Here come the Nutcrackers, in endless variety.

These highlights from Latin American Culture Week may help you imagine you were someplace warmer.

For the second year of the “Keys to the Future” festival, the program expands from two nights to three, in order to accommodate 27 works played by six expert pianists in three one-hour recitals per evening. Watch for these particularly promising performances:

Peoples’ Symphony Concerts continues its century-long tradition of supercheap tickets.

Die-hard fan or no, $750 for a Barbra Streisand stadium seat is madness. Two alternatives from the next generation.

The Silk Road Ensemble, founded by Yo-Yo Ma, begins a weeklong residency at the gorgeous Rubin Museum of Art (in the old Barneys), playing in galleries, the spiral staircase, and the 137-seat theater.

Three opening nights not to miss.

On the fifth anniversary of 9/11, concerts to honor those who were lost.

At 70, Steve Reich gets a birthday bash at nearly every cultural institution in town.

Hip-hop poetry, piano solos, a Jon Stewart rant: To Vijay Iyer, it all sounds good.