Jeff Dunn

Like a well-trained infantryperson, Heart of a Soldier
triumphed in its first battle with opera’s ultimate enemy, public
indifference: Patrons greeted the premiere in the War Memorial Opera
House with a sustained standing ovation.

The 100th-anniversary season of the S.F. Symphony features a star-studded lineup. But it’s not the only orchestra with exciting performers and composers. Here are highlights from the birthday orchestra, as well as other concerts to put on the calendar.

Virgil Thomson and Gertrude Stein’s opera Four Saints in Three Acts receives a colorful, if often inscrutable, remounting at Yerba Buena Center.

Cabrillo treats listeners to some delectable 20th anniversary sweets, some of higher calorie than others.

Over 20 years of making new music, Marin Alsop has taken the Cabrillo Music Festival to illustrious heights.

Some fresh Italian air is provided by a new Naxos release of works by a youthful Ottorino Respighi.

A Jennifer Higdon work infallibly delights, on this new Atlanta Symphony Orchestra CD, even without its live-concert visuals.

Did Hollywood success spoil Erich Korngold? Not according to a new CD of his must-hear symphony, with its lush Romanticism.

Christopher Theofanidis’ First Symphony is engaging and emotional, and will give sound systems a good workout.

Andrew Davis’ CD, with goosed-up sonics, journeys to Holst’s overexplored Planets and also contains two less-known works inspired by Morocco and Japan.