It’s another huge week for music, so take a deep breath and pull out your calendar! There are multiple styles of vocal music, different expressions of piano, music for our country’s semiquincentennial, and classical hyperpop as just a small portion of what’s going on.
Spotlight: The Black Clown — Thursday through Sunday, Miller Theater
With Opera Philadelphia’s full commitment to creative and forward-thinking programming, it was only a matter of time before a Davóne Tines project would show up, and his take on Langston Hughes’ poem The Black Clown rounds out their season. The bass-baritone conceived the work in 2018 with composer Michael Schachter and director Zack Winokur, incorporating gospel, opera, jazz, and spirituals into what might actually read to the audience as a musical. In this “75-minute blaze through 300 years of American history,” the titular clown “realiz[es] his oppression as represented by a clown suit that's been placed on him by society.” Hughes calls for the poem’s reader to be accompanied by piano or orchestra; Tines will be on stage with 12 other performers accompanied by a chamber ensemble.
May 14 at 7 p.m., May 15 and 16 at 8 p.m., May 17 at 2 p.m.; Miller Theater, 250 South Broad Street, $11+ (Pick Your Price); tickets and information.
Isata Kanneh-Mason — Tuesday, Perelman Theater
The eldest sibling of the famous British musical family, pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason returns to Philadelphia for her fourth PCMS performance and second solo. Two Beethoven greatest hits bookend the program, the Moonlight and Waldstein sonatas; there will also be Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit and the Philadelphia premiere of two new works by Bulgarian-British composer Dobrinka Tabakova. Amazingly, as I’m writing this, the show is not yet sold out, but to be fair, it is on a Tuesday.
May 12 at 7:30 p.m., Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, 300 South Broad Street, $32; tickets and information.
Loksi’ Shaali’ (Shell Shaker) — Thursday and Saturday, Episcopal Church of Saints Andrew and Matthew, Wilmington
Kirsten C. Kunkle, soprano, artistic director of Wilmington Concert Opera, and a member of the Mvskoke Nation, recently premiered Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate’s new opera Loksi’ Shaali’ (Shell Shaker), and this week she gets to perform highlights of the work with her own company. The opera is the first ever performed entirely in a US tribal language and is based on the Chickasaw legend of how the Chickasaw people received turtle shells for stomp dancing and ceremonies. In addition to Kunkle, the cast features members of several other Nations and heritages as well as local singers.
May 14 at 8 p.m., May 16 at 2 p.m.; The Episcopal Church of Saints Andrew and Matthew, 719 Shipley Street, Wilmington, DE, $20 suggested donation; tickets and information.
AVA Farewell Recital — Thursday, Church of the Holy Trinity
A perennial bittersweet treat from the Academy of Vocal Arts, the Farewell Recital will celebrate the graduating Resident Artists of the company, mezzo Alla Yarosh and bass Cumhur Görgün, with José Melendez at the piano. The singers curate the program, selecting pieces that reflect their individual journeys, triumphs, and personal connections to the world of opera. With these, of course, it’s usually not a final farewell, as AVA graduates tend to make their ways to bigger stages, including others in town.
May 14 at 7:30 p.m., Church of the Holy Trinity, 1904 Walnut Street, $10-25; tickets and information.
Tempesta di Mare — Thursday through Sunday, multiple venues
Philadelphia’s Baroque orchestra is in the middle of their Soundtrack of Independence celebration, and four of their events happen this week. The full ensemble will be on stage on Thursday for America Independent, or The Temple of Minerva, the first American oratorio, featuring a text by 18th-century Philadelphian musician and impresario Francis Hopkinson and his selection of musical excerpts by George Frideric Handel and Thomas Arne (our own Meg Bragle is one of the soloists). On Friday and Saturday members of the ensemble join The Publick Pleasure for Most Favourite Music, on Sunday there are two performances of Frank’s Bugle with Music of the Regiment and the New York Baroque Dance Company, and they’ll be hosting school bands for We March Together on Saturday at the Cherry Street Pier.
May 14-17 , various venues, various prices; tickets and information.
The Philadelphia Orchestra — Thursday through Saturday, Marian Anderson Hall
The Philadelphia Orchestra’s Orchestra After 5 programs are usually that weekend’s program in miniature, but this week the two are entirely separate. The Orchestra’s Thursday happy hour features a program of works from the time of French composers’ fascination with Spanish music, as well as a bit of actual Spanish music and a work by Viennese composer Marianna Martines. The weekend shows feature Bruckner’s third symphony and a world premiere of a new piano concerto, For Marilyn Crispell, by Philadelphian composer Tyshawn Sorey, written for pianist Aaron Diehl.
Orchestra After 5: May 14 at 6:30 p.m. (happy hour starts at 5), Marian Anderson Hall, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, 300 South Broad Street, $29-72.80; tickets and information.
Bruckner and Sorey: May 15 at 2 p.m., May 16 at 8 p.m.; Marian Anderson Hall, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, 300 South Broad Street, $29-230; tickets and information.
Variant 6: Equinox — Friday and Saturday, multiple venues
One of the nice things about new music is that if the composer is still living, so is the music. Philadelphia composer Benjamin C. S. Boyle wrote his first cantata, To One In Paradise, based on the Poe poem of the same name, back in 2005, and he made a new arrangement for four soloists of Variant 6 and pianist Laura Ward, which they’ll perform at the Ethical Society and at Woodmere this weekend. Also on the program are Fauré, Brahms, Britten, and other works for voices and piano.
May 15 at 7 p.m., Philadelphia Ethical Society, 1906 Rittenhouse Square, $15-40; May 16 at 5 p.m., Woodmere Art Museum, 9201 Germantown Avenue, $28; tickets and information.
The Music of Ben Nobuto — Sunday, The Perch
Have you caught my new Friday morning feature, Casual Fridays? The premise of that feature is to relax the boundaries of classical music and welcome new ideas of what can be “classical.” If you already have an advanced understanding of that concept, you may be interested in this performance on Sunday. Ben Nobuto is a British/Japanese composer whose music “celebrates the fragmentations from internet and pop cultures that disrupt (enrich?) our lives, the video games we play to escape (narrate?) ourselves.” It’s been described as classical meets hyperpop, and is definitely chaotic, though the composer intends for the music to be very clear and accessible even amid its complexity. Lancaster-based ensemble NakedEye will be taking on five of his works at The Perch in Kensington.
May 17 at 7 p.m., The Perch, 2321 Emerald Street, $15-25; tickets and information.
