Whether you like intimate Baroque repertoire, thundering symphonies, programs with stringed instruments, or the glory of a pristine choir, this week offers a musical flood.
Spotlight: Esa-Pekka Salonen Conducts Bruckner —Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, Marian Anderson Hall
Two years ago, Esa-Pekka Salonen wowed Philadelphia Orchestra audiences with performances of Sibelius’ Fifth Symphony and Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloe. Now he brings his expertise to Bruckner’s horn-infused Fourth Symphony. In a 2021 interview for WRTI, he revealed that the work was one of his seminal classical music experiences, after stumbling into it on the radio: “I was completely mesmerized and fascinated.” To complete the program is Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante for Four Winds, featuring four of the orchestra’s principals: Philippe Tondre (oboe), Ricardo Morales (clarinet), Daniel Matsukawa (bassoon), and Jennifer Montone (horn).
Oct. 16 at 7:30 p.m.; Oct. 17 at 2 p.m.; Oct. 18 at 8 p.m., Marian Anderson Hall, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, 300 South Broad Street, $29-$228.76; tickets and information.
Sphinx Virtuosi with Sterling Elliott — Thursday, Perelman Theater
To open its season, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society presents the incomparable Sphinx Virtuosi in a program with myriad blessings, graced by star cellist, Sterling Elliott. Titled Visions of Peace, the evening includes two new commissions by Jessie Montgomery and Quenton Blache. On the day before the concert, Elliott will present a masterclass at Settlement Music School’s Mary Louise Curtis Branch.
Oct. 16 at 7:30 p.m., Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, 300 South Broad Street, $32; tickets and information.
Sterling Elliott’s masterclass: Oct. 15 at 6 p.m., Settlement Music School, Mary Louise Curtis Branch, 416 Queen Street, free; more information.
Jasper String Quartet — Thursday, Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting
To inaugurate its 10th anniversary celebration, the Philadelphia-based Jasper String Quartet offers a world premiere by composer Reinaldo Moya, a graduate of Venezuela’s renowned El Sistema who currently teaches at Wellesley College. More South American influence follows with Gabriela Lena Frank’s Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout (2001), a favorite of the group, and the evening concludes with Dvořák’s Tenth String Quartet, the “Slavonic,” which they have also honed to perfection. As a bonus, the Chestnut Hill venue is also the site of “Skyspace,” a ceiling installation by artist James Turrell, which will add to the ambience.
Oct. 16 at 7:30 p.m., Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting, 20 East Mermaid Lane, free with suggested donation; tickets and information.
The Crossing — Saturday and Sunday, The Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill and the First Presbyterian Church of Germantown
What happens when a child develops a vocal tic — an involuntary sound? Nina Shekhar explores that phenomenon in the premiere of Tic-Talk, written for the preeminent vocal group, The Crossing, and MIDI keyboard, the latter to be commandeered by pianist Dynasty Battles. With typical adventurousness, the group adds another world premiere, Let all the Strains of Joy (mingle in my last song) by Kile Smith, coupled with his earlier motet, Where the Mind Is Without Fear (2022) with texts by Rabindranath Tagore. Completing the program is Cloud Anthem (2024) by Michael Gilbertson, based on a poem by Richard Blanco that imagines “a utopian post-political world.”
Oct. 18 at 7 p.m., The Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill, 8855 Germantown Avenue, $21.40-$41.80;
Oct. 19 at 3 p.m., First Presbyterian Church of Germantown, 700 East Chelten Avenue, $7.18-$17.85; tickets and information.
The Sebastians with Lucy Fitz Gibbon — Sunday, Benjamin Franklin Hall
Making their debut with the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, early music specialists The Sebastians offer an afternoon of Baroque grandeur with works by Vivaldi, Dario Castello, Arcangelo Corelli, and Élisabeth Claude Jacquet de La Guerre. The superb soprano Lucy Fitz Gibbon joins the group for two rarities, La morte di Lucretia (1728) by Michel Pignolet de Montéclair, and Handel’s Armida abbandonata (1707).
Oct. 19 at 3 p.m., Benjamin Franklin Hall, American Philosophical Society, 427 Chestnut Street, $30; tickets and information.
Delaware County Symphony — Sunday, Meagher Theater at Neumann University, Aston
For whatever reason, performances of symphonies by Ralph Vaughan Williams are uncommon, at least in the United States. With conductor Sebastian Grand, the Delaware County Symphony is offering a rare opportunity to hear the Second, the “London” Symphony as part of a program called My Homeland. For the sights and sounds of the symphony’s eponymous locale, the composer evokes a barrel organ, a hansom cab — even a nod to Big Ben. In Grieg’s evergreen Piano Concerto, the soloist is Young-Ah Tak, featured live on WRTI in 2019, and the evening begins with a firecracker, Glinka’s overture to Ruslan and Ludmilla.
Oct. 19 at 3 p.m., Meagher Theatre at Neumann University, One Neumann Drive, Aston, $20-$25; purchase tickets.
