San Francisco Classical Voice

Consolation and Comfort
Paul Flight leads a concert of the great choral works of the Baroque period. Heinrich Schütz, the most renowned German composer of the 17th century, leads off the program. The high premium he placed on text expression is evident in the monumental Musikalische Exequien. J.S. Bach's early cantata Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit, also known as Actus Tragicus, is especially poignant because of the unusual and archaic scoring of two recorders and two violas da gamba. March 2, 8 p.m., St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church, San Francisco; March 3, 8 p.m., All Saints' Episcopal Church, Palo Alto; March 4, 4 p.m., St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Berkeley; $10-25, (415) 262-0272, www.calbach.org. (C.G.)

Rachmaninoff Vespers
The Grammy Award-winning Pacific Boychoir occupies a unique spot among children's choirs, as its home is the West Coast's only full-time academic choir school. In this concert the boys perform the Rachmaninoff Vespers in its original boy-choir setting, as well as Barber's Agnus Dei, the choral setting of the Adagio for Strings. March 2, 7:30 p.m., Grace Cathedral, San Francisco; March 3, 7:30 p.m., St. Augustine Catholic Church, Oakland; (510) 652-4PBA; www.pacificboychoir.org. (M.B.)

Volti
The exemplary contemporary music specialists present an evening of new Volti commissions and other works, including the winner of the organization's Choral Arts Laboratory, Amy Beth Kirsten. March 2, 8 p.m., St. Mark's Lutheran Church, San Francisco; March 3, 8 p.m., St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Berkeley; March 4, 7 p.m., First United Methodist Church, Sacramento; $8-$20, (415) 824-7393, www.voltisf.org. (M.B.)

Creative Voices
These first-rate singers feature the choral works of Francis Poulenc, including the stirring La Figure Humaine. March 4, 4 p.m., The Dance Palace, Point Reyes Station; March 10, 8 p.m., St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Berkeley; March 11, 4 p.m., St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church, San Francisco; April 1, 4 p.m., Holy Cross Church, Santa Cruz; (415) 861-3680, www.creativevoices.org. (M.B.)

Marin Symphony
The Marin Symphony, conducted by Alasdair Neale, performs an important Magnum Opus commission, Osvaldo Golijov's The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind, a work incorporating Jewish music and history and featuring a big solo clarinet part. Also on the program are Kodály's Galanta Dances and Beethoven's seventh symphony. Feb. 27, 7:30 p.m., Veterans Memorial Auditorium, San Rafael, $27-$65, (415) 499-6800, www.marinsymphony.org. (L.H.)

Alan Gilbert Conducts the S.F. Symphony
Alan Gilbert's specialty is contemporary music, represented on this concert by Thomas Adès' Chamber Symphony. The Eroica Trio joins in for a performance of Beethoven's Triple Concerto for piano, violin, and cello; Mozart's Symphony No. 41 ("Jupiter") rounds out the program. March 7-10, 8 p.m., Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, $25-$224, (415) 864-6000, www.sfsymphony.org. (L.H.)

A World-Class Youth Orchestra
The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra is not only a local treasure, it is highly regarded at its national and international appearances. The young instrumentalists usually take on big, challenging works, and the next concert is no exception: Webern's Passacaglia, Mozart's Symphony No. 39, and Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition (Ravel's orchestration) are on the program. March 11, 2 p.m., Davies Hall, San Francisco, $10-$25, (415) 864-6000, www.sfsymphony.org. (J.G.)

Christine Brewer
Christine Brewer appeared last fall as one of several singers in a concert titled "Playing Favorites." The sensational Wagnerian now brings her gorgeous voice and way with words to a solo recital that will include works by composers from the obvious Wagner and Strauss through to Arlen, Carter, and Barber. She is partnered in this concert with pianist Craig Rutenberg. March 1, 8 p.m., Herbst Theatre, San Francisco, $29-$47, (415) 392-2545, www.performances.org. (L.H.)

Elizabeth Blumenstock and Mary Wilson
Baroque violinist Elizabeth Blumenstock performs two dynamic works by J.S. Bach, including her own transcription of the famous Harpsichord Concerto in D Minor, in what is likely to be a restoration of that work to its original form. Soprano Mary Wilson performs bravura solo works by Handel's Deutsche Arien and Vivaldi's Nulla in mundo pax sincera. March 2, 8 p.m., St. Stephen's Church, Belvedere; March 3, 8 p.m., First Congretional Church, Berkeley; March 4, 7 p.m., St. Mark's Lutheran, San Francisco; March 5, 8 p.m., Davis Community Church; $10-42, (415) 621-7900, www.americanbach.org. (C.G.)

Jonathan Biss
Pianist Jonathan Biss makes another Bay Area appearance, courtesy of San Francisco Performances. Although young, he can no longer be called up-and-coming. He is a consummate interpreter of the works of Robert Schumann — a composer notorious for giving pianists fits. On his March program, Biss includes Schumann’s Kreisleriana, in addition to Beethoven’s “Pastoral” Sonata in D Major, Op. 28; the Mozart Sonata in F Major, K. 533; and Anton Webern’s Variations, Op. 27. March 3, 8 p.m., Herbst Theatre, $29-$47, (415) 392-2545, www.performances.org. (M.Z.)

