Volti invests in young composers like Kleiner-Perkins in fledgling entrepreneurs and with the same success: years after years this 20 person a capella choir keep unearthing new musical voices. Midwifing and nurturing new music has become the single minded focus of this San Francisco organization which started thirty two years ago by singing Bach. They quickly turned away from any score on which the ink has already dried, and took their name from the Italian for that u-turn, Volti. They're adding now to the choral repertoire the same way Kronos is pushing the boundaries of the string quartet. This takes guts when many musical institutions get cold feet and turn away from the modern stuff when the economy sours. But it pays off, as Volti now has international recognition, a trove of awards and attracts composers who'd kill to write for the choir.

Bob Geary has been leading this group of professional singers from the beginning. We meant to chat with him for quite a while, since we've been intrigued by Volti for years. He's so voluble, and enthusiastic about the choir, we're glad we finally did at the beginning of this week. Volti performs its last set of their season this week-end, starting tonight in Berkeley, tomorrow in Palo Alto and Sunday in San Francisco.