Bellavente is known throughout the San Francisco Bay Area for their wonderfully imaginative concerts for children. They recently completed their fourth season with the nationally-acclaimed San Francisco Symphony’s Adventures in Music program, performing 125 children’s concerts each year.

The quintet illuminates the concert stage with music that captures both the lushness and vitality of the woodwind quintet as well as the poignancy of each instrument’s voice. Bellavente joins familiar classical music with the excitement of contemporary music.

Bellavente’s members are among the finest classical musicians in the Bay Area. Individually, they have performed with all the region’s top orchestras and with some of the greatest stars and popular musical groups of our time.

The musicians of Bellavente have a rich history of entertaining children and families. Our goal is to share the magic of music and to perform exciting and engaging concerts for our audiences.

Our "Frogs and Friends" show is geared for families and highlights music from our CD. From classical to traditional folk song, ragtime to Gershwin, marches to contemporary, audiences will be entertained with chamber music and the classical woodwind quintet through music, story and song.

In addition to our work with the San Francisco Symphony AIM program, concerts we have performed in the past includes our “Music in our Lives” concert that highlights how music is an integral component of our everyday lives and our “Musical Scientist” concert that invites the audience to learn the science of sound and how sound becomes music.  “Music Through the Ages, A Walk In Time” is a very entertaining concert geared for Junior High and High School aged students that introduces students to classical music and how it has evolved through history.

Bellavente's programs are full of wit, energy and enthusiasm and are presented to reflect the goals of the sponsoring organization.

This CD is a delightful and charming collection of music chosen from our children’s concert repertoire, introducing the young and young at heart to chamber music and the classical woodwind quintet through music, story and song. From classical to traditional folk song, ragtime to Gershwin, marches to contemporary, and imaginative variations on “Happy Birthday To You”, this diverse collection of music and stories is designed to engage the young listener. Stories include “The Garden” from “Frog and Toad Together” by the award-winning children’s author Arnold Lobel. This is a CD that adults and children can enjoy together.

Frogs and Friends Reviews

"Good albums of classically inspired music for children are rarer than one might think...a lovely and exciting way to introduce children to the joys of classical music."
A Parents' Choice Approved Award Review

Click here to read the full review on the Parents' Choice website

"A Wiggles Alternative...this CD makes classical accessible."
Bay Area Parent Magazine / Parenthood.com - Things We Like

Click here to read the full review on the Bay Area Parent website

“Frogs and Friends” is a brilliant collection of musical folk stories and imaginative woodwind arrangements that will delight and educate children and adults. Music on the CD connects traditional music and folk literature into an entertaining and educational album that will especially appeal to preschool through middle school aged children"

"The Bellavente Quintet’s Frogs and Friends, beautifully combines music with educational content in an accessible and enjoyable form. Culture through folk literature, literacy through story telling, and music education through emphasis on musical elements make this an all-in-one children’s CD and a must-have for teachers and parents. The musicianship on Frogs and Friends is outstanding and the musical arrangements are enchanting. This is an album that you and your children will enjoy for many years to come."

Wendell Hanna, Associate Professor of Music Education
San Francisco State University

"Frogs and Friends has the most important element in a CD for young listeners, it personalizes the musicians and connects them to their audience very personally. I found it charming, engaging and above all, very musical. We should all strive to be so thoughtful in our presentations to children. I would recommend it to any parent."

Michael Morgan, Conductor and Music Director, Oakland East Bay Symphony

Jewels of the Night

Parlor music of Mozart and salon music of French composers Maurice Ravel and Francis Poulenc was chosen as well as two beautiful movements from a Quintet written by Marie Louise Simon under the pen name of Claude Arrieu. The lovely music of French-American composer Darius Milhaud and two classics from American composer George Gershwin complete the musical ambience.

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