The Mondavi Center’s newly announced ninth season can be summed up in three words:

• Virtuosity — Bringing in the best performers from around the world, including Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre and the San Francisco Symphony (twice).

• Crossings — Two new series focusing on music that freely crosses cultural and genre boundaries.

• Madness — An academic and artistic exploration of Madness and Music, co-presented by the Department of Music in the Mondavi Center’s biggest collaboration ever with another department on campus.

Generous is another good word for the 2010-11 season, with a free concert by the university’s Symphony Orchestra and the San Francisco Opera’s Adler Fellows on Oct. 9, compliments of Barbara K. Jackson.

Ticket sales for series and choose-your-own plans began this week. After processing those orders, the box office plans to start selling single-event tickets on Aug. 23 (a week or so earlier for staff and faculty). See more information below about ticket sales, and discounts for staff and faculty, and students and children.

Jeremy Ganter, the Mondavi Center’s associate executive director, said the new season includes, in almost every series, “someone who is arguably the best.”

Take, for example, Michael Tilson Thomas and his San Francisco Symphony, “one of the best orchestras in the world,” Ganter said.

Thomas is set to conduct a Sept. 30 concert of works by Ravel, Debussy and Berlioz. The symphony is scheduled to return March 17 with its acclaimed chorus, visiting the Mondavi Center for the first time, for a performance of Bach’s Mass in B Minor.

Rounding out the Orchestra series (consistently the Mondavi Center’s best seller) for 2010-11: the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Dresden Staatskapelle and Orquesta Nacionales de Espana.

The Classical Favorites series zeroes in on the “seasons,” 12 in all, with Robert McDuffie and the Venice Baroque Orchestra performing Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons and Glass’ The American Four Seasons, and the New Century Chamber Orchestra performing Piazzolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires.

The Concert series comprises Perlman and Joshua Bell on violin, Yefim Bronfman on piano and the Takacs Quartet with Nobuyuki Tsujii.

The Ailey troupe’s performance is billed as a special event, while the regular Dance series comprises the Mark Morris, Paul Taylor and Lucinda Childs companies.

Jackson Hall Jazz comprises vocalist Dianne Reeves, a 2007 Grammy winner; saxophonist and composer Ornette Coleman, recipient of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for music; and two “powerful pairings”: the Bill Frisell and John Scofield trios, and the Branford Marsalis and Terence Blanchard quartets.

Another Marsalis brother, Delfeayo, is booked for the Studio Jazz series, performing four gigs with his octet and three with his sextet. Also lined up for Studio Jazz is Vijay Iyer, fresh off his first piano trio album, Historicity.

New series in 2010-11

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma is on the schedule with the Silk Road Ensemble in the new Crossings series, which also features a concert by Bela Fleck, Zakir Hussain and Edgar Meyer, described by the Mondavi Center as “three masterful genre-benders and the leading virtuosos on their instruments”: Fleck on banjo, Hussain on tabla and Meyer on bass.

“(They) move with ease among the worlds of classical, bluegrass, jazz and world music,” according to the Mondavi Center brochure. “Together these limitless creators and composers cross musical boundaries, creating what can only be described as an enthralling musical hybrid.”

A related series is called Studio Classics: Crossings, in which classical musicians will interpret music that originated with rock bands such as Radiohead and Nirvana.

For Madness and Music, the Mondavi Center and the Department of Music explore the link between Robert Schumann’s music and his mental illness. The Oct. 28-31 festival will draw on contemporary works to reflect current notions of madness, investigating how art operates as a haven, a refuge, an escape, a statement of joy, and a means of survival.

The Madness and Music performance program includes the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra and the Empyrean Ensemble (the campus’s ensemble in residence), as well as an electronic mixed media concert and the 20-member ensemble Alarm Will Sound.

Martin and more

Funnyman Steve Martin is due at the Mondavi Center for the first time — not as a comic, but as a banjo player, and a good one, having received the Grammy for his 2009 album The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo. He is set to perform Oct. 3 with the Steep Canyon Rangers in the center’s American Heritage series.

The other American Heritage acts could just have easily been in the Crossings series: Los Lobos, in their first all-electric concert at the Mondavi Center; and the unique string trio of Mark O’Connor (violin master), John Patitucci (jazz bass legend) and Julian Lage (six-string phenom).

The Distinguished Speakers series comprises former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, author Jonah Lehrer (Proust Was a Neuroscientist and How We Decide), satirist David Sedaris, author Daniel Handler (literary novels as well as the Lemony Snicket children’s books) and Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., speaking on the topic of “African American Lives: Genealogy, Genetics and Black History.”

MORE INFORMATION

The new season, schedule and prices: mondaviarts.org/brochure

Tickets for series and choose-your-own plans (five or more events) on sale now: (530) 754-2787 or (866) 754-2787, or mondaviarts.org

Box office hours: noon to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and one hour before each scheduled performance.

Open house for the public: Learn more about the new season and, if you are ready, turn in your ticket order. 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, April 10, Rumsey Rancheria Grand Lobby.

DISCOUNTS

For staff and faculty:

• Series — 30 percent (and 25 percent for add-on events all through the season)

With the series discount, here are some examples of staff and faculty ticket prices:

$36 (for the two-show Marvels series, for seats at Price Level 3)

$85 (for the three-event World Stage: Dance, at Price Level 2)

$156 (for the four-concert Jack-son Hall Jazz, at Price Level 1)

• Choose-your-own plan (five or more events) — 25 percent

Something new for 2010-11: With purchase of a CYO plan, staff and faculty receive a 20 percent discount for add-on events all through the season.

• Pick 3 (20 percent discount) and single-event tickets (10 percent) go on sale in mid-August.

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For students and children:

• 50 percent off all tickets