Critics’ Picks
Starting in September
That sunny day sweeping the clouds away makes for a sparkling vista of the sky, once night falls over Sesame Street. This new planetarium show, aimed at first graders and younger, enlists Big Bird, Elmo, and friends to connect the dots of the Big Dipper and other universal spectacles.
Jeff Wagenheim
An intimate look at the fond and fascinating artistic exchanges between these two hugely influential artists.
Sebastian Smee
A survey of 25 years of painting by the New York City-based artist, known for her sardonic depictions of egregiously sexualized female bodies in ironically Old Masterly idioms.
Sebastian Smee
A look at Pop Art from both sides of America, from a time when the art world and museum collecting were still largely regional. Masterpieces from the Rose’s collection hang beside borrowed works. Artists include Roy Lichtenstein, Marisol Escobar, and Andy Warhol (East Coast) and Billy Al Bengston, Judy Chicago, and Llyn Foulkes (West Coast).
Sebastian Smee
The Claremont Trio kicks off the museum’s Sunday series (Sept. 13), which this fall will also feature keenly anticipated appearances by cellist Steven Isserlis and pianist Robert Levin (Oct. 25 and Nov. 1) as well as the Borromeo Quartet, which will survey the complete Bartok String Quartets (Dec. 20).
Jeremy Eichler
Celebrity Series of Boston is calling this unprecedented initiative the largest free outdoor dance party the area’s ever seen. Over five consecutive nights, you can learn dance styles from mambo to disco during a 45-minute lesson, then show off your stuff during 90 minutes of dancing to live music.
Karen Campbell
The seven woodcuts that make up Kollwitz’s acclaimed World War I series, which was published nine years after her son was killed on the battlefield in 1914, are displayed alongside preparatory drawings, trial proofs, and supporting lithographs and sculpture.
Sebastian Smee
The Marley family remains a sound bet for roots reggae. On his new album, “Maestro,” Ky-Mani, son of Bob (and it shows in the voice), uses bold, lush, production tools to flesh out the genre’s classic themes.
Siddhartha Mitter
New England Conservatory grad Baum is equally accomplished as a virtuoso flutist and composer. Her 2013 CD, “In This Life,” twining South Asian rhythms and melodies with jazz harmonies, made several jazz best-of-2013 lists, including the Globe’s. Her “Septet+” at Scullers will include trumpeter Jason Palmer, alto sax and bass clarinet player Sam Sadigursky, French horn player Chris Komer, guitarist Brad Shepik, pianist John
Escreet, bassist Matt Clohesy, and drummer Jeff Hirshfield.
Jon Garelick
Four plays for women by Samuel Beckett, helmed by Poets’ Theatre president and artistic director Bob Scanlan: “Not I,’’ “Footfalls,’’ “Rockabye,’’ and “Come and Go.’’ Amanda Gann will perform “Not I’’ in English and then in French, back to back. Sarah Newhouse will perform “Footfalls,’’ and Carmel O’Reilly will perform “Rockabye.’’ All three will team up for “Come and Go.’’ With visual design by David R. Gammons.
Don Aucoin
After her memorable portrayal last year of the title character in Henrik Ibsen’s “Hedda Gabler,’’ Marianna Bassham returns to the Gamm Theatre to tackle a more vulnerable but equally classic character: Blanche DuBois, the tragic center of Tennessee Williams’s 1947 masterpiece. Helmed by Gamm artistic director Tony Estrella, with Anthony Goes as Stanley Kowalski and Karen Carpenter as Stella. Or, as Stanley would bellow: Steh-llaaaahhh!
Don Aucoin
The Portuguese singer has long avoided the spotlight but is a favorite among fellow musicians, for the emotion and depth of her approach to fado, and through it, the art of the song. This is her Boston debut.
Siddhartha Mitter
Hilty’s portrayal of the ambitious Broadway performer Ivy Lynn was the best (almost the only) reason to watch the late, unlamented “Smash,’’ the NBC backstage drama. She and host/pianist Seth Rudetsky will perform Broadway songs in this benefit for the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus..
Don Aucoin
Arthur made only a single CD copy of his latest album, “Days of Surrender.” It comes packaged in a van, painted by the artist, that he used for touring — and it’s still available for purchase on his website.
Stuart Munro
A bunch of kids desperate to save their families’ homes from foreclosure. A long-lost and valuable pirate treasure. Adventure and comedy ensue in this 1985 film, screened under the stars as part of Mayor Walsh’s Movie Nights series.
