Orchestra

Thanks to the 200th anniversary of Giuseppe Verdi’s birth, his Requiem, one of the most popular choral works of all time, is sure to figure in the Bay Area concert scene a number of times this year. 

The Australian Chamber Orchestra and their dynamic leader, Richard Tognetti return  to Cal Performances for a wide-ranging pair of programs, featuring pianist Alice Sara Ott in Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 1.

Now you can hear Clarice Assad’s chamber orchestration of Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition again, played by the San Jose Chamber Orchestra, along with the premiere of the composer’s Pandemonium for String Quartet and String Orchestra.

Pablo Heras-Casado’s mastery of contemporary-music idioms is perfect for the S.F. Symphony’s West Coast premiere of Magnus Lindberg's EXPO.

When Lynn Harrell and the Berkeley Symphony led by Music Director Joana Carneiro take on Witold Lutoslawski’s Cello Concerto, they will be taking a trip to the dark side that balances, in a radical way, the vivacity of Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances, also on the program.

For those living the lush life, the San Francisco Symphony is presenting an all-French program featuring soprano Renée Fleming in orchestral songs by Debussy and Canteloube.

Symphony Silicon Valley is returning once more to the historical theatrical roots of its venue, the California Theatre in San Jose, with an all-Kurt Weill program on January 12-13.

Under the baton of an acclaimed guest conductor, Philharmonia Baroque offers a joyful program of Christmas cheer.

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.

Berkeley Symphony and their music director, Joana Carneiro deeply engage contemporary symphonic music in all its diversity.