The SFCV Summer Music Festival Guide, 2025

Yerba Buena Gardens Festival | May 10 – Oct. 4

YBGF’s unique admission-free, family-friendly five-month-long series of outdoor performances once again aims to reflect the many diverse cultures of the Bay Area. Kid shows and community events dominate this year. Highlights include a movie night of Wicked (June 7), Hawaiian dance company Nā Lei Hulu I Ka Wēkiu (June 14), Balinese troupe Gamelan Sekar Jaya (July 5), the traditional stylings of the Manilatown Ancestral Ensemble (July 25), Del Sol Quartet (July 31), the Marcus Shelby Orchestra (Aug. 16), and Cuban mambo courtesy of Orquesta Akokán (Sept. 6).

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San Francisco Opera Summer Season | June 3–27

One of the world’s most popular operas, Puccini’s La bohème, is the backbone of the company’s 2025 summer season, with nine performances scheduled (June 3–21). Ramón Tebar conducts, and two casts alternate, led by tenors Pene Pati and Evan LeRoy Johnson as Rodolfo and sopranos Karen Chia-ling Ho and Nicole Car as Mimì.

Mozart’s Idomeneo follows, conducted by SF Opera Music Director Eun Sun Kim and directed by Lindy Hume (June 14–25). Tenor Matthew Polenzani takes the title role, with mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack and sopranos Ying Fang and Elza van den Heever joining the cast.

A special Pride Concert, also conducted by Kim and starring baritone Brian Mulligan and mezzo-sopranos Jamie Barton and Nikola Printz, closes out the summer (June 27).

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Ojai Music Festival | June 5–8

Ojai’s signature setup, a different music director each season, has trended more collaborative in recent years. And with flutist Claire Chase at the helm this summer, the festival is slated to see an influx of like-minded creative spirits. Selections from Density 2036, Chase’s trademark commissioning project, anchor a few of the programs. The flutist reprises her performance of Marcos Balter’s Pan (June 5) and gives the West Coast premiere of Liza Lim’s Sex Magic (June 6). But Chase is also happy to cede the spotlight to her fellow artists, ranging from Chinese sheng player Wu Wei to composer Annea Lockwood, percussionist Steven Schick, and the JACK Quartet.

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Britt Music & Arts Festival | June 6 – Sept. 18

A day’s drive from San Francisco, this bustling festival, located in the historic Gold Rush city of Jacksonville, Oregon, has a major draw for every musical taste. The orchestral programming kicks off with Jurassic Park in concert (June 12–13), followed by half a dozen serious symphonic performances. The lineup builds from Beethoven and Brahms (Robert Kalb conducts a program of both composers on June 21) to Béla Bartók’s The Miraculous Mandarin (Norman Huynh leads the orchestral finale on June 28). The festival continues through the end of the summer with a series of pop, rock, and folk acts, a headlining appearance by the band Chicago being a sure highlight (Sept. 2).

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Hollywood Bowl | June 7 – Sept. 28

Where to start with the headliners on the Bowl schedule this summer? There’s stage and screen star Hugh Jackman, who’s been tapped to join conductor Thomas Wilkins and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra for opening night (June 7). There’s Cynthia Erivo, still flying high from her performance as Elphaba in last year’s Wicked movie, now preparing to step into the title role in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Jesus Christ Superstar (Aug. 1–3). And of course, there’s Gustavo Dudamel, the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s outgoing music and artistic director, leading his next-to-last Bowl season. He conducts eight performances in August, including concerts with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, that are sure to be highlights of the classical lineup.

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San Francisco Jazz Festival | June 13–15

Long before there was the SFJAZZ Center, there was the San Francisco Jazz Festival, founded in 1983 and still the centerpiece of what’s now a year-round operation in Hayes Valley. This season, the presenter is packing 35 concerts into just three days, perhaps looking to the one-weekend model of the Monterey Jazz Festival. At SFJAZZ, the big names — vocalist Kurt Elling (June 13), bassist Stanley Clarke (June 14), and more — play Miner Auditorium, while up-and-comers, like pianist Jahari Stampley (June 14), hold sway in the Joe Henderson Lab. New this year is a festival tent, located at the corner of Franklin and Oak and configured as a standing-room space. The festival proper ends June 15, but more summer programming follows, through Aug. 17.

