When it comes to classical music, for most of the year, I tend to be a champion of new works and rarely performed obscurities. But in the summertime, something about the season invites popular chestnuts of the repertoire — and helps my ear hear them in new ways. Luckily, this summer in the Bay Area, there’s a healthy mix of both.
Michael Kelly is Harvey Milk in ‘Harvey Milk Reimagined.’ (Matt Simpkins Photography)
Thirty years after its debut, the opera Harvey Milk has been “reimagined” by Stewart Wallace and Michael Korie, its original composer and librettist. In this anticipated production by Opera Parallèle, it’s now two acts instead of three, but the emotional core of Milk’s inspiring life and tragic assassination remains. In St. Louis, this reworked, two-hour version was hailed as “nothing short of a triumph.”
We all have that friend who’s trepidatious about classical music, or even downright positive that they hate it. The cure? This outer space–themed program at the Livermore-Amador Symphony, with works they’ll recognize (Debussy’s Clair de Lune; Richard Strauss’ Also Sprach Zarathustra opening, used in the film 2001) alongside pieces featuring soprano (and scientist) Heidi Moss Erickson. Holst’s The Planets and John Williams’ rugged Star Wars Suite, perfect for kids, round out the evening.
‘La bohème’ comes to San Francisco Opera in June. (Cory Weaver/SF Opera)
June 3–21, 2025 War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco
I’ll grant you this: Once upon a time, this tale of starving artists in 19th-century Paris might have felt more relevant in San Francisco, now wealthy with tech money. But as the city’s few remaining artists get defunded by forces of fascism, it’s time to watch Puccini’s masterpiece in a new light. If you want just a taste, SF Opera’s “Bohème Out of the Box” mini-tour concludes in Hayward on June 28 and 29.
June 7, 2025, Piedmont Center for the Arts, Piedmont June 9, 2025, Noe Valley Ministry, San Francisco
In this inspired program for piano, clarinet and violin, the sturdy Left Coast Chamber Ensemble performs newer works by two Black composers: Kevin Day’s thrilling Unquiet Waters and Hannah Kendall’s magnificent Processional. Pieces by Puerto Rico’s Roberto Sierra and 19th-century Parisian Mel Bonis provide contrasts, thematically threaded by Bartók’s 1938 composition of the same name.
San Francisco Symphony’s music director Esa-Pekka Salonen, in action. (Minna Hatinen)
June 12–14, 2025 Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco
And so Esa-Pekka Salonen’s time in San Francisco comes to an end. (Did he ever go to a Giants game or get a Mission burrito?) The maestro’s final concerts as the San Francisco Symphony’s Music Director seem pretty dang final — he didn’t appear at Michael Tilson Thomas’ 80th birthday concert, nor is he part of the symphony’s upcoming season. Catch him conducting Mahler’s second — with Heidi Stober, Sasha Cooke and the symphony chorus — before he shoves off.
Kedrick Armstrong conducts the Oakland Symphony in February 2024. (Scott Chernis)
Beethoven’s warhorse, complete with the Oakland Symphony Chorus and vocalists Hope Briggs, Zoie Reams, Ashley Faatoalia and Adam Lau, will be the main draw here. But Mighty River, by Belize-born composer Errollyn Wallen, is sure to be a highlight of not only this program but the entire summer season. Interweaving musical themes from spirituals and gospel, the piece meditates on the British slave trade, delivering a deeply poignant listening experience.
Soprano Pretty Yende sings at Charles Krug Winery in St. Helena for the opening night of Festival Napa Valley, July 12, 2024. (Drew Alitzer Photography)
You could try to pigeonhole this wine country festival as a hotbed of wealth — opening night at Charles Krug Winery features songs by Gordon Getty and a tribute to the late venture capitalist Richard Kramlich. But you’d be overlooking its many free and choose-your-own-price events accessible to locals, including the U.S. debut of the Versailles Royal Opera performing Donizetti’s La fille du régiment.
The Latin American-tinged Escaramuza by Berkeley-born composer Gabriela Lena Frank kicks off this program, which includes pieces by Ravel and Rimsky-Korsakov that explore the rhythms and influence of Spain. But the centerpiece here, with guitarist Rafael Aguirre, is Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez, the very definition of an oft-performed classic that deserves the renewed ear of summertime.
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