It’s been a whirlwind summer in Philly. If, like me, you partook in the celebrations around America 250, the World Cup, and the MLB All-Star Game, a little fatigue would be totally understandable. But if you're a classical music lover, I hope you've saved something in the tank (and I don’t just mean for cheering on newly-minted Sixer and Beethoven-fan Lebron James). The concert season roars to life in September with must-see performances almost daily between now and the holidays. From Rachmaninoff and Mahler on the grand stage to intimate recitals in colonial-era salons, here are 13 essential concerts handpicked by the WRTI staff that we're excited to share in our Fall Preview. And be sure to check out our Jazz Fall Preview too. — Zev Kane, Classical Program Director
Yannick Conducts Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 — The Philadelphia Orchestra, Oct. 1-3, Marian Anderson Hall, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts
Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s multi-orchestra Mahler symphony cycle begins right here in Philadelphia with performances of the monumental and popular Fifth. Completed in 1902, this purely instrumental and non-programmatic symphony takes listeners on a journey from deep grief to bright joy. Our Phab Philadelphians also play the evocative Im Sommerwind, written just two years later by fellow Austrian Anton Webern and premiered by the Orchestra in 1962. Liberty Bell, an exciting new work by Philly’s own Julia Wolfe, adds some local flavor to the program. (Mark Pinto)
Brilliance and Endurance — Tempesta di Mare, Oct. 3-4, various venues
Philadelphia's Tempesta di Mare celebrates its 25th anniversary season with Brilliance & Endurance, a program that reflects the ensemble's longstanding commitment to discovery and scholarship. Highlights include Jean-Féry Rebel's The Elements, a Bach recorder concerto, and the modern premiere of a concerto for orchestra by Fasch. A fixture of the region's early music scene, Tempesta continues to pair insightful programming with performances that reveal new dimensions of both familiar and lesser-known repertoire. (Meg Bragle)
Crossfade: Philadelphia/Network Re-Sounding — Network for New Music, Oct. 4, Settlement Music School, Germantown
Network for New Music is one of the best ensembles in town for just that, and their first offering this season is a program featuring all world premieres, three of which were commissioned by the ensemble, and including two composers from right here at Temple: faculty member Steven Crino and student Eli Wynn. The concert will also feature a work by the group’s artistic director, Thomas Schuttenhelm, and a new work by Todd Cochran featuring Philadelphia Orchestra English horn player Elizabeth Masoudnia. (John T.K. Scherch)
At the Sign of the Crumhorn — Piffaro, The Renaissance Band, Oct. 16-18, Various Venues
My gateway to early music as a youngster was a well-worn LP of excerpts from Danserye, a 1551 collection of dances by Tielman Susato, a leading composer and music publisher of the High Renaissance. This fascinating figure opened his music publishing business in Antwerp in 1540, a century after the invention of the printing press. From his intimate shop (found “At the Sign of the Crumhorn”), Susato became a powerhouse in the Low Countries' musical life, producing successful imprints of his own music, as well as important contemporaries like Orlandus Lassus. Susato provides the point of departure for Piffaro’s fall program, sure to be filled with inventive realizations. (Melinda Whiting)
Suddenly Last Summer — Opera Philadelphia, Oct. 22, 23, and 25, Forrest Theatre
Courtney Bryan was Composer-in-Residence at Opera Philadelphia from 2022 to 2024, becoming a MacArthur Fellow in the middle of her tenure. This October, the company will present her first opera, a setting of Tennessee Williams’ Suddenly Last Summer. Compact and intense, this 90-minute Southern Gothic drama will be fresh off its world premiere at Bard’s SummerScape, where the New York Times raved about its “piling storytelling onto storytelling in a way that only opera, a synthesis of all art forms, can.” (John T.K. Scherch)
Sphinx Virtuosi with J’Nai Bridges — Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Oct. 23, Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts
The Sphinx Virtuosi return with a celebration of the country’s 250th anniversary. Alongside Stravinsky’s Concerto in D for Strings and Jessie Montgomery’s Banner, for the first time audiences in Philadelphia will get to hear Declaration, a new song cycle by composer Damien Geter and librettist and Sphinx founder Aaron Dworkin. The performance will feature Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges, who has an affinity for Geter’s work; she performed his song cycle COTTON last season. (Edirin Oputu)
