Acis and Galatea

Viewed one way, Handel's pastoral opera "Acis and Galatea" has one of the hokiest plots imaginable. A sea nymph loves a shepherd, but their happiness is ruined by a killjoy giant who wants the nymph for himself — so he clubs his rival to death with a rock. Realistic? Maybe not, but it inspired Handel to write some of his zestiest music, including the chirruping duet "Happy we!" and "O ruddier than the cherry," the giant's drooling paean to Galatea. Two performances of Handel's masterpiece close out this year's Twin Cities Early Music Festival, with husband-and-wife team Linh Kauffman and Gary Ruschman singing the title parts. (8 p.m. Fri.-Sat.; Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church, Mpls. $5-$25, tcearlymusic.org)

Enso String Quartet

Alberto Ginastera is like an Argentine version of Aaron Copland, though with tougher edges. Ginastera was born 100 years ago in Buenos Aires, an anniversary that has, for the most part, been feebly marked in America. The opening concert of this year's Bridge Chamber Music Festival offers a little corrective, with the Enso String Quartet playing Ginastera's spiky Quartet No. 1, a work they also turned into an acclaimed recording. Henri Dutilleux's Ainsi La Nuit and Ravel's exquisite String Quartet complete a highly attractive package. (7:30 p.m. Mon., St. Olaf College, Northfield; $5, 1-507-645-9170, bridgechamberfestival.org)

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Bach's choral cantatas are generally well served by performers, the works for solo voice less so. Soprano Heather Cogswell and baritone Daniel Smith redress the balance in a recital featuring three of the single voice cantatas, including Ich Habe Genug, one of Bach's profoundest and most beautiful pieces of sacred music. (7 p.m. Tue., Hennepin Church Art Gallery, Mpls.; $5-$15, tcearlymusic.org)

More than a week of concerts and master classes at the fourth annual Apollo Music Festival in Houston, Minn., launches with a couple of intriguing rarities: Prokofiev's Sonata for Two Violins and Bohuslav Martinů's Viola Sonata. Grieg's Third Violin Sonata and a keyboard concerto by Bach, done chamber-style, bookend the recital. (7 p.m. Fri., Cross of Christ Lutheran Church, Houston; free, apollomusicfestival.com)

Small is beautiful, as the Mirandola Ensemble and Lumina, two of the Twin Cities' finest vocal micro-groups, join together in "The Veil and the Thorn," a program of unaccompanied pieces from the medieval and renaissance periods. Praetorius, Mouton, Sheppard, Josquin and Guerrero are some of the featured composers. (8 p.m. Sun., St. Mary's Episcopal Church, St. Paul; $5-$15, tcearlymusic.org)

TERRY BLAIN