Vocal Presence

Last fall, the area’s two prominent choral groups, the Ventura County Master Chorale and the Los Robles Master Chorale, joined forces for the first time. They met at Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza to give breadth and depth to the demands of Verdi’s “Requiem.” It was an event of hefty choral proportions.

Now, it’s back to the business of their respective seasons, and both groups are offering Valentine’s Day weekend concerts, with very different programs. Light or lightly serious fare--it’s the listener’s choice.

The musical agenda for the Ventura County Master Chorale’s “Heart Song” concert is mostly French. On the roster will be the “Ave Maria” and “Requiem,” by Gabriel Faure, the latter including the Children’s Choir, and the “24th Psalm” by the noted French pedagogue Nadia Boulanger.

Joining the vocal forces will be the Ventura County Chamber Orchestra, also led by Master Chorale director Burns Taft. They will also perform the “Chansons des Roses” (Songs of Roses) by Morton Lauridsen, featuring special guest-guitarist Jim Smith joining soprano Janice Schuss in a specially arranged duet.

Meanwhile, the Los Robles Master Chorale goes more for a light touch with its valentine program. Expect to hear a love-song parade of show tunes, with music by Gershwin, Sondheim, Bernstein, Jerome Kern, Rodgers and Hammerstein and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

* Ventura County Master Chorale, “Heart Song,” Saturday at 8 p.m., Santa Clara Church, 323 South E St., Oxnard, and Sunday at 4 p.m., First United Methodist Church, 1338 E. Santa Clara St., Ventura. $18 and $15. (805) 653-7282.

* Los Robles Master Chorale, Sunday at 7:30 p.m., Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza Forum Theatre, 2100 Thousand Oaks Blvd. $15 and $12. (805) 482-2866.

*

Symphonic Maneuvering: Next in the nicely varied season of the Santa Barbara Symphony is a concert stocked with staples: overtures by Mozart and Wagner and Rimsky-Korsakov’s ever-popular “Scheherazade.”

But the program also sports that rarity in orchestra concerts, the world premiere. The new piece, by composer Geoffrey Burgon, has an interesting behind-the-score story. The piece was initially commissioned by Santa Barbaran Rex Kerley as a surprise for his wife, Mahri Kerley. The scenario changed with Rex Kerley’s unexpected death last summer, and Mahri Kerley turned the work-in-progress into a memorial to her husband. The result is “Fantasia on R.E.X.”

* Santa Barbara Symphony, Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m., the Arlington Theatre, 1317 State St., Santa Barbara. $17-$39. (805) 963-4408.