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Healdsburg Jazz Festival | June 13–22

The Healdsburg Jazz Festival has been a mainstay in Sonoma County for 27 years, but some of the signature summer offerings here were only recent developments. Take the free all-day Juneteenth concert (June 14) or the annual Father’s Day event, this year featuring ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro (June 15). Both have become festival trademarks under Artistic Director Marcus Shelby. The San Francisco bassist can draw on local ties and national connections alike for his programming, whether it’s a lunch concert with Oakland harpist Destiny Muhammad (June 17) or evening sets starring jazz royalty like pianist Kenny Barron (June 13) and vocalist Dianne Reeves (June 20).

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Music Academy of the West | June 15 – Aug. 9

This advanced training program in Santa Barbara is a musical bonanza for local residents. Like Tanglewood, Aspen, and other student festivals, the Music Academy features young professionals whose playing is hardly less entrancing than their mentors’.

This year’s theme is “Soundtrack to Summer.” Don’t miss the Academy Festival Orchestra performing John Williams’s score for Jaws live in concert (June 21). Many visiting artists have multiple dates, including violinist Randall Goosby (a chamber recital on June 25 and a concerto on June 28) and percussionist Andy Akiho (two different programs that see his 2023 composition Sculptures brought to life, July 3 and 5). The big event for students in the Lehrer Vocal Institute is a production of Don Giovanni at The Granada Theatre (July 18 and 20).

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Stern Grove Festival | June 15 – Aug. 17

Since 1938, San Francisco’s free outdoor summer music festival has entertained millions — with only a few pauses occasioned by COVID and major flooding. All should be well this summer, as the California Honeydrops open the season (June 15) and Diana Ross closes it (Aug. 17). Unlike the good old days of free-for-all, reservations are needed to attend, though admission is still free. Highlights of the Stern Grove season include the San Francisco Symphony (July 6), the Oakland-reared Pointer Sisters (Aug. 10), and reggae brothers Damien and Stephen Marley (Aug. 16).

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Mainly Mozart | June 18–28

Mainly Mozart touts “the largest gathering of concertmasters and principal players in North America,” and it’s no surprise that these world-class musicians keep returning season after season. Combining a relaxed atmosphere and refined performances, the six concerts in this year's festival take place outdoors at the Epstein Family Amphitheater and indoors at The Conrad in La Jolla. Led by Music Director Michael Francis, the All-Star Orchestra stays true to its name, performing lots of Mozart alongside a handful of selections by Felix Mendelssohn, Igor Stravinsky, Astor Piazzolla, and others. Guest soloists, including pianist Joyce Yang and violinist Noah Bendix-Balgley, bring additional star power to the proceedings.

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San Francisco Symphony Summer Season | June 26 – Aug. 3

With concerts at Davies Symphony Hall, Stern Grove, and the Frost and Shoreline Amphitheaters, Summer with the Symphony’s lineup ranges from symphonic to cinematic to electric. The season launches in glam-rock style with David Bowie’s Blackstar — the orchestra performing with the acclaimed album’s original band — before welcoming other such big names as Morgan Freeman, who lends his iconic voice to his curated “Symphonic Blues Experience” (July 25), and internet superstars TwoSet Violin (July 12 and 13). The rest of the summer offers familiar entertainment: live orchestral soundtracks for screenings of How to Train Your Dragon (July 26 and 27) and The Princess Bride (Aug. 2 and 3), a July 4 fireworks spectacular, and more.