Jeff Wagenheim
One of the most exciting bands of the early ’90s was this quartet, led by two of the music’s masters, guitarist Scofield and saxophonist Lovano. They’ve reconvened for a new album, and a tour that includes four shows at the Regattabar, with drummer Bill Stewart, and, for this date, Ben Street in the bass chair originally held by the late Dennis Irwin.
Jon Garelick
Guerilla Opera introduces Mischa Salkind-Pearl’s “Troubled Water,” about the life of writer Natsuko Higuchi (Sept. 18-25); soprano Tony Arnold and violinist Movses Pogossian perform Kurtag’s iconic “Kafka Fragments” at Boston Conservatory (Sept. 23); MIT Sounding opens with cellist Maya Beiser rethinking canonical rock tunes (Sept. 25); Boston Musica Viva leads off with the East Coast premiere of Steven Stucky’s “Cantus” (Sept. 26); BMOP has the local premiere of Tigran Mansurian’s Requiem (Oct. 18); Dinosaur Annex celebrates Eric Chasalow’s 60th birthday (Oct. 24); the New England Philharmonic, Collage New Music, and New England Conservatory all pay tribute to Gunther Schuller (Oct. 25, Nov. 1, and Nov. 19 respectively); the venerable Ensemble InterContemporain makes a rare local appearance at the ICA with works by Cage and Boulez (Nov. 15); and the Jack Quartet returns to Boston University’s Center for New Music with scores by Zorn and Boulez (Nov. 18).
Jeremy Eichler
The young company’s next rarity will be Massenet’s “Le Cid,” to receive its Boston premiere in a concert performance under Gil Rose’s baton, with a cast headed by tenor Paul Groves (Sept. 18). Odyssey will also collaborate with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project for a fall performance of Gunther Schuller’s one-act opera of 1970, “The Fisherman and His Wife” (Nov. 22).
Jeremy Eichler
A star in his own right, the son and heir of Malian master Ali Farka Touré presents a new collaboration, “Tourists,” with American singer-songwriter Julia Easterlin, whose Björk-like stylings form a rich weave with Touré’s desert guitar.
Siddhartha Mitter
Their styles couldn’t be more distinct, but A$AP Rocky and Tyler, the Creator do share a penchant for turning hip-hop on its head. The maverick rappers are coheadlining a new tour that also features the MCs Vince Staples and Danny Brown.
James Reed
No ballet evokes the romantic Russian tradition more than this classic, performed to Tchaikovsky’s sumptuous score. The touring company Russian Grand Ballet presents a one-night-only performance featuring Olga Kifyak, Eugeniy Svetlitsa, Ivan Kozlov, Alisa Voronova, and Anna Surmina.
Karen Campbell
The oldest continuously open museum in America is celebrating the completion of a $33 million renovation with the opening of its European and Decorative Arts galleries in the refurbished Beaux Arts Morgan Memorial Building.
Sebastian Smee
The Dutch artist’s famed kinetic sculptures appear alongside sketches, photographs, and demonstrations of the creatures’ movements.
Sebastian Smee
In a recent interview, Johnson says he listened to the music of Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson “like I was studying for an exam.” The modern-day outlaw-country singer returns to Indian Ranch to shut the place down for the year.
Stuart Munro
Boston Chamber Music Society sets sail with Haydn and Beethoven trios (Sept. 20); the Juilliard Quartet returns to the Concord Chamber Music Society (Sept. 27); Emmanuel Music embarks on a “Bach Reimagined” season (Oct. 3) and continues its Mendelssohn/Wolf chamber series (Oct. 25); Boston Camerata offers Latin American Baroque music (Oct. 3-4); Andris Nelsons conducts members of the BSO for the Terezin Music Foundation Gala (Oct. 5); Chameleon Arts Ensemble goes from Saint-Saens to Shostakovich (Oct. 10-11); Radius Ensemble premieres a newly commissioned work by Elena Ruehr (Oct. 17); pianist David Deveau performs a solo recital at Rockport Music (Oct. 24); Musicians of the Old Post Road have a nature-themed program (Nov. 6-7); and Mistral opens with a concert titled “Voices of Innocence” (Nov. 7-8).
Jeremy Eichler
Cosmopolitan, full-fledged party music from a Franco-Algerian crew that plays innovative brass arrangements of traditional Algerian street-band sounds. Touches of reggae and other flavors intervene, all in service of the groove.
