Saturday, Dec. 19, the ISO serves a heaping helping of tradition and fun in its annual ”Home for the Holidays” concert at UIS Sangamon Auditorium starting at 8 p.m. There will be bagpipes, singing and special guest appearances by names you will know. For more information about Illinois Symphony Orchestra, visit www.ilsymphony.org.

JACKSONVILLE

The rings in the season with new Executive Director Jon Austin who came aboard in April. Concerts begin at 7:30 at Rammelkamp Chapel on the campus of Illinois College. Garrett Allman remains conductor. Tickets are $15 per person. All students with school IDs are admitted free. Greene County, Ill., native operatic soprano Karen Fergerson is featured in the opening “Soaring Sounds” concert Sept. 26. Known throughout Germany as a major classical performer, she will sing a variety of classical and Broadway show tunes. The symphony will also play tribute to the bicentennial birthdays of Felix Mendelssohn and Abraham Lincoln.

The Oct. 31 “Halloween Spooktacular” promises to be a “tour de farce” of classical arrangements for boys and ghouls alike, celebrating the post-harvest “haunting season;” great ear candy and plenty of it. The Jacksonville Chorale joins with the Symphony Dec. 5 for an evening of religious and popular Christmas “chestnuts.”

For more information visit www.jaxsym.com.

DECATUR

The Kirkland Fine Arts Center in Decatur begins its new season with the opening night, featuring “piano sensation” Tanya Bannister Sept. 19 at 7:30 p.m. Slated for the concert are Schubert’s Overture in the Italian Style, D.590, Chopin’s Piano Concerto No.2 in F minor, Op. 21 and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 in F, Op. 68 (Pastorale). Tickets are $13 to $16.50.

Oct. 6, at 7:30, the Kirkland presents a shortened, family-friendly English version of the classic opera Hansel and Gretel, conducted by Michael Englehardt. Tickets are $5 per person.

Oct. 17, at 8 p.m., Millikin-Decatur Symphony presents its Homecoming Spectacular with French composer Etienne Mehul’s Overture to Les Deux Aveugles de Tolède; principal clarinetist Solomon Baer in performances of Debussy’s Premiere Rapsodie for Clarinet and Orchestra and Weber’s Concertino for Clarinet and Orchestra. The evening concludes with Rimsky-Korsakov’s masterpiece Scheherezade. Tickets are $13 to $16.50.

For more information call 217-424-6318 or visit www.millikin.edu/kirkland