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Twenty-five years is a long time to do anything, even longer if you're doing it well. That's especially true in the belt-tightened and isolationist world of classical music, a place where orchestras seem to fall away like cherry blossoms in a strong wind.

Still, the Naples Philharmonic Orchestra makes it to its silver anniversary when it kicks off the new season in November. On Wednesday, the Phil releases tickets to what chairman Myra Janco Daniels calls a "special season of celebration and giving."

Happily, that's a pretty fair description of what's coming next year.

The March 31 centerpiece of the season is a Tiffany solitaire of events, a glittering and certainly high-priced line-up of entertainment. That evening, lyric soprano Kathleen Battle and Metropolitan Opera superstar Samuel Ramey, Tony-winners Bernadette Peters and Joel Grey join conductor Jorge Mester and the orchestra in the gala to end all galas. The limited seating evening includes a buffet planned by Sara Moulton, executive chef of Gourmet magazine, as well as promised surprises.

It's an impressive array of star-power. But of course, this orchestra has got some cash: Its 2005-06 budget was a comfortable $6.7 million. Unfortunately, though, a $1,000 ticket excludes all but the deepest pockets of the community.

The conciliation: The gala is a fund-raiser with proceeds going to an orchestra endowment. The Phil is aiming to build it from $29.1 million to $50 million this year.

Looking at the rest of the jam-packed season, soloists mark each concert like a signpost to "Stop here." Granted, violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg (Opening Night Gala, Nov. 4) and pianist Howard Shelley (Fall Music Fest, Oct. 21 and 28) are notable guest artists. But in general, I tend gravitate to repertoire over soloists I may not have heard and have never heard of.

For many orchestras, though, soloists are the most interesting — and photogenic — things the season has to offer: Music directors and orchestra boards take the all-too-familiar road of the classical warhorse and certain ticket sales.

But again this year, Mester programs up with both the known and the not-so-often-performed. It's a policy that has apparently created issues with subscribers in the past, with audience members more comfortable with repertoire of centuries gone by and earlier. He's held the course, though, and this season he's nestled some gems in with the classic classics.

In that vein, Mester opens the Classical Series with Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem (Nov. 9-11), a sprawling work that contains some of Britten's most powerful orchestral writing. Also, that evening: Mozart's "Posthorn" Serenade and Beethoven's "Eroica" Symphony.

On the face of it anyway, Philip Glass is a problematic composer. Step into the works, though, and you often find a deeply sensuous experience — both sonic and strangely tactile. I'm anxious to hear Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists and Orchestra (Classical Series, Nov. 30-Dec. 2) performed. Also, that evening: two of Dvorak's Slavonic Dances and Schubert's Symphony No. 9.

Finally, Bernstein's Chichester Psalms (Classical Series, April 12-14) is a favorite of mine. A large chorale work Bernstein composed not long after writing the challenging "Kaddish" Symphony, it is serene and uplifting, intricate and accessible in a way only this great man's work can be. Also, that evening: the suite from Richard Strauss' "Der Rosenkavalier" and Piano Concerto No. 1 by Brahms.

Other highlights of the season:

• Dvorak's Cello Concerto (Classical Extra, May 11-12): This loping, dark work is haunting, a full-tilt orchestral explosion of power and muscularity. With cellist Alexandre Bouzlov. Mester conducts.

• The Mambo Kings (Pops, Jan. 16-21): For some Americans, the Mambo Kings are Latin jazz. Which is just fine, because, frankly, they cook with gas. Jeff Tyzik conducts.

• "Strauss to Stravinsky" (Chamber Specials, Oct. 25): Chamber music is almost always a special treat: The intimacy and vitality of the repertoire is connects with the audience in a profoundly different way than orchestral music. This program features Hindemith's fabulous "Kammermusik." Mester conducts.

T.D. Mobley-Martinez can be reached at tmmartinez@tmmartinez@naplesnews.com.