Siddhartha Mitter
On “Ones and Sixes,” its new album, this long-running slowcore trio asserts why it has been part of indie-rock’s vanguard for more than 20 years. The quietly provocative album continues Low’s winning streak on Sub Pop, its label home since 2005.
James Reed
Johnnie McQuarley portrays the mighty general who becomes unhinged by jealousy, with Josephine Elwood as his doomed wife, Desdemona; Jennie Israel as Emilia; and John Kuntz as Iago, that lethal schemer and embodiment of what Coleridge called “a motiveless malignity.’’ Directed by Bridget Kathleen O’Leary.
Don Aucoin
A who’s who of local musicians anchor this second annual kickoff concert for the Boston Music Awards: classic pop purveyor Will Dailey, R&B hell-raiser Ruby Rose Fox, electro-pop sensations Bearstronaut, and alt-rock bands including Vundabar, Tribe Society, and Oh, Malô. A supergroup called Mikey Holland’s American Denim will cover classic tunes by Boston bands, and MC Moe Pope will host. Bonus: It’s free and happens in one of the loveliest outdoor spaces in town.
James Reed
The festival celebrates a decade of shining a light on the playwright’s work, including his seldom-performed experimental dramas. Among the 10 productions in this year’s festival is “The Parade,’’ inspired by Williams’s love affair with a young dancer in Provincetown in the summer of 1940, which will be performed on a small beach.
Don Aucoin
Two plays about physicists, running in repertory, with the same trio of actors (Steven Barkhimer, Robert Najarian, and Debra Wise) for each. Wesley Savick directs his adaptation of “Einstein’s Dreams,’’ Alan Lightman’s novel about a young Einstein, trying to stay afloat financially in Switzerland in 1905 while developing his theory of relativity. Eric Tucker (“Bedlam’s Saint Joan’’) directs Michael Frayn’s “Copenhagen,’’ which revolves around confrontations between Werner Heisenberg and his mentor, Niels Bohr.
Don Aucoin
Triple-threat Paisley is as close as mainstream country comes to a traditionalist these days. He headlines the final package show of the summer.
Stuart Munro
Take a little bit of Calexico, a dollop of Nick Cave, a pinch of Tin Hat Trio, and you’ll start to get an approximation of the sound of this marvelous Brian Carpenter project. The show celebrates its debut CD.
Stuart Munro
Alabama Shakes, the Avett Brothers, and alt-J headline the sixth installment of Boston’s premiere outdoor rock festival in the heart of the city. They’re joined by Hozier, Father John Misty, Chvrches, Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks, Of Monsters and Men, Sturgill Simpson, Twin Shadow, and more.
James Reed
This year’s flower show at Heritage Museums & Gardens blossoms with arrangements depicting animals, real and imagined, inspired by Dr. Seuss. Young visitors also can climb aboard hand-carved creatures on the museum’s 1908 carousel or seek refuge in the outdoor art installation “Secret Shelters.” Meanwhile family members can peruse artworks in “The Wyeths: America Reflected” or the museum’s collection of antique and classic cars.
Jeff Wagenheim
Longy celebrates its centennial at SeptemberFest (Sept. 25-27); the NEC Philharmonia takes on Mahler’s Fifth Symphony (Sept. 30); Boston Conservatory students perform Weill and Brecht’s “Threepenny Opera” (Oct. 15-18); and the Parker Quartet resumes its Harvard residency (Oct. 16).
Jeremy Eichler
A chance to hear Raghunathan, one of the most prominent and prolific current vocalists in the Carnatic tradition of southern India, which she interprets in a light classical style, steeped in devotion.
Siddhartha Mitter
Grammy-nominated acts The Pop Ups and Alastair Moock & Friends and Latin Grammy nominee Mister G are among a dozen performers at this all-day, two-stage music and arts festival for children and their families who like to really rock.
Jeff Wagenheim
The 15th annual edition of this free South End block party (now produced by Berklee) features festival artistic director Terri Lyne Carrington and her collective Mosaic Project, with Philly-based soul/R&B singer Jaguar Wright, singer/songwriter Paige Bryan, and bassist Alissia Benveniste; Boston sax hero George Garzone fronting a Coltrane tribute with the Teros String Quartet; saxophonist Javon Jackson’s We Four, with drummer Jimmy Cobb, pianist George Cables, and bassist John Webber; soul-jazz singer Ledisi; Eguie Castrillo and the Palladium Nights Orchestra; the Omar Thomas Large Ensemble with Stefon Harris; guitarist David Gilmore and Energies of Change, and more.
