By Ted AYALA

Local music lovers will be finding themselves this weekend choosing between whether to venture to Italy or Russia – or both.

The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO) will return to the Alex Theatre in Glendale on Saturday, May 16 at 8 p.m. for a program of Mendelssohn and Mozart, with the world premiere of Ted Hearne’s “Respirator” starting off the proceedings. LACO music director Jeffrey Kahane will conduct the “Nocturne” and “Scherzo” from Mendelssohn’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream” as well as that composer’s sunny “Italian Symphony,” his fourth numbered symphony.

Joining the orchestra will be pianist Jonathan Biss as soloist in Mozart’s “Piano Concerto No. 21,” a work that he has also recorded with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra for EMI Classics.

LACO and Biss will repeat the program on Sunday, May 17 at 7 p.m. at UCLA’s Royce Hall.

Tickets for LACO’s Alex Theatre concert range from $35 to $120. To obtain tickets and more information, visit www.laco.org or call the LACO box office between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays at (213) 622-7001, ext. 1. You can also e-mail them at tickets@laco.org.

The Alex Theatre is located at 216 N. Brand Blvd. in Glendale.

Then on Sunday Le Salon de Musiques will present a program of Russian chamber blockbusters for cello and piano by Rachmaninoff and Stravinsky at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Cellist and Le Salon Artistic Director John Walz will be joined on the program by pianist Steven Vanhauwaert.

Rachmaninoff’s “Cello Sonata” and an arrangement of his deathless “Vocalise” will be performed together with Stravinsky’s “Suite Italienne,” an arrangement by the composer of several numbers from his “Pulcinella.”

Tickets are $75 general admission and $39 for students with valid ID. To obtain tickets and more information please go online to www.lesalondemusiques.com or call (310) 498-0257.

The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion is located at 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles.

  Ted Ayala