American Chamber Chorale and Orchestra

Bid the American Chamber Chorale adieu, with its final concert of its final season in a timely program called “Light in the Darkness” (7:30 p.m. May 11). For its swan song, the chorale reprises a work it debuted in St. Louis two decades ago, Morten Lauridsen’s “Lux Aeterna.” But first (7:30 p.m. March 8), the group performs “Celebrate and Remember,” featuring John Rutter’s Requiem, and Samuel Barber’s heartbreaking “Adagio for Strings.”

The Bach Society of St. Louis

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The Bach Society performs two destination works this spring. Even if Brahms isn’t your favorite composer, resisting his Requiem (3 p.m. March 22) proves impossible. “Ein deutsches Requiem, nach Worten der heiligen Schrift” (“A German Requiem, to Words of the Holy Scripture”) uses the German vernacular rather than Latin, on a libretto Brahms compiled from the Luther Bible, not the Roman Catholic Mass. The work proceeds with a reasonably ecumenical bent, beginning with the beatitudes. Soprano Bethany Worrell and bass-baritone David Newman deliver the lovely solos. Then, a week after Roman Easter (3 p.m. April 27), the Bach Society returns to its namesake to perform one of his greatest masterpieces. Some works manage to feel like a rare festival selection despite reasonably frequent programming, and Bach’s B-minor Mass qualifies. Somehow, different musical keys in classical music collected different jobs, and one of B-minor’s is representing the passion of Jesus Christ. Listen most for the “Crucifixus” movement.

Everett McCorvey will conduct the American Spiritual Ensemble this spring at the Cathedral Basilica.

Cathedral Concerts

The Cathedral Concerts welcome three fantastic guests during a whirlwind spring break. First, Everett McCorvey leads the American Spiritual Ensemble (7:30 p.m. March 23), dedicated to preserving this African American art form. London’s Westminster Cathedral Choir visits a week later (7:30 p.m. March 31). And the English Chamber ensemble and YouTube stars VOCES8 close this run (7:30 p.m. April 4). Why even leave the church?

St. Louis Symphony Orchestra

The SLSO sprints to its season’s finish amid a swirl of pops and classical.

Should you find yourself near an orchestra, never miss James Bond night. Bond fans generally agree upon “Casino Royale” (the 2006 one, not 1967) as one of the best entries in 007’s catalog, and maestro Jason Seber conducts a live-to-film presentation of Daniel Arnold’s score (Stifel, 7 p.m. March 8, 2 p.m. March 9).

If overt Cold War heroism isn’t your thing, you could see “Batman” in concert — the Tim Burton outing — conducted by Norman Huynh (Stifel, 7 pm. April 4, 2 p.m. April 6). The SLSO encourages cosplay at this concert. You could for Bond as well?

In between classical and film, Stéphane Denève flaunts his genius for program construction with “Bernstein and Williams” (Touhill, 10:30 a.m. March 21, 7:30 p.m. March 22). John Williams’ theme from “Seven Years in Tibet” — with cellist Yin Xiong — and Leondard Bernstein’s suite for “On the Waterfront” bookend the concert. Betwixt, you’ll hear the U.S. premiere of Guillaume Connesson’s “Lost Horizons” violin concerto — with Akiko Suwanai — and Adolphus Hailstork’s suite “An American Port of Call.”

On the strictly classical side, in a program called “Nordic Love Letter” (Touhill, 7:30 p.m. March 14, 3 p.m. March 16) guest conductor Hannu Lintu memorializes the recently late Kaija Saariaho with her composition “Ciel d’Hiver” (“Winter Sky”). He’ll also conduct the U.S. premiere of Magnus Lindberg’s viola concerto and Schumann’s Symphony No. 2.

March ends with “Lyrical Daydreams” (Touhill, 10:30 a.m. March 28, 7:30 p.m March 30) featuring Britten, Debussy, Liszt and Missouri-sourced international tenor sensation Michael Spyres in Mahler’s “Songs of a Wayfarer.”

In the big concerto department, violinist Christian Tetzlaff returns for Brahms (Touhill, 10:30 a.m. April 11, 7:30 p.m. April 12, 3 p.m. April 13), and cellist Andrei Ionita for Dvorák (7:30 p.m. April 26, and 3 pm. April 27).

But the SLSO Chorus, arguably, has the best star turns of all, first in a concert led by chorusmaster Erin Freeman that includes Handel, Kevin Puts and more (Touhill, 7:30 p.m. April 11). And the pièce de resistance arrives (Stifel, 7:30 p.m. May 3 and 3 p.m. May 4) with Edvard Grieg’s incidental music to “Peer Gynt” — yes, the whole thing, not just “Morning Mood” and “In the Hall of the Mountain King.” Complementing the chorus, soprano Camilla Tilling stars.

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