Jason Victor Serinus

Twenty minutes after the scheduled beginning of San Francisco Lyric Opera’s matinee performance of Verdi’s Rigoletto, General Manager Bob Scher stepped before the Cowell Theater curtain to speak. Thank God, the delay was due, not to a last-minute indisposition, but to the late, “I’m sure she’ll be here any minute,” arrival of a violinist.

Nymphs and shepherds, unite! Georg Friedrich Händel’s path to pastoral bliss beckons in two distinct directions.

There are moments when a musical performance is so carefully conceived or so sublimely delivered that all you can do is surrender to the beauty of it and express gratitude for being alive.

Mark Winges, composer for and advisor to the chamber choir Volti, certainly knows how to initiate an intriguing conversation. The proof can be heard on his second CD, But This Is This. Released on the Chicago-based Centaur label, the music on this all-instrumental recording is a bona fide Bay Area effort.

The production may be unique, but it’s not just the computer animation, puppetry, and “authentic” musical approach that make this week's staging of a great Baroque opera so special.

Is it a sign of things to come? After announcing his hopes to eventually expand the San Francisco Opera Orchestra’s scope to include orchestral performances, SFO Music Director Designate Nicola Luisotti stepped before the San Francisco Symphony for the first time in an all-orchestral program at Davies Symphony Hall.

Estonian-born Arvo Pärt is especially prized for the universal resonance of his haunting blend of Russian Orthodox Christian mysticism and modern harmonies. Even those with strong aversions to the Church’s long history of reactionary and punitive intervention in social and political affairs are often transported by the transcendental nature of the 74-year-old composer’s music.

“The man breathes music,” exclaimed one longtime San Francisco Opera Orchestra member after Music Director designate Nicola Luisotti conducted performances of Puccini’s La Bohème a few months back. Since Luisotti clearly has the grand sweep of music in his blood, why should he limit himself to opera?