As any chef will tell you, the best recipes are simple ones. Here’s a Bay Area recipe that seems to work every time: Bring forth the San Francisco Symphony and engage Peter Oundjian as guest conductor. Mix and serve.

The Barber of Seville is such a beguiling opera, it’s not hard to see why some mistake it for an easy one. But producers approaching Rossini’s bel canto masterpiece do so at their peril.

Led by guest conductor Marek Janowski, the all-Beethoven program at Davies Symphony Hall proceeded in a entirely unexpected order, yet one with exceptional verve and focus, and results that were both bracing and a little disorienting.

It was Robert Schumann, speaking of string quartets, who advised players to aim for “a conversational tone in which everyone has something to say.” The Left Coast Chamber Ensemble clearly had those words in mind on Thursday night in Mill Valley.

It’s probably a good thing that Bryn Terfel stopped singing at the end of his recital Saturday night at Zellerbach Hall. Had he kept going, the audience would still be there, cheering for more.