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Merola Opera Program | June 26 – Aug. 16

The numbers of the 68-year-old Merola Opera Program are impressive. Selected from some 1,300 international applicants, 22 singers, five apprentice coaches, and one apprentice stage director are now set to receive intense training and to be featured in public performances over 12 weeks. Among those performances: “An American Songfest” (June 26), the Schwabacher Summer Concert (July 10 and 12), a staged production of Gioachino Rossini’s Le comte Ory (July 31 and Aug. 2), and the Merola Grand Finale (Aug. 16).

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Festival Opera | June 26 – Sept. 28

This summer, Walnut Creek’s Festival Opera offers a production of Ruggero Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci plus a series of recitals. Pagliacci, with General Director Zachary Gordin as host and narrator, is set to play for free in two neighborhood spots: Orinda Community Park (June 26) and Walnut Creek’s Civic Park (June 29). The Salon Series, with $40 admission, is held at Piedmont Center for the Arts and slated to feature mezzo-soprano Nikola Printz (July 27), soprano Carrie Hennessey (Aug. 24), and soprano Shawnette Sulker and alto Sara Couden (Sept. 28).

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Chamber Music Northwest | June 28 – July 27

The theme for this year’s festival is “Echoes of Bach,” and the monthlong lineup of concerts curated by Artistic Directors Gloria Chien and Soovin Kim resounds from the Baroque to the present day. Inspired by J.S. Bach’s “revolutionary ideas and sound,” the organizers are exploring the great composer’s influence on later generations. In addition to some of Bach’s most popular works — the Brandenburg Concertos (June 28) and the Mass in B Minor (July 6) — the festival showcases contemporary composers who can sometimes be found working in an 18th-century vein (think Gabriella Smith and Caroline Shaw). Reflecting Bach’s enormous output, the festival’s varied offerings include open rehearsals, free outdoor community concerts, and master classes.

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Pacific Symphony SummerFest | July 4 – Sept. 6

Following a successful inaugural summer at Irvine’s Great Park Live in 2024, Pacific Symphony returns to the state-of-the-art amphitheater for five festive evenings. In a beautiful setting under the stars, the orchestra stages a series of symphonic blockbusters, from John Williams’s soaring score for Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Aug. 2) to Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition in Maurice Ravel’s arrangement (Aug. 8). The opening concert features the music of Jimmy Buffett, the Beach Boys, and more, along with a patriotic fireworks display (July 4). Look for more pyrotechnics in the season finale, a “Tchaikovsky Spectacular” that includes the composer’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with soloist Natasha Paremski and, of course, the bombastic 1812 Overture (Sept. 6).

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Festival Napa Valley | July 5–20

Dinners and luncheons in idyllic wine-country venues set the stage for a rich blend of musical and cultural offerings. Mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato and violinist Tessa Lark star in the opening-night concert (July 11), followed by the food-and-wine-forward Taste of Napa (July 12) and Jon Batiste’s “Arts for All Gala” (July 13). Other highlights include the Versailles Royal Opera’s North American debut in Gaetano Donizetti’s La fille du régiment (July 18), plus a new Music & Wellness Symposium (July 6) and a live-orchestra screening of Disney’s Fantasia (July 17). Free daily chamber sets and a choose-your-price ticket option keep the doors open for all.

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New Hollywood String Quartet Summer of Angels | July 10–13

In the NHSQ’s Summer of Angels festival, Rothenberg Hall becomes a portal to Los Angeles’ golden age of chamber music. Conductor Leonard Slatkin, whose parents Felix Slatkin and Eleanor Aller founded the original Hollywood String Quartet, opens each of the four evening programs with personal reflections before today’s NHSQ revisits classic works from the booming Capitol Records era. Jean-Yves Thibaudet joins for César Franck’s stormy Piano Quintet (July 10), and cellist Alban Gerhardt appears in Franz Schubert’s C-Major Quintet (July 11). The run closes with Brahms’s epic F-Minor Piano Quintet (July 13).

