Three centuries ago, Antonio Vivaldi was able to find musical magic in all four of the Mantuan seasons. Our own summer gifts kids with more time to to pursue the classical muse: They're temporarily freed from the classroom, evening homework, and the need to go early to bed. It’s high time, then, to take a look at a panoply of kid-and-parent-friendly and mostly free-of-charge musical activities around the Bay Area, in more or less chronological order.
San Francisco Conservatory of Music continues its training throughout the summer, with free opportunities for other kids to see what their peers are learning and doing. There’ll be spirited scenes from Gilbert and Sullivan, for example, on July 3; performances out of the Conservatory’s string and piano academies, on July 16; the composition classes, on July 22; and the chamber music ensembles on July 29 and 30. www.sfcm.edu.
Pie-eating contests and prize-winning pigs are familiar American county fair traditions, but how often do you witness a Junior Piano Competition in that context? You’ll find the Sixth Annual edition of that competition at the Marin Center in San Rafael, as part of the Marin County Fair, at 11:30 a.m. on July 4, with over two dozen pianists, ages 5-19, playing classical and other selections on a concert grand at the Showcase Theatre. And you’ll have plenty of time afterward to check out all the rides and the rest of the fun stuff. www.marinfair.org
Free cheers for the red, white, and blue may be interspersed between the arias when Stern Grove showcases the San Francisco Opera on July 4 at 2 p.m. The no-charge series continues with the San Francisco Symphony on July 11 (though it’ll cost to join them at the Shoreline Amphitheatre on the Fourth; see below). Our city’s third top-tier ensemble, the San Francisco Ballet, dances at the Grove on Aug. 8. Complete schedule at www.sterngrove.org.
It’s a splendid tradition, but not a free one, for the San Francisco Symphony to celebrate Independence Day at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View. Festivities get under way at 5 p.m. (on July 4, of course) with a host of costumed characters, including magicians and face painters. The concert of musical favorites at 8 p.m. will proceed under the baton of Donato Cabrera, and will finish splendidly with fireworks. The Symphony’s free July 11 outing at Stern Grove will have Cabrera conducting Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 (Pastoral), Copland’s Four Dance Episodes from Rodeo plus his Danzón Cubano, and Gershwin’s Cuban Overture. On July 25, the orchestra moves to the warmer environs of Dolores Park for a celebration of Mexico’s Bicentennial, with Alondra de la Parra conducting a program including Márquez’ Danzón No. 2, Chávez’ Sinfonia India (No. 2), Rolón’s El festín de los Enanos, Moncayo’s Huapango, and Dvořák’s “New World” Symphony. Check out the Symphony's schedule, and note that at other events, kids will get half-off on most paid admissions.
Elementary and middle school violinists, violists, cellists, and bassists get a chance every year to sharpen their skills under professional tutelage during the Summer String Thing Camp in Moraga. On July 10, you can see what the chamber groups and orchestra have learned, and whether you’d like to join them next summer, at a concert at noon at the bucolic Hacienda de las Flores. www.summerstringthing.
Accessible and affordable instruction for musicians of all ages is an all-year mission of San Francisco’sCommunity Music Center, and on July 11 they extend it beyond the Mission and Richmond District facilities to Yerba Buena Gardens. In collaboration with the Jewish Music Festival, the CMC will host an Instrument Petting Zoo, where, from noon to 2 p.m., kids are invited to learn about and handle samples from every section of the orchestra. Throughout the afternoon, attendees will also enjoy a variety of Jewish musical groups and dancers. At 1 p.m. on July 25, Camp CMC will showcase their summer program with a public concert at the Center. www.sfcmc.org
The history and mystery of the chamber repertoire are explored and enjoyed at the Music@Menlo Institute at the Menlo School, in Atherton. You get in on the fun, watching performances on July 24, 26, and 27. Check out www.musicatmenlo.org for times and venues.
Open Opera is an ensemble of up-and-coming professionals eager to showcase the most theatrical of classical formats. Accompanied on piano, they’ll be launching arias into the open air of Orinda Community Center Park on July 25 at 4 p.m. And they’ll stage a full, costumed production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, with orchestra, at John Hinkel Park in Berkeley on August 7-8 and 14-15 at 3 p.m. Check out www.openopera.net.
The San Francisco Early Music Society figures it's never too early to get kids into the music and culture of the 17th century, during Tish Berlin's annual Music Discovery Workshop. Concluding this summer's week of exciting time travel, at Berkeley's Crowden Center at 5:30 p.m. on August 6, there'll be a free concert unlike any other in these parts. Young musicians will perform on such period instruments as the harpsichord, recorder, and viola da gamba, and then the entire Workshop will swashbuckle through a musical theater production of The Three Musketeers, involving music, acting, singing, and dance. Allison Rolls directs this, and you can find out more at www.sfems.org.
Always impressive and mind-expanding, the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, under the direction of Marin Alsop, hosts a Free Family Concert on Aug. 8 at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium. It will include a petting zoo–style tour of the orchestra, and the tartly funny The Composer Is Dead, with the very-much-living composer Nathaniel Stookey narrating a libretto by Lemony Snicket (aka San Francisco–based writer Daniel Handler). Framed as a murder mystery, it’s an allegorical introduction to all the instruments, in an ironic mode. www.cabrillomusic.org
Toll the end of summer and the restart of the school year, if you’re of a mind to, with a classical party of sorts, at Berkeley’s user-friendly Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse on Aug. 30. Dubbed “Violamania,” it’s an informal (and inexpensive) gathering of the Bay Area’s top professional violists, which the hosting San Francisco Chamber Orchestra describes as “an evening of viola jokes and great music, to celebrate the rebirth of the Northern California Viola Society.” Violists, pro and am, of all ages, are encouraged to “bring your axe” and “attempt to set a new Guinness world record for the largest viola ensemble ever.” Check out the entire “Classical at the Freight” series at www.freightandsalvage.org.