Jason Victor Serinus

Less than nine months after her dynamic San Francisco Symphony debut conducting the annual SFS “Day of the Dead” concert, Alondra de la Parra is set to make an even deeper impression on her audiences. As she leads four consecutive concerts with the orchestra, her wide-ranging repertoire — two nights of American and America-associated music, one all-Russian evening, and a refreshing Dolores Park afternoon that mixes Dvořák’s New World with some of Mexico’s finest — will be as rounded as her roster of top-flight soloists. 

“It’s all about the music, silly!” Certainly that is true for most of the concerts SFCV previews and reviews. But what about Festival del Sole, which, after a private donor dinner the night before, kicks off in Napa Valley on July 16?

“Why is this bar mitzvah different from all other bar mitzvahs?” It’s a question that countless eyes-glazed-over invitees have raised for close to 6,000 years.

In Dan Plonsey’s case, however, some unusual answers may be voiced.

Changing character and voice is nothing new for lyric soprano Alyson Cambridge. Equally comfortable in her high and low ranges, she recently celebrated the release of her recording of William Bolcom and Sandra Cecelia Seaton’s The Diary of Sally Hemmings. Bolcom’s music is a far cry from S.F. Symphony’s July 8 presentation of the Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess Suite, where she will alter her voice and temperament to sing favorite arias by three different characters.

Boom! Wham! As the percussion of Orquesta La Pasión,led by Mikael Ringquist and Gonzalo Grau, pounds away, Argentinean-born composer Osvaldo Golijov wastes no time proclaiming that his St. Mark Passion will take a giant step away from the language of J.S. Bach’s monumental achievement.

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.

Proof of our good fortune in having Ragnar Bohlin as director of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, this tremendous CD demonstrates his overarching sense of line and purpose. In six contemporary works by Swedish and (in the case of Ned Rorem) American composers, Bohlin’s leadership of the 32-person Swedish Radio Choir produces mesmerizing dynamic gradations and shading.

Tenor Jonas Kaufmann will likely be your tenor of the hour, if not the decade, after you hear his new Decca recording of German arias by Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven, and Wagner. Supported and urged on by the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, magnificently conducted by Claudio Abbado, the tenor lavishes as much care, love, and passion on his repertoire as you can ever expect to hear.

It was an event like no other. Answering San Francisco Opera’s clarion call, on June 13, seven human contestants — two linked by blood — and one irresistible canine of similar Amesian pedigree straggled into the courtyard north of the War Memorial Opera House starting at 11 a.m. or so for SFO’s Wagner Ring Cycle Costume Contest.

Frederica von Stade, the beloved mezzo-soprano, is saying good-bye to her fans. She is in the middle of a series of farewell appearances, winding down a 40-year, Cinderella-like career in opera that began in 1970, when she unexpectedly won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and received a contract from Metropolitan Opera General Manager Rudolf Bing.

As she approaches an as-yet-unannounced date in late 2011 when San Francisco Opera will cosponsor her final official concert, von Stade will begin a new chapter in her life.