Over Thanksgiving weekend in San Francisco, Paavo Jarvi's guest appearance conducting the San Francisco Symphony offered a view of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra maestro with a West Coast orchestra. San Francisco's band is all American: swaggering percussion, a bright, brash sound and complete confidence playing avant-garde music. It's a perfect fit for music director Michael Tilson Thomas' contemporary programming. (His American Mavericks series put San Francisco on the musical map.)

It was also a good fit for Charles Coleman's Streetscape, which opened the Dec. 1 afternoon concert in San Francisco's sleek, ultra-modern Davies Symphony Hall. With attentive listeners surrounding the orchestra on all sides, the SFS gave the busy urban score a searing reading. Much of the excitement came from the percussion section, which pushed the envelope, and Mr. Jarvi led energetically.

The audience gave a warm ovation to the composer (who took a bow from a balcony), and lined up for his autograph at intermission. It was the second performance for Streetscape, which Mr. Jarvi and the CSO premiered here three days after 9-11. They'll take it on tour to Japan next November.

Pianist Stewart Goodyear began his career as a teenager with the Cincinnati Pops. Now 24, the Canadian was a brilliant soloist in Bartok's Piano Concerto No. 2. Looking like a Tiger Woods of the piano, Mr. Goodyear displayed electrifying technique and thoughtful musicianship. Watch for this up-and-coming pianist to appear with the CSO soon.

Perhaps the most telling performance was that of Brahms' Symphony No. 2, which Mr. Jarvi also led at the CSO last month. The San Francisco strings lacked the glowing warmth that CSO strings have developed under Mr. Jarvi; the ensemble was precise but the sound could be steely. Still, the horns were articulate and powerful, and Mr. Jarvi found myriad riches in the score.

The musicians smiled visibly through the performance, and the San Franciscans responded with bravos and a standing ovation.

At a time when many U.S. orchestras are in financial trouble (its neighbor, the San Jose Symphony, recently went bankrupt), San Francisco continues to enjoy big crowds and a balanced budget. It has a ground-breaking music education program. Recently, the symphony launched its own record label, for which Mr. Thomas is recording a highly-regarded Mahler series.

This weekend, Mr. Jarvi is in Paris, where he conducted the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. While there, he is recording two albums with that orchestra for EMI: a Russian album (Borodin, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Prokofiev and Glazunov); and an album of operatic arias with soprano Barbara Hendricks. He'll be back in Cincinnati Jan. 16 for four weeks of concerts (381-3300; www.cincinnatisymphony.org or www.paavojarvi.com) .

Sophie's choice: Is Nicholas Maw's hot new opera Sophie's Choice in Cincinnati's future? We hear that members of the Director's Circle - the opera's highest level donors - accompanied artistic director Nicholas Muni and managing director Patty Beggs to London for the premiere of the opera last week. Like Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking, which premiered here last season, the Holocaust drama began as a best-selling book (by William Styron) and an Oscar-winning 1982 film (starring Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline).

Sophie's Choice tells the story of Sophie, a Polish Catholic, who is sent to Auschwitz during World War II. The Nazis force her to make the unthinkable choice between which of her two children will die.

The production, commissioned by BBC Radio and the Royal Opera at Covent Garden, reportedly cost $785,000 to mount. The entire run sold out before opening night. Austrian mezzo-soprano Angelika Kirchschlager took the title role, and American baritone Rodney Gilfry played her Jewish lover, Nathan. In the pit, Sir Simon Rattle conducted Mr. Maw's music, called "hauntingly beautiful and dramatically apt" by The New York Times' Anthony Tommasini.

Visa nightmares: New visa rules to keep terrorists out of the United States are becoming a headache for performing arts presenters around the country. In October, the CSO lacked a soloist when violist Tabea Zimmermann's passport was lost by the U.S. State Department in Berlin, while she was applying for a visa to appear in Music Hall.

The same month, the Cincinnati Chamber Music Society announced a last-minute substitute when the Berlin-based Artemis Quartet had to scrap its North American tour because of visa delays. It seems that cellist Eckart Runge had stolen a pair of tweezers years ago in Aspen, Colo., and his "record" turned up in background checks.

Performers from Iran, Cuba and other countries on the terrorism watch list are having so much trouble, presenters now hesitate to book them, says an article in the San Francisco Chronicle ("Visa rules hurt cultural ties," Nov. 26). The article mentions the repeated checks and fingerprinting of an Iranian performer touring with Yo-Yo Ma on his Silk Road Project. But even those not on the watch list are being scrutinized. Last May, Italian soprano Desiree Rancatore had to skip a May Festival performance because of delays getting her visa.

Pianists help out: Nearly 700 young Tristate pianists raised $23,000 in a "Piano Play-a-thon" to benefit Cincinnati's Ronald McDonald House. The piano students, ages 5 to 14, performed at seven area locations in the Nov. 16 event, sponsored by the Ohio Music Teachers Association, Southwest Chapter. The top fund raisers will be honored today at Ronald McDonald House in Avondale, says teacher Richard Van Dyke, who co-chaired the playathon with Atarah Jablonsky. Part of the money will go to purchase a piano for Ronald McDonald House. The group has raised more than $100,000 for the cause since 1995.

Oundjian No. 1: Violinist and Toronto native Peter Oundjian, 46, an adjunct professor at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, is the first choice for music director of the beleaguered Toronto Symphony, the Toronto Star reports. The orchestra has been without a music director for two years, since Finnish maestro Jukka-Pekka Saraste left in June 2001.

The orchestra morale has suffered during a near-death financial crisis and a scandal involving the attempted firing of a musician while he was recovering from a near-fatal head injury.

Mr. Oundjian was just named principal guest conductor of the Colorado Symphony. The former first violinist of the Tokyo String Quartet is artistic director of the Caramoor International Music Festival in New York State.

Kudos: Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho has won the University of Louisville's Grawemeyer Award for her opera, L'amour de loin (Love from Afar), which premiered in 2000. She is just the second woman to win the award, which carries a $200,000 prize. The award is named for Charles Grawemeyer, who was a Louisville industrialist, entrepreneur and University of Louisville graduate.

Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops received an ASCAP Deems Taylor Award last week for the broadcast of "Fiddlers Three," an Evening at Pops program. The show starred violinists Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Regina Carter and Eileen Ivers performing "Interplay," a new piece by Chris Brubeck. Mr. Lockhart conducts the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra next month (723-1182).

Stringing along: Azzi & Wolf Fine Violins has taken over the former Bass Viol Shop across from Music Hall in Over-the-Rhine. Jules Azzi is a master violin maker and restorer and dealer, who trained in France with several renowned masters. He has joined Cincinnati musician Andy Wolf, who had a shop for many years. Information: 665-9663.

Lessons for inner city kids: Larry Kaiser, a saxophonist, has started an Inner City Youth Music Program at the Arts Consortium in Cincinnati's West End. Mr. Kaiser is teaching instrumental music and music theory to kids, ages 7-16. He is presently offering only saxophone; he hopes to add teachers in flute and trumpet soon.

"The music in Cincinnati Public Schools has just deteriorated to nothing," he says. "After reading your article, I discovered I'm not by myself in trying to rebuild it."

Mr. Kaiser, a Vietnam-era veteran, has obtained instruments through the Veterans Administration. Music lessons are free to all inner-city youth. A $20 monthly fee pays for instrument rental, reeds and sheet music. For information, call 751-4372 or contact the Arts Consortium at 381-0645.

E-mail jgelfand@enquirer.com