Michael Zwiebach

The always interesting men's choral group Clerestory, which draws several of its members from Chanticleer, has just released their second CD, Night Draws Near. Their first concert of the season features music from that recording, anticipating Halloween by a week.

Sure, most people at Davies Symphony Hall for the San Francisco Symphony concerts beginning Oct. 21, will be there for superstar violinist Joshua Bell. But the orchestra will also play a trio crowdpleasers under the baton of James Conlon. 

When George Frederick Handel gets the chorus revved up, a concert can get pretty exciting. San Francisco Bach Choir is hopping the Handel train in its upcoming concerts. Expect the rafters to ring.

In a performance hosted by Ben Simon and the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, as part of their afternoon “You Gotta Hear This” series you'll have the chance to hear Rootstock and Sqwonk on Oct. 18.

Classical Revolution, the chamber group that fearlessly brings classics to unconventional venues, is not resting up after Sunday's gig at the Crowden School. On Oct. 19, it will play at Yoshi's S.F. with the Real Vocal String Quartet, a group that often plays American folk, and adds the musicians voices to the mix.

Lagging economy or not, some of the Bay Area’s local opera companies are taking risks. West Bay Opera is taking the lead and going for its whiskers with an upcoming production of Verdi’s La forza del destino . General Director José Luis Moscovich said of the undertaking, “This is not an opera for the faint of heart.”

Other Minds and Sarah Cahill are curating this festival to a man who was the inspiration and example for many other American “maverick” composers, including Henry Cowell, Carl Ruggles, John Cage, and Lou Harrison. Dane Rhudyar is definitely an original, someone whose music will open your ears — and not in a trivial way.

The Ives Quartet opens its season by previewing the Other Minds Dane Rudhyar Festival that takes place a few weeks from now. They will play Rudhyar's Crisis and Overcoming, (String Quartet No. 2, 1979). Quartets by Haydn and Dvořák complete the program in Occidental, where they are being presented by the Redwood Arts Council. 

When you combine a lot of great Bay Area instrumentalists with a lot of Bay Area institutions of higher learning, you wind up with way more concerts than you can conceivably get to. But if you like your J.S. Bach, here's one you might want to consider.

One of the recent Merola Program stars-in-waiting, Heidi Melton is a soprano with a big career ahead of her singing the big Wagner roles. You can wait to shell out $100 to see her at the Metropolitan Opera, a football field away from your seat, or you can hear her sing in this recital.