Previews

There isn't much of a scare factor in the Redwood Symphony's annual Halloween concert. It's a family-friendly event that features a “tour of the orchestra,” with all the instruments demonstrated.

There are a lot of composer anniversaries out there, and the lesser ones tend to be ignored. In 2009, the 50th anniversary of Ernest Bloch's death took a back seat to other commemorations, and the UC Berkeley Symphony is doing its part to take up the slack.

Music lovers always sit up and take notice when L’Histoire du Soldat (The soldier’s tale) comes to town. Igor Stravinsky’s 1918 one-act, which incorporates music, dance, and spoken text in a wry fable about a Russian solider who makes a deal with the devil, occupies a unique niche in the composer’s career.

For its inaugural concert of the year, the Oakland East Bay Symphony will take us to a “Night at the Opera” on Friday, November 13. OEBS Music Director Michael Morgan has selected a large group of the most promising young singers in the Bay Area. With such a big cast, there is often the danger that each individual member will not receive his or her full due.

Not since winter 1997, when pianist Sarah Cahill organized a three-day piano marathon of works by Henry Cowell (1897-1965) and those he influenced, have Bay Area music lovers had an opportunity to fully immerse themselves in the oeuvre of one of America’s most brilliant musical mavericks. Now, thanks to Charles Amirkhanian’s Other Minds, we can enjoy two different concerts on Nov.

For classical music aficionados, the term early music generally brings to mind only works that they might hear in a Western concert hall. But Cançonièr adopts a much broader view for its upcoming concert (its debut as ensemble-in-residence at MusicSources), incorporating a Dufay motet, Turkish classical music, Italian and German dances, Balkan folk songs, and more.

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra fans won’t be surprised that star opera mezzo-soprano Susan Graham is headlining the group’s coming performances of Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas.

Mexico’s Día de los Muertos is hardly a day for mourning. A celebration of those who have died, it centers on offerings of food, flowers, and fanciful ceremonial altars for the departed.

“We make our offering to the dead at either the cemetery or home,” explains conductor Alondra de la Parra, who makes her much-anticipated San Francisco Symphony debut with a Nov.

One meaning of meridian is pinnacle, or the highest possible point. This denotation surely befits the Meridian Arts Ensemble, which is a brass quintet — two trumpets, horn, trombone, and tuba — plus a percussionist.