Joshua Bell, Midori and the Cleveland Orchestra are highlights of classical music season
Bravo! You can bet your baton that conductors, orchestras and musicians are thrilled by the chance to once again perform the soothing strains of classical music for live audiences. Here are our Top 10 don’t-miss events for the 2021-22 season. (Tickets are available through presenters and venues.)
Concertos, operas and festivals: This season’s guide to classical music in South Florida
A SPOOKY SYMPHONY
It’s never too early to foster an appreciation of classical music in your little ones, and having them dress up in their favorite Halloween costumes solidifies the bond even further. Enjoy a night of beautiful scary music in this kid-friendly concert by the Alhambra Orchestra and the Greater Miami Youth Symphony. The program is TBA, but past shows have included music from popular films such as “Jurassic Park,” “Lord of the Rings” and “Star Wars,” plus creepy classics like Mozart’s Don Giovanni overture and “Scheherazade” by Rimsky-Korsakov.
? Oct. 24, Miami-Dade County Auditorium
‘TURN OF THE SCREW’
Right as Halloween comes, IlluminArts and Vizcaya present “The Turn of the Screw.” This eerie presentation of Benjamin Britten’s gothic masterpiece tells the ghostly tale of an old mansion with expansive gardens and plenty of secrets. Visual artist and opera director Laine Rettmer, whose productions have been deemed “wickedly smart” by The New York Times and “not only profound, but also shattering” by the Observer, chose Vizcaya as the site to weave together live video, projections and historical photographs that intertwine the opera’s plot with the intrigue of the lives lived at Vizcaya. Features the musicians from Nu Deco Ensemble conducted by Joshua Gersen of the New York Philharmonic.
? Oct. 28 and 31, Vizcaya Museum & Gardens
PIAZZOLLA AT 100
Argentinian composer Astor Piazzolla revolutionized traditional tango music into nuevo tango, which incorporated jazz and classical music. More Than Tango — 100th Anniversary of Piazzolla, features the Symphony of the Americas and its new conductor, Pablo Mielgo, plus award-winning bandoneon player Juan Pablo Jofre, who celebrate Piazzolla’s music with a program featuring his works “Oblivion,” “Concerto Aconcagua for Bandoneon” and “Sinfonia ‘Buenos Aires.’ ”
? Nov. 2, Broward Center for the Performing Arts
SOUNDS OF THE TIMES
Sometimes you’re in the mood to break away from tradition for something new and cutting-edge. The New World Symphony show Symphonic Cabaret, conducted by Austrian composer and double-bass player HK Gruber, features innovative, contemporary works “Halcyon Sun” by Jonathan Bailey Holland, written in celebration of the opening of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center; the U.S. premiere of “Little Magic Night Music” by Kurt Weill (best known for 1928’s “The Threepenny Opera”); “Quartet” by minimalist master Steve Reich; and the U.S. premiere of Gruber’s own “Northwind Pictures.” Part of New World’s Sounds of the Times series.
? Nov. 13, New World Center
MUSIC TO THE EYES
Just in time for Art Basel comes Frost Music Live! Pictures at an Exhibition, a concert that mixes music and visual arts featuring the Frost Symphony Orchestra conducted by renowned, fiery maestro Gerard Schwarz. The 10 musical movements of Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky’s virtuoso showpiece, written in 1874 and orchestrated by Maurice Ravel in 1922, were inspired by an art exhibition by Viktor Hartmann. These movements will be paired with newly commissioned artworks by Claudia DeMonte and Ed McGowin, which will be projected on a screen above the orchestra. Also on the bill: repertoire by Aaron Copland, Julia Perry and others.
? Dec. 4, Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts.
CLEVELAND IN MIAMI
For its 2022 Miami season, the Cleveland Orchestra presents a program of Mozart and Dvo?ák conceived for lovers of the natural world, conducted by Franz Welser-M?st and featuring soprano Latonia Moore. Dvo?ák was a gardener and filled his Eighth Symphony with bucolic euphoria, adding birdcalls and dance tunes that evoke the joy of nature. The concert opens with Mozart’s dazzling Symphony No. 36 (the Linz Symphony), which was written in six days and features his witty elegance at its best. Also on the bill: George T. Walker Jr.’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “Lilacs,” based on a poignant elegy to Abraham Lincoln by Walt Whitman.
? Jan. 28-29, Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts
RING THE BELL
Two-night engagement featuring the Grammy-winning violinist Joshua Bell directing the beloved Academy of St Martin in the Fields is a winning tradition at Arsht, generating standing ovations. The first night features Dvo?ák’s charming and virtuosic Violin Concerto in A minor, Opus 53, inspired by the Czech composer’s homeland, plus Beethoven’s groundbreaking masterpiece “Eroica.” The March 4 concert brings a unique collaboration with the Miami Chamber Music Society and the Miami City Ballet, with original choreography by Pontus Lidberg.
? Feb. 26 and March 4, Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts
MIDORI IN PALM BEACH
The Palm Beach Symphony Masterworks Series No. 5 ends with a bang with three Symphony premieres featuring acclaimed violinist Midori, who made her debut with the New York Philharmonic at age 11 in 1982 and in May received a Kennedy Center Lifetime Achievement Award. The program features Korngold’s lush, romantic Violin Concerto in D Major; William Schuman’s spirited New England Triptych, an homage to 18th century American composer William Billings and his countrymen and women who founded our nation; and Dvo?ák’s upbeat Symphony No. 8.
? April 10, Kravis Center for the Performing Arts
FIERY MESSIAH
What better way to wrap up a great season than by tackling Handel’s sacred 1741 “Messiah” in complete for the first time since 2004? Seraphic Fire, South Florida’s preeminent vocal choir, conducted by founder Patrick Dupre Quigley, evokes emotional responses from its audiences with complex and glorious layered harmonies.
? April 29, First United Methodist, Coral Gables; April 30, All Saints Episcopal Church, Fort Lauderdale; May 1, location TBA.
SOUND THE IVORIES
Russian pianist Zlata Chochieva, who won international acclaim with her celebrated recordings of works by Chopin and Rachmaninoff, takes on a program of Bach, Schumann, Grieg and Brahms at the Miami International Piano Festival. Raved Gramophone: Chochieva is “the possessor of a comprehensive technique who brings an inner glow to every bar.”
? May 1, Aventura Arts & Cultural Center
