When the #MeToo movement happened, music groups responded by unearthing works of female composers and adding another gender to the podium. After Black Lives Matter, you would have been hard-pressed to attend a classical music concert without encountering the work of Florence Price or another once-neglected Black artist.
Now, nothing less than our liberal democracy is on the line, and classical music’s response has been anything but strident in Philadelphia. It takes time for the creative process to percolate, so maybe the spirit of resistance and works of protest are simply gathering force. A few works addressing societal themes are in the pipeline for spring.
But this doesn’t mean that there aren’t works and artists that, simply by their presence, meet the moment in some way, this fall. For one thing, the continued inclusion of artists from traditionally marginalized groups on programs suddenly seems like a statement, and no big pullback from recent seasons is apparent.
For another, given the destruction playing out in various quarters — governmental attacks on places of learning, the stripping of federal funding for arts and culture and public media — spending time in the company of creation has become an act of resistance in itself.
All of this leaves the arts patron with real power. Arts and culture groups are financially vulnerable. Every concert is a chance to vote for culture, each donation is a hedge against the demise of an institution you wish to see flourish.
The programs highlighted here are recommended as a way for navigating the times — for supporting the culture we want, for the great comfort of distraction, for bringing forth important historical perspective, and for the very real need for refueling emotionally.
We need the art, and the art needs us.
Pipe Up!
Through Dec. 31, former John Wanamaker Store
The twice-daily organ concerts are gone, along with the perfume counters and department-store chocolates that once populated the former Macy’s (née John Wanamaker Store) in Center City. But the space is enjoying a nice long coda as a pop-up performance venue.
This gives us a chance to once again appreciate the Wanamaker Grand Court as a place of great social value. Good vibes proliferate with the kinds of crowds that have gathered to hear music there over the years, and these feelings are a precious commodity.
Programming was still coming together at press time, but is likely to include a recital by renowned tenor Lawrence Brownlee, a concert featuring emerging composer Nathalie Joachim, a Halloween bash, and a mighty showing by the Wanamaker Grand Court Organ and return of the Wanamaker Light Show. After the holidays, the space is expected to be off limits for potentially two years as the building undergoes major renovations on the way to a new chapter. operaphila.org/pipeup.
Fall fundraiser
Oct. 7, WRTI-FM (90.1) and wrti.org
How many times have you turned on WRTI and found exactly the piece of music playing that you didn’t know you wanted to hear? The station isn’t generally a presenter of live music, but it highlights local artists and groups, and is in some ways the glue that holds the classical and jazz communities together.
Now, in the wake of cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, WRTI is facing a substantial operating deficit and is busily fundraising to cover the gap.
“Public broadcasting was created by Congress in 1967 with the belief that it is essential for a healthy democracy to have access to information and content which is freely available to every American and is not beholden to private interests or control,” says WRTI general manager William Johnson, “and we will continue to play that role no matter what.”
WRTI’s fall fundraiser begins Oct. 7. You know what to do. wrti.org.
Philadelphia Bach Collective
Oct. 28, St. Mark’s Church
Wouldn’t it be incredible to be walking through Center City and suddenly realizing that you could escape the weary world for an hour with Bach? Members of Philadelphia early music groups Variant 6 and Night Music have that emotional tonic in a new series of free midday Bach cantatas concerts under the moniker Philadelphia Bach Collective.
The Oct. 28 concert features Actus Tragicus, BWV 106, a work so intimate and finely detailed, it’s like having your own personal altarpiece. Remaining performances are Jan. 20, Weichet Nur, betrübte Schatten, BWV 202; March 24, Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan, BWV 99; and May 5, Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott, BWV 80.
Who knows — you may hear a tune or two you didn’t know you knew. The concerts are offered on a pay-what-you-wish basis. philadelphiabachcollective.org.
Pianist Imogen Cooper
Oct. 28, Perelman Theater
The Philadelphia Chamber Music Society seems to exist undisturbed by shifting winds and according to its own mysterious set of rules: simply, internationally revered artists and low-priced tickets. The price of seemingly everything is sky-high these days. Yet here, for a mere $32, you can experience the mesmerizing English pianist Imogen Cooper in Bach, Beethoven, and Schubert. Why wouldn’t you? pcmsconcerts.org, 215-569-8080.
