Michael Zwiebach

Opera San José opens its production of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro this weekend. Relying on young singers has proved to be a winning formula for this company, especially when they're able to pick up hot talents like Khori Dastoor, who sings Susanna in the first cast, and Daniel Cilli (Almaviva in the second cast).

There are far too many events at the San Francisco Conservatory to mention on SFCV, even if we restricted ourselves to the free ones. But when they do an entire opera for free, there's reason to open a space on your calendar to see it. The performances may not be in the elite professional category, but they're close enough that you won't mind, especially when all you have to pay for is a coffee at intermission.

The New Esterházy Quartet has just finished a busy two-and-a-half year traversal of the complete quartets of Joseph Haydn. But that doesn't mean that this HIP (as in “historically informed performance”) group is resting on its laurels.

Jazz pianist Taylor Eigsti has made a name for himself with his own music, and is well-known to Bay Area jazz lovers. Peninsula Symphony subscribers heard him with the orchestra two years ago, and now have the chance to meet him again, as he and Mitchell Sardou Klein's orchestra tackle three great Gershwin scores: Rhapsody in Blue, Cuban Overture, and Porgy and Bess Symphonic Suite.

The oboe is not the easiest instrument to play under the best of circumstances. So deciding to play Baroque and classical oboes, the less-techologically advantaged forerunners of the modern instrument might seem like a recipe for frustration akin to attempting to surf the internet with a 1980s-era personal computer.

Of the many big names in postwar modernist composition, György Ligeti stands out because his music retains the power to influence and inspire young musicians. The new music group sfSound acknowledges this status in their upcoming concert. Ligeti's glittering Chamber Concerto is the focal point, with a number of musicians from the Bay Area composing short works in response to it.

The holiday concert season climaxes this weekend, and the San Francisco Symphony is pulling out its last stops – literally. The Symphony Chorus and is enlisted for a “Choral Christmas Spectacular” that brings out the flavor in your holiday faves.