San Francisco Classical Voice

Music@Menlo
Music@Menlo joins virtually every other musical institution in honoring the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth, but, as in the past four years, it's a festival with a difference. You will not often find, as you do here, a concert of J.S. Bach's Fantasy and Fugue in A Minor, BWV 904; Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time; and Mozart's Clarinet Quintet (Program VI, "Mozart and the End of Time") — or Britten's Cello Suite No. 3, Stravinsky's own arrangement of The Rite of Spring for piano, four hands, and Mozart's Quintet for Piano and Winds, K. 452 (Program V, "Mozart and the 20th Century"). And what other festival gives its artists the opportunity to perform whatever they'd like, on the aptly named Carte Blanche Concerts? This year, Joseph Silverstein and Derek Han perform all eight of Mozart's sonatas for violin and piano, and Claude Frank plays the last two Schubert piano sonatas. Add to this the fabulous musicians, too numerous to list here, free Prelude Performances by students from the Music@Menlo Chamber Music Institute, and five lectures by scholars, and you've got a near-perfect festival.

Each program is given twice. The concert venues are St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Palo Alto and Stent Family Hall at the Menlo School in Atherton. Both venues are acoustically excellent; Stent Family Hall seats fewer than 200, resulting in exceptionally intimate and intense concerts. Note that some concerts are given once at St. Mark's, once at Stent; others are given twice at St. Mark's. The lecture series (Encounters) takes place at the Menlo School's Martin Family Hall. Through Aug. 11; Prelude Performances are at 6 p.m., concerts at 8 p.m., the Carte Blanche concerts are at 10:30 a.m. at Stent Family Hall and include a lunch break; $10-$78, (650) 330-2030, www.musicatmenlo.org. (L.H.)

Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music
For 45 years, the Cabrillo Festival — first in Aptos and then in Santa Cruz — has presented contemporary music, with an emphasis on American works and composers of the Bay Area. This longest-running, new-music, orchestral festival won the national ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music for 23 consecutive years. This is the 15th season with Marin Alsop as music director. Violinist Leila Josefowicz performs in Mark Grey’s San Andreas Suite (Aug. 10, 6 p.m.), and in Grey's Elevation (Aug. 12, 8 p.m.). Through Aug. 13, Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium and other venues, times vary, $30-$40, (831) 420-5260, www.cabrillomusic.org. (J.G.)

Napa Valley Chamber Music Festival
The Napa Valley Chamber Music Festival allows classical music lovers to combine a day in the country, wine tasting, and great music all in one event. The festival, better known as Music in the Vineyards, has a new tag for 2006: Mozart in the Vineyards. The festival's 12 programs, performed from Aug. 9 to 27 at eight vineyards and the Jarvis Conservatory, include plenty of Mozart, but that's hardly all. The concert on Aug. 23, at Markham Vineyards, celebrates the music and friendship of Brahms and Dvorák. Miguel del Aguila's Salon Buenos Aires is premiered on Aug. 11; Ginastera's Impressiones de la Puna, the Mozart clarinet quintet, and a trio sonata by C.P.E. Bach are on the same program. The concert on Aug. 13 includes Beethoven's String Quartet, Op. 18, No. 2 and the Dohnányi sextet for clarinet, horn, string trio, and piano. As in past years, music directors Daria Adams and Michael Adams are at the heart of many of the programs, on violin and viola, respectively. They're joined by the Pacifica Quartet and a host of fine soloists. Concert venues are Beringer, Clos Pegase, Frog's Leap, Rubicon, The Hess Collection, Silverado, Markham, V. Sattui, the Jarvis Conservatory, and Vintage 1870. Plus, there are special dinners at Meadowood, at which you can meet the musicians, and at Vintage 1870 following the last concert. Aug. 9-27, times and venues vary, $40-$60 (seating is nonreserved), (707) 258-5559, www.napavalleymusic.org/. (L.H.)

