Mountain Holiday Weekend at the Summit Wineries, Los Gatos. The five wineries in the Summit Road area invite you to a festive holiday weekend with live music, gifts for sale, decorations, food and wine. Burrell School Vineyards & Winery, MJA Vineyards, Silver Mountain (open Dec. 6 only), Villa del Monte Winery, Wrights Station plus the Summit Store will each offer a different experience. Also Dec. 7. More information, including hours: thesummitwineries.com. San Jose Youth Ballet’s “The Nutcracker,” School of Arts and Culture Theater, Mexican Heritage Plaza, 1700 Alum Rock Ave., San Jose. The troupe performs the holiday classic. Sugar Plum Party after the show. 1 and 6 p.m. Also various times Dec. 7, 13, 14. $20-$40 ($8 for Sugar Plum Party) at sjyb.org.

Pear Theatre, “In the Next Room, or, the Vibrator Play.” Sept, 7 through Oct, 1, By Sarah Ruhl, Directed by Caroline Clark, Featuring April Culver, Bradley Satterwhite, Ellen Dunphy, Troy Johnson, Stephanie Crowley, Damaris Divito and James Lewis, Pear Theatre, 1110 La Avenida St., Mountain View, $10-$35 (discounts available), www.thepear.org or 650-254-1148, TheatreWorks Silicon custom paint canvas adult dance shoes (ballet, jazz, contemporary, all dance) Valley, “Constellations.” Through Sept, 17, By Nick Payne, Directed by Robert Kelley, Featuring Robert Gilbert and Carie Kawa, Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro St., Mountain View, $40-$100 (discounts available), theatreworks.org or 650-463-1960..

Thus began the golden path that was to shape his future.  He was accepted to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia at age 15 and went on to win the Yehudi Menuhin and Queen Elizabeth competitions.  Chen plays the 1715 “Joachim” Stradivarius violin, on loan from the Nippon Music Foundation. Chen looks forward to his role as guest concertmaster for the series of concerts by the New Century Chamber Orchestra this week. The program, which also serves as an audition of sorts, for him to replace outgoing music director Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg next season, includes Mozart’s Divertimento in F major; Benjamin Britten’s “Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge” for String Orchestra; Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 3 in G major; and Edward Elgar’s “Introduction and Allegro for Strings.” Chen said in relation to this program, “I’m very much looking forward to my first collaboration with the New Century Chamber Orchestra. The pieces I’ve chosen have been done  with the intention to test the limits of all of us as a group. There’s Mozart sandwiched by two English composers of provenance; Britten and Elgar. It’s going to be a great challenge for us all over the coming week!”.

When plans for the block — modeled after public markets such as custom paint canvas adult dance shoes (ballet, jazz, contemporary, all dance) Pike Place in Seattle — were revealed last year, the plan was for it to open this past June, Then it was August, Then late fall, Now, the target is early 2011, The new date comes from John McEnery IV, who’s heading up the project that includes properties owned by his family, along with Frank Cucuzza and Barry Swenson, It’s tough to pin down one reason for the delay, McEnery said, though working with different property owners and dealing with construction around the historic Peralta Adobe didn’t make things easy..

After several weeks off, Igoe’s 15-piece band returns to its usual Tuesday night spot at Yoshi’s-San Francisco on April 15, and it’s a safe bet that he’ll be tapping Lington for some new material. Describing the saxophonist as “a very gifted arranger” and “a great guy with a great attitude,” Igoe has come to depend upon Lington’s brawny sound and fast writing skills. Last month New York vocalist Chrissi Poland appeared with the band at Yoshi’s-SF, and Igoe asked Lington to come in with an arrangement of Michael Jackson’s “Working Day and Night.”.