Michael Zwiebach

Khatia Buniatishvili is the real deal, a pianist who is fleet of fingers, yet with a relaxed, musical touch. 

Gold Coast Chamber Players, a group which consistently brings superb professionals from all over to Lafayette and Orinda, is at it again. 

Now you can hear Clarice Assad’s chamber orchestration of Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition again, played by the San Jose Chamber Orchestra, along with the premiere of the composer’s Pandemonium for String Quartet and String Orchestra.

Tanya Tomkins, who’s as fine a cellist in the early-music repertory as you will find, completes her two-part traversal of the Bach Cello Suites at Live at Mission Blue on Sunday.

Over at the S.F. Conservatory, they’ve got the home-grown, student-run Hot Air Festival Marathon. 

Movie music — and movies about music — had a banner year in 2012. Here are the tracks from the actual nominated soundtracks plus a few extras, for fun.

Lara Downes plays with the Brooklyn-based band Build at the Mondavi Center March 23. Watch a brand new video for Tango of her new CD Exiles' Cafe.

The S.F. Symphony just won its 15th Grammy award since 1992, and fifth in the category of Best Orchestral Performance. Here’s a salute to this great ensemble, showcasing some of their award-winning recordings and favorites of the orchestral repertoire.

San Francisco Chamber Orchestra Artistic Director Ben Simon always concocts a hook that appeals to me and puts me in the mood to hear a concert.

The Assad Brothers are the preeminent classical guitar duo of the last 40 years, having set the standard for technical excellence, sensitive musicianship, and innovative repertoire choices and opportunities to see them together have been dwindling over the past few years.