Previews

Festival-goers may not mind that, for one night, Carmel Bach becomes Carmel Beethoven. David Breitman, who is on the faculty of Oberlin Conservatory and is an expert on historical performance techniques, plays Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto (on a modern piano). And the orchestra, under Bruno Weil, finishes up with one of the composer's most popular symphonies, the “Eroica.”

The Mendocino Music Festival closes with a performance of Mozart's Requiem Mass. Completed by his pupil, Francis Xavier Süssmayer, it is still one of the two most popular Requiems in the classical repertory. But even Mozart would have forked over some cash to be able to hear it in a tent overlooking the Pacific Ocean, with a fine team of professional soloists.

The music of the Grateful Dead, arguably rock ’n’ roll’s first jam band, is staging a second coming, in symphonic garb, in the land where the band began, 44 years ago. Composer Lee Johnson’s Dead Symphony No. 6, based on the Dead canon, will be showcased on Aug. 9, the third day of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in Santa Cruz.

Chronologically and in many other ways, it’s a long way from Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) to Pierre Jalbert (born in 1967), but Music at Menlo will bring the two together.

The Midsummer Mozart Festival is coming to a concert venue near you. First up is the absolutely delightful Concerto for Two Pianos, K. 365, a flute concerto, and the exciting "Haffner" Symphony, No. 35. As always the orchestra travels so you don't have to — from Santa Clara to San Francisco to Sonoma.

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The opening program of the Carmel Bach Festival is a performance of Joseph Haydn's magnificent oratorio, The Creation. From its famous depiction of Chaos through to the uplifting final chorus, "The heavens are telling the glory of God," this is a worthy successor to Handel's great English oratorios.

If you're a classic cartoon buff, don't miss Bugs on Broadway, part of the San Francisco Symphony's Summer and the Symphony series.

The rebellious souls among us already know where to go for real “alternative” music — music that mixes genres or cultural traditions, or that uses nontrad

The number of talented young singers in the Bay Area is about to increase exponentially, as the Golden Gate International Children’s and Youth Choral