Vivaldi memorialized Four Seasons, but we are going for five. That is, the 2025–2026 concert seasons of five local organizations that may not have the publicity powers of larger orchestras or opera companies, but deserve attention and support.
New music group Earplay, chamber music presenter Music at Kohl Mansion, early music-focused choir California Bach Society, presenter Old First Concerts, and Left Coast Chamber Ensemble are small budget wonders with long histories of enriching the Bay Area music ecosystem. Here's what to expect from them.
Earplay
Small in size, large in courage and accomplishment, Earplay — San Francisco’s pioneer of new chamber music — will return to the Noe Valley Ministry in 2026 for its 41st season. The season will offer six world premieres, including major new works by Shuying Li and Trevor Weston, both supported by commissions from the Fromm Foundation.
In recognition of the sesquicentennial of the Declaration of Independence, Earplay concerts will focus on American composers, featuring works by Elliott Carter, John Harbison, Roger Reynolds, Clay McMillan, and Anthony Brandt.
Anchoring the season is a project entitled “Answering the Unanswered Question,” which revolves around Charles Ives’ 1908 work, The Unanswered Question.
“Each of our concerts will include a new arrangement of The Unanswered Question by composer and longtime Earplay board member Bruce Bennett, with an ‘answer’ to the question provided by composers Emma Logan, Hyo-shin Na, and Aida Shirazi,” said Fred Spitz, Earplay’s executive director. “The work is for strings, winds, and brass, but the instrumentation is ultimately somewhat indeterminate, thus providing a compelling prompt for new American music in the 21st century.”
Also included in the 2026 programming will be the winning entries to Earplay’s two composition competitions, the Donald Aird Composers Competition and the Vibrant Shores Composers Competition. Nearly 200 composers from around the world submitted works in 2025.
Concert dates in 2026 are: Jan. 19, March 12, and May 25. The venue is Noe Valley Ministry, 1021 Sanchez St. Tickets are $32 for general admission and $10 for students, and can be purchased online or at the door.
Music at Kohl Mansion
Beginning Oct. 19, Music at Kohl Mansion’s 43rd season will consist of eight Sunday evening concerts by visiting international musicians.
The season’s programs, which are set to be performed in the Great Hall of Burlingame’s historic Kohl Mansion, consistently pair classics with contemporary works. In addition to the concerts, Kohl Mansion offers free parking, pre-performance masterclasses, and lectures, and post-concert receptions. Both season and single tickets are now available.
Music at Kohl Mansion also champions regional collaboration and has added eight Young Chamber Musicians events to its schedule — six in the San Mateo Public Library and two in the City of Palo Alto Library. Kohl will also bring music to the Mechanics Institute Library in San Francisco, the Peninsula Jewish Community Center, various schools in San Mateo County, and senior centers.
Kohl’s Executive Director Patricia Kristof Moy said although she doesn’t program for “themes,” the next season opens with “a completely coincidental mosaic of composers and performers from the Czech Republic, a region of Europe renowned as the birthplace of multiple celebrated composers of classical and chamber music and opera.”
This season, the Bennewitz Quartet and Trio Bohémo are scheduled to perform works by Leoš Janácek, Antonín Dvorák, Bohuslav Martinu, Jan Vicar, and Bedrich Smetana.
California Bach Society
With Nate Widelitz as its new music director, California Bach Society has scheduled an attractive season of four mainstage concerts.
On Oct. 3–5, a program titled “Cori Spezzati, The Spatial Art of Split-Choir Sound,” will include works by J.S. Bach, Adrian Willaert, and Giovanni Gabrieli.
On Dec. 5–7, “Laudate Coeli, Songs of Light in Winter’s Deep” will feature Camille Saint-Saëns’ rarely-performed Oratorio de Noël, among other works.
The Feb. 27–Mar. 1, 2026, program “On Leaving, Music for Parting and Passage” pairs Bach’s music with that of Estonian-Ukrainian composer Galina Grigorjeva.
Closing the season on May 1–3, 2026 will be “Psalmen Davids: Three Centuries of Sacred Song” with works by Heinrich Schütz, Franz Schubert, and Felix Mendelssohn, among others.
California Bach has a unique arrangement for tickets: In addition to standard prices ($125 for the season, $35 for single concerts), the organization also offers Choose What You Pay (CWYP) and Community Circle options — the latter includes preferred seating and the opportunity to invite guests with unlimited $10 tickets.
Old First Concerts
Old First Church on Van Ness Avenue has served as a concert venue since 1970. Although the venue is no longer a church, its mission and service to the community is unaltered. Old First features local musicians in concerts that are affordable to most audiences. Tickets are $30 for general admission and $10 for students.
With the 2026 program schedule yet to be announced, these are some of the fall attractions:
– Sept. 7, Celebrating the American Songbook with Mike Greensill and Friends (also available on Livestream)
– Sept. 14, Lieder Alive! presents Peter Grünberg and John Parr (Livestream)
– Sept. 20 and 21, Sixth Station Trio–Genshin Impact in concert (Livestream)
Left Coast Chamber Ensemble
“Restless Times” is the title of Left Coast Chamber Ensemble’s 33rd season, which will present three world premieres in addition to music by Gustav Mahler, Felix Mendelssohn, Richard Strauss, and Igor Stravinsky, “as well as less familiar voices, both old and new, which deserve to be heard,” as the group’s artistic director, Matilda Hofman, wrote on its website.
In addition to its regular concerts in Berkeley and San Francisco, Left Coast will present two works of music theater in the Ruth Williams Opera House on June 6 and 7, 2026: Stravinsky’s A Soldier’s Tale, paired with a new work by David Dominique, inspired by Harlem Renaissance writer Arna Bontemps.
The season-opening concerts on Nov. 1 and Nov. 2, to be respectively performed at San Francisco’s Noe Valley Ministry and Berkeley’s First Church of Christ, Scientist, will feature Roberto Sierra’s Tríptico, Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder (arr. David Hefti), Fanny Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio in D Minor, and Artur Akshelyan’s Sillage (a 2024 contest winner).
On Jan. 31 and Feb. 1, 2026, Richard Strauss’s Metamorphosen will be paired with Luciano Berio’s Sequenza and the world premiere of Bahar Royaee’s viola concerto.
On Mar. 20 and 21, Left Coast and Volti will present a new work by highly regarded composer, and member of LCCE’s artistic advisory board, Chris Castro which, according to Left Coast’s website, “explores the connection between sound and the spoken word in tales from the West Coast.”