Previews

The music of the Grateful Dead, arguably rock ’n’ roll’s first jam band, is staging a second coming, in symphonic garb, in the land where the band began, 44 years ago. Composer Lee Johnson’s Dead Symphony No. 6, based on the Dead canon, will be showcased on Aug. 9, the third day of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in Santa Cruz.

Chronologically and in many other ways, it’s a long way from Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) to Pierre Jalbert (born in 1967), but Music at Menlo will bring the two together.

The Midsummer Mozart Festival is coming to a concert venue near you. First up is the absolutely delightful Concerto for Two Pianos, K. 365, a flute concerto, and the exciting "Haffner" Symphony, No. 35. As always the orchestra travels so you don't have to — from Santa Clara to San Francisco to Sonoma.

---

The opening program of the Carmel Bach Festival is a performance of Joseph Haydn's magnificent oratorio, The Creation. From its famous depiction of Chaos through to the uplifting final chorus, "The heavens are telling the glory of God," this is a worthy successor to Handel's great English oratorios.

If you're a classic cartoon buff, don't miss Bugs on Broadway, part of the San Francisco Symphony's Summer and the Symphony series.

The rebellious souls among us already know where to go for real “alternative” music — music that mixes genres or cultural traditions, or that uses nontrad

The number of talented young singers in the Bay Area is about to increase exponentially, as the Golden Gate International Children’s and Youth Choral

Most “one-opera composers” are not. They are known for a single work in the theater, but it’s not for lack of trying.

“We’re having a lot of fun down here,” says David Gordon, dramaturge of the Carmel Bach Festival.

How would classical music have evolved in the last century had not the Holocaust robbed us of some of our greatest composers? That is but one of the questions that preoccupied Susan Waterfall, cofounder of the Mendocino Music Festival, as she prepared for the festival’s July 16 evening program, They Left a Light: Masterpieces From Nazi Prison Camps.