Boston Classical Review

The Celebrity Series will return in full force next season with a starry array of classical concerts including several programs aimed at diversity and “equity.”

With 77 live and streamed events, the season will be one of largest ever mounted, with concerts spread between Jordan Hall, Symphony Hall, Calderwood Studio, Sanders Theatre, and new venues around Boston.

Heading the classical music offerings will be the return of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, led by Gustavo Dudamel and featuring Spanish violinist María Dueñas in a new work by Gabriela Ortiz (October 23). The Berlin Philharmonic also returns to Boston under the leadership of Kirill Petrenko in his local debut as music director. The November 13 concert will also spotlight violinist Noah Bendix-Balgley as part of a program of Andrew Norman, Mozart, and Korngold. Both concerts will take place at Symphony Hall.

Stave Sessions, the series’ contemporary music festival, will also return next season at a new venue: the Crystal Ballroom in Somerville’s Davis Square. Concerts running March 29 through April 1, 2023 will showcase beatboxer Shodekeh and Sō Percussion, the contemporary music ensemble Wild Up, guitarist Yasmin Williams, and pianist Craig Taborn.

Tenor Lawrence Brownlee and pianist Kevin Miller return to Boston with a program of songs based on texts by Harlem Renaissance poets (March 5 at the Calderwood Studio). The Celebrity Series will also present Osvaldo Golijov’s Falling Out of Time, a Tone Poem in Voices with the Boston Symphony Orchestra (April 30, 2023 at Symphony Hall).

Britain’s Chineke! Orchestra, Europe’s first majority black and Asian ensemble, will team up with pianist Stewart Goodyear at Jordan Hall next March 22. Andrew Grams will conduct

Other concerts will showcase familiar performers and ensembles in a range of repertoire. The Emerson String Quartet will make its final Boston appearance in a program of Bartók, Beethoven, Shostakovich, and George Walker’s Lyric for Strings (January 22, 2023 at Jordan Hall).

Pianist Evgeny Kissin performs music of Bach, Mozart, Debussy, and Rachmaninoff’s complete Études-Tableaux April 23 at Symphony Hall. And mandolinist Chris Thile will present music from his latest album Laysongs on February 3, 2023 at Sanders Theatre.

Other headliners include mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter and pianist Kristian Bezuidenhout in a duo recital at Jordan Hall on November 5. Violinist Joshua Bell and pianist Daniil Trifonov also join forces April 4 at Symphony Hall. Programs will be announced at a later date.

Pianist Seong-Jin Cho will make his Boston recital debut in program of Handel, Brahms, and Robert Schumann (December 11 at Jordan Hall).

In addition, the Celebrity Series will present “An Afternoon with Itzhak Perlman,” a retrospective look at the violinist’s career April 16, 2023 at Symphony Hall.

Pianist Beatrice Rana returns to Boston with a program revolving around Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata April 14, 2023 at Jordan Hall. Pianist Igor Levit performs Beethoven’s final three piano sonatas in a March 4 recital at the same location.

The Danish String Quartet returns to the Celebrity Series on January 27 with quartets by Haydn and Shostakovich alongside new arrangements of Nordic folk tunes. The Doric String Quartet and pianist Benjamin Grosvenor will explore Frank Bridge’s Quintet in D minor April 22, 2023. Both concerts will take place in Jordan Hall.

The Junction Trio, made of violinist Stefan Jackiw, cellist Jay Campbell, and pianist Conrad Tao, perform arrangements of chants and madrigals, a Schumann trio, and Amy Williams’s Bell and Whistles, a Celebrity Series co-commission, December 10 at Jordan Hall.

Musicians making their debuts include pianist Víkingur Ólafsson (November 29); pianist Martin Helmchen (December 6); and violinist Alexi Kenney (February 22). Soprano Fatma Said and guitarist Rafael Aguirre will offer a program of Spanish, Egyptian, Brazilian, and Lebanese songs (March 30); bass-baritone Davóne Tines and pianist Adam Nielsen perform music ranging from Bach to Caroline Shaw (April 26, 2023); and the Aizuri Quartet makes its local debut in works by Clara Schumann, Bartók, and Inuit composer Tanya Tagaq (May 3, 2023). All recitals will take place in Pickman Hall.

Rob Kapilow will present The Songs of Irving Berlin: An American Voice for Popular Music as part of his What Makes It Great? series (November 20 at Calderwood Studio). Kapilow will also present Copland’s Appalachian Spring: An American Voice for Classical Music, featuring Boston’s own A Far Cry, as part of the series February 23 at Jordan Hall.

The Celebrity Series Jazz Festival returns to the Artists for Humanity EpiCenter in South Boston March 8-11. Other jazz offerings include saxophonist Branford Marsalis on January 28; Artemis, a band of six chart-topping female jazz singers, in their Celebrity Series debut February 4; and Jason Moran and the Harlem Hellfighters performing James Reese Europe and the Absence of Ruin February 17, all at the Berklee Performance Center.

Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra will perform in Symphony Hall April 21, 2023. The Count Basie Orchestra and Diane Schuur will be heard at the Calderwood Studio May 20, 2023.

The Celebrity Series will present A.I.M by Kyle Abraham in Requiem: Fire in the Air of the Earth, a new dance commission (November 18-19 at the Boch Center Shubert Theatre). The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returns to the Wang Theatre May 4-7, 2023.

Pre-sale for tickets will begin May 11. Subscriptions can be renewed beginning May 16, while new subscriptions go on sale May 17. Single tickets will be made available August 23. celebrityseries.org

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