Rudolf Buchbinder
After beginning his studies at the Vienna College of Music at the age of 5, pianist Rudolf Buchbinder has since developed into a protean artist. He's a regular guest at all the major music festivals, and will soon mark the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth by playing 12 of the composer's piano concertos with the Vienna Philharmonic. This is his third consecutive year as a guest to Berkeley, where he continues his epic traversal of the complete Beethoven sonatas, a multiyear project at Cal Performances, in two separate programs. On the first is the "Pastoral" and "Pathétique" and on the second you'll hear "Tempest" and "Moonlight." March 4, 3 p.m., Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley, $42, (510) 642-9988, www.calperfs.berkeley.edu. (C.G.)

Murray Perahia
Pianist Murray Perahia combines a flawless technique with uncommonly high sensibility to keyboard timbres. His recital — a Bach partita, Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 15, Schumann's Fantasiestücke, and Chopin's Ballade No. 4 — should be on your must-hear list. March 5, 8 p.m., Davies Hall, San Francisco, $25-$91, (415) 864-4000, www.sfsymphony.org. (C.G.)

Natasha Paremski
Russian-American pianist Natasha Paremski, who grew up in both Russia and here in Fremont, won the Gilmore Young Artist Award in 2006. Now 19 years old, she'll perform at the Florence Gould Theater. On the program: Chopin's Polonaise-Fantasie in A-flat Major, Liszt's Petrarch Sonnets, as well as works by Prokofiev and Brahms. March 11, 2 p.m., Florence Gould Theater, San Francisco, $29, (415) 392-2545, www.performances.org. (C.G.)

Borromeo String Quartet
The exciting Borromeo String Quartet comes to Stanford with a program of three towering masterpieces. Beethoven's compact and witty String Quartet in F Minor, Op. 135, represents his final work in the form. Bartók's six string quartets are a touchstone of the 20th-century quartet literature; the Borromeo offers the fifth, as well as a rare chance to hear Stravinsky's Concertino for String Quartet. March 2, 8 p.m., Dinkelspiel Auditorium, Stanford, $18-$40, (650) 725-ARTS, www.livelyarts.stanford.edu (L.H.)

Pascal Rogé
Appropriately enough, French pianist Pascal Rogé plays a winning, all-French concert in his San Francisco debut. Miniatures such as a pair of Satie's Gnossiennes and a Fauré Nocturne round out a program on which the big pieces are Ravel's Sonatine and Book One of Debussy's Preludes. March 3, 2 p.m., Palace of the Legion of Honor, S.F., $34-$38, (415) 759-1756, www.chambermusicsf.org (L.H.)

Bach, Rohde, and Stravinsky
This concert promises to highlight the difference between violin and viola, featuring local virtuosi Axel Strauss and Madeline Prager. They'll perform what might be called Bach's best violin concerto, the No. 2 in E Major, the premiere of Kurt Rohde's latest, another violin concerto, as well as the seldom-heard Dumbarton Oaks concerto by Stravinsky. Mar. 9, 8 p.m, Herbst Theatre, San Francisco; March 10, 8 p.m., St. John's Presbyterian Church, Berkeley; March 11, Valley Presbyterian Church, 3 p.m., Portola Valley, free, (510) 864-6000, www.sfchamberorchestra.org. (C.G.)

Anything a Player Piano Can Do, We Can Do Better
Conlon Nancarrow spent most of his mature years writing pieces “impossible” to play, composing instead for player piano in Mexico City. See actual human beings play two of these amazing “studies,” performed in arrangements by the group Alarm Will Sound, along with four other pieces written for flesh-and-bones instrumentalists. Nancarrow, contrary to MTT’s loose definition of the term, is a true and fascinating American Maverick. Mar. 11, 3 p.m, Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley, $32, (510) 864-6000, www.calperfs.berkeley.edu/presents. (J.D.)

Elisabeth LeGuin
Baroque cellist Elisabeth LeGuin, joined by various other musicians, presents a concert of music by the saucy and sensual Luigi Boccherini, a composer on whom she is an authority. MusicSources promises a reception featuring chocolate and sangria. March 11, 5 p.m., MusicSources, Berkeley, $15-$18, (510) 528-1685, musicsources.org. (L.H.)

Jewish Music Festival
The 22nd Jewish Music Festival brings performers from around the world to the Bay Area for concerts in the widest possible array of styles: A poetry slam and Jewish music of the Italian Renaissance, music from the Terezin concentration camp and Argentinian klezmer, disapora blues, and contemporary Israeli music on the mandolin. The 12 programs all look great, but are too diverse to describe in full. The festival runs from March 8 to 25 at eight venues on both sides of the Bay. March 5-25; times, locations, and prices vary; (510) 848-0237, www.jewishmusicfestival.org (L.H.)

