As autumn dawns, Tony Bennett is set to celebrate his 80th birthday — and his new album “Tony Bennett Duets: An American Classic” — with what promises to be a spectacular concert September 26 at Madison Square Garden. I say spectacular not just in that Mr. Bennett, who is unchallenged as the greatest living interpreter of the American Songbook, hasn’t appeared in New York in two years, but that he’s brought along Natalie Cole as his opening act.

Also announced is Canadian singing sensation Michael Buble, who occasionally proves himself to be something more than a high-level wedding singer, as a special guest; it’s also expected that some of the pop stars featured on the “Duets” album (among them Sting and Elvis Costello) will make surprise appearances at the Garden. (Mrs. Costello, aka Diana Krall, who is seven months pregnant, probably will not be among them, though she is about to give birth to a new album as well).

Another mega-concert occurs two weeks later at the Garden, but somehow I can’t get quite as worked up over Barbra Streisand (October 9) — especially with the dreaded classical-pop hybrid boy band Il Divo as her opening act. Another diva in concert a few nights later has me considerably more excited: On October 11 and 12, the outstanding contemporary theater singer Audra McDonald will be appearing at the Allen Room in support of her first album in four years, “Build a Bridge” (the second night will be telecast on PBS’s “Live From Lincoln Center”). I am even more jazzed about the marvelous Jack Jones, who has a few more nights left at the Oak Room (until September 23). Like Mr. Bennett, Mr. Jones is one of the last old-school traditional pop heavyweights still at the top of his game.

Ms. McDonald’s concert is the only announced event this season in Lincoln Center’s American Songbook series, which will doubtless return in the spring. Merkin Hall, however, is doing a series of three “Broadway Close Up” concerts, which will include evenings with contemporary theater composers David Zippel (September 25) and David Yazbek (October 30); on November 27, Liz Callaway will host the latest edition of the workshop series “Bound for Broadway.” On November 1, Michael Feinstein will resume his Standard Time series at Carnegie Zankel with another pair of living lyricists, Alan and Marilyn Bergman.

Otherwise, the big event for the fall is, as usual, the Cabaret Convention, which will mark its 21st year this October (and its second at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Hall). Traditionally, the five nights have been a mishmash of different performers and styles, but the event is getting increasingly better-organized: This year there will be evenings devoted to the songs of Irving Berlin (heavy on the pianos: Steve Ross, Barbara Carroll, and Bill Charlap, with Sandy Stewart, among others), and the Gershwins (with Julie Wilson, Nancy Anderson, Christine Andreas, Anna Bergman, and Jennifer Sheehan). The two catch-all nights have some fine talent: “Classic Cabaret Cross Country” honors New York’s Ronnie Whyte and features Marilyn Maye and Banu Gibson from New Orleans; “It’s Today” includes Klea Blackhurst, Marcus Simeone, and Karen Saunders.

The most essential night, for talent, will commemorate the centennial of a legendary performer pretty much unknown to contemporary audiences — the late pianist-singer who was known simply as “The Incomparable Hildegarde.” Even if few folks younger than 60 have heard of the one-time “first lady of the supper clubs,” as Eleanor Roosevelt dubbed her, the talent lineup on this particular evening will make it perhaps the highlight of the five evenings: Judy Barnett, Anne Hampton Callaway, Eric Comstock, Barbara Fasano, Georgia Osborne, Marlene Verplanck, and Andrea Marcovicci are all scheduled to appear. Not coincidentally, Ms. Marcovicci’s program in the Oak Room this fall (starting November 14) will be a one-woman show devoted to the music and career of The Incomparable One.

For the second year in a row, Town Hall (the long-standing home of the Cabaret Convention before it moved to Rose Hall last year) is mounting its own three-night “Broadway Cabaret Festival,” produced by critic and emcee Scott Siegel. This year the offerings are: an evening of the music of Jerome Kern (October 20) and a program of “Broadway Originals!” (October 22); show tunes as sung by the performers who introduced them on Broadway; and, in the program I’m most looking forward to, the reunion of the “Sideshow” duo, Alice Ripley and Emily Skinner (October 21). That, as Jane Russell once said, will constitute a multitude of pulchritude.

Uber-diva Elaine Stritch continues to hold forth at Café Carlyle, and the other two major rooms — the Oak Room at the Algonquin and Feinstein’s at the Regency — will present interesting juxtapositions and turnarounds: The cabaret and theater singer K.T. Sullivan will see how she fits into a jazz context with the singer Allan Harris and ace pianist Eric Reed in a program of Duke Ellington and Johnny Mercer (Oak Room, starting September 26), and Jessica Molaskey will appear with a singer-instrumentalist-funny man who isn’t, for once, her husband, John Pizzarelli, but rather the pianist-songwriter Dave Frischberg (Feinstein’s, October 17–28).

Later in October, longtime Oak Room mainstay Stacey Kent will shift to Feinstein’s for two weeks, while Paula West will return to the Algonquin (October 24–November 11) after a stint at Birdland. Feinstein’s will also present a two-night stand by the unexpected combination of classic cabareteur Steve Ross and the zany stride pianist Judy Carmichael (October 29–30). Switcheroonie!

Fans of singers with jazz inclinations will be happy to learn that three of the major jazz rooms have reserved one night a week for vocalists, usually of the emerging variety, and three of these are under the supervision of singers: Sundays at Smoke, under the supervision of Carolyn Leonhart-Esscofery; Mondays at Jazz Standard, reserved for the long-running “Voices and Songs” series; and Tuesdays at Sweet Rhythm, a long-established singer’s night, under the direction of Tessa Souter.

Birdland will also continue to present singers with theater and cabaret instincts: The Monday night format will be a 7 p.m. set by a name singer or singing actress (such as Julia Murney, of “Wicked” fame, on October 23 and movie actor Jeff Daniels on November 13). Birdland will also present a new review in the early slot on weekends: “Her Story,” a four-woman salute to female songwriters.

Blossom Dearie, who deserves the word “legendary” if anyone does, is taking a well-deserved hiatus from Danny’s Skylight Room this fall. The club has replaced her with three outstanding pianist-singers: Sir Richard Rodney Bennett (Sundays), Ronny Whyte (Fridays), and the wife-and-husband team of Barbara Fasano (who has just released her long-awaited CD of Harold Arlen songs) and Eric Comstock, whose presentation of the songs of Charles DeForest last month was one of the highlights of the year.

Across West 46th Street at Don’t Tell Mama, the show worth catching at least once is the combination of singer-impressionist-comics Tommy Femia and Christine Pedi doing their Judy Garland-and-Liza Minnelli act.

The season that begins with Tony Bennett, Barbra Streisand, and Audra McDonald will reach a worthy climax with a Carnegie Hall concert by the great Barbara Cook (November 18), a few weeks after her 79th birthday. Considering that the recording of Ms. Cook’s 2001 performance at Carnegie is one of her all-time great albums and that the city is still buzzing over her appearance at the Metropolitan in January, this should be an evening worth standing in line for. Between Mr. Bennett and Ms. Cook alone, New Yorkers will have plenty to sing about this fall.