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Stanford Live Summer@Live | July 10–19

The name has changed — from the Stanford Live Arts Festival to Summer@Live — and the size of the festival is somewhat reduced, but the purpose is sustained: to present “the vibrant mix of cultures in the Bay Area, offering something for everyone.” Concerts this summer include a “Tchaikovsky Spectacular” with the San Francisco Symphony (July 10), “TAMASHA: An Extravaganza of Desi Fusion” (July 12), the movie music of Hans Zimmer with the SF Symphony (July 17), and the IMUA Hawaii Festival (July 19).

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Carmel Bach Festival | July 12–26

With the theme of “Dialogues,” CBF’s 88th season promises musical conversations bridging eras and cultures, all set against a stunning seaside backdrop. The lineup opens with Felix Mendelssohn’s seasonally appropriate Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream (July 12) and goes out with a bang two weeks later with Mozart’s “Jupiter” Symphony (July 18 and 25) and a “Best of the Fest” celebration (July 26). In between, Artistic Director Grete Pedersen leads performances of Bach’s Mass in B Minor (July 13 and 20) and Mozart’s Requiem (July 15 and 22). There are also free talks, open rehearsals, and concerts at the historic Carmel Mission, plus a community concert in Salinas.

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Mendocino Music Festival | July 12–26

Amid an eclectic lineup, Igor Stravinsky is the festival’s featured composer this year. Events exploring the 20th-century icon include a film screening (July 6), the Pulcinella Suite with the Festival Orchestra (July 13), and “Stravinsky at Home” (July 22 and 23), together promising a surprisingly intimate portrait of the composer. The packed schedule has plenty of space for other offerings, including Mexican fusion band Villalobos Brothers (July 12), country singer-songwriter Kelsey Waldon (July 14), and vocalist Maiya Sykes fronting the Festival Big Band (July 19). A concert performance of Gaetano Donizetti’s Don Pasquale (July 18) and varied piano, jazz, and bluegrass programs round out the summer.

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Valley of the Moon Music Festival | July 12–27

VMMF’s 11th season, titled “Liaisons,” links musical and personal relationships across 10 chamber concerts. Programs explore favorite compositions through a social lens. There are performances focused on the musical family of Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn (July 12), the “love-hate relationship” between Richard Wagner and the French (July 13), and “Americans in Paris” (July 26). Alfresco concerts bring music to the scenic outdoors (July 17 and 22), and a free Sunday morning concert is geared toward families and kids (July 27). Kate van Orden, a musicologist with local roots, hosts the festival’s signature lectures before select performances.

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Classical Tahoe | July 12 – Aug. 10

Four weeks of music beside Lake Tahoe bring together top players from the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, and Philadelphia Orchestra in pine-framed surroundings. The festival kicks off with the Brubeck Jazz Summit (July 13–18) before turning to orchestral programming, with soloists Orli Shaham (July 25), Francesca Dego (Aug. 1), and Daniel Gilbert (Aug. 2) joining for concerto appearances. “Music in Motion” presents an evening of dance in collaboration with Lake Tahoe Dance Collective (July 26). A family afternoon (Aug. 9), a chamber series (beginning July 27), and a free community concert in the park (July 23) add to the mix.

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Festival Mozaic | July 16–26

This summer marks Music Director Scott Yoo’s 20th year with San Luis Obispo’s very Californian two-week festival, which fans out across vineyards, chapels, and historic missions. Festival Mozaic’s signature offerings include “Baroque in the Vines” (July 19) and “Mozart in the Mission” (July 23), and Yoo hosts interactive musical discussions of chamber works in the Notable Insight series. Rounding out the shoreline staycation are folk duo Twin Flames (July 20) and Cuban mambo group Orquesta Akokán (July 24), plus a pier-side “Boatzart” brass concert (July 21) and a family performance of Francis Poulenc’s Babar the Elephant (July 23).

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Bear Valley Music Festival | July 18 – Aug. 3

Music and Artistic Director Alexander Mickelthwate continues to surprise with outstanding ideas at this festival set in a gorgeous Sierra Nevada valley. After a week of tribute bands, BVMF offers Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony plus a piece by the relatively unknown 18th-century composer Marianna Martines (July 25), music by Mozart and Haydn in a concert interspersed with contemporary pop tunes (July 27), and a symphonic finale of Leonard Bernstein, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, and Sergei Rachmaninoff (Aug. 1). There’s no weak link in the chain.

