The next concert of the Santa Barbara Music Club — free as usual — will be at 3 p.m. Saturday in the Faulkner Gallery of the Santa Barbara Public Library, 40 E. Anapamu St.

The program demonstrates the breadth and depth of the club’s collective taste. The afternoon begins with the Pacifica Chamber Ensemble (Suzanne Duffy on flute, Claude-Lise Lafranque on violin and Ervin Klinkon on cello) in the London Trio (Trio No. 3 in G Major for Flute, Violin and Cello Hob. IV:2) by Franz Joseph Haydn. Then, pianist Sio Tepper will play two pieces by Sergei Rachmaninov: Lilacs (transcribed by the composer from his 1902 song of the same name, Opus 21, No. 5) and his Prelude in B Minor, Opus 32 No. 10.

After the Rachmaninov, mezzo-soprano Leslie Cook and pianist John Sonquist will perform the following songs and arias: Silent Noon by Ralph Vaughan Williams; Hence, Iris, Hence Away (from Semele) by George Frideric Handel; Polina’s Aria (from The Queen of Spades) by Peter Tchaikovsky; Que fais-tu (from Romeo & Juliet) by Charles Gounod; and We’ll Gather Lilacs by movie star Ivor Novello.

The glorious sounds conclude with a rendering of Arcangelo Corelli’s Concerto Grosso in G Minor (Christmas Concerto) by the Cathedral Oaks Players (Laury Woods, Alan Busteed, Gloria Autry and Elaine Schott on violins; Dave Gorbet on viola; Andrew Saunders and Jeannot Maha’a on baroque cellos; and Neal Garber on contrabass violone).

Perusing the program, the following — more or less random and inconsequential — thoughts occur to me. Haydn was lionized in England, he was wined and dined and seduced by duchesses; he had, in return, a tremendous affection for the English people. But he hated the English weather and the English food — doesn’t everybody? — and couldn’t wait to get back to Vienna.

Rachmaninov must have been very fond of the Lilacs transcription, since he recorded it himself — twice. And it will be a treat to hear a Novello song; he was played by Jeremy Northam in Robert Altman’s amazing Gosford Park, the only sympathetic upstairs character — but then, he was there by merit, not birth.

For more information about the Santa Barbara Music Club, click here or call 805.683.0811.

— Gerald Carpenter covers the arts as a Noozhawk contributor. He can be reached at gerald.carpenter@gmail.com.