David Bratman

Though there are fewer big presenters in the South Bay, you don't have to trek north to find great artists playing seriously entertaining music. Here are a few best bets in the San Jose-Palo Alto area.

A last-minute substitution at Menlo and a change of programming fares for the better with late works by Brahms and Chopin played by pianist (and replacement) Jeffrey Kahane and the members of the Emerson Quartet.

An atmospheric symphonic poem, a tribute to tango master Astor Piazzolla, and a movie-music-style piano concerto mark a Cabrillo mixed bill.

A passionate, Romantic Brahms sextet headlines a Music@Menlo program that also features Vivaldi, Bach, and a rarely heard Clara Schumann work.

With considerable creativity and stamina, pianist Alessio Bax plays a demanding program of Brahms, Enescu, and Bartók.

The eyes have it (the ears, too) in Symphony Silicon Valley’s attention-getting concert.

An ingenious technical kinetic/musical work strives for profundity, but lacks the “wow” factor listeners might have expected.

Four players, or three: Every work came up a winner in this Music@Menlo recital, capping off its season.

Mission Chamber Orchestra of San José plays all the music that fits, and then some, in its latest outing at Le Petit Trianon.

Celebrating two decades of adventurous programming and fine playing, the San José Chamber Orchestra under Barbara Day Turner’s direction presents a feast, including three premieres.