Lisa Hirsch

The Boston Symphony Orchestra’s visit, marking the return of the great orchestra after a 15-year absence, offered the Bay Area its first look at Ludovic Morlot. And what a look it was.

James Conlon led a thrilling performance of the Verdi Reqiuem, one of sweeping power, by turns terrifying, tender, and moving; succeeding brilliantly in bringing the performers together and making a musical and dramatic whole out of a work that is all too easy to fumble.

A wind quintet formed by members of the Berlin Philharmonic plays works by great Czech composers with panache and flair.

It’s “Thomas Adès Time” in the Bay Area, as the composer/pianist and the Calder Quartet perform a few of his works, ranging from lyrical and playful to formidably complex.

A recital of wind quintet pieces that ought to have enticed seems hampered by inconsistent execution and odd programming choices.

A season ending performance of the challenging Missa Solemnis offers an evening of individual beauties interspersed and some disjointed moments.

Francesca Zambello’s powerful and explicitly feminist Ring Cycle is a magnificent achievement for her and the entire S.F. Opera organization.

As the San Francisco Symphony preps for its European tour, its Mahler is heating up wonderfully.

Osmo Vänskä leads the S.F. Symphony in an intense, doom-laden premiere by Thomas Larcher, aptly paired with Ralph Vaughan Williams’ evocative A London Symphony.

Magdalena Kožená has proven her mettle in music of the high Baroque, and in her 2010 CD, Lettere Amorose, she adds to her recorded repertory Italian love songs by the 17th-century composers, bringing a natural flair and easy virtuosity to the works, and a beautiful and distinctive sound.