It seems only the blink of an eye since May, when we said farewell to the winter seasons.

And here they come again, in a tidal wave of concerts. I mentioned it to someone last week who looked dubiously at me. Don’t doubt me: just read on.

Nine days ago Scottish Opera opened the opera season with its Orpheus In The Underworld at the Citizens. Next Thursday I’m off to Perth for the Scottish Ensemble’s launch concert with Alison Balsom giving the Scottish premiere of James MacMillan’s Seraph. Two days later Children’s Classics kick off in the Royal Concert Hall as part of the hall’s Space Wide Open family day. The following night Christopher Bell and his fabulous National Youth Choir of Scotland celebrate their 15th year with a gala in the Usher Hall.

Four nights later, we’re off and running as the BBC SSO and RSNO roll out their new programmes, followed a week later by the SCO, while, at the same time, the freshly named Royal Conservatoire of Scotland receives a noisy musical baptism in a lunchtime concert from Pure Brass.

So there we are. But what are we in for? Before a note is played I reckon we face a thrilling and occasionally challenging season. It will be an emotional one for diehard followers of Stephane Deneve (pictured). The Frenchman’s adoring RSNO fans will flock to hang on to his every word, because they know that this is his final season and, as the great Mick Jagger used to sing, this will be the last time.

The orchestra has a twin core to its season, with Debussy’s orchestral masterworks, one by one, coming through the repertoire then being recorded by Chandos to mark the composer’s bi-centenary and establish Deneve’s legacy. At the same time, a loose strand referring to the Auld Alliance gives the RSNO programme a sense of versatility in terms of repertoire and featured artists.

The BBC SSO has a mighty season looming, spearheaded by Donald Runnicles who will conduct the long-awaited Scottish premiere performance of James MacMillan’s St John Passion, which has a shattering catharsis in its finale. For this season-opener, a single, Glasgow-only performance, the BBC is fetching up to the City Hall the London Symphony Chorus and BBC Singers: the Passion requires a baritone soloist (Mark Stone) and choirs of different scales. It should be a night of nights.

And there’s more meat to follow from the Beeb in a cycle of Prokofiev’s five Piano Concertos with a single soloist, Russian Denis Kozhukhin, and an enthralling survey entitled The Year 1911, embracing masterpieces from the world over, to include music as diverse as Nielsen’s Violin Concerto, Butterworth’s Shropshire Lad cycle, Debussy’s Martyrdom Of Saint-Sebastian, orchestral highlights from Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier, Stravinsky’s Petrushka, Sibelius’s Fourth Symphony and Bartok’s opera Duke Bluebeard’s Castle: a fantastic concoction of music.

The SCO, as ever, tends not to shout like a car boot salesman trying to attract your attention. It has, however, permitted itself a gentle bellow to point to the fact that, for the first time in its history, the orchestra will play Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, with which principal conductor Robin Ticciati will open the season.

The surprise there, for those not perhaps familiar with performance practice, is that Berlioz’s revolutionary symphony is forever associated with the big symphony orchestra (though Roger Norrington’s breathtaking recording with the London Classical Players would beg to differ). None the less, Ticciati’s take with chamber forces, though there will be extra strings, is going to be interesting and maybe a wee bit challenging to our experience of the monster masterpiece.

There is more Berlioz in the SCO season; but there is also a massive Beethoven strand, to which the SCO has avoided giving a banner headline. It includes eight of the nine symphonies and five of the seven concertos. There will be new music too, from Martin Suckling, Haflidi Hallgrimsson, Sally Beamish and Gordon Kerry. Almost time to face the music.