The Symphony musicians have fun selecting works with unusual combinations of instruments. The Telemann is for two violas and a bass; the Douglas piece — commissioned earlier this year by a group of contrabassoon players in search of more music to perform — is for that instrument (played by Steven Braunstein) and piano, the part performed in virtuoso fashion by the composer.

The Bay Area has not only 22 opera companies and two dozen symphony orchestras, it also sports a profusion of chamber-music ensembles — ranging from "traditional" string quartets to those specializing in contemporary music, to ensembles of various sizes and interest. Check partial lists of such organizations ... and support your local chamber music. See below for news of music on a small(er) scale.

Feinsmith: A New Quartet Rises in the West

San Francisco will soon witness the birth of a new chamber ensemble, the Feinsmith Quartet, consisting of well-known local musicians and acclaimed New York pianist Christopher Taylor. Playing a world premiere, no less, the quartet will first appear at the Other Minds Festival in the San Francisco JCC's Kanbar Hall on Dec. 8. (The program also includes the U.S. premiere of Per Nørgård's Quartet No. 10 for Strings, "Høsttidløs.)

Besides Taylor, members of the quartet are former Kronos Quartet cellist Jennifer Culp of San Francisco, Oakland guitarist Gyan Riley (son of composer Terry Riley), and San Francisco electric bass player Michael Manring. The founder is Emeryville composer Daniel David Feinsmith; it will be his work, ELOHIM, that will have its premiere at the quartet's debut.

ELOHIM is a Hebrew word referring to divinity. Feinsmith says of his work that he is searching for "new musical ways of expressing Jewish ideas. ... We need to free ourselves to go beyond klezmer, which is what is considered Jewish music these days. True Jewish music [reflects the] spiritual experience of closeness to and service of God."

Chamber Orchestra Sees Year out in Giving Mood

The San Francisco Chamber Orchestra will give four free New Year's Eve concerts in the Bay Area, with music director Benjamin Simon leading a substantive program, not one of those freebie pop affairs: Schubert's Symphony No. 5, Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 1 (with Robert Schwartz), and Handel's Trumpet Concerto in G Minor (with Jeff Strong). These concerts are dedicated to the memory of the late Edgar Braun, founder-director of SFCO.

The 8 p.m. concerts open on Dec. 29 in San Francisco's Herbst Theater and continue the next night in San Rafael's Marin Showcase Theater. The group will next perform on Dec. 31 in Berkeley's First Congregational Church and conclude with a 3 p.m. matinee on Jan. 1, in Palo Alto's St. Mark's Episcopal Church.

Free Hansel — Free Gretel — Free Witch, Even

The San Francisco Conservatory Opera Theater presents four free performances of Engelbert Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel in the school's new concert hall, at 50 Oak Street, at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. on both Dec. 16 and 17. There is no admission charge, but call (415) 503-6275 for tickets.

Halfvarson: Coach Profundo

Eric Halfvarson, one of the most prolific and acclaimed basses around (Ochs, Sarastro, Fasolt, Hagen, Daland, many, many more), is also a terrific vocal coach, judging by his master class Monday evening. He appeared at an event sponsored by Elizabeth Bachman's Tyrolean Opera Program — a San Francisco-based educational entertprise that trains young singers in the Austrian Alps ("I am not making this up, you know," the late Anna Russell would have said). The event is hosted by Dieter and Margery Tede, prominent supporters of young talent on the local music scene.

Halfvarson's approach is simple and convincing. Instead of talking about the basics of breathing, he makes the singer, and the entire audience, "do it right:" arms in the air, breathe in, arms down, hold it, expel — whoosh! One by one, the friendly man with the huge, booming speaking voice made singers relax and let go, stop posturing and holding themselves rigidly ... and the resulting improvement was immediate and significant.

Other voice coaches may just say "relax!" over and over again (usually in vain), but Halfvarson has an irresistible bag of tricks. He has the singers assume funny rag doll-like positions, slumping over the piano and losing rigidity and artifice. The one singer who had the best of the kind but imposing Halfvarson was soprano Alison Collins: Asked how old she is (to consider the possibility of preparing for La traviata), Collins replied, with flawless timing, "How old would you like me to be?" — putting everybody in stitches. Presence of mind like that cannot be taught, not even by a great coach.

Other young singers taking the master class were program participant sopranos Rochelle Bard and Nicole Yazolino, as well as bass Anthony Russell and baritone Adam Meza (both auditioning for the program).

Participating in the master class: Pocket Opera founder-director Donald Pippin as accompanist. Halfvarson is appearing in the San Francisco Opera's current production of Puccini's Manon Lescaut, and he will be back next season for Tannhäuser.

BluePrint Premieres

BluePrint's next concert — Nov. 18 at Old First Church — will present world premieres of works commissioned from Canadian composer Bruce Mather and S.F. Conservatory professor Jacques Desjardins. Mather's Music for San Francisco features cellist Jean-Michel Fonteneau and Ensemble Parallèle. Desjardins' Volupté is the other premiere. The program from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music also includes Darius Milhaud's last composition, Études, Op. 442 (sur des thèmes liturgiques du Comtat Venaissin) for string quartet; Uzbek composer Dmitri Yanov-Yanovski's tribute to Edison Denisov, Lux aeterna for solo violin and chamber ensemble; and selections from Gavin Bryars' song cycle for soprano and chamber ensemble, Adnan Songbook.

McGegan on Gregor: Farewell to a Colleague

Hungarian bass-baritone József Gregor died last month, at age 66. Philharmonia Baroque's Nicholas McGegan, a longtime friend and colleague, told Classical Voice about the impact of the news from Budapest:

"I was very saddened to hear of the passing of József Gregor, one of the finest bass baritones of his generation. He was in so many ways a larger-than-life character, hardly surprising for such a fine Falstaff, both Verdi's and Salieri's. I first saw him on stage as Don Pasquale, acting the role superbly and firing off the patter songs in machine-gun Hungarian, bringing the house down. But he did not just sing the stock roles for his voice. He was always willing to take on new ones, sometimes really obscure parts for a premiere recording.

"Later, when I got to know him and to be lucky enough to work with him, I realized that on top of being a fine comic actor, he was also a singer of great refinement and taste. We recorded The Patience of Socrates by Telemann for Hungaroton in the late 1980s. It is a very extensive work that required much preparation. He was always full of great ideas and he brought so much abundant life and energy to a project that could have been at best pious and at worst, plain dull. With his lead, the result was a very funny and sometimes touching work that sounded as if we had done it on stage rather than in the studio.

"He was as much fun off stage as on and, even with my very limited Hungarian, I could tell that he was a gold mine of stories and jokes. I shall miss him, and the sparkle that he brought to everything he did, very much."