Jon Garelick
The self-directed chamber orchestra has an ambitious season cued up, beginning with a program titled “Trans/Americana” featuring works by Philip Glass, Gabriela Lena Frank, Villa-Lobos, and Alberto Ginastera.
Jeremy Eichler
In a shared program, North Atlantic Dance Theatre offers two takes on a composition by Beau Kenyon, with choreography by Gianni Di Marco and Andrew Kelley, and Lorraine Chapman The Company presents David Parker’s solo for Chapman, “Madame Sherry,” plus Chapman’s “Solemn Moment” and the recent trio “Salute,” set to Beethoven.
Karen Campbell
I’ll just say it: Madonna’s new album, “Rebel Heart,” is far better than it was given credit for, revealing some tenderness behind all that sass. See for yourself when the pop icon comes to town bearing three decades of hits (and some misses) on a tour that will no doubt showcase her strength and resolve.
James Reed
This young Canadian country singer’s je ne sais quoi was sufficient to induce the Mavericks’ Raul Malo to take her under his wing. Bonus: Seattle’s Stacy Earl opens the show.
Stuart Munro
Violinist In Mo Yang returns to the ensemble (Sept. 27) with Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, under the baton of music director Steven Lipsitt, in a program that also includes Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4. Then it’s cellist Allison Eldredge as the featured soloist (Oct. 25) in Haydn’s Cello Concerto in C Major.
Jeremy Eichler
In honor of the 30th anniversary of “Psychocandy,” its seminal debut, the Jesus and Mary Chain is playing the album in its entirety on this tour. If the Scottish band’s shows at the Paradise Rock Club in 2012 were any indication, brothers Jim and William Reid are still a dirty one-two punch to the gut.
James Reed
Starting in October
Andris Nelsons opens the new BSO season with an all-Russian program devoted to works by Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky, and Rachmaninoff, with piano soloist Evgeny Kissin (Oct. 1-3). Opera fans will not want to miss the orchestra’s concert performances of Strauss’s “Elektra” (Oct. 15 and 17).
Jeremy Eichler
In what is described as “a mystery told through flashbacks,’’ Courtney Love and Todd Almond costar as a pair of lovers who split up when one heads out “in search of destiny,’’ and then disappears. With music and lyrics by Almond, direction by Kevin Newbury, and choreography by Sam Pinkleton.
Don Aucoin
The 26-year-old Miami-born singer has been tearing up club and festival audiences since the release of her breakout 2013 CD “WomanChild.” She comes to town on the heels of her new “For One to Love,” backed by the brilliant Aaron Diehl Trio, covering everything from Bacharach-David’s “Wives and Lovers” to Blanche Calloway’s “Growlin’ Dan,” with a couple of sharp originals thrown in.
Jon Garelick
The sublime and the sobering mingle on Vile’s new album, “b’lieve I’m goin down. . .,” which is out Sept. 25 and features the Philadelphia singer-songwriter’s signature mix of acoustic chords and bracing sentiments. With Waxahatchee and Luke Roberts as the openers.
James Reed
Harry Christophers kicks off the new season for the period instrument orchestra and chorus with two performances of Mozart’s “Requiem” (Oct. 2 and 4) in Symphony Hall. Richard Egarr then arrives for a Jordan Hall program devoted mostly to works by Gabrielli and Castello (Oct. 30 and Nov. 1).
Jeremy Eichler
BEMF starts its local concert season with a recital by soprano Emma Kirkby and lutenist Jakob Lindberg (Oct. 2), and continues with Solamente Naturali (Oct. 16) and mezzo-soprano Anne-Sofie von Otter (Nov. 9). For this fall’s chamber opera, BEMF revives Handel’s “Acis and Galatea,” with a cast that includes Aaron Sheehan, Teresa Wakim, Douglas Williams, and Jason McStoots (Nov. 28-29).
Jeremy Eichler
BLO’s fall season commences with Puccini’s “La Bohème,” in a new production directed by Rosetta Cucchi and conducted by David Angus (Oct. 2–11). Then comes its annual off-site offering, this year devoted to Philip Glass’s chamber opera adaptation of Franz Kafka’s “In the Penal Colony” (Nov. 11-15).
