Summertime, and the weather is breezy. It's the San Francisco pattern that keeps the locals cool. For music-lovers who plan on taking a staycation this year, there is an added plus. They won't have to look far to find interesting musical diversions.
The San Francisco Symphony isn't going away. The hardy musicians celebrate the Summer of Love performing free concerts at Stern Grove Festival, July 9, and on the Waterfront at Pier 27, July 23. Dress in layers, and bring your out-of-town visitors along. Guest artists at Stern Grove include talented barihunk Hadleigh Adams and soprano Jana McIntyre. She returns this summer to rejoin the Merola Opera Program, singing Serpina in "La Serva Padrona." The Waterfront concert features another Merolini. Lovely soprano Julie Adams is singing Dvorak's haunting "Song to the Moon."
Meanwhile, back at Davies Symphony Hall, "Summer with the Symphony" concerts begin this week with "The Music of John Williams," Thurs.-Fri., July 6-7. There won't be film clips, but lovers of his cinematic sound can still thrill to the epic scores as conducted by Director of SFS Summer Concerts Edwin Outwater.
There will be more than clips to watch when Williams' evocative music is heard next in DSH. Joshua Gersen conducts "Jaws," the entire feature film with the SFS performing live, Thurs.-Fri., July 13-14. "Pixar in Concert with Live Orchestra," Sat.-Sun., July 15-16, calls for more popcorn. Clips from the parade of Pixar hits, conducted by Christian Reif, can be enjoyed by adults and kids. The studio's movies are bright as well as raucously funny.
Other standout events include an intriguing visit with the Jalisco Philharmonic Orchestra, Sun., July 16, and "A Beethoven Celebration," Thurs., July 27. The musicians from Mexico, conducted by Marco Parisotto, including percussion ensemble Tambuco, perform an eclectic bill that focuses most on the "colors and rhythms of Latin America." Edwin Outwater conducts pianist Orion Weiss and the SFS in Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5, "Emperor," and the thrilling Symphony No. 7.
"Ben Folds with the San Francisco Symphony," Fri., July 21, kind of sells itself (if it isn't sold out already), but "Gershwin & Bernstein with the San Francisco Symphony, featuring Rhiannon Giddens," Thurs., July 20, should also grab our notice. Delightful roots musician Giddens, best known as the lead singer, violinist, banjo player and founding member of the Grammy-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops, is a big draw herself, and we look forward to the orchestra's inclusion of a medley of Broadway music from African-American composer and violinist Will Marion Cook (1869 -1944!). For more info visit: sfsymphony.org/summer.
More experimental and avant-garde music is also happening during this summer of love. An "Exclusive Event Series: John Luther Adams Festival" begins Wed., July 26, 7:30 p.m. at SFJAZZ Center, with a "Listening Party w/ John Luther Adams." If you don't know this radically innovative composer, this might be a good starting point. Think the vast soundscapes of Edgard Varese, the silences of John Cage, the intimate meditations of Morton Feldman, then take it all into the Alaskan wilderness. It is music of profound thoughtfulness and great organic beauty. Fittingly, some of the events in the festival will be performed outdoors (Sutro Baths) and inside resonant interior spaces (Grace Cathedral). For more info: sfjazz.org.
Opera-lovers can come in from the cold for some hot events in July and August. The Schwabacher Summer Concert, this Thursday at San Francisco Conservatory of Music, 7:30 p.m. (Stanford, Sun., 7/9, 2:30 p.m.), begins the fabulous Merola "summer camp" training. It kicks off with staged scenes from "Cavalleria rusticana," "Ballad of Baby Doe," "Thais," and composers von Weber and Donizetti, accompanied by full orchestra, with English supertitles. The Merolini will return for a triple bill: "La Serva Padrona" (Pergolesi), "Sāvitri" (Holst), and "The Bear" at SFCM, Thurs., July 20.
Opera Theater Unltd. looks sort of pop-up in nature, but is actually far more ambitious. Their production of "Hunter: A New Opera" runs July 14-22 at Exit Theatre in the Tenderloin. The synopsis for the work, music by Joseph M. Colombo and libretto by Caitlin Mullan, starts with, "A female soldier falls in love with the girlfriend of one of her fellow soldiers." Okay, you've got my attention! Info: theexit.org/hunter.
Lamplighters Music Theatre gives another boost to grand traditional stagings with Gilbert & Sullivan's "Yeoman of the Guard" lighting up Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Aug. 18-20.
Merola presents a fully staged production of Rossini's "La Cenerentola" Thurs., Aug. 3, and Sat., Aug. 5, at the SFCM, and the Merola Grand Finale and reception at the War Memorial Opera House comes later in the month.
"Hamlet" (Ambroise Thomas), Sat., Aug. 5; "The Chastity Tree" (Vicente Mart'n y Soler/Lorenzo da Ponte), Sun., Aug. 6; and "Frankenstein" (Libby Larsen), Sat., Aug. 12, are the operas in the West Edge Opera Festival, Aug. 5-20 at Pacific Pipe Oakland. That's right: they have moved from the abandoned Oakland train station to an abandoned warehouse, Pacific Pipe at 1391 W. Grand Ave. in West Oakland. If you haven't experienced West Edge Opera before, get in the groove now. The productions are always boldly and inventively staged, featuring young singers and top-notch musicians. The venue couldn't be more original, and it adds tremendous atmosphere to the fun.