Jason Victor Serinus

Music, history, and vision meet in a Gold Coast Chamber Players concert with bass-baritone Lawrence Beamen that inaugurates Lafayette’s Black History Month.

Just as Pianist Simone Dinnerstein’s second all-Bach recording, Bach: A Strange Beauty, becomes available worldwide, Dinnerstein is setting out to explore new territory. She and singer-songwriter Tift Merritt will appear at Yoshi’s S.F. in an unusual musical collaboration titled "Night." SFCV caught up with Dinnerstein by phone.

More than a few operatic and other vocal diversions may beckon you in the coming spring. Here are just a few of the surprises.

The most prestigious classical music competition in the U.S. isn’t the Van Cliburn Piano Competition, it’s the Naumburg Foundation Competition. As S.F. Performances prepares to host this year’s piano winner, Soyeon Lee, here’s what musicians think of the organization’s enviable track record.

Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic deliver a reading of Tchaikovsky's beloved score that is — wonder of wonders — fresh and deeply felt.

A powerful and inspirational performance by the American Bach Soloists brought Handel’s Messiah to life, in a lovely evening showcasing the voice of baritone James Maddalena.

Hard to believe, but for 50 years Gounod’s Faust reigned as the world’s most popular opera. These days, it has fallen to No. 29 in popularity. If Faust and the devil have a any chance of resurrection, it will take productions such as this. Recorded live at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

The nine men of Clerestory have taken a daring step. For their first “studio-recorded” CD, laid down in the sanctuary of Berkeley’s Unitarian Universalist Church, they perform music inspired by the three closely aligned celebrations of Halloween, All Soul’s Day, and El día de los muertos.

At one of the finest Adler Showcases in recent memory, Sheri Greenawald and Mark Morash had the wisdom to frame each vocal set with powerhouse performances. In doing so, they set the tone for "The Future Is Now," letting their singers proclaim loud and clear that the Adler opera apprentice program is one of the world’s best.

One of music’s greatest joys is watching young artists develop at home, then soar to success. For those who have nurtured and cheered soprano Elza van den Heever and tenor David Lomelí as they have blossomed in San Francisco, the joy is compounded by the fact that both are launching major international careers.