Previews

It’s hard to go wrong with the New Esterhazy Quartet playing Haydn. 

Opera San Jose opens their new season with Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers. 

On Sunday, in Veterans Memorial Park in Napa, the former members of the NVS will present a free concert in the park, as a thank you to their supporters and patrons.

Globetrotters from the Aleron Trip are returning to the city of their alma mater to give a concert at Salle Pianos.

The Merola Grand Finale is the best time to see the young singers the program produces.

Carmina Burana was conceived as a stage work, a “scenic cantata,” but most of the time it is presented purely as a concert. The opera director Brian Staufenbiel adds to the fun of this performance with a little bit of dancing, some costumes and a few other “surprises”.

For the second week of Music in the Vineyards, up in Napa, the Pacifica Quartet takes over for the Borromeo.

If you were to take a chance on a concert this weekend, or get on one waiting list, or if there were a concert worth standing outside with a really winning smile and a sign pleading for spares this weekend, this is the one.

The Target Summer Pops Festival, featuring the Symphony Silicon Valley starts the final weekend in July. It’s a premier South Bay event, which takes place outdoors on the San Jose State campus, and features a variety of old-fashioned pops fare.

Eric Kujawsky is not intimidated by big pieces: He likes organizing big concerts with his Redwood Symphony. And this week he’s taking on Berlioz — not the puny Symphonie Fantastique, but the full Requiem Mass, performed in Davies Symphony Hall with soloists and over 200 choristers.