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Tunes to keep you warm
BSR Classical Interludes, more in January 2025
Yes, winter is definitely here, and the weather is definitely challenging! But you can warm up this weekend and next with some of the region’s best musical offerings. You’ll find maestro Yannick Nézet Séguin at the keyboard, a concert of major orchestral works, lots of great vocal music, early music from the baroque and before, and a free recital on the Kimmel’s great organ.
Curtain Call Café and Lounge
Tuesdays-Saturdays, 8am-10pm; Sundays, 10am-8pm
Kimmel Center Plaza, 300 South Broad Street, Philadelphia
We thought you might want to know about something new on Broad Street. Located in the Kimmel Center Plaza and created by Ensemble Arts Philly, Curtain Call is a place to relax or meet friends before and after concerts, drop in when buying tickets, or just have coffee—a welcome addition for Center City concertgoers and residents. After 4pm it’s also a cocktail lounge with a happy hour from 4-6pm on weekdays (not open Mondays). See you there!
Concerts at the College: Philadelphia Orchestra musicians with Yannick
Friday, January 24, 6:30pm
College of Physicians/Mitchell Hall, 19 South 22nd Street, Philadelphia
This special concert features musicians of the Philadelphia Orchestra and guest violist Pierre Tourville, with Yannick Nézet Séguin in a rare chamber music appearance. The evening opens with Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major performed by Marc Rovetti and Yu-Ting Chen (violins), David Nicastro (viola), and cellist Yudi Bar-David. The concert’s second half is Schumann’s Piano Quartet in E-Flat with Rovetti, Tourville, Bar-David, and Yannick (piano). Note that the College’s Mutter Museum will not be open, and there is a light reception following the concert.
Delaware Symphony: Fukumura Conducts Dvořák
Friday, January 24, 7:30pm
Grand Opera House/Copeland Hall, 818 North Market Street, Wilmington
Taichi Fukumura, the third finalist candidate in the DSO’s music director search, comes from his Boston to lead the DSO this weekend. Each candidate conducts a major orchestral piece, a work with a soloist, and a contemporary work. Fukumura opens his concert with Pulse (2019) by busy LSU composer Brian Nabors and continues with two major works: Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8 in G major and Erich Korngold’s Violin Concerto in D major, with soloist Oliver Neubauer.
OperaDelaware: Fascinating Rhythm: Music of Porter, Berlin and Gershwin
Saturday, January 25, 2pm
OperaDelaware Studios, 4 South Poplar Street, Wilmington
This musical afternoon, held in OperaDelaware’s performance studio, is curated and presented by soprano Emily Margevich, who’s joined at the piano by Joe Holt. Margevich, one of the company’s newly appointed company artists, recently appeared (as Musetta) in OperaDelaware’s 2024 production of La bohème. This recital features works from the Great American Songbook that celebrate the mastery of Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, and Ira Gershwin.
Academy of Vocal Arts: Jubilate! A Concert of Sacred Music
Saturday, January 25, 7:30pm
Church of the Redeemer, 230 Pennswood Road, Bryn Mawr
Sunday, January 26, 7pm
Holy Trinity Rittenhouse, 1904 Walnut Street, Philadelphia
As part of the Academy’s busy 90th anniversary season, this concert—celebrating its own anniversary of 25 years—will feature AVA resident vocal artists and the AVA orchestra in a curated concert of sacred music. Directed by Richard Raub (AVA’s master vocal coach), this performance will be presented in two of the region’s beautiful sacred spaces.
Main Line Early Music: The Sylvan Consort of Viols: Lawes and Order
Sunday, January 26, 3pm
Church of the Good Shepherd/Rosemont, 1116 Lancaster Avenue, Bryn Mawr
Experimentation, new forms, and virtuosity were hallmarks of 17th century music in Europe and England, with old rules constantly stretched or broken. The admired English composer William Lawes died early, losing his life during the English Civil War, but he extended those rules to the furthest limits of both harmony and technique, and the Sylvan Viols will play his music in the context of other of the period’s musical experimenters.
Tempesta di Mare Chamber Ensemble: Ostinato
Friday, January 31, 7pm
Christ Church Christiana Hundred, 505 Buck Road, Wilmington
Saturday, February 1, 7:30pm
Trinity @ 22nd, 2212 Spruce Street, Philadelphia
Sunday, February 2, 4pm
Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill, 8855 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia
At the end of the month, Philadelphia’s adventurous baroque orchestra will cover the region, as their chamber ensemble plays lively works by some of the era’s stars. The concert features Vivaldi’s Follia Variations; the Ground from Henry Purcell’s tragicomic opera Dioclesian; Sonnerie (Bells) de Sainte-Geneviève, a 1723 work by Marin Marais; and works by English composer John Blow and French composer Joseph Bodin de Boismortier.
Paul Jacobs at the Organ
Saturday, February 1, 5pm
Kimmel Center/Marian Anderson Hall, 300 South Broad Street
Virtuoso organist Paul Jacobs plays a free recital on the Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ with a panoply of works that celebrate the instrument’s sonic palette. The program includes Mendelssohn’s Organ Sonata No. 1; Prelude, Fugue and Variation by Cesar Franck; Charles Ives’ Variations on America; and two works by Bach—Sinfonia from Cantata No. 156 and the great Prelude and Fugue in D Major. The recital is free, but you should probably reserve tickets at the link above.
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