American Mavericks Festival: San Francisco Symphony

After two weeks of warm-up shows, the festival headliners blow into town with the St. Lawrence String Quartet, electronics whiz Jesse Stiles, and an oddly-matched trio of vocalists including Joan La Barbara, Meredith Monk and Jessye Norman. The line-up features John Cage's Song Books, Henry Cowell's Synchrony, the NYC premiere of John Adams's Absolute Jest for string quartet and orchestra, and Edgard Varèse's wonky 1920s electronic marvel Amériques.