Previews

“Relevance.” This is the confident answer of Volti’s artistic director, Robert Geary, when asked what people will like about the choral ensemble’s upcoming program. The weekend of Nov. 5-7 will see Volti’s 32nd season open.

The San Francisco Symphony is alive at this concert for the dead.

Benjamin Simon leads his student charges, the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra in a wide ranging program encapsulating pieces from the 16th to the 20th centuries. Super-cellist Michelle Djokic (now with Quartet S.F. and NCCO) solos in Lou Harrison's Suites for Cello and Chamber Orchestra.

Terry Riley is famous in music history for writing In C, one of the most joyous of the seminal works of minimalism. In their upcoming concert, a look back at 20th-century writing for string quartet, the Left Coast Ensemble will go to the dominant, Riley's G Song, originally commissioned by the Kronos Quartet.

The always interesting men's choral group Clerestory, which draws several of its members from Chanticleer, has just released their second CD, Night Draws Near. Their first concert of the season features music from that recording, anticipating Halloween by a week.

Benjamin Bagby may be uniquely qualified to perform Beowulf. He’s been making a progress back to the medieval epic’s source since the start of his career. The American-born, Paris-based early-music specialist arrives in the Bay Area this week to perform his acclaimed “reconstruction” of the Anglo-Saxon poem.

Sure, most people at Davies Symphony Hall for the San Francisco Symphony concerts beginning Oct. 21, will be there for superstar violinist Joshua Bell. But the orchestra will also play a trio crowdpleasers under the baton of James Conlon. 

When George Frederick Handel gets the chorus revved up, a concert can get pretty exciting. San Francisco Bach Choir is hopping the Handel train in its upcoming concerts. Expect the rafters to ring.

In a performance hosted by Ben Simon and the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, as part of their afternoon “You Gotta Hear This” series you'll have the chance to hear Rootstock and Sqwonk on Oct. 18.

Classical Revolution, the chamber group that fearlessly brings classics to unconventional venues, is not resting up after Sunday's gig at the Crowden School. On Oct. 19, it will play at Yoshi's S.F. with the Real Vocal String Quartet, a group that often plays American folk, and adds the musicians voices to the mix.