Janos Gereben

Recession be damned: for the second week, new, complex, "heavy" music and Ravel have filled the 2,743-seat Davies Symphony Hall.

For a "modern-dance company," ODC feels like an old friend. Actually, it's more than just a matter of sentiment. Known as the Oberlin Dance Collective when Brenda Way formed the troupe in Ohio in 1971, the now-geographics-free ODC took an old yellow bus to San Francisco in 1976, and became a vital part of the city's cultural fabric.

On Sunday, at Alek Shrader's Schwabacher Debut Recital in Temple Emanu-El, presented by the San Francisco Opera, I was wondering about the tenor's response if Barbara Walters should ask him what kind of tree he would be. Not knowing the answer, I came up with a question to which the answer is obvious. What kind of drinking glass would Shrader be? Tall, clear, gracefully simple, and full.

Now in her absolute prime, Cecilia Bartoli has established herself as one of the greatest singers of this or any age. It’s not just her phenomenal technique and unique, rapid-fire coloratura, both of which will be amply demonstrated in her presentation of María Malibrán’s Salon Romantique. Nor is it simply a matter of vocal beauty, which she supplies in abundance.

Stanford Lively Arts has been at the forefront of local Messiaen centenary year celebrations. In their last presentation, Christopher Taylor returns to the Bay Area with Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant Jésus for solo piano, a lyrical, mystical, and profoundly virtuosic meditation on the nature of the Christ child.

It has been more than 20 years since the debut of Helgi Tomasson’s production of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake for the San Francisco Ballet. This time around the most-cherished and well-known of ballets gets a complete restaging featuring scenery and costumes by European designer Jonathan Fensom, who will try to avoid that “museum piece” feel.

The late James Schwabacher established a debut recital series 26 years ago, providing performance opportunities for young singers many of whom have gone on to great fame.

Allan Shearer’s new opera The Dawn Makers is based on the ancient Greek myth of Eos, goddess of the dawn and her human lover, Tithonys, who is made immortal but not eternally youthful. In this comic updating, the couple are joined by a pool man who knows enough to decline the offer of immortality, and two Valley girls who double as the horses of the Goddess’ chariot.