Previews

Three-hundred-plus years is a long time to wait for a second performance, especially if the work in question is, according to Warren Stewart, director of Magnificat Baroque, “an exceptional piece” from a time when English opera was flourishing. The good news is that the upcoming performances of John Blow’s Venus and Adonis (2nd version) vest-pocket opera should prove it was well worth the wait.

Peter Pastreich agrees with those who call the Bay Area’s prized Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra “America’s leading period-instrument ensemble.” But if you asked concert presenters at top international venues like London’s Barbican Centre to name the really important orchestras, “we might not be on that list,” says Pastreich, the esteemed arts executive who became the PBO’s executive director last spring.

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. 

An oft-expressed frustration of the new-music scene is that world premieres generate eager support, but repeat performances of these works are far more elusive. Against these odds, Bay Area composer John Adams has managed to defy expectations with his Violin Concerto. The Berkeley Symphony will perform this modern classic with Music Director Joana Carneiro and Grammy-nominated violinist Jennifer Koh on Sept. 23.

Minority groups have the unenviable task of celebrating their uniqueness while demonstrating that they have a great deal in common with everyone. Small wonder, then, that classical music and the LGBTQ community found each other. The partnership displays its accomplishments as the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony opens its season with the ever-popular Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade.

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.

The Red Poppy Art House is a nice space for music and Charith Premawardhana and Classical Revolution have done a great job presenting young and inspiring acts there. This week, they bring in another strong group of musicians, the Vinca Quartet.

There are musicians, there are virtuosos, and then there is that special class of transcendent musician for whom only superlative adjectives suffice. The double bass player Edgar Meyer is just such a performer, hailed as “the best bassist alive” (San Diego Magazine) and “the most remarkable virtuoso in the relatively unchronicled history of his instrument” (The New Yorker).