Michael Zwiebach

From the 1690s all the way to the 2000s, composers have mined Shakespeare for operatic gold. Here's a list of 10 of the best operas based on Shakespeare, so far.

Emmanuel Chabrier’s L’etoile, his first opera, was written for Jacques Offenbach’s Bouffes Parisiennes and premiered there in late 1877. If you’ve never seen or heard the piece, it’s worth the trouble to seek it out.

Although not everybody is happy to acknowledge it, John Williams is likely the most popular American composer of classical music alive today. The San Francisco Symphony winds up its Summer and the Symphony series with a jaunt through the Williams canon, with a few nods to his compatriots in what is some of the most sophisticated and brilliantly orchestrated movie music ever.

Pamela Z’s — whose Room Series continues this weekend with “Poetry and Motion” at the Royce Galler — is apparently an inexhaustible fount of great ideas, bringing together three musicians and three dancers in the Japanese Butoh tradition.

Casablanca may be the most popular movie ever made in old Hollywood. It has everything — a great story, stars, script — and one of the most memorable scores of the period. This Friday, the S.F. Symphony performs the magical score synched to the film itself.

The Bay Area has always been the home of musicians who are comfortable in more than one musical tradition. At Seventh Avenue Performances this weekend, you can find Escalay (Water Wheel), a group that combines classical Arabic repertoire with fusion jazz.

Lamplighters Musical Theatre has taken steps to connecting with larger audiences. The company has booked the revival of the delightful 2007 production of H.M.S. Pinafore, the natural choice to introduce audiences to the “canon.”

Some conductors have a special affinity with a particular piece of music and that’s the way it is when Jeffrey Thomas steps up to conduct J.S. Bach’s B-Minor Mass. You can miss it, but you’ll be kicking yourself in the morning.

If you haven’t had your Mozart fix in a few months, the Midsummer Mozart Festival is here to help you out. The impressive lineup of the first concert begins this weekend.

You might not think about attending the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, unless you’re a film buff. But all musicians know what makes silent film sound. If you’re intrigued by this merging of old and new, the Castro Theater is the place to be from July 14 to 17.