Thick Skin
This season-ending concert promises to shake things up with "thick-skinned" music that will have you at the edge of your seat. Things start off with Chou Wen-chung’s Windswept Peaks and Toru Takemitsu’s Tree Line, both inspired by the sounds of nature. Then there's the restless energy of Luciano Berio’s Points on the Curve to Find, featuring Conservatory faculty pianist Mack McCray, who will tackle the work's machine-gun-style blasts of notes. And right before the premiere of the concert's namesake composition, Thick Skin by Ryan Brown, who performs on electric guitar, hold tight for the juxtaposition of — yes — a rapper, chamber ensemble, and vocalists in Jay Lyon’s Voyelles. March 10, 8 p.m., San Francisco Conservatory of Music, $10-$15, (415) 503-6275, www.sfcm.edu. (C.G.)

Exploring With Earplay
San Francisco's forward-looking, vital new-music ensemble comes together in the second concert of three this season. Under the baton of Mary Chun, the ensemble will perform a program titled "Exploring." Kurt Rohde's Double Trouble (2002), Christopher Wendell Jones' Fictions (2000), Krzysztof Penderecki's Clarinet Quartet (1993), Christopher Wendell Jones' Fictions (2000), and James H. Carr's Four Wilde Aphorisms (1991) are featured alongside a much older piece by György Ligeti: the Cello Sonata (1948-53). March 12, 7 p.m., Herbst Theatre, San Francisco, free, (415) 585-9776, www.earplay.org. (M.Z.)

Baroque Banquet
Violinist John Holloway, an integral figure in the global early-music revival, ignites a program that ranges from better-known works by Bach and Vivaldi to lesser known gems (and composers), such as Biber's Fidicinium sacro-profanum (Sacred-profane Fiddle noise), Charpentier's Overture and Chaconne Le rendez-vous des Tuileries, and Blow's Overture and Dances from Venus and Adonis. The talented Elizabeth Blumenstock joins on violin. March 9, 8 p.m., First United Methodist Church, Palo Alto; March 10, 7:30 p.m.; March 11, 8 p.m. First Congretional Church, Berkeley; March 16, 8 p.m., Herbst Theatre, San Francisco; March 17, 8 p.m., Lafayette-Orinda Presbyterian Church, Lafayette; $29-$67, (415) 392-4400, www.philharmonia.org/Concert.htm. (C.G.)

A Flowering Tree
John Adams's first new work since Doctor Atomic, A Flowering Tree arrives in San Francisco. Cocommissioned by the New Crowned Hope Festival, the Berlin Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, the Barbican Center, and Lincoln Center, A Flowering Tree has already been heard in Vienna and Berlin. Adams and director Peter Sellars adapted the libretto from an ancient Indian folk tale, modeling the opera on The Magic Flute. Sellars directs the semistaged performances; Adams conducts. March 1, 2, and 3, 8 p.m., Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, $31-$114, (415) 864-6000, www.sfsymphony.org. (L.H.)

Romeo and Juliet
Charles Gounod's Romeo and Juliet comes to the San Francisco Lyric Opera (see review). 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. March 2 and 3, 7:30 p.m., Florence Gould Theater, San Francisco, $18-$32, (415) 392-4400, www.sflyricopera.org (C.G.)

Abduction From the Seraglio
Berkeley Opera is bringing Mozart’s Abduction From the Seraglio to the Julia Morgan Theatre. Mozart was rightly proud of this singspiel: In his first Viennese opera, he gave comic stereotypes the extra dimensions that we now identify as his trademark. Berkeley Opera, the Bay Area’s most adventurous company, seems like the right group to give The Abduction its due. Performed in an English translation by director Ross Halper, the production is conducted by George Thomson. March 10, 14, 16, and 18, times vary, Julia Morgan Theatre, Berkeley, $15-$20, (925) 798-1300, www.berkeleyopera.org. (M.Z.)

Eugene Onegin
Tchaikovsky's romantic masterpiece based on Pushkin's novel comes to the North Bay Opera, fully staged and sung in Russian. The great writer's compassion imbues the touching story of Tatyana, a thoughtful country teenager raised on a modest estate in the company of sentimental novels and her sprightly sister named Olga. Tchaikovsky's interpretation builds dramatic irony by stressing the accidents of personality and missed opportunity that can doom passionate love. In this musically lush, romantic opera, the only perfectly matched love ends in a tragic duel between friends. Nicolai Janitzky performs in the title tole, Tatyana is performed first by Paula Goodman Wilder and later by Svetlana Nikitenko, and Marie Soklova is Olga. There is a gala dinner put on by the North Bay Opera Guild before the opening performance (time and location to be announced). March 10, 14, 16, and 18, times vary, Fairfield Center for Creative Arts, Fairfield, $12-$38, (707) 428-7664, www.nothbayopera.org. (C.G.)