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For classical music aficionados, the term early music generally brings to mind only works that they might hear in a Western concert hall. But Cançonièr adopts a much broader view for its upcoming concert (its debut as ensemble-in-residence at MusicSources), incorporating a Dufay motet, Turkish classical music, Italian and German dances, Balkan folk songs, and more.

Apparently, no one has informed the San Francisco Girls Chorus that what they are doing is impossible, so they just do it — and very well, too.

It was a night of opposites. For the first half of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s semi-annual Lieder Alive concert series in SFCM’s Concert Hall, we had tenor Eleazar Rodriguez, a 2009 Merola Opera participant who is compact of voice and frame.

It is with great curiosity and a little trepidation that I approach my first “Chant Camp,” presented by the singers of Anonymous 4 and Stanford University on, Monday, October 19.

The introduction of a new player into a venerable chamber ensemble is always a touchy thing; you can never quite be sure what sort of entity will emerge at the end of the process, how much or how little it will resemble the group you once knew. That goes doubly for the leaders of string quartets.

Berkeley-raised conductor J. Karla Lemon, who conducted a host of local and national new music ensembles and orchestras between teaching gigs at Stanford University and other institutions, died peacefully at her Oakland home on October 15.

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra fans won’t be surprised that star opera mezzo-soprano Susan Graham is headlining the group’s coming performances of Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas.

On Nov. 6, 2002, a conductor named Osmo Vänskä made his first appearance with the San Francisco Symphony. At that time, few Bay Area music lovers had heard of the Finnish maestro, who had just been named music director-designate of the Minnesota Orchestra. But his San Francisco debut made a big impression. Conducting Carl Nielsen’s Symphony No.

Mexico’s Día de los Muertos is hardly a day for mourning. A celebration of those who have died, it centers on offerings of food, flowers, and fanciful ceremonial altars for the departed.

“We make our offering to the dead at either the cemetery or home,” explains conductor Alondra de la Parra, who makes her much-anticipated San Francisco Symphony debut with a Nov.

Concertmaster of the San Francisco Symphony for eight years, violinist Alexander Barantschik has won the hearts of patrons with his wide range of talent. As soloist, conductor, and section leader, “Sasha,” as his colleagues call him, has become something of a rock star at Davies Symphony Hall.