Summer’s classical music is fully back to life in the Bay Area

Pianist Inon Barnatan will perform with the San Francisco Symphony.照片:马可Borggreve

Have things returned to something like normalcy for the Bay Area’s classical music scene this summer? It’s hard to tell.

在superficial glance, the coming activity feels much as it did before COVID-19 struck in 2020. The same familiar festivals are operating at full swing, while the sounds of opera and symphonies and chamber music resound both indoors and out.

Yet it feels wrong to say, or even imply, that the world looks quite as it once did. All we can do is forge ahead with the comfortable seasonal routines, in hopes that they can offer some sort of solace.

Tim Seelig is stepping down after a decade as artistic director of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus.Photo: Jessica Christian / The Chronicle

San Francisco Symphony

Just as it did last year, the San Francisco Symphony’s summer schedule promises to divide its time between indoor and outdoor offerings.

The orchestra’s ongoing concert series at Stanford’s bucolic Frost Amphitheater, combined with the traditional venues of San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall and Sigmund Stern Grove as well as Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View will bring a wealth of pop and classical music. Highlights include the premiere of Bay Area composerMason Bates’ animated introduction to the orchestra, “Philharmonia Fantastique”; a guest appearance by Israeli pianist Inon Barnatan; concerts with actress and singer Bernadette Peters and genre-jumping band Pink Martini; a tribute to Selena, the late “Queen of Tejano music,” featuring vocalistIsabel MarieSánchez; and the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus’ last local performance with Artistic DirectorTimothy Seelig.

June 29-Aug. 7. $25-$150. Various venues.www.sfsymphony.org

Soprano Shana Blake Hill stars in Festival Opera’s “Norma.”Photo: Shana Blake Hill

Festival Opera

The Walnut Creek company dives back into full-scale presentation with a production of Bellini’s “Norma.”

Soprano Shana Blake Hill stars in the title role of the lovelorn Druid priestess, alongside mezzo-soprano Ashley Dixon, tenor Dane Suarez and bass Kevin Thompson. Bryan Nies conducts, with staging by director Mark Foehringer.

July 8 and 10. $45-$90. Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek.www.festivalopera.org

Merola Opera Program

For the first time since before the pandemic, the program for young artists plans to present a fully staged operatic production, Mozart’s “Magic Flute” on Aug. 4 and 6. Also in the lineup are a recital program devoted to American song (July 9), the Schwabacher Concert of operatic excerpts (July 14 and 16), and the traditional Grand Finale program on Aug. 20.

July 9-Aug. 20. $25-$80. Various San Francisco venues.www.merola.org

Violinist Joshua Bell will appear at Festival Napa Valley.Photo: Chronicle file photo

Festival Napa Valley

The annual summer festival of music, wine and food returns to Wine Country, with events at the Culinary Institute of America at Copia in Napa and Charles Krug Winery in St. Helena.

Among the scheduled highlights are a production of Donizetti’s opera “The Elixir of Love” and appearances by cellist Sophia Bacelar and violinists Joshua Bell and Tessa Lark.

July 15-24. Individual tickets free-$35; festival passes $1,250-$10,000. Various Napa Valley venues.www.festivalnapavalley.org

Opera Parallèle

The innovative San Francisco company plans to present “La Belle et la Bête” (“Beauty and the Beast”), Philip Glass’ magical hybrid of opera and cinema based on Jean Cocteau’s classic 1946 film.

The production, which stars soprano Vanessa Becerra and baritone Hadleigh Adams in the title roles, completes the company’s trilogy of Glass’s Cocteau operas.

Artistic Director Nicole Paiement conducts, with staging by director Brian Staufenbiehl.

July 14-17. $55-$125. SFJazz Center, 201 Franklin St., S.F.www.operaparallele.org

Cellist David Finckel and pianist Wu Han run the Music@Menlo chamber music festival.Photo: Lisa-Marie Mazzucco

Music@Menlo

Each year the Peninsula chamber music festival, run bypianist Wu Han and cellist David Finckel, explores a single musical theme that runs through all the summer’s programming. This year the festival celebrates its 20th anniversary with a focus on Haydn, featuring his music alongside works by Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and more.

July 16-Aug. 6. $20-$84. Locations in Atherton.www.musicatmenlo.org

Valley of the Moon Music Festival

For its eighth season, the Sonoma chamber festival, devoted to music of the Romantic era performed on period instruments, offers a program of works on themes of nature and the elements.

This year’s concert schedule ranges from music by Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert through Charles Ives, Florence Price and Harry Burleigh.

July 16-31. $15-$48. Hanna Boys Center, 17000 Arnold Drive, Sonoma.www.valleyofthemoonmusicfestival.org

Kendra Broom in the title role of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s “Coraline” at West Edge Opera.Photo: Cory Weaver

West Edge Opera

It’s another summer for the vagabond East Bay company, which means a new home for its reliably inventive productions.

This season brings West Edge to the Scottish Rite Center in Oakland for a season that includes Handel’s “Julius Caesar,” Paul Dukas’ “Ariane and Bluebeard,” and “Coraline,” Mark-Anthony Turnage’s 2018 treatment of the Neil Gaiman children’s classic.

July 23-Aug. 7. $10-$140. Scottish Rite Center, 1547 Lakeside Drive, Oakland.www.westedgeopera.org

American Bach Soloists

The group’s weeklong celebration of Baroque music, led by Artistic Director Jeffrey Thomas, includes music by Bach, Rameau, Vivaldi and others, as well as such later composers as Mozart and Mendelssohn.

The festival culminates with a performance of Handel’s oratorio “Belshazzar,” featuring tenor Matthew Hill in the title role.

7月23-31。25 - 125美元。HerbstTheater, 401 Van Ness Ave., S.F.www.americanbach.org

Cristian Macelaru is music director of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, which is back to live performances.Photo: Sorin Popa

Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music

The annual summer festival in Santa Cruz stayed online longer than many. But now it’s back to live performances under Music Director Cristian Macelaru, with a lineup that includes new and recent works by Paola Prestini, Scott Ordway, Stacy Garrop and more.

July 24-Aug. 7. $20-$75. Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium, 307 Church St., Santa Cruz.www.cabrillomusic.org

Clarification: The original storyhas been updated to include the price range for individual tickets for Festival Napa Valley.

  • Joshua Kosman
    Joshua KosmanJoshua Kosman is The San Francisco Chronicle’s music critic. Email: jkosman@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JoshuaKosman