2025 is just getting started, but the Bay Area’s classical music organizations have already announced events that fans won’t want to miss.
(The year is also promising a lot of amazing pop/rock/hip-hop concerts as well as some compelling films).
With a new John Adams concerto, a solo concert by a top-tier soprano, piano music in San Francisco and Palo Alto, and one of the world’s most dramatic — and shortest! — operas, here are four of the can’t-miss performances to enjoy in the New Year.
Adams at S.F. Symphony: January brings a new work by award-winning Bay Area composer John Adams; titled “After the Fall,” it’s a piano concerto commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony, which will present its world premiere in Davies Symphony Hall on Jan. 16, followed by two additional performances Jan. 18-19.
Led by conductor David Robertson, a frequent champion of Adams’ music, this new work features Icelandic pianist Vikingur Ólafsson, whose performances of Bach piano works were one of Adams’ inspirations for “After the Fall.” Ólafsson serves as soloist for all three performances.
The program also includes Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana,” featuring vocal soloists soprano Susanna Phillips, tenor Arnold Livingston Geis, and baritone Will Liverman (who recently sang this role at the Oakland Symphony); they’ll be joined by the San Francisco Girls Chorus and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus. Charles Ives’ “The Unanswered Question” launches the program.
Details: 7:30 p.m. Jan. 16 and 18, 2 p.m. Jan. 19, Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco; $49-$199; sfsymphony.org.
Davidsen in Berkeley: Lise Davidsen is at the top of her game. If you were one of many Bay Area opera lovers who saw her in the title role of “Tosca” in the Metropolitan Opera’s recent live broadcast in movie theaters, you know what we mean. Following a meteoric rise through the world’s concert halls and opera houses — and a headline-making solo recital last season in New York — the Norwegian soprano is now one of the most esteemed vocal artists navigating an astounding career.
Now she’s coming to Cal Performances in a one-night-only appearance to sing a wide-ranging program of songs and arias by Grieg, Purcell, Verdi, Schubert, Wagner and others. She’ll be accompanied by pianist Malcolm Martineau, another great artist whose Cal Performances appearances have always been sublime.
Details: 7:30 p.m. Feb. 4; Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley; $37.50-$210; calperformances.org.
Hamelin around the Bay: One of the finest pianists the Bay Area has seen, Marc-André Hamelin returns in February for two appearances. First, the Canadian artist will play a solo recital for San Francisco Performances, with a program that runs from Haydn and Rachmaninoff to Stefan Wolpe and Frank Zappa. And in March, he’ll join the Dover Quartet at Stanford Live to play his own Piano Quintet, along with works by Mozart and Webern.
Details: 7:30 Feb. 8, Herbst Theatre, San Francisco; $65-$85; sfperformances.org.; 2:30 March 9, Bing Hall, Stanford University; $15-$84; livestanford.edu.
“Bluebeard’s Castle” Bela Bartok’s opera, based on a French folk legend, is an operatic fever dream. With just two voices — the title character and his newly wed wife, Judith — it’s one of opera’s most intense psychodramas. Inspired by Charles Perrault’s fairy tale, it follows Judith, curious about her husband’s secluded castle and its seven mysterious doors, to a gripping conclusion. The opera was Bartok’s masterpiece, and it’s a bracing experience. It unfolds in a little more than an hour — which makes it great for first-time operagoers who might balk at a three-plus hour work.
Opera San Jose’s cast features soprano Maria Natale, who sang the title role in the company’s 2023 “Tosca,” and baritone Zachary Nelson as the Duke. “Bluebeard’s Castle” is directed by Opera San Jose General Director Shawna Lucey; Music Director Joseph Marcheso conducts.
Details: Feb. 15-March 2; California Theatre, San Jose; $57.50-$222.50; operasanjose.org.
— Georgia Rowe, Correspondent