Walnut Creek Don Giovanni
Festival Opera presents Mozart's Don Giovanni at Hoffman Theater in Walnut Creek, with musical direction by Michael Morgan, stage direction by Morgan and Heather Carolo, and sets by Matthew Antaky. Brian Leerhuber sings the title role, Kirk Eichelberger is Leporello; and the rest of the cast includes: Kristin Clayton, Layna Chianakas, Aimée Puentes, Brian Frutiger, John Frederick, and Clifton Romig. Aug. 12, 15, 18 at 8 p.m., Aug. 20 at 2 p.m., Dean Lesher Regional Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek, $36-$100, (925) 943-SHOW, www.festivalopera.com. (J.G.)

City Concert Opera's Handel
Although generally considered to be Handel's first oratorio, the 1707 Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno ("The Triumph of Time and Disillusion") is an opera in all but name as the genre was banned in Rome where Handel wrote the work for his benefactor, a cardinal. The premiere was conducted by Archangelo Corelli. This time, it's Tom Busse leading performances, with Diana Pray, Tonia d'Amelio, Heidi Waterman, and Antoine Garth as soloists. Excerpts from the work may be heard on the Internet. Aug. 13, 4 p.m., Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church (100 Diamond St.), San Francisco; Aug. 14, 7:30 p.m., St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Berkeley; $10-$20, (415) 334-7679, www.cityconcertopera.com. (J.G.)

Norman Krieger
Pianist Norman Krieger, well-known as a performer of the music of contemporary composers — John Adams, John Corigliano, Daniel Brewbaker, Judith St. Croix, Lukas Foss, and Lowell Liebermann, among others — "goes classic" this time, bringing Beethoven (Sonata No. 23 in F Minor, Op. 57. Appassionata), Mozart (Sonata No. 10 in C Major, K. 330), and Chopin (Nocturne in B-flat Minor, Op. 9, No. 1, Etude in C Minor, Op. 10, No. 12) to St. Patrick's Church. Aug. 9, 12:30 p.m., St. Patrick's Church, San Francisco, $5, (415) 777-3211, www.normankrieger.com. (J.G.)

Bleeding Edge Festival
The Bleeding Edge Festival features 20 bands performing on four stages throughout the Montalvo grounds, in addition to experimental electronic performances. Participating artists include minimalist composer Richard Chartier, clarinetist-composer William Basinski, Montreal's Tim Hecker and Skoltz Kolgen, Berlin's Frank Bretschneider, electronic musicians Matmos (M.C. Schmidt and Drew Daniel), harpist Zeena Parkins, and South Africa’s Alan Abrahams, a.k.a. Portable. Aug. 13, noon to 10 p.m., Montalvo Arts Center, Saratoga, $50, (408) 961-5800, www.montalvoarts.org. (J.G.)

Summer Sing-Ins
It's summer, and most choruses are taking a break from rehearsals. If you like to sing, a summer sing-in may be just the thing for you: You turn up, you're handed a score, and you read through the work with an impromptu chorus, led by an experienced conductor. They're great fun, whether to maintain your chops, get in some extra sight-singing practice, read through a work you've never sung (or review it if you know it well), or see if choral singing is for you. Some pieces are perennial favorites, such as the Brahms Requiem, but you can find more unusual works as well — for example, one of the Oakland Symphony Chorus' sing-ins this year includes Ralph Vaughan Williams' Dona Nobis Pacem. These events can be found in various places around the Bay Area; below are listed dates, works, and other information for two sets of summer sings.

Oakland Symphony Chorus Summer Sing-Ins
The Oakland Symphony Chorus's summer sing-ins are on Tuesdays in Oakland: Aug. 15, Handel: Messiah, Trente Morant. 7 p.m., First Covenant Church, 4000 Redwood Rd., Oakland, $10, (510) 207-4093, info@oaklandsymphonychorus.org, www.oakland-sym-chorus.org.