Welcome to Fanfare! If you follow Moment’s Notice, our weekly jazz listings, this is for those of you looking for live classical music in Philadelphia. Receive our weekly selections right to your inbox — starting in September. So be sure to subscribe, and please let us know what you think!
Spotlight: East Passyunk Opera Project — Thursday, Dilworth Park
Itching for some opera, though the season hasn’t started yet? East Passyunk Opera Project and Opera Philadelphia will be co-presenting a free performance right in the center of Center City, on Dilworth Park’s Center Stage. You likely know Opera Philadelphia already; ePOP focuses on community performances, featuring many Philly-based singers. This show will feature some of opera’s greatest hits sung by soprano Aubry Ballarò, mezzos Taylor-Alexis Dupont and Kathryn Leemhuis, tenor John Viscardi, and baritone Jorell Williams, with pianist Aurelien Eulert.
Aug. 24 at 6 p.m., Dilworth Park, 1 S. 15th Street, free; more information.
Curtis Summer Broadcast Series: Guitar Studio Recital — Tuesday, Curtis’s YouTube channel
The school year will start very soon, and that means Curtis students will be performing lots of free recitals in the coming months. If you can’t wait, and perhaps missed some from previous years, the storied institute will rebroadcast some of their students’ performances in an event on their YouTube channel this Tuesday at noon. They actually have been all summer, and this week they’ll close out the series with some current and recent guitar students, including Radomir Romashkov-Danilov and Xingxing Yao.
Aug. 22 at noon, Curtis Institute’s YouTube channel, free; more information.
Opera on Tap: Our Favorite Things — Wednesday, Velvet Whip Speakeasy
Philadelphia’s chapter of Opera on Tap, an organization bringing opera to nontraditional venues, presents a showcase of their favorite things to sing, at least some of which will likely coincide with your favorite things to hear. This BYOB show is at Velvet Whip Speakeasy, which, in the vein of a true speakeasy, is at a location only disclosed with the purchase of a ticket. Once you do, you’ll get to sit in a comfortable chair with your beverage of choice and hear some serious voices in a relaxed context.
Aug. 23 at 7 p.m., Velvet Whip Speakeasy, address provided upon ticket purchase, $15-25.
New Jersey MasterChorale: Summer Sing-In — Thursday, Haddonfield United Methodist Church
This one is especially for those who like to sing along. The New Jersey MasterChorale presents their second annual Summer Sing-In, where all will be welcome to sing Cesar Franck’s setting of Psalm 150 as well as Gabriel Fauré’s Cantique de Jean Racine and his Requiem. (Yours truly will be singing the baritone solos). It’s beautiful music that you get to make yourself, with ice cream afterwards (since cold and dairy aren’t so great on the voice)!
Aug. 24 at 7 p.m., Haddonfield United Methodist Church, 29 Warwick Rd, Haddonfield, NJ, free with registration.
String Queens — Friday and Saturday, South Jazz Kitchen
If you like when a popular song comes up in a classical context on our playlists, you’ll love The String Queens, a string trio presenting their own arrangements of repertoire from today’s hits all the way back to the Baroque period. They’ve performed in venues from Carnegie Hall to the Kennedy Center and at the 2021 Presidential inauguration, and they’ll be making their Philly debut this weekend for two nights of two sets each at South Jazz Kitchen.
Aug. 25 and 26 at 6:30 and 9 p.m., South Jazz Kitchen, 600 N. Broad Street, $45 (ticket order is a table reservation).
