From Dover to Allentown (and seemingly everywhere in between!), the fall classical concert season is in full swing in WRTI’s listening area. This week’s Fanfare slate, encompassing intimate chamber affairs as well as gigantic orchestral spectacles, offers an autumn cornucopia of listening opportunities.
Spotlight: Tools of the Trade — Friday through Sunday, Various Locations
Have you ever heard of a shawm? How about a dulcian? A sackbut? Fancy a douçaine or hurdy-gurdy? Contrary to what you may think, these words were not invented by Dr. Seuss. Rather, each is a different early wind or brass instrument — among dozens played with passion and finesse by Piffaro. Philadelphia’s Renaissance wind band opens its 41st season with a celebration of their “tools of the trade,” highlighting the unique look, character, and timbre of their one-of-a-kind instrumentarium in selections ranging from Guillaume Dufay to Thoinot Arbeau. If you’ve never attended a Piffaro performance — and I couldn’t recommend the experience more — this concert serves as a perfect introduction to their special soundworld.
Oct. 10 at 7:30 p.m., Church of the Holy Trinity, 1904 Walnut Street;
Oct. 11 at 7:30 p.m., Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill, 8855 Germantown Avenue;
Oct. 12 at 3 p.m., Christ Church Christiana Hundred, 505 East Buck Road, Wilmington, DE, $25-$49; tickets and information.
1807 & Friends — Monday, The Academy of Vocal Arts
Currently celebrating its 45th season, the Philadelphia chamber music collective 1807 & Friends serves up Tchaikovsky’s tempestuous string sextet Souvenir de Florence as the main course of this Monday night program, also featuring Italy-infused works by Mozart, Donizetti, and Nardini.
Oct. 6 at 7:30 p.m., Academy of Vocal Arts, 1920 Spruce Street, $20.38; purchase tickets.
TwoSet Violin — Tuesday, Perelman Theater
Tens of millions of viewers have watched the antics of TwoSet Violin — the Australian classical comedy duo of Brett Yang and Eddy Chen — on Youtube since they started their wildly successful channel 12 years ago. This week, Ensemble Arts offers a rare opportunity to see them up close and personal at the Kimmel Center’s Perelman Theater, with an evening that promises “musical panache, side-splitting humor, and everything in between.”
Oct. 7 at 7 p.m., Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, 300 South Broad Street, $81.60-$277.56; tickets and information.
Strauss’s Alpine Symphony — Friday and Saturday, Marian Anderson Hall
From the moment conductor Leopold Stokowski and The Philadelphia Orchestra gave the official American premiere of Richard Strauss’s An Alpine Symphony in 1916 (contentiously, it was premiered “unofficially” a day earlier by the Cincinnati Symphony) it has been a pinnacle of the repertoire, awash in stunning vistas of orchestral color. This week, the Fabulous Philadelphians are sherpa-ed by conductor Stéphane Denève — their Principal Guest Conductor from 2014 to 2020 and the current Music Director of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra — into Strauss’s rarefied air, along with two other breathtaking masterworks: Ravel’s Une barque sur l’ocean and Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with violinist Gil Shaham.
Oct. 10 at 2 p.m., Oct. 11 at 8 p.m., Marian Anderson Hall, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, 300 South Broad Street, $25-$195.16; tickets and information.
Virtuosity Unleashed: A New Era — Friday, Copeland Hall at The Grand Opera House
Michelle DiRusso begins her tenure as the Music Director of the Delaware Symphony Orchestra — she’s the sixth in the Wilmington-based ensemble’s 119-year history — with a bang. Alongside Antrópolis, a 2017 work by Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz, and Tchaikovsky’s brash Fourth Symphony, the concert spotlights pianist Fei Fei in Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto, among the most formidable feats in all of classical music.
Oct. 10 at 7:30 p.m., Copeland Hall, The Grand Opera House, 818 North Market Street, Wilmington, DE, $35-$95; tickets and information.
Alexi Kenney/Amy Yang — Saturday, William Way LGBT Community Center
Alexi Kenney has quickly ascended into the highest echelon of American violin virtuosos, acclaimed for his intriguing repertoire choices, tremendous technique, and interpretive sensitivity. His full range will be on display in Unfolding: A Celebration of Queer Expression in Music, a special PCMS recital with pianist Amy Yang at the Mazzoni Center celebrating National Coming Out Day, featuring works by Poulenc, Britten, Thomas Adès, and inti figgis-vizueta.
Oct. 11 at 2 p.m., William Way LGBT Community Center, 1315 Spruce Street, sold out; more information.
Eschenbach Leads Bruckner 3 — Saturday, Marian Anderson Hall
As I wrote in WRTI’s Classical Fall Preview, Bruckner’s Third Symphony is no mere appetizer to the more frequently performed symphonies that follow it: it is a feast of epic worldbuilding in its own right, filled with thunderous climaxes and dramatic twists are sure to reverberate through Marian Anderson Hall in the hands of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra and conductor Christoph Eschenbach on Saturday afternoon. Balancing it on the program are two works with similarly cinematic flair, Barber’s mischievous Overture to The School for Scandal (written when he was a Curtis student in 1931) and Kryzstof Penderecki’s rarely heard Concerto Grosso No. 1 for Three Cellos.
Oct. 11 at 3 p.m., Marian Anderson Hall, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, 300 South Broad Street, $28-$60; tickets and information.
75th Season Celebration — Saturday and Sunday, Miller Symphony Hall
The Allentown Symphony Orchestra celebrates its 75th anniversary with a piece-for-piece re-creation of its inaugural 1951 concert. 14-year old phenom Mio Imai stars as violin soloist in Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto and Saint-Saëns’s Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, in addition to chestnuts by Gershwin, Tchaikovsky, and Smetana.
Oct. 11 at 7:30 p.m., Oct. 12 at 2 p.m., Miller Symphony Hall, 23 North 6th Street, Allentown, $25-$76; tickets and information.
Sing Democracy 250 — Sunday, Marian Anderson Hall
Sing Democracy 250 is a nationwide commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence through the uniting power of the human voice. The Minnesota-based initiative kicks off with a concert at Marian Anderson Hall, featuring the Philadelphia Youth Choral Ensembles, Main Line Symphony, and Minneapolis’s Together in Hope Choir.
Oct. 12 at 3 p.m., Marian Anderson Hall, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, 300 South Broad Street, free; tickets and information.
