Critic’s Picks

Most would probably agree that Chopin gave the piano its most exquisite and most beautiful music. And this summer you will have the ideal chance to test just how well Chopin holds up to the most beautiful setting Southern California has to offer--namely, its best beaches.

In commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Polish composer’s death and in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Athenaeum in downtown La Jolla (just a block or two from its glorious cerulean sea), this splendid music and arts library will host a series of six recitals in which pianist Gustavo Romero plays Chopin’s complete solo works.

The concerts, which take place in an ideally intimate room amid books and scores, begin July 1 and conclude Aug. 1, so you will have to drive like the wind to Malibu to catch as much as possible of an eight-day International Chopin Symposium at Pepperdine University, Aug. 1-8.

And if the waters of La Jolla and Malibu seem too celebrity-infested, the scenes too social, for such serious music, remember just what a fun couple Chopin and George Sand were, and think of this as a latter-day version of their lakeside summer romps with the likes of superstar Liszt and his ladies.