Jeremy Eichler
The Boston premiere of Ruby Rae Spiegel’s drama about the friendship between two teenage girls in Florida as they grapple with the issue of do-it-yourself abortion. The play premiered to critical acclaim in New York last year, when Spiegel was only 21 and still a student at Yale. Steven Bogart (“Shockheaded Peter’’) directs.
Don Aucoin
The first US survey of the work of Boyce, who won Britain’s Turner Prize in 2011 and represented Scotland at the Venice Biennale in 2009. Boyce’s art reveals a fascination with the aesthetic and social legacy of modernist design and its relationship to natural forms.
Sebastian Smee
Twin sisters and Naomi and Lisa-Kaindé Díazcq make music with no fixed provenance or genre. As Ibeyi, their soulful songs draw on their French-Cuban heritage and its connections to Yoruba culture. The only constant is the young artists’ desire to explore how their roots have informed who they are.
James Reed
A progenitor of electronic music starting in the early 1970s, Kraftwerk showed an uncanny ability to foresee the rise and dominance of our digital age. With founding member Ralf Hütter still at the helm, the German band’s live shows are typically just as innovative.
James Reed
Ideas of drawing are extended into sculpture, photography, and other media by this quintet of contemporary artists.
Sebastian Smee
No need to crane your neck to get an up-close-and-personal look, as Mass Audubon scientists will be capturing, examining, and releasing migrant songbirds at the Joppa Flats Bird Banding Station. Bring cameras and binoculars anyway. Ages 6 and up.
Jeff Wagenheim
With a new album, “Still Got That Hunger,” expected in early October, the Zombies are saluting their past first. The English psychedelic pop legends are playing “Odessey and Oracle,” their 1968 classic that gave the world “Time of the Season,” front to back on their new tour.
James Reed
It’s been a while since we’ve seen the hurtin’ Albertan in these parts, and he rides in just in time to celebrate the release of a new CD, “Things That Can’t Be Undone.”
Stuart Munro
With bracingly original works like “Exit, Pursued by a Bear’’ and “Emilie: La Marquise du Chatelet Defends Her Life Tonight,’’ playwright Lauren Gunderson has proven herself to be a voice worth listening to. Winner of the Harold and Mimi Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award, which recognizes plays that premiered outside of New York, “I and You’’ is a two-character drama about two teenagers, one of them a hater of poetry, who are drawn together while working on a school project about Walt Whitman. Directed by Sean Daniels.
Don Aucoin
Boston’s stellar progressive big band Aardvark kicks off its 43d season celebrating the release of the CD “Deep River,” by the outfit’s longtime guitarist, Richard Nelson. Also on the bill are bandleader Mark Harvey’s “NOLA,” a tribute to New Orleans, marking the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, as well as “Second Line,” from Duke Ellington’s “New Orleans Suite,” and a Billy Strayhorn centennial tribute arrangement of “Chelsea Bridge.”
Jon Garelick
For this first installment of a planned trilogy, choreographer Faye Driscoll, composer Michael Kiley, and five performers explore how people see themselves in relation to others via the shifting dynamics of the group experience.
Karen Campbell
A new musical created by and starring the Australian-born actress, cabaret performer, and comedienne who specializes in unpredictable, hard-to-categorize performances. (One critic described her as a “diva of disaster who is always in complete control.’’) Directed by Leigh Silverman (“Violet’’).
Don Aucoin
An overview of Maine’s energetic contemporary art scene, selected by curator Alison Ferris.
Sebastian Smee
A single-painting exhibition. On loan from the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the work was painted by the great French colorist in 1913.
Sebastian Smee
There will be crowd-pleasing anthems, abundant sing-alongs, and a near-certain full house when tropical-salsa superstar Anthony and Colombian Latin-pop legend Vives hit the Garden on their “Unido2” joint tour.
Siddhartha Mitter
The company opens its 30th season with “Rumblings,” a program featuring one of the veteran choreographer’s most compelling ballets, “Isle of the Dead” (1993), set to Sergei Rachmaninoff’s eponymous score. It also performs “Circles” (2010), set to the music of Schnittke, and the witch-hunt inspired “Covens” (2005).
Karen Campbell
A show about the many forms of creativity inspired by this small, experimental, and hugely influential liberal arts college in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains. Includes work by Robert Rauschenberg, Ruth Asawa, Anni and Josef Albers, Merce Cunningham, John Cage, Robert Motherwell, Jacob Lawrence, Elaine and Willem de Kooning, Buckminster Fuller, and others. A rich program of performance events rounds out the show.
