Lisa Houston

Soyeon Kate Lee readies for a “Pianists in Paris” recital in Menlo/Atherton on Sunday.

Audiences will have a chance to hear why the Kronos Quartet chose Bay Area native Mary Kouyoumdjian from nearly 400 applicants for its latest Under 30 World Premiere commission.

Pianist Simone Dinnerstein discusses her penchant for performing Bach, which she has played since a child, and comparing her style to that of other interpreters.

Past-mistress of that ancient Chinese stringed instrument the pipa, Wu Man reflects on her unconventional start in music and her long road to the world’s concert stages.

With wide-ranging gifts and varied interests, soprano Christine Brandes keeps up with politics of antiquity as well as of today.

Soprano Ellen Hargis will give three recitals with lutenist Paul O’Dette across the Bay Area in a program, titled “Wait! I’m Singing Now…,” featuring the music of Strozzi, Kapsberger, Scarlatti, Cesti, and Piccinini. SFCV asked Hargis about her love of early music, the challenges of balancing singing and teaching, and what it’s like to work as an early-music star in a modern world.

Festival Opera of Walnut Creek is continuing its summer season with Gaetano Donizetti’s masterpiece, Lucia di Lammermoor. The production opens Aug. 7, and the four performances will feature almost entirely Bay Area artists.

Have you ever wondered during a concert what the composer was thinking and feeling while he or she wrote the piece you are listening to? Or what the composer’s home town was like? Or how political events of the day affected the audience’s reception of that work? If you attend Carmel Bach Festival’s “Aha! Beethoven” program, all your questions will be answered in a timely manner amid myriad musical excerpts performed by world-class musicians and singers.