Fan interest in the classical music world will reach a zenith at Carnegie Hall this spring. The venue is offering a lineup of four pianists who will make for heady stuff, indeed.The two young men who will appear in April are both from mainland China. Yundi Li comes to the stage on April 3 with a program of Mozart, Schumann, and Chopin, while his polar opposite Lang Lang will sit down (and maybe stand up) on April 26 in a program of, well, Mozart, Schumann, and Chopin (and a little Rachmaninoff).This generation of Chinese pianists will be a major force in classical music going forward.

The duo in May is slightly less predictable. I have heard Maurizio Pollini play like a god, or, even higher praise, like a direct incarnation of the composer. But there are also evenings where he can seem detached,even cold.He’ll play mostly Chopin on May 7. I can’t tell you if it will be good or bad, but I can promise that it will be memorable. Mitsuko Uchida is a glorious pianist, the performer that gave the greatest recital that I have ever heard (although there was that Zoltan Kocsis night a few years ago). She has her off days,although in the all-Mozart concert scheduled for April 11, her inborn delicacy and grace should carry the day.

Wagnerians have waited patiently all year for the Metropolitan Opera to get around to their guy, and finally there will be premieres of “Lohengrin” (April 17) and “Parsifal” (May 12). The cast for the latter – featuring Waldtraud Meier, Thomas Hampson, Ben Heppner, and Rene Pape – is exceptionally strong. The Met has announced that in place of James Levine, Philippe Auguin will conduct “Lohengrin” and Peter Schneider will conduct “Parsifal.”

Questions surround soprano Deborah Voigt, whose last several appearances have given even her most ardent fans pause. This uncertainty gives more import to her debut as Tosca on April 22 at the Met and her Carnegie recital on May 3.Anna Netrebko stumbled a bit on opening night of “Rigoletto,” but came back to score triumphant Gildas in subsequent performances. She makes her debut in Donizetti’s “Don Pasquale” on March 31. Also of major interest is the world premiere of “Miss Lonelyhearts” by Lowell Liebermann at Juilliard on April 28.

Michael Tilson Thomas is a great programmer of symphonic concerts, maybe the best currently practicing the art. Unfortunately, his San Francisco Symphony has been consistently disappointing in delivering the goods on concert night.They and he appear at Carnegie on April 19 and 20 in two programs revolving around Mahler. In Pittsburgh, when Mariss Jansons left the symphony for the Royal Concertgebouw, the board of directors, instead of looking for a new music director,apparently spent its money on spin doctors instead, for now it is trumpeting its courageous decision to have three conductors share the directorship. Guess what? It won’t work. For now, the board is depending on guest conductors, and on May 23 Christoph von Dohnanyi will lead this terrifically disciplined ensemble in Tchaikovsky’s “Pathetique.”

The Russians are coming, as this is the 100th anniversary year of Dmitri Shostakovich.The Rotterdam Philharmonic (yes, I know that it is Dutch, but keep reading) will be continuing its music director Valery Gergiev’s cycle of the complete symphonies on April 9 and 10.And the New York Philharmonic will have the honor of being led by the last living conductor who worked directly with Shostakovich, as Mstislav Rostropovich brings along Maxim Vengerov for the Violin Concerto No. 1 and the Symphony No. 10 (April 19 to 22).

Holy Week is highlighted by no less than three major performances on Good Friday. The Brooklyn Academy of Music presents the Jonathan Miller staging of Bach’s “St. Matthew Passion,” while at Avery Fisher Hall the National Chorale offers the Mass in B minor.My own personal choice is John Stainer’s Crucifixion at Grace Church.

At the venues that don’t get much ink, there are highlights. At Brooklyn’s Bargemusic, the excellent pianist Dmitri Alexeev will play an all-Russian program on April 13 and 14. Charles Rosen will lecture about and perform Mozart at the 92nd Street Y on April 23, and Jules Massenet’s “Cendrillon” (Cinderella) comes to the Manhattan School of Music Opera Theater (beginning April 26). The spectacular sound of the Tallis Scholars will fill the Riverside Church on April 1.

All of these evenings are properly edifying, but for sheer fun, give me the Gypsy sounds of Roby Lakatos at Zankel Hall on April 28. Remember all those wild, swirling dance tunes by Brahms, Liszt, and Bartok? Well, this is where they came from.