YUNGBLUD English agitator Dominic Richard Harrison has been one of the more exciting personalities to show up on big-tent rock’s stages recently; his wiry energy and scraped-metal yelp combine to create cathartic — and sometimes hooky — spectacles. His latest album, “Idols,” is a nervy step into modern prog, with ambitious arrangements and head-snapping left turns that dare anyone within listening range to come along for the ride. Sept. 19, 8 p.m. Roadrunner Boston. roadrunnerboston.com
WOLF ALICE “The Clearing,” the latest album from this British rock outfit, channels AM Gold’s silky vibes while retaining the urgency that made them festival-circuit darlings. Sept. 20, 7 p.m. House of Blues Boston. 888-693-2583, houseofblues.com/boston
NXWORRIES: WHY LAWD? TOUR The hip-hop megaduo — made up of musical polymath Anderson .Paak and the master producer Knxwledge — released their second album, the musically expansive, lyrically incisive “Why Lawd?,” last year. Sept. 24, 7 p.m. House of Blues Boston. 888-693-2583, houseofblues.com/boston
MAURA K. JOHNSTON
ORDINARY ELEPHANT Married couple Crystal Hariu-Damore and Pete Damore bring together their harmonizing and instrumental dexterity to perform as the folk/Americana duo Ordinary Elephant. Their name points to their animating purpose; there is no such thing as an ordinary elephant, they say, and they aspire with their music to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary. They play a matinee show Sunday. Sept. 21, noon. $20. McCarthy’s Upstairs, 1920 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge. 617-945-1887. www.mccarthystoad.com
WARDRUNA The music made by Wardruna is rooted in ancient folk; the Norwegian group uses traditional instruments and taps Norse history, myths, and musical traditions as well as the natural world to weave something new. Sept. 24, 7:30 p.m. $39.50 and up. Boch Center Wang Theatre, 270 Tremont St. 800-745-3000. www.ticketmaster.com
COWBOY JUNKIES For 40 years this Canadian band has been at it, with the same four members (three Timmons siblings and good friend Alan Anton) and without any pauses or dissolutions, exploring a singular aesthetic that came to the world’s attention with “The Trinity Sessions” in 1988 and has continued through their latest, 2023’s “Such Ferocious Beauty.” Sept. 25, 7:30 p.m. $59 and up. Boch Center Shubert Theatre, 265 Tremont St. 800-745-3000. www.ticketmaster.com
STUART MUNRO
SUBLIMITY Adventurous, Boston-based saxophonist Eric Barber convenes a summit of free improvisers including boundary-breaking piano virtuoso Chi-Wei Lo and two players who rarely appear hereabouts: bassist Michael Bisio (Matthew Shipp Trio), and drummer Michael Wimberly, who’s played with everyone from The Paul Winter Consort to George Clinton and P-Funk. Sept. 20, 7 p.m. $15 suggested donation. The New School of Music, 25 Lowell St., Cambridge. barbereric@yahoo.com
STEVEN KIRBY’S ILLUMINATIONS PROJECT. The acclaimed guitarist, by turns lyrical and fiery, also features his multifaceted compositions and arrangements in this sextet setting. With saxophonist-flutist Carl Clements, pianist Ben Cook, bassist Mark Poniatowski, drummer Mike Connors, and vocalist Jireh Calo. Sept. 24, 7 p.m. $12.51 ($25 minimum food & drink minimum). The Mad Monkfish, 524 Mass. Ave., Cambridge. themadmonkfish.com
ANA POPOVIC For over two decades, the sizzling Serbian Strat-slinger, singer, and songwriter has been nominated for numerous Blues Music Awards, appeared on the covers of Guitar Player and Vintage Guitar magazines, and was the only female featured guitarist on the “Experience Hendrix” tour. Sept. 26, 8 p.m. $53.50-$59. Spire Center, 25½ Court St. Plymouth. www.spirecenter.org
KEVIN LOWENTHAL
THE JUNCTION TRIO The classical events calendar has been somewhat sparse for the past few weeks, but get ready for an incoming deluge as touring artists and local institutions present their first attractions of the fall. The Junction Trio, featuring violinist Stefan Jackiw, cellist Jay Campbell, and pianist Conrad Tao, rolls through the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s Calderwood Hall with a program of bespoke music for the trio by American maverick composer John Zorn, including two world premieres. Sept. 21, 1:30 p.m. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Calderwood Hall. 617-278-5156, www.gardnermuseum.org
