Michael Zwiebach

Saint Michael Trio is running the gamut of 250 years of trio music, including jazz, rock, and blues. In 75 minutes. That's got to be more entertaining than your average chamber concert or (especially) a music history lecture.

A hometown’s favorite pianist preps for a “concital” (recital plus concert) with Symphony Silicon Valley.

In November, the Mill Valley Chamber Music Society presents Concertante, a well-established string ensemble that last year finished an impressive two-year commissioning project.

Orchestras have the personnel and ability to do pretty much anything involving music. Shouldn’t they act on that?

Holding nothing back in cast strength and performance quality, West Edge Opera mounts an admirable production of Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos.

The men's choir Clerestory, originally a splinter group from Chanticleer, is one of the less-known Bay Area treasures. If you've never looked in on them, here is a wonderful-sounding program about the music of Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris, presented in conjunction with Humanities West's seminar weekend.

What do today’s huge range of composers call their works? Almost every term is up for grabs, as the relevance of the word classical fades.

The San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music provide a nice classical chamber series at the Legion of Honor, but their signature event has quickly become Chamber Music Day at the de Young Museum.

One of Russia’s premier performing arts organizations under its charismatic leader, Valery Gergiev arrives at Cal Performances in Berkeley, after opening the Carnegie Hall season.

Composer Steve Reich turns 75 this year and keeps on rolling. And the 38-year-old Kronos Quartet keeps going with him. On its Cal Performances recital this Sunday, Kronos plays Reich's music composed for the quartet; likely to make it one of the most life-affirming concerts of the season.