The Boston Symphony Orchestra dominates the Hub’s classical scene because, well, it’s arguably the greatest symphony in the world. But as the BSO enters its 2022-23 season, it’s important to look around the range of outstanding organizations opening their own seasons. So, from Symphony Hall to events across the city, fall will be filled with old favorites and modern masterpieces.
The Boston Symphony Orchestra
All of the new and newly composed works the BSO presents this fall come from female composers, including pieces by Jessie Montgomery, Julia Adolphe and Caroline Shaw. This shows a welcome commitment from the orchestra to expanding the canon, which will be well represented by the BSO over the next nine months. Fall will be a busy piano schedule with Awadagin Pratt, Emanuel Ax, Lang Lang, Yuja Wang and more. In 2023, legendary violinist Midori performs Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, conductor Karina Canellakis makes her Symphony Hall debut for Karel Szymanowski’s Violin Concerto No. 2 plus Brahms, Wagner, Beethoven and Rachmaninoff. (bso.org)
The Boston Philharmonic Orchestra
The Boston Philharmonic Orchestra and Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra’s 2022-2023 concert season marks Maestro Benjamin Zander’s 50th anniversary as a conductor. Zander is a force of nature and a force for good in the world of classical music (you have to Google his Ted talk!). The conductor made sure to select works for the two seasons of the organization that played an important role in his life and work. The BPO begins with Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 and Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2. Later concerts will include Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Schubert’s Symphony No. 8 and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5. (bostonphil.org)
Castle of our skins
A local concert and educational series devoted to celebrating black art through music, Castle of Our Skins has put together another rich season. A few highlights: In October, at Boston University, the organization will offer lectures, masterclasses and performances related to the life and work of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer George Walker. In December, back in residence at the Longy School of Music at Bard College, he will offer three days of events around the music of Anthony R. Green. The green celebration continues in April with the world premiere of her multimedia project examining the seven years of isolation endured by abolitionist and writer Harriet Jacobs. (castles.org)
Handel & Haydn Society
Bach playing the period instruments he wrote for, a Baroque Christmas and the genius that is Handel’s “Messiah” will all be wonderful – as you’d expect. But H&H has some nice surprises in store. In November, the organization presents the very first complete performances of Mozart’s comic opera “The Marriage of Figaro” featuring the titanic talent of lyric soprano Ying Fang. In 2023, the complete Brandenburg concertos will follow, and conductor Anthony Trecek-King and countertenor Reginald Mobley will launch their collaboration “Crossing the Deep”, which explores Old and New World music inspired from the Bible, from spirituals to the music of Handel. (handelandhaydn.org)