Sebastian Smee
From miniature artworks to interactive experiments with size, scale, and proportion, this exhibit of sculpture, photography, and installations will challenge perceptions of the vast universe (or small world?) around us.
Jeff Wagenheim
Another big Latin show, this one from the Bronx-born, Puerto Rico-raised Manuelle, for two decades a leading figure in the New York salsa tradition, with a penchant for smoothing it out with a ballad.
Siddhartha Mitter
The Steeps have always managed to make music that is both traditionalist and expansive. Their brand-new record, “Radio,” which finds them flouting bluegrass orthodoxy with the addition of a percussionist, is no different.
Stuart Munro
Seventeen-time X Games medalist Travis Pastrana, a motocross rider and former NASCAR driver, is ringleader of a daredevil troupe performing over-the-edge stunts on bikes and skates. Brace yourself for thrills as explosive as nitroglycerin.
Jeff Wagenheim
A sustained, scholarly, and visually resplendent examination of the way Dutch Golden Age painting reflects the full spectrum of Dutch society, from the poorest and lowest born to the richest and most regal. Includes work by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Hals, Ter Borch, and many others, lent by major museums around the world.
Sebastian Smee
This Portland, Ore., band just released a new record, but its last one — a start-to-finish cover of Neil Young’s classic “Harvest,” released on Record Store Day last spring — showed where its collective hearts lies.
Stuart Munro
Over 20 years of making records, the sheer brilliance of his wordplay (“Rock Bottom, Pop. 1“) and his scathing wit (“Countrier Than Thou“) have proved Fulks to be the perfect country (and anti-country) artist.
Stuart Munro
Children of all ages never outgrow the elephants, clowns, and flying trapeze of the “Legends” show. These guys long ago trademarked the phrase “The Greatest Show on Earth,” and generations of glow-stick-wielding onlookers have backed that claim.
Jeff Wagenheim
A selection of works, made by African artists between 1800 and the present, that grapple with the slave trade, colonization, and mining, as filtered through the lens of the land.
Sebastian Smee
There’s something different about the cover of Ortega’s new record, “Faded Gloryville” — her trademark “little red boots” are nowhere to be seen in the shot. Her feisty rockabilly-country mix is still very much in evidence, though.
Stuart Munro
At 6 foot 8 inches, award-winning tapper Ryan P. Casey is a commanding stage presence. But he’s also surprisingly fleet, technically assured, and whimsically inventive. This latest solo venture intersperses his choreography with personal reflections on life and dance.
Karen Campbell
For this World Music/CRASHarts engagement, the witty, imaginative Varone and his versatile troupe bring a program that includes the Boston premiere of his new “ReComposed,” inspired by the explosive pastel drawings of renowned American abstract artist Joan Mitchell. The score includes a reworking of Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” by Max Richter.
Karen Campbell
Celebrity Series of Boston presents the US premiere of choreographer Mauro Astolfi’s “Le Quattro Stagioni,” set to Vivaldi’s classic score. Additional music by Luca Salvadori is complemented by bird songs, ancient modal melodies, electronic fragments, and even a little glass harmonica and bass flute.
Karen Campbell
Leonard Bernstein outdid himself when he composed the score for this retelling of “Romeo and Juliet,’’ immersed in the gang feuds of New York in the 1950s. With lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by Arthur Laurents. Directed by Stacey Stephens, with choreography by Wendy Hall, and starring Kim Corbett as Maria and Jeffrey Zicker as Tony.
Don Aucoin
The distinguished Colombian band, led by harpist Carlos Rojas, is devoted to both preserving and innovating on the llanera sound of the country’s central plains, a cattle-raising land whose ruggedness and big sky the sound conveys.
Siddhartha Mitter
Notable Celebrity Series performers this fall include soprano Dawn Upshaw and pianist Gilbert Kalish (Oct. 17), pianist Lang Lang (Oct. 25), cellist Yo-Yo Ma (Nov. 17), and the Takacs Quartet (Dec. 4).
Jeremy Eichler
The first and most performed of composer Seymour Barab’s operas adapted from fairy tales will both entertain children and teach them why they should listen to their mothers.
