This week Fanfare offers a prelude to this summer’s America 250 celebrations, with several concerts honoring and exploring our country’s rich musical history. From well-loved classical firecrackers to an off-the-beaten-path Baroque opera, you’ll have lots to choose from in this diverse slate!
Spotlight: Alfred: A Masque — Thursday, University Lutheran Church
On a winter night in 1757, a group of students at the College of Philadelphia — soon to become the University of Pennsylvania — put on the first performance of opera in the American colonies. Attended by a host of colonial dignitaries (including George Washington), their staging of Thomas Arne’s masque Alfred was a smash hit, praised in a local newspaper as “an honor to the taste and improvement of any country.”
On Thursday, the ensemble Night Music commemorates this milestone with a new adaptation of Alfred, expanded to include works by Handel and other Arne contemporaries. Co-directed by Heather Miller Lardin and Steven Zohn, the period instrument group will be joined by a fine cast of singers, including Philadelphia mainstays Jessica Beebe, Rebecca Myers, James Reese, and WRTI’s own afternoon host Meg Bragle.
May 21 at 7:30 p.m., University Lutheran Church, 3637 Chestnut Street, $30 suggested donation; tickets and information.
Courtesy of the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society
Gamut Bach Ensemble
Gamut Bach Ensemble — Wednesday, Church of the Holy Trinity
Another group of Philadelphia Baroque specialists, the Gamut Bach Ensemble, presents a trio of cantatas Bach wrote early in his tenure as the cantor of St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. All three works are set in a minor key, prominently feature the oboe d’amore (a predecessor of the modern oboe), and probingly ask and answer questions about divinity and spirituality. The concert is currently sold out, but it’s always worth reserving a place on the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society’s waitlist.
May 20 at 7:30 p.m., Church of the Holy Trinity, 1904 Walnut Street, to join the waitlist, email boxoffice@pcmsconcerts.org or call 215-569-8080; tickets and information.
America 250: Stars, Stripes, and Symphonies — Friday, Perelman Theater
One of several events this week celebrating America’s 250th, the Philadelphia Sinfonia and Philly Pops team up for a festive concert at the Kimmel Center’s Perelman Theater, including Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man, a suite from John Williams’s score to Star Wars, Three Dance Episodes from Leonard Bernstein’s On the Town, and Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture.
May 22 at 8 p.m., Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, 300 S Broad Street, $39-$62; tickets and information.
Tune Up Philly & Young Musicians Debut Orchestra — Saturday, The Temple Performing Arts Center
Two of the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra Music Institute’s excellent ensembles offer a double bill at Temple Performing Arts Center (TPAC) on Saturday. At noon, conductor Paul Smith leads Tune Up Philly’s 16th Annual Festival Concert. Later in the afternoon, Kenneth Bean and Caleb Thompson lead the Young Musicians Debut Orchestra in works by Mendelssohn, Fauré, and Schubert.
May 23 at 12 p.m. and 4 p.m., Temple Performing Arts Center, 1837 N Broad Street, free with reservation; tickets and information for Tune Up Philly; tickets and information for Young Musicians Debut Orchestra.
Lucy Fitz Gibbon, Julia Yang, and Amy Yang — Sunday, American Philosophical Society
In a concert rescheduled due to the winter storm that hit Philadelphia in January, soprano Lucy Fitz Gibbon, cellist Julia Yang, and pianist Amy Yang at last get the chance to perform this unique and lyrical program for the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. Built around Schubert’s masterful song Der Hirt auf dem felsen (The Shepherd on the Rock), this recital — which also includes Schumann’s Waldszenen, selections from Bartók’s Village Scenes, and a new work by Kian Ravaei — promises to be well worth the wait.
May 24 at 3 p.m., Benjamin Franklin Hall, 427 Chestnut Street, $27; tickets and information.
Say You Want a Revolution — Sunday, Marian Anderson Hall
Newly commissioned works by composers Michael Evans and Melissa Dunphy (a Philadelphia local) headline this collaborative concert between the Philadelphia Freedom Band and the Pride Bands Alliance. The Philadelphia Freedom Band’s Artistic Director Hayley Varhol, Assistant Artistic Director Ryan Lowrie, and other guest conductors will lead a group of more than 300 musicians from around the country in music that honors the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, pays tribute to American LGBTQ+ history, and “champions hope for the future.”
May 24 at 7 p.m., Marian Anderson Hall, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, 300 S Broad Street, $44; tickets and information.