Previews

The choral group AVE (Artists' Vocal Ensemble) returns to the stage on the President's Day weekend. The concert's title, “This American Land,” refers to the actual earth, and the music is connected by composers' musings on “the sacredness of the earth.”

While Voices of Music brought in oboist Gonzalo Ruiz for their recent “Great Artists Series,” their upcoming concerts of the Bach Violin Sonatas features violinist Carla Moore — a pretty great artist in her own right.

If search-engine hits are the Web election determining America’s most popular poet, then Emily Dickinson is currently in second or third place (along with Henry Longfellow), behind Walt Whitman. But unlike Whitman, her intensely personal poetry seeks a sympathetic reader, not a vast public sphere. And perhaps that is what drew the composer Gordon Getty to her. His song cycle on Dickinson's poetry, The White Election, will be performed, appropriately, on a Tuesday, Feb. 23.

Opera San José opens its production of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro this weekend. Relying on young singers has proved to be a winning formula for this company, especially when they're able to pick up hot talents like Khori Dastoor, who sings Susanna in the first cast, and Daniel Cilli (Almaviva in the second cast).

There are far too many events at the San Francisco Conservatory to mention on SFCV, even if we restricted ourselves to the free ones. But when they do an entire opera for free, there's reason to open a space on your calendar to see it. The performances may not be in the elite professional category, but they're close enough that you won't mind, especially when all you have to pay for is a coffee at intermission.