ASHMONT HILL CHAMBER MUSIC The Dorchester series starts fall with a curveball, welcoming the Secret Trio: Ara Dinkjian on oud, Ismail Lumanovski on clarinet, and Tamer Pınarbaşı on the 76-string zither called the kanun. The concert promises traditional pieces, originals, and improvisation inspired by musical traditions of the Middle East and Balkans, jazz, classical, and rock. Sept. 21, 4 p.m. All Saints Church, Dorchester. www.ahchambermusic.org
MASS OPERA “The Onion,” a new chamber opera by composer-librettist Eric Sawyer and director-librettist Ron Bashford, asks poignant questions about memory and self in the age of artificial intelligence. Sept. 25 and 26, 7:30 p.m. The Maso Studio, Huntington Theatre. www.massopera.org
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA BSO music director Andris Nelsons launches the subscription season on the podium with a program of Mozart’s Symphony No. 41, “Jupiter,” and Strauss’s “Ein Heldenleben”; a lineup that celebrates the orchestra itself, without the help of any special guest soloists. Sept. 25-27. Symphony Hall. 617-266-1200, www.bso.org
A.Z. MADONNA
PRIMARY TRUST While it’s tempting to call Eboni Booth’s “Primary Trust” a home run, it’s more like a well-executed bunt in the clutch: subtle, built on craft and patience, deceptively small in the doing but large in scope and stakes, with an impact that lingers. Helmed by new SpeakEasy Stage Company artistic director Dawn M. Simmons, this production is anchored by a simply extraordinary lead performance by David J. Castillo as Kenneth, a lonely guy in his late 30s. Orphaned at a young age, Kenneth is now uncertain how, and whether, he could expand the narrow boundaries of his world. Through Oct. 11. SpeakEasy Stage Company. At Roberts Studio Theatre, Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts. 617-933-8600, SpeakEasyStage.com
THE MOUNTAINTOP This early work by Katori Hall, whose “The Hot Wing King” won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, unfolds on the last night of the Rev. Martin Luther King’s life, right after the legendary civil rights leader has delivered his “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech. King (Dominic Carter) engages in a wide-ranging conversation with Camae (Kiera Prusmack), a housekeeper at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, that is punctuated by flash-forwards, giving King a chance to weigh his life’s work and his legacy. Directed by Maurice Emmanuel Parent. Sept. 19-Oct. 12. Front Porch Arts Collective. At Modern Theatre at Suffolk University. Frontporcharts.org
OUR TOWN A stellar cast has been assembled for Thornton Wilder’s deceptively tranquil meditation on community, family, mortality, and other big stuff, unfolding within and around the seemingly mundane doings of residents in the fictional New Hampshire town of Grover’s Corners. It’s always good news when Will McGarrahan is in the cast; here he plays the Stage Manager, who serves as narrator. Josephine Moshiri Elwood — who’s been on a roll the last few seasons — is Emily, and Dan Garcia is George. The cast also includes such stalwarts of the Boston stage as John Kuntz, De’Lon Grant, Kathy St. George, Thomika Marie Bridwell, and Amanda Collins. Directed by Courtney O’Connor. Lyric Stage Boston. Sept. 19-Oct. 19. 617-585-5678, lyricstage.com
DON AUCOIN
ULULATIONS AND GURGLES OF THE INVISIBLE Urban Jazz Dance Company joins with Guerilla Opera for Elisabet Curbelo’s ambitious, multidisciplinary opera. Inspired by the poetic writings of Federico Garcia Lorca, the four-movement work features soprano, piano, percussion, and dancers from the deaf community. With choreography by Antoine Hunter, the dancers integrate American Sign Language as an expressive narrative force, and motion sensor technology facilitates a dream-like connection between gesture and sound. Sept. 19-21. $25. Boston Center for the Arts Plaza Theatre. www.bostontheatrescene.com
THE CELLO PLAYER Straight from Lincoln Center’s Run AMOC* Festival, this dance-music piece produced by American Modern Opera Company (AMOC) and led by cellist Coleman Itzkoff and dancer-choreographer Or Schraiber explores the complexity of relationships, from the freighted emotions of friendship to the entanglements of love. Schraiber and Itzkoff are joined by dancer Jeremy Coachman as the three share their stories via movement and sound, with dramaturgy by Bobbi Jene Smith. Sept. 19. $22.50-$150 (includes fund-raising dinner). The Adams Theater, Adams. www.adamstheater.org/events
