Previews

I became a fan of Peppino D’Agostino, who will be performing July 11 at the Mendocino Music Festival, through the world of classical music. In 1998, D’Agostino met David Tanenbaum at the Schorndorf Gitarren festival in Germany and received such positive feedback from the encounter that they decided to work together.

Glimpses of the landscape of American music, as played, sung, and illustrated by projections and narration, will be displayed in a big tent on the headlands at Mendocino, one of the most striking land-and-seascapes on the West Coast. This compound setting for Susan Waterfall’s narrated multimedia program on July 15, “Hallelujah, America!” will be a featured event of the 24th Mendocino Music Festival, July 10-24.

The American Bach Soloists’ first annual Academy, held July 5-18 at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, offers more than just another summer festival. Sure, the Academy gathers elite faculty performers for enough concerts and lectures to satisfy even diehard fans. But by bringing a select group of emerging professional musicians alongside masters of the trade, the Academy also offers a revealing glimpse into the future of early-music performance.

“Why is this bar mitzvah different from all other bar mitzvahs?” It’s a question that countless eyes-glazed-over invitees have raised for close to 6,000 years.

In Dan Plonsey’s case, however, some unusual answers may be voiced.

Which variety of love do you prefer to listen to — hapless, or timeless? The first half of the final concert of this year’s Festival del Sole in Napa Valley, on July 25, will immerse itself in both, and will require deep breaths.

How do you get to be a successful opera singer? According to Sylvia Anderson, founder of the Bay Area Summer Opera Theater Institute (BASOTI), it takes a combination of talent, vocal and acting techniques, time and experience, confidence, honesty, and — most of all — the passion to want it “with all of your heart.” 

Back when Milton and Peggy Salkind teamed up as a piano duo in the early 1950s, there were just a handful of piano duo acts — Rosina and Josef Lhevinne, Gaby and Robert Casadesus, and a few others. The Salkinds helped to blaze the trail that others, most famously the Labeque sisters, have since trod. San Franciscans have a chance to enjoy a rare duo on the weekend of July 8-10.

Declared sister cities in 1980, San Francisco and Shanghai have been celebrating that relationship all year, starting in February with a spectacular gala and exhibition at the Asian Art Museum in the former city’s Civic Center. In musical mode, there’ll be an East Meets West Chamber Concert at the Museum on July 10, featuring the American premiere of Joan Huang’s Shanghai Trilogy, performed by the Bridge Chamber Virtuosi.

Why is this Madama Butterfly different from all other Butterflys? It’s a question we often ask ourselves when pondering whether to spend another three hours at the opera seeing our second or fifth or 50th performance of Puccini’s final revision to his 1904 masterpiece. Brian Staufenbiel, director of Festival Opera’s forthcoming Madama Butterfly, has some answers.