San Francisco Classical Voice

A Mozart Journey
Michael Tilson Thomas celebrates Mozart's 250th birthday with a trip through all the byways of the composer's unimaginably fertile career in a concert that runs the gamut from the minuets K. 1.e and K. 2 to the German dance K. 605, No. 3. Along the way, he'll conduct some famous works (Symphony No. 31, "Paris," the concert aria Ch'io mi scordi di te?, and the A-Major Piano Concerto, K. 488, among others). And he'll feature less-known works, as well (some canons for chorus, Thamos, König in Ägypten, K. 345/336a, and the Litaniae de venerabili altaris sacramento in B-flat Major, K.125). Pianist Jeremy Denk, soprano Laura Aikin, and bass Jeremy Galyon are the soloists. The Symphony Chorus is also on the program. Nov. 9 and 11, 8 p.m.; Nov. 10, 6:30 p.m. (partial program), Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, $31-$114, (415) 864-6000, www.sfsymphony.org. (L.H.)

Oakland East Bay Symphony
The Oakland East Bay Symphony opens its season with a program that features American composers, including Joan Tower's Made in America, written last year and scheduled for upcoming performances in all 50 states. Also on the program: the Gershwin favorite Rhapsody in Blue and Copland's Symphony No. 3 (including the famous Fanfare for the Common Man). Nov. 10, 8 p.m., Paramount Theatre, Oakland, $12-$54, (510) 444-0801, www.oebs.org (M.V.C.)

Alexander Barantschik
San Francisco Symphony concertmaster Alexander Barantschik joins the Academy Orchestra in concerti by J.S. Bach. The orchestra — students and alumni from the S.F. Conservatory of Music and members of the San Francisco Symphony — will be conducted by Andrei Gorbatenko. Barantschik will play the 1740 "ex David" Guarneri del Gesu violin, usually kept at the Palace of the Legion of Honor, and once owned and played by Jascha Heifetz. The program includes Mozart's Overture to the Marriage of Figaro and Prokofiev's dazzling "Classical" Symphony No.1. Nov. 12, 2 p.m., Cowell Theater at Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, $15-$35, (415) 345-7575, www.sfacademyorchestra.org. (C.G.)

Community Women's Orchestra
The Community Women's Orchestra was founded in 1985 to perform both standard repertory works and works by women composers. Its upcoming concert features Jennifer Higdon's Blue Cathedral and Martha Stoddard's March and Fanfare, as well as some of Dvorák's ever-popular Slavonic Dances. Nov. 12, 4 p.m., Park Boulevard Presbyterian Church, Oakland, $10, www.communitywomensorchestra.org. (L.H.)

Volans and Shostakovich
Kevin Volans' Piano Concerto, the first of two world premieres at San Francisco Symphony this season, will be followed on the program by the symphony formerly considered Shostakovich's greatest, the Fifth. Fashion has shifted accolades to the Eighth nowadays, but there is no better combination of classic construction and power than in the Fifth's first movement. All ears will be on how MTT interprets the coda of the last movement — will it sound genuinely rejoicing, or like forced hosannas to Stalin? As for the Volans, fashion mavens should listen carefully to see if his brand of semipopular postminimalism, sparked by the S.F. Symphony commission, has moved into new territory. Balakirev's Russia begins the concert; Marc-André Hamelin is the pianist. Nov. 15, 17-18, 8 p.m.; Nov. 16, 2 p.m.; Davies Hall, San Francisco, $25-$110, (415) 864-6000, www.sfsymphony.org. (J.D.)

SFS Youth Orchestra
The talented San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra marks its 25th anniversary with a program of Wagner, Lalo, Liadov, and Shostakovich. Nov. 19, 2 p.m., Davies Hall, San Francisco, $10-$25, (415) 864-6000, www.sfsymphony.org. (M.B.)

Premieres Without Borders
The Del Sol Quartet's current program features string quartets by Reza Vali of Iran, Americans Mark Blitzstein and the very young Eric Lindsay, and Jack Body of New Zealand. The program includes two world premieres and a U.S. premiere, and it will be performed three times around the Bay Area this week. Nov. 7, 8 p.m., Ashby Stage, Berkeley; Nov. 9, 7 p.m., Tateuchi Hall, Finn Center, Mountain View; Nov. 10, 8 p.m., Green Room, Veterans Building, San Francisco; $7-$20, (415) 831-5672, www.delsolquartet.com. (L.H.)

Musica Antiqua Köln
Musica Antiqua Köln, with contralto Marijana Mijanovic, presents a program of German Baroque music by the famous and not-so-famous. The music of J. S. Bach and Telemann shares the stage with Bach's older relatives Heinrich Bach, his son Johann Christoff, Johann David Heinichen, and the Czech composer Jan Dismas Zelenka. Read the mouth-watering program notes here. Nov. 8, 8 p.m., First Congregational Church, Berkeley, $48, (510) 642-9988, www.calperfs.berkeley.edu. (L.H.)

The Laurel Ensemble
The recently formed Laurel Ensemble, now in its second year, performs music by Shostakovich, Kodály, and Martinu. Ensemble members Sarah Holzman (flute), Christina Mok (violin), Jenny Douglass (viola), and Krisanthy Desby (cello) are joined by pianist Lori Lack and violinist Adrienne Herbert. Nov. 12, 7:30 p.m., Live Oak Park, Berkeley, $12, (510) 644-6893, www.laurelensemble.com. (L.H.)

An Evening of Janácek
Pianist Carol Isaac and friends play three works by the great and idiosyncratic Czech composer Leos Janácek: V Mlhách ("In the Mist"), Concertino for Piano and Small Chamber Orchestra, and On an Overgrown Path. Nov. 13, 8 p.m., Old First Church, San Francisco, $12-$15, (415) 474-1608, www.oldfirstconcerts.org. (L.H.)