THE 7 FINGERS Last week to catch the acclaimed Montréal nouveau cirque troupe in its provocative and colorful “Passengers.” Directed by company founder and award-winning Cirque du Soleil choreographer Shana Carroll, the work plays off our fascination with train travel, creating a community of strangers on the move — literally and metaphorically — who express their emotions through an eclectic fusion of dance, dazzling acrobatics, theater, illusion, and music. Through Sept. 26. $35-$158. American Repertory Theater at Loeb Drama Center, Cambridge. https://americanrepertorytheater.org/
KAREN CAMPBELL
2025 JAMES AND AUDREY FOSTER PRIZE This biannual showcase at the ICA devoted to Boston (and Boston-adjacent) artists arrived into a veritable renaissance of local contemporary art. With the Boston Triennial in full swing with its slate of local creatives — fully a quarter of its projects are by Boston artists, including Alison Croney Moses, also a Foster Prize recipient this year — it feels fair to say that Boston is having a moment. The Foster Prize was established in 1999 with the cultivation of that very moment in mind, making this year’s installment feel like a particular triumph. Artists honored are Moses, Yorgos Efthymiadis, Damien Hoar de Galvan, and Sneha Shrestha (a.k.a. IMAGINE). Through Jan. 19. Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, 25 Harbor Shore Drive. 617-478-3100, www.icaboston.org
ANDREW GN: FASHIONING THE WORLD Just opened: Singaporean-born Andrew Gn founded his Paris Atelier in 1995, when he was not quite 30, and in the 30 years since, he’s been a dressmaker for such high-profile clients as Emma Stone, Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, and the Princess of Wales. This exhibition of nearly 100 of his pieces helps situate his work in a cross-cultural current between east and west, as his aesthetic philosophy draws from both. Through Feb. 16. Peabody Essex Museum, 161 Essex St., Salem. 978-745-9500, www.pem.org
THE HIGHWAYMEN Through the 1950s to the 1980s, a loosely-affiliated group of 26 Black landscape painters traveled the coastal byways of Eastern Florida, selling paintings out of the trunks of their cars at rest stops and gas stations. They called themselves the Florida Highwaymen, and their vibrant tropical scenes — of beaches and palm trees, pounding surf and turgid swamp — were both a way to make a living, and, for a group long marginalized in the American art world, a way to be seen in the most literal sense. Through Jan. 4. Addison Gallery of American Art​ at Phillips Academy, 3 Chapel Ave., Andover. 978-749-4015, https://addison.andover.edu/
MURRAY WHYTE
STRANGE KIN We may not always peacefully coexist with insects, but they are key to the health of our biosphere. In this show, five artists express their entomological passions and concerns. Ruth Marsh repairs and preserves found dead bees and brings them back to life using stop-motion animation. Kate Kato fashions life-size sculptures of insects and plants using cut paper, wire, carving, and embroidery. Jennifer Angus creates ornate installations with hundreds of insects. And more — if you have the stomach for it. Through Nov. 22. Lamont Gallery, Phillips Exeter Academy, 20 Main St., Exeter, N.H. www.exeter.edu/lamont-gallery/strange-kin
CATE McQUAID
FRIDAY NIGHT COMEDY SHOW Jacques Cabaret has long supported stand-up comedy with shows and open mics, like this one headlined by Sarah May, hosted by Amanda Cee and Mitzzy Anne Picardo, and featuring JP Dexter and James Patrick Reuben. Sept. 19, 8 p.m. $12.51. Jacques Cabaret, 79 Broadway St.www.eventbrite.com
KRISTINA WONG: FOOD BANK INFLUENCER Wong describes this one-person musical comedy as “the story of falling in love with the emergency food system.” She sings, does monologues, and even sews her own set pieces. But the audience can sing along. Sept. 19 at 8 p.m., Sept. 20 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., and Sept. 21 at 2 p.m. $27.50-$101.75. Emerson Paramount Center, 559 Washington St. 617-824-8400, www.artsemerson.org
MATT SHORE DOES SONGS AT YOU Not everyone has an Anxiety Possum like Shore does, but everyone has had that conversation with themselves dwelling on the more worrying aspects of their day-to-day life. The difference here is Shore sets his worries to music and helps everyone laugh about them. Sept. 24, 8 p.m. $32.22. Laugh Boston, 425 Summer St. 617-725-2844, www.laughboston.com
NICK A. ZAINO III