Great Barrington — On Sunday, December 3, Close Encounters with Music will present a program at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center consisting of music thematically centered around the night and dreaming, and it includes some of the most loved pieces in the classical music canon. Seven musicians will perform on Sunday: Fabio Bidini, piano; John Viscardi, baritone; Kobi Malkin and Grace Park, violin; Luke Fleming, viola; Lizzie Burns, double bass; and Yehuda Hanani, cello.

A nocturne is a piece of music evocative of the night or inspired by it, typically featuring a singable melody over an arpeggiated accompaniment. Chopin didn’t invent it, but he was certainly its leading purveyor during the 19th century. Sunday’s program starts with his Nocturne in C-sharp minor, Op. posth., a piece everyone will instantly recognize and pianists everywhere love to perform.

The nocturne from the third movement of Borodin’s String Quartet No. 2 in D follows, and this, too, is highly familiar music, having been borrowed for use in the popular song “And This Is My Beloved” from the 1953 musical “Kismet.”

Borodin’s nocturne is followed by another blockbuster classical hit: Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 14 “Moonlight.” Again, we have a piece that is instantly recognizable around the world—and for good reason: It is some of the most emotionally evocative music the perpetually love-sick Beethoven ever wrote. It seems not to have been inspired by the night or moonlight but by a young woman above Ludwig’s social rank whom he wished (in vain) to marry. Its original title was “Sonata quasi una fantasia” (“Sonata almost a fantasy”), the “Moonlight” moniker being an invention of Beethoven’s publisher.

Following intermission, baritone John Viscardi will sing the following night-themed songs with piano accompaniment from Mr. Bidini:

• Gounod — “Mab, la reine des mensonges”
• Fauré — “Après un rêve”
• Schubert — “Ständchen”
• Bernstein — “Tonight”
• Schumann — “Mondnacht”
• Schubert — “Erlkönig”
• Leigh — “The Impossible Dream”

The last work on Sunday’s program is another audience favorite, one of those pieces that almost defines classical music: Mozart’s Serenade No. 13 for strings in G major, K. 525, also known as “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik” (“A Little Night Music”). You may have noticed there is a bassist on Sunday’s roster. Lizzie Burns is on hand for the express purpose of filling out the ensemble so Mozart’s serenade can be performed as he originally scored it. (The extra bottom end really makes a difference.)

Hear Fabio Bidini, piano; John Viscardi, baritone; Kobi Malkin and Grace Park, violin; Luke Fleming, viola; Lizzie Burns, double bass; and Yehuda Hanani, cello, in a program of night-themed music from Beethoven, Mozart, Schumann, Fauré, and Gounod, along with selections from “West Side Story” and “Man of La Mancha,” at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center on December 3 at 4 p.m. Following the performance, all audience members are invited to an on-stage reception with canapés from [Authentic Eats by Oleg to meet the performers and one another.

Tickets, $52 (orchestra and mezzanine), $28 (balcony), and $15 for students, are available through the Mahaiwe or by calling (413) 528-0100.