The classical music season gets underway this weekend, with Hawai‘i Symphony Orchestra concerts coming up over the next two weekends, followed by the opening of the opera season two weeks later. Both chamber music organizations in town will be presenting October concerts as well.

The symphony season opens with a concert that, for the staid world of symphonic music, represents something bright, shiny and exciting: violinist Sandy Cameron, a rising star with talent to burn and stage presence that’s on fire. She’ll join the orchestra, with Michael Stern conducting, in “Concerto for Violin & Orchestra (Eleven, Eleven)” by Danny Elfman, the noted film composer known for scoring Tim Burton’s “Edward Scissorhands,” “Batman” and “Nightmare on Elm Street” and superhero films like “Spider-Man” and “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” and writing the theme song for TV’s “The Simpsons.”

It will be an event akin to what audiences experienced with now-famous violin concertos of past eras — a composer collaborating with a specific performer, who in turn becomes its champion, traveling the concert world while listeners marvel at the new creation.

Elfman will be on hand for the performances here, both to help promote the piece but also ensure his vision of the piece is properly realized.

“I do get personally involved in the sound,” said Elfman in a phone call. “I’ll be at every rehearsal.”

Elfman’s work — titled “Eleven Eleven” because it is 1,111 measures long and because “elf” in German means “eleven” — is a massive, virtuosic piece, demanding on both orchestra and soloist. The work was originally suggested by an orchestra in Prague, where Cameron had performed in an “Edward Scissorhands” movie-music concert.

“They approached us afterwards and asked, ‘How would you like to do a violin concerto for Sandy?’ and I just said, ‘OK,’ ” Elfman recalled with a laugh. “When it comes to a classical concert situation, I tend to not think things through, I’m a bit of a — ‘Yeah, that sounds fun.’ Six months later, I’m thinking, ‘What did I get myself into?’”

>> Related: 2019-20 Classical Music Season Calendar

Though Elfman’s roots in music are in rock ’n’ roll — he was the frontman for the new wave band Oingo Boingo back in the 1980s — his interest in classical music tends toward the Russian composers of the mid-20th century, such as Prokofiev, Stravinsky and Shostakovich. He also studied Leonard Bernstein and Benjamin Britten to prepare for his own composition, listening for “the guts of what makes an exciting concerto.”

“I wanted to make sure that it was not ‘film music for violin,’” he said. “I wanted it to have the complexity and the density of a real violin concerto, which meant really writing for the violin.”

Cameron herself challenged him to create something “really hard,” he said. “So with that ‘throw-down,’ I said, ‘OK. You want hard? I’ll give you hard,’ ” Elfman said.

For Cameron, the work offered her the chance to explore her own thoughts on violin playing, while experiencing an intriguing give-and-take process with Elfman.

“He’d write something and then call me over and we’d go through it and practice the part and go over suggestions if it wasn’t playable,” she said. “Sometimes he’d have me improvise certain things based on some ideas he had and somehow incorporate those elements into the piece.”

The concerto offers wonderful variety and some unique contributions to the repertoire, such as a cadenza in the second movement “Spietato” (Ruthless), a driving, metronomic section in which she plays with percussion accompaniment. “I don’t think that’s ever been done before,” Cameron said.

She especially likes the orchestra’s role in the work, where it gets featured “front-and-center” as an equal to her solo work. “The way it comes together in the end, after going through so much, it’s just mind-blowing, and really, really fun,” she said.

Her collaboration with Elfman came about serendipitously. Cameron, now 33, was a child prodigy, soloing with major orchestras since age 12 and going on to study at Harvard University and the New England Conservatory of Music. She didn’t know Elfman’s music at all when, in 2013, she was hired to perform in a Cirque du Soleil show, then under development in Los Angeles, that would feature his music. Day by day, she was impressed as she played his music and observed it evolve.

“I don’t like scary movies, so I stayed away from Tim Burton’s stuff as much as I could until I met Danny and started working with him,” she recalled with a laugh. “And then I realized this stuff he was writing was amaaaazing.”

For this concert, expect a spectacle. Early in her career, she would often get criticized for the freestyle dancing she did as she played — with one teacher holding down her feet as she played. Cirque encouraged her to dance, and now she’s dancing off the leash.

She’s also had a special costume made for the work, which she thinks deserves it. “I think it is just one of the greatest concertos ever written,” she said.

