San Francisco Classical Voice

Skride Sisters
Baibe and Lauma Skride, violinist and pianist sisters from Latvia, perform an unusually interesting program of standards and the unusual: Beethoven's Op. 12 sonata, Ravel's Violin Sonata in G Major and Tzigane, Russian composer Alfred Schnittke's Sonata No. 1, and Polish composer Karol Szymanowki's Mythes. Baiba Skride won the Queen Elisabeth of Belgium violin competition in 2001, and the duo has received considerable praise internationally for their performances. Feb. 17, 8 p.m., Florence Gould Theater, San Francisco, $29, (415) 348-6449, www.performances.org. (C.G.)

Basically British IX
Well-known Bay Area musicians Joseph Edelberg, violin; Adrienne Herbert, violin; Elizabeth Prior Runnicles, viola; Thalia Moore, cello; and John Parr, piano take on the ninth concert in the Old First Concerts Basically British series. The first great piano quintet by a major composer, Schumann's Piano Quintet in E-flat Major, shares the program with Delius' Sonata No. 2 for Violin and Piano, and Elgar's Piano Quintet in A Minor. Feb. 17, 8 p.m., Old First Church, San Francisco, $12-$15, (415) 474-1608, www.oldfirstconcerts.org. (C.G.)

Left Coast Chamber Ensemble
As part of its "New Works from California Composers" program, Left Coast features three Bay Area composers. Two works on are world premieres: Andrew Imbrie's Sextet for Six Friends violin, viola, cello, flute, oboe, clarinet; and Miguel Chuaqui's Desde el Límite (From the Border) for violin, viola, cello, flute, oboe, clarinet, and electronics. Ross Bauer's Piano Quartet (West Coast premiere) and Robert Schumann's Piano Quartet in E-flat Major round out the program. Feb. 22, Throckmorton Theater, Mill Valley; Feb. 26, Green Room, San Francisco; Feb. 27, Andrews Hall, Sonoma; $15-$20, (415) 474-1608, www.chambermusicpartn.org. (C.G.)

Early Romantics Festival
Festival host and featured pianist Mack McCray presents the Santa Rosa Symphony Chamber Players' second concert in a series of four exploring early Romantic music. The all-Mendelssohn program features Songs Without Words, short character pieces that were meant to be played in the home, in the same spirit as a poetry recital. The composers' Sextet for Piano and Strings is joined by the Piano Trio No.2 in C Minor. Stay tuned for the fesitval finale in April at the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts conducted by George Thomson and featuring scholar-pianist Robert Winters. Feb. 24, 2 p.m., Sonoma Country Day School, Santa Rosa, $23-$31 (707) 546-8742, www.santarosasymphony.com. (C.G.)

Other Minds New Music Séance
Composers of hypnotic music will be channeled in three concerts in a single day at San Francisco’s Swedenborgian Church. The New Music Séance vibe is accented by the Swedenborgian Church's handmade chairs, candlelit interior, and rustic decor. Sarah Cahill will introduce the earliest score of composer, painter, and humanistic astrologer Dane Rudhyar Prayer, Op. 1, as well as such rarities as Peggy Glanville-Hicks’ Prelude for a Pensive Pupil, Ned Rorem’s Three Barcarolles, and Ernst Bacon’s Pig Town Fling. Kate Stenberg and Eva-Maria Zimmermann, violin-piano duo, will perform rarely heard works by Josef Matthias Hauer. Also on the program: works by composers ranging from Webern and Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen to George Antheil and a world premiere by Ronald Bruce Smith. Séance producer Charles Amirkhanian makes cameo appearances on drums and piano. Feb. 24, 2 p.m., 5 p.m., 8 p.m., Swedenborgian Church, San Francisco, $23-$31 (800) 838-3006, www.otherminds.org. (C.G.)

Guzik Foundation Award Winners
Every year, hundreds of Russian music students compete for the Guzik Foundation Awards, named for Bay Area philanthropist, high-tech industrialist, and Russian emigré Nahum Guzik (see last year’s review). This February several of the young winners perform in the gilded splendor of the Florence Gould Theater. Feb. 16, 8 p.m.; Feb. 18, 2 p.m.; Florence Gould Theater, Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, $22, (415) 392-4400, www.chambermusicsf.org. (M.B.)

Opera Center Festival of Song
Steven Blier's New York Festival of Song, a rich, iconoclastic mix of classical and popular music, will have its annual West Coast edition again, with San Francisco Opera Center singers Rhoslyn Jones, Katharine Tier, Noah Stewart, and Jeremy Galyon. Composers of the works on the program include William Bolcom, John Musto, Adam Guettel, John Corigliano, Ricky Ian Gordon, Lee Hoiby, Richard Thomas, and others. Feb. 18, 5:30 p.m., Temple Emanu-El, San Francisco, $20, (415) 864-3330, www.sfopera.com. (J.G.)