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Music@Menlo | July 18 – Aug. 9

Menlo’s theme for 2025, “Constellations: Ensemble Magic,” has a poetic touch that enables a wide survey of centuries of music. The title is a pun: heavenly bodies but also varied configurations of instruments. The plan is to move systematically through the basic chamber music groupings to more complex ones.

As always, the talent that Artistic Directors David Finckel and Wu Han have enlisted is impressive. Violinist Stella Chen, who rocketed to stardom in 2019 after winning the Queen Elisabeth Competition, plays Camille Saint-Saëns (July 19). In a single program, the Viano Quartet tackles music by Brett Dean, and mezzo-soprano Maire Therese Carmack, a winner at the 2022 Operalia competition, sings Brahms (Aug. 3). Other delights on the schedule include the Carte Blanche solo recitals and performances by students at the Chamber Music Institute.

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The Ford | July 18 – Oct. 31

The wide-ranging season at The Ford opens with West Coast hip-hop pioneers The Pharcyde celebrating 30 years since the release of their classic album Labcabincalifornia (July 18). Some other genre-crossing highlights: Betty Who with the Los Angeles Philharmonic (Aug. 30), blues guitarist Christone “Kingfish” Ingram (Oct. 16), and singer-songwriter Perfume Genius performing his latest album, Glory (Oct. 4). The LA Soundscapes series offers family-friendly shows like “Punk Kids LA!” with musicians Alice Bag and Kid Congo Powers (July 20). On-screen events include a three-night Studio Ghibli series (July 25–27), and later in the year, catch a Halloween showing of Night of the Living Dead (Oct. 31).

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Ventura Music Festival | July 24–27

Artistic Director Nuvi Mehta has again mixed it up with this short but sweet festival. The lineup begins with a recital by two up-and-coming performers from the Colburn School (July 24) and a concert by swing band Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (July 25). The Joshua Redman Group makes an appearance for a night of jazz (July 26), and then Mehta, on violin, and pianist Greg Anderson play a tribute to George Gershwin (July 27). The weekend finishes off with the celebrated Beijing Guitar Duo (July 27).

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La Jolla Music Society SummerFest | July 25 – Aug. 23

San Diego sports the lushest summer festival of them all. Music Director Inon Barnatan has put together four weeks of programming where every concert is an event, and the performers are all top-notch. The highlights among the highlights? Renée Fleming joins conductor Alan Gilbert and the SummerFest Chamber Orchestra for Richard Strauss’s Four Last Songs, preceded by a performance of Olivier Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time (Aug. 5). Philip Glass’s complete piano etudes are played by Timo Andres, Matthew Aucoin, Yulianna Avdeeva, and others (July 26). Conductor Osmo Vänskä leads Arvo Pärt’s Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten and (with tenor Zachary Wilder) Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings (Aug. 15). And jazz vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant unleashes with her boundary-crossing program “Book of Ayres” (Aug. 16).

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Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music | July 27 – Aug. 10

As the Trump administration reverses the federal observation of Indigenous Peoples’ Day back to Columbus Day, the Cabrillo Festival is advertising its Santa Cruz location as “the unceded territory of the Awaswas-speaking Uypi tribe,” supporting the restoration of tribal lands.

A similar progressive stance is evident in the festival’s programming, which encompasses from a from “celebration of 50 years of LGBTQIA pride in Santa Cruz” to “powerful explorations into American history, human rights, and democracy.” As usual, Cabrillo is offering world and American premieres in its all-contemporary lineup, with many composers participating.