This weekend’s concerts also feature Stern leading the orchestra in Berlioz’s “Symphonie Fantastique,” which has often been referred to as akin to a psychedelic trip.

HAWAI’I SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 2019-20

For the symphony, the upcoming Masterworks season offers plenty of familiar faces and familiar, fun works. Some highlights:

Hawaiian culture will be highlighted in the November performance of “Two Seasons,” featuring symphony principal oboist J. Scott Janusch playing on a unique instrument he had made of rare Hawaiian kauila wood. He performs the orchestral version of University of Hawaii-West Oahu professor Jon Magnussen’s Hawaii-inspired oboe concerto. Japanese maestro Keitaro Harada makes his HSO debut conducting Prokofiev. “We’ve wanted to have him here for some time,” said Jonathan Parrish, executive director of the symphony.

March brings the long-awaited arrival of Jeffrey Kahane, who was scheduled to perform in the symphony’s inaugural season until he was injured in a car accident. He will conduct the orchestra in Mendelssohn and Schumann and conduct and perform Beethoven’s fourth piano concerto.

Spring also brings two emerging young stars to the Blaisdell: pianist Behzod Abduraimov, playing Ravel’s “Piano Concerto” and violinist Alexi Kenney playing Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons.”

The symphony has already scheduled several pop events, including a country-music event and movie-music for “Harry Potter” and “Star Wars.” This is an ongoing process for the symphony, so check its website hawaiisymphony orchestra.org for updates.

HAWAII OPERA THEATRE

Three familiar operas return to Blaisdell in “Tosca,” “The Marriage of Figaro” and “Salome.” What will be particularly exciting is that all of the productions will feature newcomers to Hawaii Opera Theatre in all the major roles.

“Our Salome, Elizabeth Blancke-Biggs, has been making a name for herself in Europe, so it’s kind of exciting to have her coming here,” said HOT executive director Andrew Morgan.

“Salome” will be performed concert-style, with the orchestra on stage with the singers and minimal props.

The season marks a transition for the organization, with Morgan newly installed as executive director and Emmanuel Plasson as artistic director. Morgan, coming here from the San Francisco Opera, already knows some of the performers in “Figaro,” including Ryan Kuster in the title role and soprano Amina Edris, having worked with them in San Francisco. “I know they’re really good on stage and have good solid vocal technique.”

“Tosca” features debuts for Rochelle Bard in the title role, Dimitris Paksoglou, Aleksey Bogdanov, Jose Adan Perez and director Omer Ben Seadia.

“It’s a diverse season,” Morgan said. “I would say if there’s a theme to take from it, it’s that in this time of the #MeToo movement, it’s three operas that feature three women that don’t put up with much. In ‘Tosca,’ she has someone she loves, she has someone who wants her, and she says, ‘No’ and she sacrifices everything to make that happen. With ‘Marriage of Figaro’ it’s a wannabe philandering husband who’s brought back to reality by his wife. And then Salome, she’s deranged, but she has no interest in putting up with what people want from her.”

CHAMBER MUSIC

Honolulu’s two chamber music organizations, Chamber Music Hawaii and the Honolulu Chamber Music Series, promise a lot of fun for those who like their music performed “as a conversation” as chamber music is often described. Chamber Music Hawaii’s season, which features locally based musicians, is highlighted by two Beethoven-centric concerts, an evening of Mozart tunes selected by KHON-TV news anchor Joe Moore and another silent-movie-music performance, this time “The Mark of Zorro,” with guest conductor Rick Benjamin.

“The strings are focusing on Beethoven because it’s the 250th anniversary of his birthday next year,” said Jim Moffitt, president of Chamber Music Hawaii. “We’ll do a lot more Beethoven next season. And then the wind quintet is doing a lot of unique stuff.”

Honolulu Chamber Music Series is showcasing diversity in the repertoire, with Camerata RCO and Trio con Brio performing standard works and three other artists — Invoke, Riley Lee and the Enigma Quartet, and the Calder Quartet — performing their own brand of crossover classical music. “These groups started as classical standard musicians and are going to play some of that type of music but really push the boundaries a bit,” said HCMS president Jonathan Korth. “That’s what I’d say our season is about — it’s going to offer the extremes of what chamber music has to offer.”