Michael Zwiebach

Volti's odyssey through new and contemporary choral pieces continues this Sunday with the premiere of Matthew Barnson's Genesis. Barnson won this year's Choral Arts Laboratory residency prize. There's more than one premiere on the program, so if you like a bit of mystery and surprise along with really fine singing, you should have this concert on your schedule.

This Friday, Street Scene, the Kurt Weill-Langston Hughes opera comes to the Paramount Theatre stage, played by the Oakland East Bay Symphony Orchestra under Music Director Michael Morgan. It is every bit as marvelous as Morgan says, and you probably won't soon get another chance to hear it in the Bay Area.

Conductor Michael Morgan’s modesty becomes him, yet it’s in service to a mission that he pursues no less relentlessly than most other conductors pursue fame and fortune.

The S.F. Choral Artists is taking a big leap, both in visibility and in its repertoire. For its upcoming concert on Sunday, the group is going for its whiskers, partnering with the Alexander String Quartet in a concert that features three — count 'em — commissioned world premieres.

Violinist Anne Akiko Meyers has generously donated her time for a Japan disaster relief fund-raiser, sponsored by Play for Japan USA.

As the S.F. Symphony returns to action after a brief off-week, they get to work with one of those superb but unheralded conductors who seem more inexplicable in these days of well-oiled publicity machines: Peter Oundjian, known for being self-effacing and for connecting brilliantly with orchestra players.

Make room in your schedule, in between vacations, visiting, and gardening, for a few of the many cultural tidbits on offer in the Bay Area this summer. It’s a full lineup, as you’ll see.

Johannes Brahms' identification with an old tradition of music is the subject of the upcoming California Bach Society concerts, and choral music the composer wrote in this era has exceptional drama and impact.

Guitarist David Russell has walked away with every competition he has ever entered and has energized a huge fan base with his nearly perfect technique and musicality. His S.F. Performances show this weekend promises to be pretty special.

Opera San José opens its production of La bohème this weekend. Puccini's bittersweet love story reliably leaves new operagoers in tears and is tailormade for young casts, OSJ's specialty.