BSR Classical Interludes, more music in November 2024

Delaware Symphony: Ciabatti Conducts Beethoven
Friday, November 15, 7:30pm
Grand Opera House/Copeland Stage, 818 North Market Street, Wilmington

The second of DSO’s Music Director finalists is Filippo Ciabatti, a native of Florence, Italy who now lives in Vermont and teaches at Dartmouth. The busy maestro will conduct three works: Carlos Simon’s Fate Now Conquers; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5; and Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto in E-flat Major. The concert also features Cuban American cellist Tommy Mesa, the 2025 artist-in-residence with the Tucson Symphony who returns to Philadelphia in February. And here’s a link to a conversation with Ciabatti.

Lyric Fest: Nevertheless, She Sang
Saturday, November 16, 5pm
Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church, 625 Montgomery Avenue, Bryn Mawr

Sunday, November 17, 3pm
First Presbyterian Church, 201 South 21st Street, Philadelphia

LyricFest specializes in vocal music, and this weekend’s concerts feature works composed by women on texts written by women. Pianist Laura Ward will be joined by vocalists Caroline R. Olsen, Christine Lyons, and Laura Dixon Strickling in a panoply of works by composers from Amy Beach to Melissa Dunphy, Andrea Clearfield, and Jennifer Higdon in settings of texts ranging from Anonymous to Christina Rossetti to Edna St. Vincent Millay—and many more. Before Sunday’s concert, there will be a 2:30pm talk with Dunphy, Clearfield, Lori Laitman, Gilda Lyons, and poet Jeanne Minahan.

Trio Les Soldat
Sunday, November 17, 3pm
Artcinia/Church of St. William, 6200 Rising Sun Avenue, Philadelphia

Sunday, November 24, 5pm
Temple University/ Rock Hall, 1715 North Broad Street, Philadelphia

Clarinetist Antonello Di Matteo (principal clarinet of the Philadelphia Ballet Orchestra and professor at Rowan University) presents another concert in his series called Antonello and Friends. The busy clarinetist will be joined by David Brown (violin) and pianist Maria Dell’Orefice in Darius Milhaud’s Suite and Aram Khachaturian’s Trio in G minor (both for violin, clarinet, and piano) and Igor Stravinsky’s Histoire du Soldat. Tickets for the concert at Temple’s Rock Hall are available at the door.

Fairmount String Quartet: Legends
Saturday, November 16, 7:30pm
Church of St. Martin in the Fields, 8000 St. Martins Lane, Philadelphia

Sunday, November 17, 3pm
Settlement Music School, 4910 Wynnefield Avenue, Philadelphia

This group—Rachel Segal and Leah Kyoungwoon Kim-Romlinson (violins), Beth Dzwil (viola), and Mimi Morris Kim (cello)—is now celebrating their 40th season. They’ll open their classical concert series with a program that includes Beethoven’s String Quartet Op. 18; Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout by Gabriela Lena Frank; and Arvo Pärt’s Fratres. Admission at the door is pay-what-you-can ($30/$8 for students suggested), and a reception follows both concerts.

The Publick Pleasure: Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité
Sunday, November 24, 3pm
Church of the Good Shepherd/Rosemont, 1116 Lancaster Avenue, Bryn Mawr

This early music ensemble always joins music to history in unusual ways in their illuminating concerts. Here, cellist and artistic director Eve Miller is joined by Edmond Chan and Karen Dekker (violins), vocalist Brian Ming Chu, Margaret Humphrey (viola), and John Walthausen (harpsichord) for a look at music of France and St. Domingue being played in 18th century Philadelphia. In the 1780s and 90s the city was teeming with all things French, and this concert “explores the French footprint” with works by (among others) Pleyel, P. Couperin, and the Chevalier de St. Georges.

Andrea Clearfield: Szalon
Sunday, November 24, 7:30pm performances; 9:30pm Q&A and party
In studio and online

For 38 years, busy composer Andrew Clearfield has curated and hosted a monthly salon—both live in her studio and online at her Zalon—featuring a wide variety of music performed by a wide variety of first-rate musicians. The next one features ten artists, ranging from James Cottone (baritone) and pianist Stephanie Watt in selected songs from Choctaw composer Charles Shadle’s song cycle The Hills of Dawnby to drag artist Cookie Diorio with Clearfield herself on the piano … and much more. On her website, you can also keep up with where and when Clearfield’s own award-winning works are scheduled to be performed.