Previews

Back when Milton and Peggy Salkind teamed up as a piano duo in the early 1950s, there were just a handful of piano duo acts — Rosina and Josef Lhevinne, Gaby and Robert Casadesus, and a few others. The Salkinds helped to blaze the trail that others, most famously the Labeque sisters, have since trod. San Franciscans have a chance to enjoy a rare duo on the weekend of July 8-10.

Declared sister cities in 1980, San Francisco and Shanghai have been celebrating that relationship all year, starting in February with a spectacular gala and exhibition at the Asian Art Museum in the former city’s Civic Center. In musical mode, there’ll be an East Meets West Chamber Concert at the Museum on July 10, featuring the American premiere of Joan Huang’s Shanghai Trilogy, performed by the Bridge Chamber Virtuosi.

Why is this Madama Butterfly different from all other Butterflys? It’s a question we often ask ourselves when pondering whether to spend another three hours at the opera seeing our second or fifth or 50th performance of Puccini’s final revision to his 1904 masterpiece. Brian Staufenbiel, director of Festival Opera’s forthcoming Madama Butterfly, has some answers.

For some it will be an opportunity to hear bass John Relyea, and soprano Patricia Racette, who is one of the artists who could capture my attention even if she was only singing the phone book. But the July 4 concert at Stern Grove with the San Francisco Opera will also present a program of American operatic classics, which are rare on the world's stages.

For many of us, classical music means the deep, melodious sounds created by the strings of a violin or the delicate, dulcet sound of light, nimble fingers swiftly climbing up and down the keys of a piano. These are exactly the conventional notions that the Los Angeles Electric 8 has passionately defied since 2007.

The San Francisco Boys Chorus presents its spring concert this weekend at Mission Dolores, a great venue, where the guys will give you a little of everything they do.

Every year, New Music Bay Area observes the summer solstice with a day of music at Oakland's Chapel of the Chimes. Audience members just walk through and discover different musical groups playing in various areas throughout the building and grounds. Because of the way Julia Morgan designed the Chapel, you don't really hear the other musicians until you're right in front of them. It's kind of like a musical maze.

Twenty-five pieces by 25 composers: That's the formula behind the equation for San Francisco Choral Artists’ 25th anniversary concert, titled “25 X 25.”

It’s one of the world’s more prestigious competitions for young musicians, and it takes place right here in San Francisco. The Irving M. Klein International String Competition, held annually on the campus of San Francisco State University, attracts the crème de la crème of string players, ages 15 to 23, for two days of intensive music-making.

Pink Martini, the self-described “house band of the United Nations,” is back for their third tour of duty with the San Francisco Symphony. The eclectic mix of world music and pop is hip on its own, but their arrangements, already for an expanded band, make them a great fit for an orchestra.