Every season, a few concerts with “wow” factor come along: rare events that create a sense of occasion, partly because they rarely happen. You know that if you miss them, you’ll probably end up feeling sorry later. Of course, every spring the Bay Area is deluged with recitalists. But some recitals have a little (or a lot) extra to offer, either because of the personality of the artist, or because of the perfect match of artist and music on the program. Here are a few top recommendations in both categories.
SPECIAL EVENTS
Music for Two Pianos, Music@Menlo Winter Series
Music@Menlo isn’t just for summer anymore: The annual festival and institute founded by David Finckel and Wu Han now has a winter series. This special event reflects the summer installment’s flair for building cogent programs and attracting top-flight artists, as three pianists — Wu Han, Alessio Bax, and Anne-Marie McDermott — come together to explore music for two pianos. Included are works by Debussy and Ravel, as well as Rachmaninov’s Suite No. 2, Op. 17, and Fantaisie-tableaux (Suite No. 1), Op. 5.
Music@Menlo presents Pianos/Pianists, Jan. 16, 4 p.m., Center for Performing Arts at Menlo-Atherton, $20-$50.
The Vienna Philharmonic
Cal Performances, under Director Matias Tarnopolsky, inaugurates a new orchestral residency program with a world-class event: a trio of concerts by the legendary Vienna Philharmonic. In the esteemed ensemble’s first Bay Area appearance since 1987, conductor Semyon Bychkov will lead three programs; the first, on Feb. 25, includes Schubert’s Symphony No. 2 in B-flat Major, the Prelude and Liebestod from Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, and Bartók’s The Miraculous Mandarin. On Feb. 26, Bychkov conducts Schumann’s Symphony No. 2 in C Major and Brahms’ Symphony No. 2 in D Major. The final program, on Feb. 27, features Mahler’s Symphony No. 6 in A Minor, “Tragic.” All three concerts are expected to sell out.
Cal Performances presents the Vienna Philharmonic, Feb. 25-26, 8 p.m., and Feb. 27, 3 p.m., Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley, $65-$225.
Philharmonia Baroque and Flicka
Any appearance by mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade — known to friends and fans around the world as Flicka — is a special event, but the singer’s March assignment with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra looks especially promising. In addition to arias from Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, von Stade will join Nicholas McGegan and the orchestra in the U.S. premiere of Into the Bright Lights, by Nathaniel Stookey. The song cycle, composed for mezzo-soprano and orchestra, incorporates von Stade’s own poetry. Ballet music by Jean-Philippe Rameau and Jean-Féry Rebel completes the program.
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra presents Flicka!, Mar. 4, 8 p.m., Herbst Theatre, S.F.; Mar. 5, 8 p.m., and Mar. 6, 7:30 p.m., First Congregational Church, Berkeley; Mar. 8, 8 p.m., Center for Performing Arts at Menlo-Atherton; Mar. 9, 8 p.m., Lesher Center for the Performing Arts, Walnut Creek, $30-$90.
The Gurs Zuklus: Testimony From an Internment Camp
Stanford Lively Arts concludes its 2010/2011 season with the world premiere of The Gurs Zuklus (The Gurs cycle), a collaboration between Seattle-based inventor and sound-sculptor Trimpin and director-vocalist Rinde Eckert. The multimedia performance focuses on Gurs, the World War II internment camp near the French-Spanish border where Jews from Trimpin’s town, as well as his mentor, composer Conlon Nancarrow, were sent. Developed in connection with Stanford’s Center for Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA), this premiere promises one of the season’s more unusual new works.
Stanford Lively Arts presents The Gurs Zyklus, May 14, 8 p.m., Memorial Auditorium, Stanford University, $38-$42.
Ojai North! With Dawn Upshaw
Now in its sixth decade, the Ojai Music Festival is one of the highlights of the Southern California music calendar. Under Artistic Director Thomas W. Morris, the festival brings its innovative, adventurous programming to the Bay Area for the first time this year as part of a multiyear partnership with Cal Performances. With details still to be announced, Ojai North! will feature a premiere by composer Maria Schneider, a new production by director Peter Sellars starring Dawn Upshaw (who also serves as Ojai’s 2011 music director), and performances by the Maria Schneider and Australian Chamber orchestras.
Cal Performances presents Dawn Upshaw with the Maria Schneider Orchestra, June 13, 8 p.m., and the Australian Chamber Orchestra, June 14, 8 p.m., Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley, $44-$88.
RECITALS
Naumburg Winner Soyeon Lee
Pianist Soyeon Lee seems to be one of the classical music world’s fastest-rising young stars. The winner of this year’s Naumburg International Piano Competition, the Korean artist comes to town under the auspices of San Francisco Performances. Her program offers a range of repertoire, from traditional to contemporary: In addition to works by Bach, Ravel, and Schumann, Lee will perform Shostakovich’s Prelude and Fugue in D-flat Major, Op. 87, No. 15; Ligeti’s Etude No. 6, “Autumn in Warsaw”; and Unsuk Chin’s Etude No. 6, “Grains.” Buy a ticket now, and say you saw her on the way up.
San Francisco Performances presents Soyeon Lee, Jan. 9, 5 p.m., Herbst Theatre, S.F., $25.
Heartthrob Baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky
Siberian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky — he of the glowering good looks and firm, dark-hued vocalism — has made numerous returns to the Bay Area since his San Francisco Opera debut in 1996. Yet Hvorostovsky has often seemed most at home singing traditional music of his homeland. Expect plenty of Russian songs along with the arias in this recital, presented as part of the San Francisco Symphony Great Performers Series and accompanied by pianist Ivari Ilja.
San Francisco Symphony presents Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Feb. 13, 7 p.m., Davies Symphony Hall, S.F., $15-$83.
Versatile Violinist Hilary Hahn
The superb violinist Hilary Hahn, joined by pianist Valentina Lisitsa, returns to San Francisco Performances with a wide-ranging program that covers composers from J.S. Bach and Giuseppe Tartini to Charles Ives and George Antheil. Whatever the repertory, Hahn will deliver it with her signature incisiveness and almost superhuman accuracy.
San Francisco Performances presents Hilary Hahn, Feb. 19, 8 p.m., Herbst Theatre, S.F., $50-$75.
Superstar Tenor Jonas Kaufmann
In recent years, tenor Jonas Kaufmann has achieved superstar status. With his Metropolitan Opera debut in 2006, singing the role of Alfredo in Verdi’s La traviata, the German artist ignited a small firestorm in the opera world; since then, he’s gone on to even greater acclaim. Kaufmann has yet to make his San Francisco Opera debut, but Bay Area audiences can hear him in recital in Berkeley, accompanied by Austrian pianist Helmut Deutsch.
Cal Performances presents Jonas Kaufmann, Mar. 13, 7 p.m., Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley, $40-$100.
All-Conquering Soprano Jessica Rivera
In a string of brilliant appearances with the San Francisco and, most recently, Berkeley Symphony orchestras, soprano Jessica Rivera has established herself as a singer of uncommon vocal luster and musical intelligence. In this recital for Cal Performances, audiences will hear Rivera, pianist Molly Morkoski, and the MEME Chamber Ensemble performing Atash Sorushan (Fire angels), a new song cycle written for Rivera by Mark Grey. Also on the program: Schumann’s Frauenliebe und leben and Debussy’s Ariettes oubliees.
Cal Performances presents Jessica Rivera and MEME, April 3, 3 p.m., Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley, $48.