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Zarzuela comes to San Diego! A passionate beauty sways the hearts and political leanings of two men as Spain is torn between monarchy and revolution in Federico Moreno Torroba’s “Luisa Fernanda.” This fiery yet romantic drama is a great example of Zarzuela, a unique Spanish art form incorporating classical singing as well as spoken words to tell stories of the people. “Luisa Fernanda” was written in 1932, and it has been one of the most beloved Zarzuelas ever since. Cinballera Entertainment is honoring San Diego’s rich Hispanic history by performing this Zarzuela in concert at the beautiful Villa Montezuma. The production will be performed in costume and with as much staging as possible in the intimate setting of the Villa. Cinballera’s Season 3 finale also honors its founders’ operatic history. Sisters Tiffany and Rebekah Brannan performed in this opera at ages 12 and 9, their first opera. Cinballera Entertainment on Facebook / Instagram

In the shadow of the First World War, composers faced a world irrevocably changed. From Debussy’s starkly ravishing two-piano piece and Bridge’s elegiac lament to Poulenc’s sardonically defiant wit, this program reveals how upheaval reshaped musical language—culminating in Korngold’s Suite for Left Hand, written for a war amputee and transforming loss into radiant virtuosity. La Jolla Music Society on Facebook / Instagram

Returning to SummerFest after last season’s electrifying collaboration with Cécile McLorin Salvant, Sullivan Fortner—one of today’s most celebrated jazz pianists and a recent recipient of the Gilmore Jazz Pianist Award—brings his incredible trio to The JAI. La Jolla Music Society on Facebook / Instagram

What does it mean to make history in America? At the Library of Congress, Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge transformed a national institution into a catalyst for chamber music, commissioning and championing not only American composers but many of the greatest international voices of her time. This program reflects that expansive spirit—celebrating music shaped by bold patronage, artistic exchange, and a distinctly American belief in possibility. La Jolla Music Society on Facebook / Instagram

Great music sometimes slips from view—unfinished, unpublished, or simply forgotten—until history rediscovers it. From Chopin’s recently uncovered Waltz to Vaughan Williams’s nearly lost Piano Quintet, from a reconstructed gem by Mozart to a lush Octet by Charles Martin Loeffler recently brought back to light at the Library of Congress, this program offers the rare chance to encounter rediscovered treasures. La Jolla Music Society on Facebook / Instagram

Feel the pulse of Eastern Europe in music drawn from village dances, folk songs, and centuries-old traditions. Composers channel the raw vitality of these sounds into works of sweeping drama and rhythmic fire—music that carries the spirit of the countryside onto the concert stage. La Jolla Music Society on Facebook / Instagram

Encounters with Eastern music left a lasting mark on Western composers, from the sounds of gamelan heard by Debussy at the World Fair to Lou Harrison and John Cage’s lifelong fascination with Javanese and Indian sounds, culminating in a newly created chamber work based on Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade. La Jolla Music Society on Facebook / Instagram

Musical history moves forward through dialogue with the past. From Stravinsky’s reimagining of baroque styles to Schubert’s epic Octet—written in the shadow of Beethoven—this program explores how composers absorb, reshape, and transform what came before, creating works that honor tradition while forging new paths. La Jolla Music Society on Facebook / Instagram

Pergolesi’s "Stabat Mater"—one of the most enduring sacred works ever written, and one written by a 26-year-old—is paired with other masterpieces shaped by youth, urgency, and historical circumstance, inviting us to imagine what could have been. La Jolla Music Society on Facebook / Instagram

Vienna’s Golden Age, reimagined. At the turn of the 20th century, Vienna stood at the very center of musical life, shaping the sound of an era while standing on the edge of profound change. This concert captures a city at a golden age and a world in transformation, tradition morphing into a new age. La Jolla Music Society on Facebook / Instagram