Young Caesar
San Francisco Conservatory of Music BluePrint series Artistic Director Nicole Paiement and the Ensemble Parallèle stage the world premiere of Lou Harrison’s opera Young Caesar, about Julius Caesar's love affair with King Nicomedes of Bithynia, timed for what would have been the 90th birthday of the composer. Feb. 16-17, 8 p.m., Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, $45-$60, (415) 978- 2787, www.sfcm.edu. (M.B.)

Martha at the Pocket Opera
Continuing in its tradtion of adventurous programming, the Pocket Opera, now in its 30th season, will perform Friedrich von Flotow's Martha. Pocket Opera has made an impact far beyond its size by introducing a long line of young singers and musicians (of the Pocket Philharmonic) to Bay Area audiences. Flotow's Martha, which tells the story of a woman whose money brings her melancholy and her adventures into servitude bring her smiles, will be perfomed at several Bay Area locations. Feb. 18, 2 p.m., Napa Valley Opera House, (707) 226-7372; Feb. 24, 2 p.m., Florence Gould Theater, San Francisco; March 11, 2 p.m., Osher-Marin Jewish Community Center, (415) 444-8000, $18-$35, www.pocketopera.org. (C.G.)

Romeo and Juliet
Charles Gounod's Romeo and Juliet comes to the San Francisco Lyric Opera. Sung in French with English supertitles, Shakespere's drama that cries out for opera is conducted by Barnaby Palmer and directed by Heather Carolo. Venezuelan Jimmy Kansau sings Romeo and Meagan Todd will sing Juliet. Feb. 23, 24; March 2, 3; 7:30 p.m., Florence Gould Theater, San Francisco, $18-$32, (415) 392-4400, www.sflyricopera.org (C.G.)

King's Singers
The King's Singers, a six-man group from England, has long been a favorite group among afficionados of a capella singing. Their vast repertory, which can be heard on a discography of some 70 albums, encompasses everything from early music to show tunes to Victorian popular songs to esoteric contemporary music. Their Stanford program will include works by Kodály, Davies, Bennett, Patterson, Kreek, and other recent composers, as well as pieces chosen from the lighter side of their repertory. Feb. 16, 8 p.m., Memorial Church, Stanford, $22-$44, 650-725-ARTS, www.livelyarts.stanford.edu. (L.H.)

Sounds New
All-new works will be performed by the Sounds New Ensemble, known for its deft ability to interpret contemporary compositions with subtlety and understanding. The group — Brooke Aird, violin; Catherine Allen, cello; Elinor Armer, piano; Herb Bielawa, piano; Anna Carol Dudley, soprano; Richard Mathias, clarinet; Deborah Schmidt, flute — is dedicated to discovering and performing new music by American composers. The program will feature everything from solos to quintets, including two world premieres: the hilariously named Sloppy Floppy Copy by Herb Bielawa and Dancing at the Pink House by Howard Hersh. Feb. 16, 8 p.m., Old First Church, San Francisco, $12-$15, (415) 474-1608, www.oldfirstconcerts.org. (C.G.)

Brazilian Origins
As you might guess from the group's name, this concert by Brazilian Origins will feature music in styles from Brazil: choro, samba, and baio, played on seven-string guitar, reeds, and percussion. The composers represented include band member Carlos Oliveira, whose music swings with a seductive, jazzy edge. Works by Pixinguinha, Toninho Horta, Chico Buarque, and Sivuca are also on the program. Feb. 16, 8 p.m., Hillside Club, Berkeley, $10-$15, (510) 845-1350, www.hillsideclub.org. (L.H.)

San Francisco Symphony Rhapsodies
The San Francisco Symphony plays three great but little-heard rhapsodic works under Carlos Kalmar. SFS’s beloved principal cellist, Michael Grebanier, is soloist in William Schuman’s Song of Orpheus. Dvorák’s Symphony No. 6 is a lyrical gem, with his finest furiant as scherzo. And how often is a Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody heard at a formal symphony concert? Feb. 21, 23, 8 p.m.; Feb. 22, 2 p.m.; Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, $25-$110, (415) 864-6000, www.sfsymphony.org. (D.B.)

Oakland East Bay Symphony
The Oakland East Bay Symphony's February program typically combines the old and the new. On the one hand there's Brahms's majestic Symphony No. 4 and the dashing Sibelius Violin Concerto (played by Margot Schwartz). On the other is Richard Meyer's Celebration!, which will include young musicians from the OEBS Music for Excellence program, and a world premiere Magnum Opus commission, Pierre Jalbert's Fire and Ice. Feb. 23, 8 p.m., Paramount Theater, Oakland, $15-$62, (510) 444-0801, www.oebs.org. (L.H.)

National Philharmonic of Russia
Olga Kern, winner of the 2001 Gold Medal at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, joins the National Philharmonic of Russia for an all-Russian program. Conductor Vladimir Spivakov leads and music includes Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Fantasy-Overture and two Rachmaninoff works, Piano Concerto No. 2 and Symphonic Dances. Feb. 25, 7 p.m., Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, $25-$91, (415) 864-6000, www.sfsymphony.org. (C.G.)