Catching up with Wolff
The name of Hugh Wolff will be familiar to many classical concertgoers in the metro area. Wolff served as principal conductor and later music director of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra in the late '80s and 1990s, leading many notable recordings. Wolff returns to the Twin Cities for three concerts with the Minnesota Orchestra, where the main works are Mendelssohn's Scottish Symphony and Bartok's Second Violin Concerto. An orchestral suite from contemporary English composer Thomas Ades' risqué opera "Powder Her Face" brings extra spice. (11 a.m. Thu., 8 p.m. Fri., 6 p.m. Sat.; Orchestra Hall, Mpls.; $25-$79, 612-371-5656 or minnesotaorchestra.org)
Mozart on the menu
In its latest effort to take the classics to unexpected places, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra is staging a chamber concert in the industrial-chic setting of Minneapolis' Icehouse bar and eatery. Twenty bucks buys you a ticket, a drink and a program of pieces by Mozart, Villa-Lobos and New York composer Jessie Montgomery. (7 p.m. Thu., Icehouse, Mpls.; $20, 651-291-1144 or thespco.org)
Jewish music from Spain
"Sephardic Diaspora" is the latest installment in the Casa de España en Minnesota's International Spanish Music Festival. The concert features musicians from Spain, Syria, Ireland and Germany playing traditional Spanish Jewish music on oud, percussion, guitar and gamba. (7:30 p.m. Thu., Beth El Synagogue, St. Louis Park; $20-$25, ismfestival.org)
Four Baroque masters
Concertos by Bach and Vivaldi are interwoven with pieces by their lesser known contemporaries Alessandro Marcello and Johann Friedrich Fasch in this attractively varied program of baroque music from the Minnesota Bach Ensemble. (7:30 p.m. Mon., MacPhail Center, Mpls.; $10-$25, mnbach.org)