The Crossing: TIME / WIND — TIME: Oct. 25, The Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill; WIND: Nov. 19 through Jan. 3, the Fabric Workshop and Museum
The Crossing’s 2026-27 season, “Sometimes I Worry,” explores a different force or idea through each concert and event. The first two this fall are TIME and WIND. The former features two works that evoke vast and unpredictable forces of nature: the East Coast premiere of Nicholas Cline’s The Sea Came Up and Drowned, and Joshua Stamper’s ’mid the steep sky’s commotion. As a companion to TIME, WIND brings the music to The Fabric Workshop and Museum for an immersive sound installation featuring the world premiere of How to Survive, alongside music by Hildur Guðnadóttir, Shara Nova, Julia Wolfe, and Ayanna Woods. (Dave Tarantino)
Yunchan Lim Plays Rachmaninoff — The Philadelphia Orchestra, Oct. 29-31, Marian Anderson Hall, The Kimmel Center for Performing Arts
Piano phenomenon Yunchan Lim has attracted outsized attention since becoming the youngest-ever winner of the Van Cliburn Competition in 2022. Last fall he debuted with The Philadelphia Orchestra, making a magnificent case for Bartók’s Third Piano Concerto. Now he returns for the knuckle-busting Rachmaninoff Third, again in partnership with Marin Alsop. The Philadelphians take their Rachmaninoff seriously, so this is a must-hear, especially alongside Stravinsky’s equally dramatic Firebird Suite. I’m especially looking forward to hearing the program opener: the lyrical, concise Symphony in One Movement by Samuel Barber. (Whiting)
Written in the Stars — Lyric Fest, Nov. 7, Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church; Nov 8, First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia
Lyric Fest — led by co-founders Laura Ward and Suzanne DuPlantis and co-artistic director Randall Scarlata — is one of the great gems of Philadelphia's cultural scene, with beautifully curated programs that connect music, poetry, and history. This fall, they explore one of German Romanticism’s most-loved settings, the night. You'll hear songs by Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Strauss, Mendelssohn, Wolf, Berg and others, in a program that invites you to experience these familiar masterpieces through the rich, poetic lens of the Romantic imagination. (Mike Bolton)
Raphaël Feuillâtre — Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Nov. 11, Benjamin Franklin Hall
Internationally acclaimed guitarist Raphaël Feuillâtre returns to PCMS after an incredible 2024 debut that highlighted the scope of his repertoire. This time, he focuses specifically on Latin music, featuring Argentinian, Italian, Spanish, and Brazilian composers. If you want to preview some of the composers, take a listen to Feuillâtre’s most recent album, Spanish Serenades. You won’t want to miss seeing Feuillâtre live; he is a superstar musician who brings sensitivity and intimacy to his performances. (Hannah Nicholas)
Handel at Home — Penn Live Arts, Nov. 15, Powel House
If you enjoy listening with Meg Bragle on weekday afternoons, Penn Live Arts offers a special chance to experience another side of her artistry this November. A renowned mezzo-soprano and Penn Artist-in-Residence, Bragle leads Handel at Home, a program inspired by the salon culture of early America. In the elegant, intimate setting of Powel House, a Society Hill mansion built in 1765, she joins soprano Mary Wilson and harpsichordist Hanbyeol Lee to explore Handel’s opera, oratorio, and keyboard gems. (Zev Kane)
Eric Lu — Matthews Theatre, Nov. 17, Princeton, N.J.
Fresh off of his gold medal-winning performance at the 2025 International Chopin Piano Competition, Curtis Institute alum Eric Lu brings his poetic insight and refined touch to Princeton’s McCarter Theatre. For his debut recital, the 28-year-old pianist tackles a wide-ranging program featuring Brahms, Rachmaninoff, and (of course) Chopin, alongside Schumann’s reflective Kinderszenen and Prokofiev’s explosive Seventh Piano Sonata. (Kane)
Susannah — Curtis Opera Theatre, Nov. 19, Mainstage Theater, Philadelphia Film Center
Curtis Opera Theatre opens its season this fall with Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah, a landmark work in the American operatic canon. Inspired by the biblical story of Susanna and the Elders and set in rural Tennessee, the opera explores suspicion, hypocrisy, and public judgment through a score that draws on Southern folk traditions and Protestant hymnody. More than 70 years after its premiere, Floyd’s music remains as compelling as ever. (Bragle)