Fanfare is our curated weekly guide to classical music concerts in the Philadelphia area. Subscribe now to get Fanfare delivered to your inbox every Sunday. And if you have feedback or an upcoming event to share, let us know!
Spotlight: Beethoven and Brahms with Emanuel Ax — Thursday through Sunday, Marian Anderson Hall
Pianist Emanuel Ax has been a frequent and favorite soloist with The Philadelphia Orchestra since 1975. This consummate artist celebrates the 50th anniversary of that partnership with Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto in C Minor. Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Philadelphians offer two Brahms choices to pair with the concerto: Pick either the weighty Symphony No. 4 on Thursday, or — my choice — the luminous and less-performed Symphony No. 3 on Saturday and Sunday. Either will be a worthwhile treat.
Oct. 30 at 7:30 p.m., Nov. 1 at 8 p.m. and Nov. 2 at 2 p.m., Marian Anderson Hall, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, 300 South Broad Street, $29-$228.76; tickets and information.
Philadelphia Bach Collective, Actus Tragicus — Tuesday, St. Mark’s Episcopal Church
Two acclaimed local ensembles, Variant 6 and Night Music, have joined forces to present cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach at lunchtime. This new series, inaugurated in September, offers one cantata per performance – a short, convivial break in the workday, with no admission charge. On Tuesday it’s Actus Tragicus, a comparatively early work also known as “Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit” (“God's time is the best of all times”). Its subject is spiritual preparation for death, which might seem a little heavy for midday, but fear not. It ends on a note of undeniable uplift, and overall is simply one of Bach’s most lovely sacred works.
Oct. 28 at 1 p.m., St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 1625 Locust Street, free; more information.
Tempesta di Mare Symposium and Salon — Saturday, FringeArts Theatre and Bar
Philadelphia’s renowned Baroque orchestra is setting up a salon, with singers and musicians not only in musical performance, but also actively portraying actual artists — all women — from 18th-century Venice. This intriguing event begins with a symposium on women in Baroque music. There will be potables and nibbles, plus an opportunity to mingle with the performers-in-character after their program of Vivaldi, Veracini, and Venetian compatriots.
Nov 1 at 6 p.m. (free symposium at 5), FringeArts Theatre and Bar, 140 North Christopher Columbus Boulevard, $45; tickets and information.
Music at Bunker Hill: Windscape — Sunday, Bunker Hill Presbyterian Church, Sewell, NJ
A special chamber music experience travels directly to New Jersey’s music fans. Music at Bunker Hill presents a wind quintet comprising respected and deeply experienced chamber musicians based at the Manhattan School of Music, but also familiar to those who follow chamber music festivals nationwide. Windscape has made a specialty of curated concerts involving lively commentary and surprising juxtapositions of repertoire. This program, titled “Reimagined Realms,” brings Satie and Ravel into dialogue with Beethoven and Harry Burleigh.
Nov. 2 at 3 p.m. at Bunker Hill Presbyterian Church, 330 Greentree Road, Sewell, NJ, $5-$30; tickets and information.
Looking Ahead:
AVA Opera Theatre’s Le nozze di Figaro — Nov. 8 through Dec. 2, Various Locations
Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro is a perennial favorite, packed with favorite arias and jaw-dropping ensembles. Add its irresistible characters, poignant dilemmas, and sparkling wit throughout, and this is the can’t-miss, quintessential Mozart opera. The prospect of hearing it in AVA’s intimate Helen Corning Warden Theatre is a further incentive to experience this masterwork anew – or for the first time.
Nov. 8 through Dec. 2, $20-$150; locations, times and ticket options are available here.
