San Francisco Classical Voice

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 from 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.)

Ensemble Masques
The Montreal-based Ensemble Masques presents music of 17th-century violin virtuoso Heinrich Biber and his contemporaries, Georg Muffat and Johann Heinrich Schmelzer. Biber, who celebrated the humanistic tradition of listening to music while partaking of a meal, is responsible for some of the hairier compostions of the 17th century. His works, as well as those by the infrequently tackled Muffat and Schmelzer, will be performed by Sophie Gent and Chloe Meyers, baroque violin; Elin Söderström and Mélisande Corriveau, bass viols; Josh Cheatham, violone; and Olivier Fortin, harpsichord. March 16, 8 p.m., First Lutheran Church, Palo Alto; March 17, 8 p.m., St. John's Presbyterian Church, Berkeley; March 18, 3:30 p.m., St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church, San Francisco; $29-$67, (510) 528-1725, www.sfems.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 on March 10 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.)

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.)

Mill Valley Philharmonic
The Mill Valley Philharmonic plays a concert of music commissioned by the Works Project Administration. Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man is familiar to most concertgoers, but the other works are performed infrequently. Ernst Bacon, director of the San Francisco WPA Music Project and conductor of its orchestra, is represented by his Symphony No. 2. Summerland and Mother and Child are by the African-American composer William Grant Still. George Frederick McKay's From a Moonlit Ceremony, based on Native American themes, rounds out the program. Actor Liam Vincent narrates.
The first performance, on March 11 and presented in collaboration with the African American Art and Culture Complex, is free, with no advance tickets. March 11, 4 p.m., African American Art and Culture Complex, San Francisco, free; March 16, 8 p.m., March 17, 2 p.m., Tamalpais High School, Mill Valley; $5-$10, (415) 383-0930, www.millvalleyphilharmonic. (L.H.)

Symphony Silicon Valley
Symphony Silicon Valley offers a delectable program of modern works under Leslie Dunner. Copland’s Third Symphony, the sweeping culmination of his Americana period, is the sort of work SSV can bring vision to. Kodály’s Háry János Suite outdoes anything in the standard repertoire for flashy display of brass and percussion. As an appetizer, Ravel’s Bolero. This should be fun. March 17, 8 p.m.; March 18, 2:30 p.m.; California Theatre, San Jose, $36-$72, (408) 286-2600, www.symphonysiliconvalley.org. (D.B.)

Santa Rosa Symphony
Guest conductor Edward Gardner comes to Santa Rosa fresh from his appointment as music director of the English National Opera. He will lead the orchestra in Elgar’s Cello Concerto, a standard of the cello literature, to be performed by guest guest cellist Johannes Moser. Also on the program: Walton's Symphony No. 1 and Beethoven’s operatic Leonore Overture No. 3, complete with an offstage trumpet call. March 17-19, times vary, Wells Fargo Center, Santa Rosa, $27-$50, (707) 546-8742, www.santarosasymphony.com. (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.)

Gerald Finley
The baritone Gerald Finley was both tortured and touching in his first local appearances, as Robert Oppenheimer in John Adams' Doctor Atomic. He is among the most eloquent of living recitalists, specializing in new music and songs in English. Now he sings Schumann's Dichterliebe and songs by Ives, Rorem, and Barber; Julius Drake plays piano. March 15, 8 p.m., Herbst Theatre, San Francisco, $27-$49, (415) 392-2545, www.performances.org. (L.H.)

Alfred Brendel
Pianist Alfred Brendel performs a concert of Sonatas by Hadyn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Mozart rounded out by two of Schubert's Impromptu's — the No. 1 in F Minor, D. 935; and the No. 3 in B-flat Major, D. 935. Brendel who is now in his 70s has mastered most of the Vienesse classics, but his newfound passion for writing poetry might well account for the newfound freshness and added depth he now brings to the compositions. March 18, 5 p.m., Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley, $38-$76, (510) 642-9988, www.calperfs.berkeley.edu. (C.G.)

Creative Voices
These first-rate singers feature the choral works of Francis Poulenc, including the stirring La Figure Humaine. 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.)

Schola Cantorum San Francisco
Schola Cantorum San Francisco, the outstanding independent professional choir (formerly the resident choir of the National Shrine of Saint Francis of Assisi in San Francisco), performs a concert titled "In Exitu Israel," which promises music of penitence and redemption from the Tanakh, the Hebrew scriptures. March 16, 8 p.m., St. Peter and Paul Church, San Francisco; March 17, 8 p.m., St.Mark's Episcopal Church, Berkeley; March 18, 7 p.m., Main Post Chapel, Interfaith Center in the Presidio, San Francisco; (415) 419-3500, www.scholasf.org. (C.G.)

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. March 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.)

Avedis
This program of trios — performed by the winning combination of Alexandra Hawley, flute; Stephen Harrison, cello; Paul Hersh; piano; and James Matheson, oboe — features rarely heard composers, one from Germany, another from France, and two Americans. There's the sparkling style of Friedrich Kuhlau, sometimes referred to as the "Beethoven of the Flute," as well as Eugène Goossens, contemporary composer Lowell Liebermann, and Arthur Foote, who had one foot in the 19th century and another in the 20th. Mar. 17, 2 p.m, Florence Gould Theater, San Francisco, $15-$20, (415) 392-4400, www.avedisconcerts.org. (C.G.)

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 6-25; 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.)

San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra
The San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra, a band of composer-perfomers, brings new music by local composers to the concert stage. This concert includes world premieres by Lisa Scola Prosek, Erling Wold, and Beeri Moalem, among others. March 10, 8 p.m., Old First Church, San Francisco, $12-$15, (415) 474-1608, www.sfchamberorchestra.org. (L.H.)

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.)

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.)

sfSoundSeries
The upcoming sfSoundSeries concert will include Xennakis' Akanthos, Wadada Leo Smith's Emmeya, and Matthew Goodheart's Study No. 6. Perhaps most intruiging is Grand Duett, a work by the recently deceased Galina Ustvolskaya, a reclusive Shostakovich pupil whose music is just becoming known. March 19, 8 p.m., ODC Theater, San Francisco, $5, (415) 863-9834, www.sfsound.org. (L.H.)

Silk Road Ensemble
The Silk Road Ensemble, Yo-Yo Ma's traveling caravan of musical delights from around the world, returns to Cal Performances for two evenings. The program isn't available yet, but typical Silk Road Ensemble concerts include traditional music of countries from China, Central Asia, and Eastern Europe, as well as works using both traditional and European classical instruments that were commissioned by the group. The concerts are presently sold out, but tickets may become available through turn-ins. March 16 and 17, 8 p.m., Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley, $36-$96, (510) 642-9988, www.calperfs.berkeley.edu. (L.H.)