As the days get shorter and Halloween approaches, Philadelphia’s concert calendar takes a slightly spooky turn. This week brings seafaring songs in a church with memorials to sailors lost at sea, a vinyl night devoted to musical frights, and a young pianist returning to the concerto that helped make his name. There are sirens, too, in a U.S. premiere named for the sea’s most dangerous singers.
Spotlight: Yunchan Lim Plays Rachmaninoff — Thursday through Saturday, Marian Anderson Hall
Yunchan Lim returns to The Philadelphia Orchestra with Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto, the work at the center of his historic 2022 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition victory. Lim was just 18 when he became the competition’s youngest-ever gold medalist. Marin Alsop, who chaired the jury that year, conducts.
Also in the program is Barber’s Symphony No. 1. As is often the case with Barber, there’s a Philadelphia connection. His First Symphony was an early career success at its 1936 premiere, and after Barber revised the work several years later, The Philadelphia Orchestra gave the world premiere of the revised version in 1944. Add the vivid orchestral colors of Stravinsky’s The Firebird, and this is a program packed with dramatic, thrilling music.
Oct. 29 at 7:30 p.m., Oct. 30 and 31 at 2 p.m., Marian Anderson Hall, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, 300 South Broad Street, $85-$254; tickets and information.
The Publick Pleasure: Lost at Sea — Sunday, Gloria Dei (Old Swedes’) Church
There are few settings more fitting for a concert about those lost at sea than Old Swedes’ Church. Philadelphia ensemble The Publick Pleasure explores early American history through music, building its programs from research into the concerts, homes and musical life of the period. This Sunday afternoon, the ensemble brings seafaring songs, instrumental music, shanties and ballads to a church whose memorials include cenotaphs for mariners who never returned home. The program looks back at life at sea in the 18th and 19th centuries, when music accompanied both work and leisure aboard ship. At Old Swedes’, that history takes on a particular resonance. (Admission includes a drink ticket, with gourmet desserts paired with wine, coffee or tea available for an additional donation.)
Oct. 25 at 3 p.m., Gloria Dei (Old Swedes’) Church, 916 South Swanson Street, $35, $15 students with ID; tickets and information.
Classical Fright Night — Wednesday, Parkway Central Library
The Free Library’s monthly vinyl listening club celebrates Halloween with a co-host you may know: WRTI Classical Program Director Zev Kane. From opera and ballet to horror-film scores, the evening explores how orchestral music has frightened us over the years, and whether it still does. Costumes are encouraged, and there are treats to give away.
Oct. 28 at 5:30 p.m., Music Department, Room 126, Parkway Central Library, 1901 Vine Street, free; more information.
Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective — Wednesday, Perelman Theater
Anna Clyne’s Sirens takes its inspiration from the seductive singers of Greek mythology, whose songs lured sailors to their deaths. In the work’s U.S. premiere, horn player Ben Goldscheider becomes the sirens’ musical voice, surrounded by the shifting textures of the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective. Ethel Smyth’s Horn Trio rounds out the first half. Written in the late 1920’s, it began life as a concerto for horn, violin and orchestra. You can particularly hear the influence of Johannes Brahms in the elegantly restrained second movement titled “Elegy (In Memoriam)”. After intermission comes one of chamber music’s enduring favorites, Schubert’s buoyant “Trout” Quintet.
Oct. 28 at 7:30 p.m., Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, 300 South Broad Street, $36, including fees; tickets and information.
Tempesta di Mare: Adam Pearl, harpsichord recital — Friday through Nov. 1, various locations
Tempesta di Mare marks its 25th anniversary this season, a milestone for Philadelphia’s Baroque orchestra. As part of its Artist Recital Series, harpsichordist Adam Pearl traces the evolution of the Baroque dance suite through music by J.S. Bach and his predecessors. Works by Johann Jakob Froberger and Jean-Henri d’Anglebert lead to one of Bach’s French Suites, revealing how the form developed from one generation to the next.
Oct. 30 at 7 p.m., Christ Church Christiana Hundred, 505 East Buck Road, Wilmington, DE; Oct. 31 at 5 p.m., Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting House, 20 East Mermaid Lane; Nov. 1 at 3 p.m., Museum of the American Revolution, 101 South 3rd Street, $30 (free for students); tickets and information.
