Michael Zwiebach

In a good production, Osvaldo Golijov and David Henry Hwang’s 80-minute opera Ainadamar packs one heck of a punch.

Pablo Heras-Casado’s mastery of contemporary-music idioms is perfect for the S.F. Symphony’s West Coast premiere of Magnus Lindberg's EXPO.

With Lunar New Year coming up this weekend, take a few minutes to listen to these ear-opening Chinese classics.

“High art” is a vital subject for critical discourse as presenters of classical music face a multitude of challenges for their very survival.

In honor of Mozart’s birthday (Jan. 28), this week’s playlist is all-Mozart all-the-time.

When Lynn Harrell and the Berkeley Symphony led by Music Director Joana Carneiro take on Witold Lutoslawski’s Cello Concerto, they will be taking a trip to the dark side that balances, in a radical way, the vivacity of Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances, also on the program.

The Bay Area is so awash in great early music players, that when San Francisco Early Music Society decided to feature more local groups on their programming, it opened itself to more diversity than probably anyone but the local HIP community knew was out there.

The Calder Quartet, which formed at the Thornton School at USC and then continued training at Colburn School in Los Angeles, has been seen frequently in the Bay Area over the past few years. 

Portland-based Capella Romana is a world-class male vocal group specializing in Greek Orthodox and Slavic church music. If that’s outside your normal sphere of activity, you have a good reason to hear this group.

You won’t want to miss Hilary Hahn, who sails into San Francisco Performances with a couple of repertory warhorses and selections from her inspirational “encores” project.