Jeff Wagenheim
The heroine is Cindy Lou Rella in this Robert Rogers Puppet Company production. There is no prince’s ball in this retelling of the folk tale, but the rodeo does come to town, and Cindy aspires to cowgirl glory. The Americana feel is augmented by music of Aaron Copland.
Jeff Wagenheim
As part of the ICA’s celebration of the creativity fostered from 1933 to 1957 at Black Mountain College, dancer Polly Motley offers a rare opportunity to see this avant-garde 1951 satire choreographed by former Humphrey-Weidman dancer and teacher Katherine Litz. It imaginatively manipulates a tubelike costume of jersey cloth to evoke a wide range of creatures and personas.
Karen Campbell
Adults might view this exhibit of Matthew Clowney photos of transgender grandparent Erica Tobias and her family through a sociopolitical lens. Kids might just see these depictions of everyday life as a beautiful family photo album
Jeff Wagenheim
The towering South African pianist and composer Abdullah Ibrahim, now 80, hasn’t played Boston in far too long. Combining the traditional strains of Cape Town with Ellingtonian lyricism, he’s joined by his longtime ensemble Ekaya in this World Music/CRASHarts event.
Jon Garelick
“Quiet Please: Recording in Progress.” So reads the title screen of Garbage’s website, with frontwoman Shirley Manson recently confirming a new album is coming next year. In the meantime, the Scottish rockers are playing their self-titled 1995 debut in its entirety on a tour that features the powerful singer-songwriter Torres as the opening act.
James Reed
After a few years away from the spotlight, the sweet-voiced Touré, who is based in Paris and hails from a rich Senegalese musical tradition, refreshes his elegant pan-African pop on a brand-new album, “Amonafi.”
Siddhartha Mitter
Brazilian singer and guitarist Badi Assad offers an eclectic, occasionally edgy, style of MPB (música popular Brasileira, a glorious catch-all of a genre), with the technical skill of a jazz singer; lately, she’s been mixing a few songs in English.
Siddhartha Mitter
Benjamin Zander’s orchestra begins with a pairing of Strauss’s “Also Sprach Zarathustra” and Holst’s “The Planets” (Oct. 22). Then comes a return to Wagner, with soprano Alwyn Mellor joining for a program of excerpts from some of the composer’s best-known operas (Nov. 18-22).
Jeremy Eichler
The first show dedicated to the great Renaissance painter in the United States. The show is in two parts: The first reunites four of the six sections of Crivelli’s Porto San Giorgio altarpiece. The second gathers together 20 other Crivelli paintings from US and European collections.
Sebastian Smee
A rising star on the Cape Verdean scene with an appealing rasp to his voice, singer-songwriter Sança covers the gamut of the archipelago’s folk styles, such as morna and coladeira; his debut EP came out last year.
Siddhartha Mitter
This recent work choreographed by Jody Weber examines the upsurge of wealth generated by the Industrial Revolution via an imagined conversation between a 19th-century factory worker and a contemporary woman. How fitting that the performances take place at a museum dedicated to industry and innovation.
Karen Campbell
Martin Pearlman leads off his ensemble’s season with Vivaldi’s rarely spotted oratorio “Juditha Triumphans,” with vocal soloists Amanda Forsythe, Daniela Mack, and Leah Wool.
Jeremy Eichler
Playwright Katori Hall is best-known for “The Mountaintop,’’ a drama about the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. that is set on the eve of his assassination. In “Saturday Night/Sunday Morning,’’ which premiered in Chicago last year, Hall focuses on the interplay among seven African-American women in a Memphis beauty parlor/boarding house, wondering what the future holds as the end of World War II draws near, heralding the return home of their husbands and boyfriends. Directed by Dawn M. Simmons.
Don Aucoin
Sculptures, installations, text pieces, and publications feature in this first US survey of the acclaimed Italian artist based in Berlin. Includes a new film, “The Color Out of Space,” featuring images of stars and planets from an observatory in Troy, N.Y.
Sebastian Smee
The 38th edition of this annual rite of fall is titled “Ornette ’n’ Trane,” paying tribute not only to the namesake jazz legend but also to his equally iconic friend, Ornette Coleman, who died in June. The program will include Coleman pieces that Coltrane recorded, as well as Coltrane originals. Hosted by WGBH radio’s Eric Jackson, the event will feature the stellar JCM Ensemble: Carl Atkins, Billy Buss, Leonard Brown, Jeff Galindo, Laszlo Gardony, Yoron Israel, John Lockwood, Jason Palmer, Rick Stepton, Stan Strickland, and Bobby Tynes.
