Spring Arts Preview: Music

Bach — Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin
March 13
Emmanuel Church
15 Newbury St., Boston
MBTA: Green Line to Arlington
Free, 617-536-3356
www.emmanuelmusic.org
If you’ve ever found yourself thinking, “Golly, I want to like classical music, but it’s so expensive and durned time-consuming!” the solution is here! It’s a 30-minute free concert featuring violinist Daniel Stepner performing Bach’s Sonata for solo violin No. 3 in C Major.

The Chieftains
March 14
Symphony Hall
301 Mass. Ave., Boston
MBTA: Green Line to Symphony
$37 to $58, 617-482-6661
www.celebrityseries.org
They’re Irish, they’re in Boston, the most Irish city in the U.S., and it’s the weekend of St. Patty’s Day. You should go to this!

‘Revels Spring Sing’
March 19
St. John’s Church
80 Mount Auburn St., Watertown
$10 (Free for children under 17), 617-972-8300
www.revels.org
As you must surely know, there’s no better way to welcome spring than to sing about it. Your tone-deaf ass shouldn’t sing about it, though. Leave it to the professionals, like Revels music director George Emlen and musician David Coffin.

Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
April 2
Symphony Hall
301 Mass. Ave., Boston
MBTA: Green Line to Symphony
$32 to $80, 617-482-6661
www.celebrityseries.org
Acclaimed American pianist Murray Perahia, director of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, is the featured soloist in this program of Mozart, Bach, and Haydn. Perahia has won Grammy and Gramophone Awards and was awarded an honorary KBE by the Queen of England, but he still has not responded to Jerry Lee Lewis’ challenge to a boogie-woogie duel.

Boston Gay Men’s Chorus: Words & Music
April 5
Symphony Hall
301 Mass. Ave., Boston
MBTA: Green Line to Symphony
$15 to $45, 800-266-1200
www.bostonsymphonyhall.org
The Boston Gay Men’s Chorus’ spring concert includes the world premiere of Lowell Liebermann’s “A Whitman Oratorio,” music inspired by the book “Tales of the City,” and songs by George Michael, whose “Freeek!” and “I Want Your Sex” celebrate the great American traditions of getting freeeky and wanting your sex, respectively.

‘Madcap, Red Priest and Angel’
April 12
First Church, Congregational
11 Garden St., Cambridge
MBTA: Red Line to Harvard
$25 to $64, 617-661-1812
www.bemf.org
John Holloway shreds the violin, while Jaap Ter Linden takes on the cello and Lars Ulrik Mortensen pounds on the harpsichord the way Metallica’s drummer Lars Ulrich might, in this tribute to Veracini, Vivaldi and Leclair. It’s part of the Boston Early Music Festival.

The Ngqoko Women
May 17
Somerville Theatre
55 Davis Square, Somerville
MBTA: Red Line to Davis
$28, 617-876-4275
www.worldmusic.org
Hailing from South Africa, the Ngqoko are the only practitioners of a 3,000-year-old vocal style known as split tone singing. If that isn’t impressive enough, they are also masters of the African bow. Oh, and apparently they smoke pipes.

‘Sing for the Earth’
May 18
Converse Hall at Tremont Temple
88 Tremont St., Boston
MBTA: Green/Red Line to Park Street
$10 to $15, 781-316-2500
www.mysticchorale.org
Let’s be honest: The combination of giant puppets, costumes, the 200-plus Mystic Chorale and the Boston Children’s Chorus kinda freaks us out — but, you know, it’s for the Earth, and we’ll put aside our own irrational fears to give the planet some props.