Meyerhoff Symphony Hall

Globalization, a hot-button issue known to send thousands of protesters into the streets, can also bring people into a concert hall for a totally peaceful, compelling experience. The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's first Explorer Series program of the season provides a welcome example of cultural fusion, with the help of Tan Dun. The Chinese-born composer, perhaps most widely known for his multiple award-winning film score Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, has a rare gift for bringing together East and West in his work to often astounding effect.

Every now and then you'll find composers in a concert hall, ready to bound up to the stage for a bow after someone else leads a performance of their work. That happened just last week, when John Adams was on hand to hear Baltimore Symphony Orchestra music director Marin Alsop conduct his kinetic Fearful Symmetries. But Adams is back this week, and he's not confined to a listening role. Alsop had the welcome idea of inviting several prominent composers to conduct programs that combined their own music with something from older repertoire, chiefly by Beethoven, whose nine symphonies are scattered throughout the season.

Two years after anticipation of her appointment caused a near-mutiny among its players, Marin Alsop made her official Charm City debut as music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra last night, receiving a standing ovation as the took the stage. The ovation was repeated, even more emphatically, at the conclusion of the concert. The audience seemed reluctant to leave.

After two years of buildup, Marin Alsop's historic tenure as music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra truly began last night, and began with quite a kick. If you go The BSO performs at 8 tonight and tomorrow and 3 p.m. Sunday at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, 1212 Cathedral St. Tickets: $28-$60. Information: 410-783-8000 or bsomusic.org.

The tent next to the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall had the air of a reunion going on. Hundreds of folks in fine feather (and satin and lace) were acting like they hadn't seen each other in years. So, maybe it had only been a few months. But the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Gala signaled the end of the summer party drought, and the welcome kick-off to a busy fall party season. First, there was the two-hour dinner reception before everyone would head into the hall for a BSO concert featuring the orchestra's new conductor, Marin Alsop.

Symphony circus The lowdown -- Combine the fun of a circus with the music of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra at Cirque de la Symphonie. Watch aerial feats, strongmen, contortionists and jugglers while listening to classics such as Dvorak's Carnival Overture and Khachaturian's "Sabre Dance." If you go -- The event is at 8 tonight at the Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, and at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, 1212 Cathedral St. Tickets are $30 at Strathmore; $25 for adults and $12.50 for children at the Meyerhoff.

If you're hankering for "some place where there's no trouble," a place "far, far away, behind the moon, beyond the rain," you don't have to go any farther than Meyerhoff Symphony Hall or the Music Center at Strathmore. That's where you'll find the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra playing while MGM's 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz unfolds, projected on a big screen above the stage. "It becomes a performance of a film, rather than a screening of a film," says John Goberman, producer of the Oz project.

Anyone allergic to romanticism in music may want to avoid the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's season finale, because a severe reaction could occur, but everyone else should find the experience rewarding. There are works by two hearty romantics from the 19th century, Brahms and Dvorak, and one from the 20th, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, who could give them - anyone, really - a run for their money in the melody department. Lyricism, passion and poetic impulses run freely through the program. If you go The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra performs at 8 tonight at the Music Center at Strathmore, 3 p.m. tomorrow at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall.

When Marin Alsop starts her inaugural season as Baltimore Symphony Orchestra music director in September, she'll have a tough act to follow - herself. As music director-designate this season, Alsop has already shaken things up considerably. If You Go The BSO performs at 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 3 p.m. Sunday at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall; 8 p.m. Saturday at the Music Center at Strathmore. For tickets, call 410-783-8000 or go to baltimoresymphony.org.

On the long, long list of terrific, but terribly underperformed, composers, the name of Bohuslav Martinu would have to be in the upper tier. The BSO performs at 11 a.m. today at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, 1212 Cathedral St. $22-$49. 410-783-8000, baltimoresymphony.org.