. 1:30 p.m. Friday and 8 p.m. Saturday, Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Ave.; $30-$218; 312-294-3000, www.cso.org
CSO — Concert for Chicago: Riccardo Muti takes the orchestra to a church on Chicago’s South Side for an all-Beethoven program. 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Apostolic Church of God, 6320 S. Dorchester Ave.; free; 312-294-3000, www.cso.org
Vincent Dubois: The titular organist of Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral performs a recital sponsored by the North Shore Chapter of the American Guild of Organists and Opus 327. 7:30 p.m. Friday, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 939 Hinman Ave., Evanston; free; www.stlukesevanston.org
Ear Taxi New Music Marathon — Saturday: The festival continues over the weekend with nearly round-the-clock performances of contemporary classical works by Chicago musicians and ensembles in downtown Chicago. New works by Stacy Garrop, Joan Arnau Pamies, Lawrence Axelod, Seth Boustead, Tim Munro and others will be performed by the Civitas Ensemble, Fonema Consort, Access Contemporary Music and other groups; noon-4 p.m., Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St.; free. World and local premieres by Augusta Read Thomas, Carolyn O’Brien, Drew Baker and others will be played by Third Coast Percussion, Spektral Quartet, Chicago Harp Quartet and other artists; 5 p.m.-11 p.m., Harris Theater for Music and Dance.
Ear Taxi New Music Marathon — Sunday: World and Chicago premieres by Olivia Block, Nomi Epstein, Eliza Brown, William Jason Raynovich, Janice Misurell-Mitchell, Shulamit Ran and others will be performed by the Chicago Composers Orchestra, Collect/Project, Ensemble 20+, Latitude 49 and Fifth House Ensemble; noon-7 p.m., Chicago Cultural Center. Third Coast Ensemble, Fonema Consort, Spektral Quartet and other musicians will play new works by Nicole Mitchell, Marta Ptaszynska, Christopher Wendell Jones and others in a blowout party; 8:30 p.m.-midnight, Constellation, 3111 N. Western Ave. The festival continues through Monday; www.eartaxifestval.com/tickets
Elgin Symphony Orchestra: The ensemble under resident conductor Stephen Squires plays Charlie Chaplin’s own score to accompany a screening of his silent film masterpiece “City Lights.” 7:30 p.m. Friday, Prairie Center for the Arts, 201 Schaumburg Court, Schaumburg; also 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Hemmens Cultural Center, 45 Symphony Way, Elgin; $30-$65; 847-888-4000, www.elginsymphony.org
Lyric Opera of Chicago — Wagner’s ‘Das Rheingold’: Lyric launches its first new Wagner “Ring” cycle in more than a decade with a triumphant new production of the prologue to the monumental tetralogy. The staging is by British stage director David Pountney, with Lyric music director Andrew Davis conducting and bass-baritone Eric Owens as Wotan. The international cast includes Samuel Youn, Stefan Margita, Tanja Ariane Baumgartner, Wilhelm Schwinghammer and Tobias Kehrer. Through Oct. 22 at Civic Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Drive; $62-$299; 312-827-5600, www.lyricopera.org
MusicNOW: Chicago Symphony Orchestra resident composers Samuel Adams and Elizabeth Ogonek host the season-opening program of the CSO new music series, which also is the closing event of the Ear Taxi Festival. Cliff Colnot will lead CSO musicians in the world premieres of commissioned works by Katherine Young and Kyle Vegter, along with recent scores by Marc Mellits and Sam Pluta. 7 p.m. Monday, Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 E. Randolph St.; $27, $15 for students; 312-294-3000, www.cso.org
Northbrook Symphony Orchestra: Music director Lawrence Rapchak conducts the season opener, an all-French program that includes music of Chabrier, Debussy and Saint-Saens, along with Offenbach’s complete “Gaite Parisienne.” Zachary Brandon is the violin soloist. 4 p.m. Sunday, Sheely Center for the Performing Arts, 2300 Shermer Road, Northbrook; $10-$50; www.northbrooksymphony.org
John von Rhein is a Tribune critic.
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