June is bustin’ out all over, with an incredible array of early summer classical concerts across the Tri-State area. Whether you prefer the comforts of air conditioning or the balmy breezes of outdoor venues, familiar melodies or new tunes, major names or off-the-beaten-path upstarts, all comers will find performances to enjoy this month.
Spotlight: The Crossing: What Should I Do? — June 14, Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill
To Immanuel Kant, music was a “quickening art,” capable of provoking “continuous agitation of the mind.” The agitations of the Enlightenment-era philosopher’s own mind — musical and otherwise — are the subject of the latest collaboration in a decades-long partnership between The Crossing and the British composer Gavin Bryars. It is imperative to add (though perhaps not categorically) that few of Kant’s own words will be heard in this concert-length work. Bryars sources instead from the 1862 essay The Last Days of Immanuel Kant by English writer Thomas De Quincey: a reimagining of Kant’s final musings on aging, death, time, space, and thought itself. Few groups are better equipped to bring meaning to such far-reaching, complex topics than The Crossing, whose conductor Donald Nally summarizes the piece as “a story that reminds us of our own ephemeral existence and celebrates that very aspect of our being.”
June 14 at 7 p.m., Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill, 8855 Germantown Avenue, $22-$43; tickets and information.
The Philadelphia Orchestra — Various Dates and Locations
The Philadelphia Orchestra offers a bevy of concerts in June, both at their home in Marian Anderson Hall and at The Mann Center in Fairmount Park.
On June 1 and 8, Yannick Nézet-Séguin leads a concert staging of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, a 4.5-hour tour de force starring renowned Wagnerians Stuart Skelton and Nina Stemme in the title roles.
On June 4, the Orchestra’s annual Pride Concert and Celebration features host Martha Graham Cracker, with tenors Freddie Ballentine and Stuart Skelton, baritone Brian Mulligan, and bass Tareq Nazmi, and four local choirs. Tickets are free with registration.
On June 6 and 7, the Orchestra wraps up its ‘24-’25 subscription season with the help of the brilliant British cellist Sheku-Kanneh Mason, who performs Shostakovich’s austere Cello Concerto No. 1 to contrast with more upbeat symphonies by Prokofiev, Mozart, and Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges.
The Orchestra heads outdoors on June 17 for an all-Beethoven affair at The Mann Center. Conductor Lina Gonzalez-Granados leads Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture, Symphony No. 5, and Piano Concerto No. 4 with pianist Jonathan Biss.
Film music fans have two opportunities to see iconic scores brought to life: on June 20 at The Mann, conductor Damon Gupton leads John Williams’ score to Star Wars: A New Hope, while the film is projected on three screens; on June 27, Joe Hisaishi, the Japanese luminary behind Hayao Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli films, leads a wide-ranging concert of his own music, ending with a suite from Spirited Away.
For more information, see The Philadelphia Orchestra’s event calendar.
Guitar Heroes — June 4, Solar Myth
“None of us are sure quite what to expect, and that’s why this project is so exciting,” writes Matthew Levy, co-founder of PRISM Quartet, about this ambitious evening at Solar Myth. For Guitar Heroes, one of the country’s foremost saxophone quartets commissioned three different composers — Leyla McCalla, Rez Abbasi, and Steven Mackey — to write new works for guitar and saxophone quartet. The sonic possibilities of this rare instrumental combination are as intriguing and diverse as the backgrounds of these three composers. Expectations may be uncertain, but with musicians of this caliber, excitement is a virtual guarantee.
June 4 at 8 p.m., Solar Myth, 1131 South Broad Street, $43.26; tickets and information.
DSE Presents “Fang Man’s Earth” — June 12, Trinity at 22nd
A dozen years after premiering Earth, Fang Man’s song cycle for soprano, bass-baritone and small ensemble, the Dolce Suono Ensemble revisits the work to end its 2024-25 season. Based on the same Chinese poems Gustav Mahler used (in German translation) for Das Lied von Der Erde, Fang’s ode to the beauty — and fragility — of nature remains just as poignant and urgent.
June 12 at 7 p.m., Trinity at 22nd, 2212 Spruce Street, $10-$30; tickets and information.
The Sisters — June 13 and 15, Christ Church Neighborhood House
Shortly before her sudden passing in 1925, the American poet Amy Lowell penned The Sisters. Widely considered her magnum opus (Lowell was awarded a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for the collection in which it appeared), the poem vividly imagines a dialogue with fellow poets Sappho, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and Emily Dickinson about the trials and triumphs of “the queer lot” of “women who write poetry.” A century later, the San Francisco-based composer Patricia Wallinga has added her own voice into the mix, translating Lowell’s distinctive characters, inventive form, and accessible lyricism into a chamber opera. Scored for piano, string quartet, and four singers, director Elise d’Avella and Liberty City Arts premiere this “vibrant tribute to the enduring joy of self-expression.”
June 13 at 7 p.m., June 15 at 4 p.m., Christ Church Neighborhood House, 20 North American Street, $23.11-$49.77; tickets and information.
Serafin Summer Music — June 10-27, Grace United Methodist Church, Wilmington, Lewes Public Library, Lewes, Stonegates Retirement Community, Greenville, DE
Delaware’s premiere chamber music festival offers an embarrassment of riches, with a dozen concerts over seventeen days in three different locations around the state. This year, the summer series is themed around the idea of “Firsts,” with prominent early pieces and Opus 1’s at the center of many of the concerts, including works by Schumann, Brahms, Haydn, Mendelssohn, Dvořák, and more.
For more information, see the Serafin Summer Music schedule; purchase tickets.
Telegraph Quartet — June 15, 16, 21 and 22, Various Locations, Mt. Gretna
This summer, Gretna Music celebrates its 50th anniversary season with a lineup of superb chamber music. Several concerts in June feature Gretna’s 2025 artists-in-residence, the acclaimed Telegraph Quartet, performing a thoughtfully-curated series of works by Beethoven, Brahms, Bartók, Bunch, Cowell, Clarke, and others.
For tickets and more information, see the Telegraph Quartet’s listings on Gretna Music’s summer schedule.
