CLASSICAL: THE FIVE BEST CONCERTS

Sakari Oramo today

The CBSO's Finnish maestro prefaces his compatriot Jean Sibelius's Fifth Symphony with Bernstein's Chichester Psalms, the UK premiere of Henri Dutilleux's new Correspondances and Julian Anderson's joyous Russian round-dance Khorovod.

Symphony Hall, Birmingham (0121-780 3333) 7pm

Gianandrea Noseda today

The BBC Philharmonic's principal conductor presents an all-Russian mix of Mussorgsky's dawn prelude to his political opera Khovanshchina, Shostakovich's once-suppressed Violin Concerto No. 1 (soloist Sergey Khachatryan) and Scriabin's Divine Poem symphony.

Bridgewater Hall, Manchester (0161-907 9000) 7.30pm

The Thieving Magpie today

Mary Hegarty sings Ninetta, the innocent victim of the eponymous magpie's kleptomaniac compulsion, in a welcome revival of Opera North's 1990 staging of Rossini's darkly comic cliff-hanger.

New Theatre, Hull (01482-226655) 7.15pm

Halle tomorrow

Martyn Brabbins conducts Ravel's fairy-tale ballet Mother Goose, framed by dance scores by Debussy and Holst (The Perfect Fool) and two works by Elgar (his impassioned Introduction & Allegro for Strings and relaxed Italian holiday overture In the South).

Bridgewater Hall, Manchester (0161-907 9000) 7.30pm

The Lindsays Tue

Prior to disbanding later this year after over 40 years together, the legendary British string quartet continues its valedictory Beethoven and Tippett cycle with the second of Beethoven's early Op. 18 and the last two of his Op. 59 "Razumovsky" quartets.

The Sage, Gateshead (0870 703 4555) 7.30pm