Lisa Houston

Festival Opera of Walnut Creek is continuing its summer season with Gaetano Donizetti’s masterpiece, Lucia di Lammermoor. The production opens Aug. 7, and the four performances will feature almost entirely Bay Area artists.

Music at Kohl is now in its 27th season of presenting music and musical education in the South Bay. The current year’s program includes performances by such well-known ensembles as the Borealis String Quartet, the Ives Quartet, and the Philharmonia Baroque Chamber Players.

Cellist David Requiro lives in New York City, where he plays with the critically acclaimed Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players. The Oakland native has performed with numerous local orchestras, as well as the Tokyo Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, and Symphony Pro Musica in Boston. He has debuted at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. This week, he joins his long-time collaborator, pianist Miles Graber, for a concert as part of the Noe Valley Chamber Music Series.

Jeffrey Thomas is preparing American Bach Soloists for their two performances of Handel’s Messiah at San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral this weekend. He is also writing a book on Handel’s masterpiece, leading the ABS into new educational territories (including a summer training program), and finding time to create the occasional chilled-avocado and seafood soup.

A perfect evening at the Symphony or a dazzling night at the Opera might begin with a new outfit, a trip to the barber, and, once you’re properly outfitted, dinner out. Whether having hors d’oeuvres and cocktails with friends, or a fine meal at a restaurant near the concert hall, you can be sure that many of your fellow diners are headed for the same enjoyable evening that you are. But once you’ve soared on the golden wings of Puccini or Mahler, you might find yourself unceremoniously dropped into the less than majestic scene of San Francisco’s Civic Center after 11 p.m.

A night like this could get to be a habit. Saturday’s simulcast of San Francisco Opera’s Il trovatore was the seventh free, live simulcast in a tradition instituted by General Director David Gockley in 2006 and the fourth to be held at AT&T Park. The staid glamour of the opera house was happily exchanged by many for a jovial, picnic setting and a ticket price that can’t be beat. (It’s free.)

Raised in Sacramento, and an alumnus of both the Merola program at San Francisco Opera and the Resident Artist training program at Opera San José, bass Kirk Eichelberger now sings lead roles with opera companies throughout the U.S. He is currently in rehearsal to play Mephistopheles in Festival Opera’s production of Faust. I sat down with him to ask him about his career, his training, and how he likes playing the devil.

What did you learn as a resident artist at Opera San José and a graduate of Merola?

It might be possible to look at the newest arrivals at a company like San Francisco Opera as beginners of a sort, perched on the bottom rung on a most accomplished ladder. Yet the 29 young artists (24 singers and five coaches) who arrived on June 1 for 11 weeks of training have already studied and trained for years to earn the right to participate in the Merola Opera Program, one of the nation’s most prestigious programs for young artists.

Mills College caps off its Music Festival this Sunday with a concert celebrating the reopening of its beautifully restored concert hall and the 60th birthday of Music Department Chair, Fred Frith. The composer, improviser, and guitar pioneer discusses teaching, improvisation, and what fuels his creative fire.