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Music in the Vineyards | Aug. 1–24

A little vino with your Vivaldi? Michael Adams and Daria Tedeschi Adams’s chamber festival centered around Napa Valley wineries offers a packed schedule. This year’s inventively themed concerts include “Bohemian Rhapsody,” covering instrumental excerpts from La bohème and Antonín Dvořák’s “Dumky” Trio (Aug. 2), and “From Haydn to Hot Club,” which brings Darius Milhaud and Maurice Ravel into the mix (Aug. 8). The Pacifica Quartet plays Felix Mendelssohn, Béla Bartók, Astor Piazzolla, and Samuel Barber (Aug. 13), and “Romance and Revolution” highlights works by Sergei Rachmaninoff, Alexander Glazunov, and Dmitri Shostakovich (Aug. 23). There are events for children and a play-along concert (Aug. 16), as well as those wine tastings and dinners that help make this festival so popular.

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West Edge Opera Festival | Aug. 2–17

There’s heavy competition for the title of the Bay Area’s most adventurous opera company, but West Edge comes out ahead. Hardly resting on its laurels, the presenter is offering yet another homegrown premiere this season: Dolores, based on the life of activist Dolores Huerta and featuring music by Nicolás Lell Benavides and a libretto by Marella Martin Koch, a work developed by the company’s Aperture commissioning program.

But premieres aren’t enough for West Edge. In keeping with previous seasons, the summer continues with a rare Baroque period opera, Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s David and Jonathan. And the company brings back baritone Hadleigh Adams and soprano Emma McNairy to star in Alban Berg’s masterpiece, Wozzeck. Outstanding casting makes it likely that these shows will hit their marks, and you don’t get many chances to see this repertory.

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American Bach San Francisco Bach Festival | Aug. 4–10

The longtime champions of historically informed performance have a new generation of players who have benefited from Artistic Director Jeffrey Thomas’s deep musicianship and knowledge of style. They’ll present a week of Baroque music that includes mainstay works like J.S. Bach’s Violin Concerto in A Minor, featuring violinist Tatiana Chulochnikova, and the composer’s Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B Minor, with Bethanne Walker on flute (Aug. 8). There’s more Bach in the festival finale, which highlights members of the 2025 American Bach Academy and showcases three Bach cantatas, including No. 147, the famous Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben (Aug. 10).

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San Francisco International Piano Festival | Aug. 21–31

The festival’s eighth season is again headed by Jeffrey LaDeur, founder and artistic director. Last year’s focus was on Gabriel Fauré, with stops at Jean-Philippe Rameau, Claude Debussy, and Robert Schumann along the way, and you can expect a similarly rich schedule in 2025. In addition to outstanding local and international keyboard talent, past lineups have showcased guest artists like mezzo-soprano Kindra Scharich and the Telegraph Quartet. Free public master classes are also a staple.

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Flower Piano | Sept. 12–21

This multiday rejuvenation in the heart of the city offers attendees the chance to wander the grounds of San Francisco Botanical Garden, discovering strategically placed pianos, sometimes played by pros, sometimes available for impromptu investigation by passionate amateurs. Over time, the schedule of concerts has gotten more substantial as Bay Area pianists have seized on the opportunity to show off their work. The results are usually unexpected, often stunning. The festival always kicks off with a special opening-night show, for which tickets are required. Many other offerings are included with just a Botanical Garden entry ticket. Come as you are, hear what you can.

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Monterey Jazz Festival | Sept. 26–28

There are more stars at this festival than there are fish in the city’s famous aquarium. This year, in addition to established headliners like Gregory Porter, Christian McBride, Dianne Reeves, Ledisi, Pete Escovedo, René Marie, and Trombone Shorty, Monterey has invited more local acts and student groups to play. There are special events scheduled, like an all-star tribute to the 1982 recording project Echoes of an Era (Sept. 28), Marcus Shelby’s Black Ball: The Negro Leagues and the Blues (Sept. 26), and performances by the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice, founded by drummer Terri Lyne Carrington (Sept. 26–27). The youth movement is represented by artists like singer-saxophonist Grace Kelly, Haitian American vocalist Tyreek McDole (winner of the 2023 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition), and New Jazz Underground. You can’t possibly take it all in, but it’ll be fun to try.

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