It's hard to believe we’re already two months into 2025. Thanks so much for your support during our quiet drive (there’s always time to support the music you love). Now enjoy the music, as there’s plenty going on live this week. And remember: it's a piece of cake to get Fanfare in your inbox every week, for free.
Spotlight: Festival Mahogany — Friday through Sunday, Walter K. Gordon Theater
Rutgers University–Camden brings in a star-studded mix of local and international performers to present Festival Mahogany, a free, weekend-long celebration of classical musicians and composers of African descent. Just off the Ben Franklin bridge (it’s walkable and bikeable from Center City), the weekend kicks off with Camden’s Symphony in C under Maestro Marlon Daniel performing a program featuring works ranging from Joseph Bologne to early 20th-century France, including Camille Saint-Saëns’s great first cello concerto, with cellist Ifetayo Ali. Saturday features events spotlighting composers Fred Onovwerosuoke, Tania León, and James Lee III and featuring Imani Winds. Symphony in C closes out the weekend on Sunday with a concert featuring recent Grammy winner, soprano Karen Slack.
Feb. 28 through March 2, Walter K. Gordon Theater, 314 Linden Street, Camden, NJ, all events free with reservation; event times and information.
Brass of the DSO — Tuesday, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Wilmington
Prepare for resonance! The brass principals of the Delaware Symphony Orchestra — Brian Kuszyk, trumpet; Karen Schubert, horn; Austin Westjohn, trombone; and Brian Brown, tuba — will be taking full advantage of Westminster Presbyterian Church’s acoustics on Tuesday. The program ranges from Bach (isn’t Baroque music just so great on brass?) to New Orleans jazz and Latin American samba.
Feb. 25 at 7:30 p.m., Westminster Presbyterian Church, 1502 West 13th Street, Wilmington, DE, $75; tickets and information.
Trifonov / Grimaud — Wednesday through Saturday, Marian Anderson Hall
The Philadelphia Orchestra brings two of today’s great pianists to Marian Anderson Hall this week. On Wednesday, as part of the Orchestra’s Spotlight Series, Daniil Trifonov takes the stage for a solo recital of works by Tchaikovsky, Chopin, and Barber. For the following three days, Hélène Grimaud is in town to close out the Orchestra's programs with Johannes Brahms’ first piano concerto; also on the bill are a new Orchestra co-commission from Julia Wolfe and Louise Farrenc’s first symphony.
Trifonov: Feb. 26 at 8 p.m., Marian Anderson Hall, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, 300 South Broad Street, $25-$131; tickets and information.
Grimaud: Feb. 27 at 7:30 p.m., Feb. 28 at 2 p.m., March 1 at 8 p.m., Marian Anderson Hall, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, 300 South Broad Street, $25-$195; tickets and information.
Le nozze di Figaro — Thursday through Sunday, Perelman Theater
Curtis Opera Theatre presents one of the towering achievements in comic opera, W.A. Mozart and Lorenzo Da Ponte’s Le nozze di Figaro. One of the craziest wedding days in fiction, we follow Figaro, valet to the philandering Count Almaviva, as he… well, mostly follows his bride Susanna and her mistress Countess Almaviva as they cunningly foil the Count’s plans to bed Susanna on her wedding night by a feudal privilege he’d supposedly given up. Nicholas McGegan is in town to conduct, Marcus Shields directs, and you can find the casts in the program linked on the event page.
Feb. 27 and 28 at 7 p.m., March 1 and 2 at 2 p.m., Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, 300 South Broad Street, $29-$74; tickets and information.
Piano Quartets at PCMS — Friday, Benjamin Franklin Hall
The Philadelphia Chamber Music Society brings an exceptional piano quartet together, featuring two classical scene veterans, violist Kim Kashkashian and cellist Marcy Rosen, and up-and-comers, violinist Stephanie Zyzak and pianist Evren Ozel. First on the program is Haydn’s C major piano trio, Kashkashian gets her turn with Shostakovich’s viola sonata, and then the whole ensemble performs Fauré’s piano quartet (The pianist never gets a rest, does he?). Kashkashian and Rosen will also lead public masterclasses at Penn and Curtis (respectively) the day before; RSVP information is on the event page.
Feb. 28 at 7:30 p.m., Benjamin Franklin Hall, American Philosophical Society, 427 Chestnut Street, $30; tickets and information.
Arun Ramamurthy Trio & Muthi Kitchen — Friday, Studio 34
We move east (though the show is in West Philly) for our final entry of the week. Brooklyn-based violinist Arun Ramamurthy’s background is in South Indian classical Raga music, and has also performed in western classical and jazz styles, often blurring multiple genres. The trio seamlessly blends Raga and jazz, adding Damon Banks’ bass and Sameer Gupta’s drums to Ramamurthy’s violin and taking full advantage of both styles’ improvisational nature. Opening is Muthi Kitchen, a duo featuring electronic musician muthi reed, who splits their time between Philadelphia and New Orleans, and Philly-based percussionist/composer Kevin Diehl.
Feb. 28 at 8 p.m., Studio 34, 4522 Baltimore Avenue, $10-$20; tickets and information.
Looking ahead:
Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra — Mar. 7, The Barnes
Variant 6 — Mar. 14, Fleisher Art Memorial
Dolce Suono — Mar. 16, Trinity at 22nd
Nathan Davis — Mar. 21, The Rotunda
Jules Reidy — Mar. 23. MAAS Building
Kronos Quartet — Mar. 30, Zellerbach Theater
