In the Australian-Chinese maestro Dane Lam, the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra has the sort of charismatic, internationally connected music director every symphony board hopes to wrangle: a photogenic face for the institution plus a personality that connects with the community as deeply as with the music. For his second season, Lam has set the bar high with masterpieces calculated to challenge as well as exalt his players and audience alike. The piece de résistance for this month’s classical concert is Mahler’s Fourth Symphony, the most genial of the master’s tapestries, which sweeps upward to a child’s vision of heaven full of angelic playmates and no end of great eats. Tchaikovsky’s swooningly dramatic Pathétique follows in December. But the supreme test of all comes in February and March with a complete cycle of the Beethoven symphonies—all nine of them. Since the season schedule was first presented, numerous more popularly oriented concerts have been announced, including a Hawaiian “Spooktacular” for Halloween, How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi in concert, and Game On! A Mesmerizing Celebration of Symphonic Video Game Music. Don’t expect “Dane” on the podium for all of these, but he’ll be doing his share. For details, consult the orchestra’s Web site. —Matthew Gurewitsch