San Francisco Chamber Orchestra concerts are always lively affairs. Music Director Benjamin Simon conducts and emcees, and the whole atmosphere is less formal than your average orchestra concert. Still, the players are good and musical values are properly attended to.
Bach is featured on this weekend's program – the ever popular Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B Minor, with flutist Tod Brody taking us through the bravura passagework of the final dance, and the Wedding Cantata (BWV 210), with soprano soloist Anja Strauss, who has been frequently lauded by SFCV reviewers. Also scheduled is a piece by an award-winning, young composer, Michael Gilbertson, and the Schleptet in E-Flat by P.D.Q. Bach, the goofiest Bach of them all.