The National Symphony continues the initiative begun in the 2023–2024 season of producing an opera in concert led by Gianandrea Noseda. The Jan. 30-Feb. 1 offering is Samuel Barber’s Vanessa, with a cast including Sondra Radvanovsky (NSO debut), mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges, tenor Matthew Polenzani, mezzo-soprano Susan Graham, and baritone Thomas Hampson. https://www.kennedy-center.org/nso/home/2024-2025/noseda-barber/
On Feb. 1-2, the Baltimore Symphony will celebrate Maurice Ravel’s 150th birthday in a program conducted by Robert Treviño. The Ravel selections include Alborada del gracioso, Rapsodie espagnole, Pavane pour une infante défunte and La Valse, which the composer described as a “choreographic poem for orchestra.” Karen Gomyo will be the soloist for Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto […]
As part of its 30th-anniversary season, Opera Lafayette, in collaboration with OperaCréole, will give the world-premiere concert performance of Edmund Dédé’s Morgiane, the first complete opera by a Black American. The four acts in French cover themes from Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves. Patrick Quigley directs a transcription co-written by OperaCréole founder Givonna Joseph […]
Nathalie Stutzmann makes a fiery Boston Symphony debut on Feb. 6-8 conducting Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite. Also making her debut is violinist Veronika Eberle, who will play Beethoven’s Violin Concerto. Between those two masterworks is Alborada del gracioco, originally a movement from Ravel’s Miroirs piano suite and later orchestrated by the composer. https://www.bso.org/events/beethoven-ravel-stravinsky?performance=2025-02-06-19:30
Theatre of Voices’ Feb. 11 program at Carnegie Hall features two U.S. premieres: a new work by Julia Wolfe and A Brief Descent into Deep Time by John Luther Adams. Michael Gordon’s A Western opens this program conducted by Theatre of Voices founder Paul Hillier. https://www.carnegiehall.org/calendar/2025/02/11/theatre-of-voices-0730pm
Allison Loggins-Hull’s Can You See?, originally a chamber work, will receive a performance of its new version for full orchestra by the New Jersey Symphony on Feb. 20-23. Christoph König conducts pianist Tony Siqi Yun in Chopin’s Concerto No. 1, and the program concludes with Brahms’ dramatic First Symphony. https://www.njsymphony.org/events/detail/brahms-and-chopin
On Feb. 20 at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, pianist Juho Pohjonen will give the world premiere of Jyrki Linjama’s Prélude oublié. Other works in this recital include two sonatas by Scriabin, Liszt’s Après une Lecture du Dante, and Beethoven’s Sonata Op. 27, No. 1. https://www.chambermusicsociety.org/our-concerts/at-lincoln-center/events/24-25/juho-pohjonen/
As part of their annual Carnegie Hall season, The Knights will collaborate with singer-songwriter Aoife O’Donovan. The Feb. 20 program includes an arrangement of O’Donovan’s America, Come as well as Mendelssohn’s Scottish Symphony, to be followed by Colin Jacobsen playing Scottish fiddle tunes with the orchestra. https://www.carnegiehall.org/calendar/2025/02/20/the-knights-0730pm
In its third installment of the Sonic Spectrum series this season, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center will present the world premiere of a new work for flute, piano, and percussion by Philadelphia-based composer Elise Arancio. Other composers on the Feb. 27 bill are Liza Lim, Tonia Ko, Elaine Lillios, and more. https://www.chambermusicsociety.org/our-concerts/at-lincoln-center/events/24-25/sonic-spectrum-iii-2425/
Every work on Third Coast Percussion’s Feb. 27 Carnegie Hall program will be a New York City premiere. These include pieces by Tigran Hamasyan, Jessie Montgomery, and Zakir Hussain; a master on Indian tablas, Hussain will be on hand to solo in his composition. https://www.carnegiehall.org/calendar/2025/02/27/third-coast-percussion-0730pm
In “Music in (Techni)Color” on March 1-2, New World Symphony and conductor Stéphane Denève will present the East Coast premiere of composer Anna Clyne’s PALETTE, the latest in her and sound designer Jody Elff’s revolutionary interactive sonic experiences for Augmented Orchestra (AO). Also on the program is Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite as well as Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. […]
In a March 1 Carnegie Hall program called Noche de Fantasías, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra will give the New York premiere of a new work by Jorge Amado. The Orpheus will also play pieces by Gabriela Ortiz and M. Ponce, and guitarist Pablo Sáinz-Villegas will solo in Rodrigo’s Fantasia para un gentilhombre. https://www.carnegiehall.org/calendar/2025/03/01/orpheus-chamber-orchestra---pablo-sainz-villegas-0700pm
