Nov. 19. Paine Hall. 8 p.m. Tickets available at the Harvard Box Office, (617) 496-2222. $8/6 for students.

Happy birthday, Mozart! Well, almost. Jan. 27, 2006 marks the composer’s 250th birthday, making this concert season a worldwide Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart extravaganza.

At Harvard, this celebration starts off appropriately enough with our own Mozart Society Orchestra (MSO). This Saturday, Nov. 19, the group will perform its annual fall concert, featuring Mozart’s “Piano Concerto No. 21 Koechel 467” with Robinson Professor of Humanities Robert D. Levin ’68, along with Claude Debussy’s “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun” and Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 7.”

Levin not only teaches a popular Literature and Arts Core class on Mozart, but also happens to be one of the world’s leading Mozart scholars. Unlike many musical academics who confine themselves to libraries and lecture halls, Levin practices what he preaches. He performs frequently, often excusing himself from Cambridge for weeks at a time to embark on international tours.

Never shortchanging his Harvard audiences, he makes the most of his time here: last spring he performed Mozart’s “Piano Concerto No. 19 K. 459” with the Bach Society Orchestra, and this spring he will perform Mozart’s “Piano Concerto No. 24 K. 491” with the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra.

The un-Levin-ed parts of Saturday’s program present challenges of their own to the orchestra. Debussy’s short piece begins with a lonely (and nerve-racking) flute melody before unfolding into a fabulously French flight of fancy. The Beethoven, one of the most difficult works in the orchestral repertoire, demands both technical proficiency and musical maturity.

It seems that MSO is up to the task. Founded in 1984, it is Harvard’s “premier classical-sized orchestra,” according to MSO board member Carissa B. Meyer ’06. Its small size distinguishes it from other campus orchestras, giving it an intimate, non-intimidating feel. The current music director, Akiko Fujimoto, has conducted the orchestra for two years, previously led the Stanford Symphony Orchestra, and currently holds several conducting positions in the greater Boston area.

Though Harvard-Yale weekend might at first seem an inopportune time for such a performance, the date does have its own appeal. While others risk their lives wandering the streets of New Haven on Saturday night, Harvard students have the chance to enjoy a birthday celebration and a concert of terrific music in the comforts of Cambridge’s comfortable (and safe) Paine Hall.