Pianist Beatrice Rana
Nov. 10, Perelman Theater
One doesn’t want to escape for too long these days — it feels somehow a guilty pleasure — but maintaining some escapism is key to sanity, and pianist Beatrice Rana has laid out a journey with this recital program: selections from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, Debussy’s Études and Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker (in the Pletnev arrangement); and Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 6 in A Major (1940), the first of the composer’s three “war” sonatas.
“Constantly evolving into new emotional vistas,” was one of The Inquirer’s descriptions of Rana’s 2019 Philadelphia Orchestra debut. That sounds about right, too, in this, her Philadelphia Chamber Music Society recital debut. pcmsconcerts.org, 215-569-8080.
Joe Hisaishi and the Philadelphia Orchestra
Nov. 13 and 14, Marian Anderson Hall
The author of the sound of most of Hayao Miyazaki’s films had listeners in tears during his first visit to the Philadelphia Orchestra, in June. It’s partly the sweetness of the music itself that moves. But in that time-transport way that music does best, it only takes a second of hearing a tune from Howl’s Moving Castle or Castle in the Sky, and you’re suddenly 12 years old again.
This time, Hisaishi leads the orchestra in music from those two films, along with his symphonic work DA-MA-SHI-E and Britten’s Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell. philorch.org, 215-893-1999.
Galilee Chamber Orchestra; Chamber Orchestra of Europe
Nov. 19, Perelman Theater; Dec. 10, Marian Anderson Hall
Ensemble Arts isn’t booking international orchestras in a big way right now, but these two chamber orchestras bring a welcome curiosity factor to the season nonetheless. Galilee, led by Saleem Ashkar, bills itself as the first professional orchestra in Israel composed of both Jewish and Arab musicians, an identity that seems only more notable as time goes on (it was founded in 2012). The program includes Nizar Elkhater’s Nocturnal Whispers and Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 with Bruce Liu — first prize winner of the 2021 Chopin International Piano Competition — as soloist.
The Chamber Orchestra of Europe’s program is entirely Brahms, including the Double Concerto with violinist Veronika Eberle and cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras. On the podium is a name familiar in these parts, Yannick Nézet-Séguin.
Bonus: the Galilee’s concert is in the snug Perelman, where the audience-to-ensemble proximity makes it a great place to hear an orchestra. philorch.org, 215-893-1999.
Play on Philly and Tune Up Philly
Dec. 12 and Jan. 31; Broad Street Love and Temple Performing Arts Center
In an ideal arts ecosystem, children get an arts education that ends with everyone getting a role to play in society. Some become artists. Others, steeped in years of lessons and student ensembles, become the audience, while others still support the art form as donors or board members. Philadelphia happens to have a healthy arts education infrastructure, including Settlement Music School, but these two after-school music programs are young with room to grow, and are exactly what the city needs in greater quantity.
You can get a taste of each: musicians from Play on Philly and the Philadelphia Wind Symphony Dec. 12 at Broad Street Love (formerly Broad Street Ministries), across from the Kimmel Center; and Tune Up Philly presents its Winter Concert Jan. 31 at the Temple Performing Arts Center. playonphilly.org and pyomusic.org.
Tenor Matthew Polenzani and pianist Ken Noda
Dec. 16, Perelman Theater
Cultural norms tend to evaporate slowly and stealthily, and there’s something brutal and dehumanizing that’s seeped into media and the public sphere. Snap back, then, into the sensitive world of Schubert and his poets. The collection of Schubert songs known as Schwanegesang (Swan Song) forms the centerpiece of a recital that promises to make connections between music and text, worlds interior and exterior, and the universal ecstasies, anxieties, and longing of being human. pcmsconcerts.org, 215-569-8080.
Philadelphia Orchestra Live in ‘Fantasia’
Jan. 2, 3, and 4, Marian Anderson Hall
Nothing wrong with pure entertainment in the concert hall. It’s in the Philadelphia Orchestra’s DNA, after all. Our orchestra led by Leopold Stokowski provided most of the music for Fantasia (1940), and here in a specially formatted hybrid, the ensemble plays live-to-screen in clips from that film as well as its sequel, Fantasia 2000. Aram Demirjian conducts. philorch.org, 215-893-1999.
BalletX and ensemble132
Jan. 8 and 9, Perelman Theater