Andrew Imbrie's 85th Anniversary Celebration
Berkeley composer Andrew Imbrie, whom SFCV's Robert Commanday called "a composer apart," is honored with a concert by Japanese pianist Aki Takahashi, less than a week after her performance in Santa Cruz. On the program is To My Son (a premiere), Duet for Two Friends, and Mukashi Mukashi — Once Upon a Time by Andrew Imbrie, along with works by Hi-Kyung Kim, Toru Takemitsu, and Michio Mamiya. Nov. 8, 12:15 p.m., Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley, free, (510) 642-4864, http://www.music.berkeley.edu. (M.B.)

Composer Portrait: John Zorn
Composer-performer John Zorn, a longtime member of New York City's downtown scene, works in styles from heavy metal to jazz to classical. This concert features his Mysterium Cycle, consisting of four pieces written for different chamber ensembles, plus Evocation of a Neophyte. Nov. 12, 3 p.m., Hertz Hall, U.C. Berkeley, $32, (510) 642-9988, www.calperfs.berkeley.edu. (L.H.)

sfSoundSeries
sfSoundSeries presents music for electronic instruments by Bay Area composer John Bischoff, Luigi Nono, Morton Feldman, Matt Ingalls, and John Ingle. The performance includes the premiere of Edge Sonic. And as part of the series featuring composer-performers, Bischoff, Ingalls, and Ingle will all participate in parts of the concert — Ingalls on clarinet, Ingle on saxophone, and Bischoff on various electronica. Nov. 13, 8 p.m., ODC Theater, San Francisco, $7-$12,(415) 863-9834, www.sfsound.org. (L.H.)

Fancy Fretwork
The U.K.-based Fretwork, which the Independent newspaper called "the world's leading viol consort," make a rare appearance in the Bay Area thanks to the San Francisco Early Music Society, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary. On the program is an equally rare concert of secretly Jewish composers, the Lupos and the Bassanos, who Henry VIII brought from Italy in 1540, thinking they had converted to Christianity. They served the Tudor and Stuart courts for more than a hundred years, and in the process revolutionized English music. This promises to be the highlight of the SFEMS fall season, although Voces Musicales' promising Renaissance Christmas, Dec. 15-17, should also give Fretwork a run for its money. Nov. 11, 8 p.m., St. John's Presbyterian Church, Berkeley; Nov. 12, 3:30 p.m., St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church; Nov. 13, 8 p.m., First Lutheran Church, Palo Alto; $22-$25, (510) 528-1725, www.sfems.org. (M.B.)

San Francisco Choral Society
The Mozart year is slowly drawing to a close. For their part, the S.F. Choral Society will contribute his Grand Mass in C Minor, with Shawnette Sulker, Shauna Fallihee, Brian Thorsett, and Boyd Jarrell as soloists. Robert Geary conducts. Nov. 11, 8 p.m., Nov. 12, 4 p.m., Calvary Presbyterian Church, San Francisco, $21-$27, (415) 221-5590, www.sfchoral.org. (L.H.)

The Barber of Seville
Rossini's evergreen comedy returns to the San Francisco Opera in a modern-dress production that features an onstage motorcycle and a giant revolving house. Barber is, among other things, the dramatic predecessor of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, and tells the story of how Count Almaviva won his Rosina. (The love between the couple here is what the Countess is so wistful about in Mozart's masterpiece.) Nathan Gunn stars as the clever barber Figaro, John Osborn debuts in the bravura role of Count Almaviva, and Merola alumna Allyson McHardy is back as the charming and strong-minded Rosina. Nov. 7, 9, 12, 17, 26, and 30, times vary, War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco, $25-$245, (415) 864-3330, www.sfopera.com (L.H.)

Every Man Jack
Composer Libby Larsen and librettist Philip Littell have teamed up in a new opera about Jack London. Every Man Jack will premiere at the Sonoma City Opera as part of the Green Music Festival. It stars baritone Rod Gilfry in the title role. Nov. 11-12, 15, 18-19; times vary, Person Theatre, Sonoma State University, $58-$99, (877) 778-3378, www.sonomacityopera.org. (M.V.C.)

The Magic Flute
San Francisco Lyric Opera's latest production, Mozart's Magic Flute, opens at the intimate Florence Gould Theater in the Legion of Honor on November 17, the first of four performances. Sung in German with English supertitles, Barnaby Palmer will conduct and Heather Carolo directs a cast that includes Svetlana Nikitenko (Queen of the Night), Heidi Moss (Pamina), Merolini Brian Thorsett (Tamino), and Michael Mendelsohn (Monostatos). Nov. 17, 18, 24, 25, 7:30 p.m., Florence Gould Theater, San Francisco, $18-$32, (415) 392-4400, The www.sflyricopera.org. (C.G.)

Manon Lescaut
The incandescent soprano Karita Mattila returns to the San Francisco Opera in Puccini's Manon Lescaut, which hasn't been staged there since 1988. Mattila, silver-toned and stunning in Strauss, Wagner, and Janácek, isn't an obvious choice for Puccini. Yet, she is never anything less than musically imaginative and theatrically riveting, in whatever she sings. Misha Didyk, last year's Gherman in Queen of Spades, is Des Grieux, and Donald Runnicles is at the helm of a new production directed by Olivier Tambosi. Nov. 19, 22, 25, 28; Dec. 1, 7, 10; times vary, War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco, $25-$245, (415) 864-3330, www.sfopera.com. (L.H.)