October is a regular cornucopia of culture. Here’s a sample of the best.

MUSIC
San Diego Chamber Orchestra has a new look and a new maestro, Jung-Ho Pak, former artistic director and conductor of San Diego Symphony. Pak opens the 2006-’07 season with identical programs at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 6 at St. Paul’s Cathedral (2628 6th Ave., San Diego); 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 9 at Sherwood Auditorium (700 Prospect St., La Jolla); and 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 10 at Del Mar Country Club (6001 Clubhouse Dr., Rancho Santa Fe). The concert comprises the world premiere of “For Jung-Ho,” Johann Sebastian Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 1, and Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1. For information, visit www.sdco.org or call (858) 350-0290, ext 7.
La Jolla Music Society opens its 2006-’07 season at 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 7 at Sherwood Auditorium with the Jacques Loussier Trio. It’s part of LJMS President and Artistic Director Christopher Beach’s Jazz Series for People Who Love Classical Music. Deeply rooted in 18th-century European music, pianist Loussier infuses the classics with jazz. His early Decca-released “Play Bach Trio” sold more than 600 million LPs and resulted in 200 live performances annually. He’s since added Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Erik Satie and Maurice Ravel to his repertoire. For tickets and information, visit www.ljms.org or call (858) 459-3728.
With music director and conductor Jahja Ling on the podium and Garrick Ohlsson at the piano, San Diego Symphony kicks off its season with identical Jacobs’ Masterworks Series programs at 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 13 and 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 15 at Copley Symphony Hall (7th and B streets, downtown San Diego). Expect to hear Ohlsson’s performance of Johannes Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1 plus William Schuman’s “American Festival Overture” and Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 2. Sandwiched in between these two concerts, one finds the Oct. 14 opening night gala at which Ling conducts the orchestra in Aaron Copland’s “Danzon Cubano,” Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s “Capriccio Italien,” and Heitor Villa-lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras No. 2. Ohlsson and the orchestra perform Frederic Chopin’s “Andante Spianato et Grande Polonaise Brillante, Opus 22.” Patrons may attend the concert only this evening or purchase gala packages. For details, see www.sandiegosymphony.com or call (619) 235-0804.
UCSD’s ArtPower! continues its Chamber Music Series with the appearance of The Calder Quartet at 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 22 at Mandeville Auditorium. The program comprises Christopher Rouse’s String Quartet No. 1, Dmitri Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 13, and Maurice Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major. Meanwhile ArtPower! presents dancer Savion Glover Friday, Oct. 6 at Copley Symphony Hall, sitar virtuosa Anoushka Shankar Saturday, Oct. 14, and Random Dance “Ataxia” Saturday, Oct. 21. Check ArtPower’s improved Web site, www.artpower.ucsd.edu, for details and tickets, or call (858) 534-TIXS.
UCSD’s department of music presents pianist Edith Wu on Monday, Oct. 9, at 8 p.m. The following night, Tuesday, Oct. 10, undergrad composer Amadeus Regucera gives an honors recital at 8 p.m. Both shows are free and take place at Mandeville Recital Hall. Pianist Cecil Lytle will perform a “Diabolique/Religioso” concert featuring works by Liszt, Scriabin and Gurdjieff on Wednesday, Oct. 11 at 8 p.m. The concert is free for UCSD students with ID, or $8 general admission. For information, visit http://music.ucsd,edu
Elsewhere in La Jolla, the La Jolla Presbyterian Church concert series begins its season with an afternoon concert on Sunday, Oct. 8, at 3 p.m. Performers include violist Whittney Thomas, pianist Kristina Jacinth and tenor Peter Lee. The church is located at 7715 Draper Ave. For information, call (858) 729-5531. Violinist Eugene Ugorski will perform a chamber concert on Sunday. Oct. 8 at 7:30 p.m. The 16-year-old prodigy will play in the Athenaeum’s Joan & Irwin Jacobs Music Room, 1008 Wall St. Tickets are $25 to $30. For information, call (858) 454-5872.

THEATRE
Tickets are selling quickly for Mo’olelo Theatre’s “Since Africa,” playing Thursday, Oct. 12 through Sunday, Oct. 29 at Diversionary Theatre. “Since Africa” concerns Atar, one of the lost boys of Sudan, as two volunteers try to acclimate him to life in urban America. For reservations and information, visit www.moolelo.net or call (619) 342-7395.
Lyric Opera San Diego opens the season with Franz Lehar’s Viennese operetta, “The Merry Widow,” Oct. 6-21 at Birch North Park Theatre (29th and University, San Diego). Listening to soprano Stacey Uthe (www.staceysoprano.com), who makes her debut in the title role, will send you to the box office forthwith. Get tickets at www.e-ticketsnow.com or call (619) 239-8836; general information about the company and the rest of the season at www.lyricoperasandiego.com.
La Jolla Playhouse continues its season with the world premiere co-production (with Berkeley Repertory Theatre) of “Culture Clash’s Zorro in Hell,” directed by Tony Taccone. If you dig the masked love bandit, variously played by swashbucklers from Douglas Fairbanks to Antonio Banderas, now you can see the interpretation of three guys known as Culture Clash, Richard Montoya, Ric Salinas and Herbert Siguenza. Having opened Oct. 4, the show continues through Oct. 29 in the Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse. Ticketing information below.
Don’t miss Des McAnuff’s fantastic “re-visioning” of William F. Brown and Charlie Small’s 1975 musical sensation, “The Wiz,” at La Jolla Playhouse. Based on L. Frank Baum’s 1900 children’s book “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” the production is currently in previews with official opening set for Oct. 11. Robert Brill’s set and Paul Tazewell’s costumes reportedly are knockout grand. No Broadway talk yet, but you never know. Continues through Sunday, Nov. 26 only at Mandell Weiss Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse (2910 La Jolla Village Drive). For tickets and information, visit www.lajollaplayhouse.com or call (858) 550-1010.
Last but certainly not least, Old Globe audiences so liked Hershey Felder’s “George Gershwin Alone” that he’s been persuaded to perform his other one-man composer survey, “Monsieur Chopin,” in the Old Globe Theatre Oct. 26-31. For tickets and information, visit www.theoldglobe.com or call (619) 23-GLOBE.