David Bratman

The unavoidable, heavyweight event of the new year in Peninsula and South Bay concert-going is the opening of Stanford’s new, intimately-sized, acoustically cutting-edge Bing Concert Hall.

The San José Chamber Orchestra tribute to Lou Harrison and his and all his colleagues brought richness and depth, also evinced in the dedication that Turner and her musicians brought to the music.

In an at-home yet grand setting, the Aulos Ensemble play music the large Bach family might have assembled for its own entertainment.

The New Century Chamber Orchestra’s concert featuring The Four Seasons was bursting with soloists; almost every member of the 20-strong string (and harpsichord continuo) ensemble had a turn.

The Del Sol Quartet, local purveyor of contemporary music, celebrated its 20th anniversary with a small festival at Z Space, where tangy precision was much on display.

The adventurous nine-member choral ensemble Cantus, along with Theatre Latté Da, will perform works from its recording All Is Calm, a selection of songs, poetry, letters, and journal excerpts relating to the extraordinary World War I “Christmas Truce.”

If there’s a Great American Symphony, it’s Roy Harris’ rugged Third from 1938, a fitting companion for “Decoration Day” from Charles Ives’ Holiday's Symphony also on the program from an intrepid amateur community ensemble, the Palo Alto Philharmonic.

Heavy holiday fare takes some time to digest, as served up by Symphony Silicon Valley, with soloist Peter Serkin.

This combination ought to make people sit up and take notice: conductor George Cleve and pianist Peter Serkin performing Brahms’ First Piano Concerto. 

Always a seasonal highlight, the annual joint holiday concert of the Stanford Symphonic Chorus and the Peninsula Symphony, will this year feature a typically vivid pairing.