Jon Garelick
This little yellow cartoon alien is at the center of minimalist, often absurd songs — created and sung live by Morgan Taylor — that tell a story just trippy enough to enchant both children and their parents. On different planes, generally.
Jeff Wagenheim
Scott Edmiston directs the New England premiere of Harvey Fierstein’s Tony-nominated play, inspired by real events, about a group of heterosexual married men who meet on weekends at a Catskills bungalow colony in 1962 to dress and act like women. Eventually, they face the choice of whether or not to go public. The cast includes Thomas Derrah, Kerry A. Dowling, Will McGarrahan, Robert Saoud, Timothy Crowe, and Greg Maraio.
Don Aucoin
A band that’s reinvented the idea of the jazz piano trio, with a book of unlikely covers (Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man,” Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring”) and intricately designed originals, the Bad Plus (pianist Ethan Iverson, bassist Reid Anderson, and drummer David King) earlier this year released a provocative CD collaboration with Joshua Redman, one of the most formidable saxophonists of his generation. By now, their live show should be humming.
Jon Garelick
They’ve claimed this could be the band’s final world tour, so make haste if you’ve always wanted to see the Who’s Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend in all their frenetic, windmilling glory. And be sure to catch the opening set from Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, who will give the evening its official mantra: “I Love Rock N Roll.”
James Reed
Starting in November
It’s billed as the “Adios Tour,” so this is a last chance to see the Cuban band that emerged from the late-’90s album and film, with the divine Omara Portuondo and guitarist Eliades Ochoa, among others, still going strong.
Siddhartha Mitter
Only 31 but with a deep grasp of Hindustani classical tradition, Arshad Ali Khan sings in the Kirana school (which produced the master Bhimsen Joshi); his art bodes well for the style’s generational renewal.
Siddhartha Mitter
A fine twofer that features the Turnpike Troubadours’ Red Dirt version of honky-tonk and the expansive roots music of the Black Lillies.
Stuart Munro
Abby Mueller stars as Carole King in this charming bio-musical about King’s remarkable career, including her early marriage to songwriting partner Gerry Goffin and their friendship with fellow songwriters Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann. Mueller’s sister, Jessie, portrayed King so well on Broadway that she won the 2014 Tony Award as best lead actress in a musical.
Don Aucoin
A quintessentially Istanbul band, cosmopolitan, innovative, and quirky, inspired by Turkish and Western psychedelic rock; its spaced-out sound, prone to incantations and ululations, lends itself to trance and dub remixes.
Siddhartha Mitter
Well into a career renaissance that has recognized her as an unsinkable dynamo of soul and gospel, Staples is on the road with another powerhouse singer, Osborne. To lift a line from the Staple Singers: They’ll take you there.
James Reed
The award-winning Havana-based company of 25 dancers and musicians makes its Boston debut with the area premiere of “Cuba Vibra,” which showcases the vibrant sensuality and rhythmic flair of Afro-Cuban dance. Presented by World Music/CRASHarts.
Karen Campbell
A powerhouse bill: plenty-tough roots from Two Bags (a.k.a. Jonny Wickersham, guitar player for Social Distortion), the one-man-band onslaught of Biram, and muscular honky-tonk from Dayton.
Stuart Munro
Nick Offerman, who played the gruffly endearing Ron Swanson on “Parks and Recreation,’’ has a chance to put his stamp on another outsized eccentric with very emphatic opinions: Ignatius J. Reilly, the entertainingly misanthropic protagonist of the Pulitzer-winning novel by the late John Kennedy Toole. Adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher (“Three Viewings”) and directed by David Esbjornson (“All My Sons,’’ “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”).
Don Aucoin
One of the most important pianists and composers in modern Cuban music, Chucho Valdés brings his seminal band Irakere to town for this Celebrity Series of Boston concert as part of a special 40th anniversary tour.
Jon Garelick
He had the summer’s ultimate jam, “Can’t Feel My Face,” which he recently performed to rousing heights at the MTV VMAs, and now the Weeknd’s Abel Tesfaye is touring behind his latest album, “Beauty Behind the Madness.” He’ll have Banks and Travis Scott to get the party started.
James Reed
Former Cunningham dancer Silas Riener performs the late postmodern master’s legendary solo “Changeling.” Crafted using chance procedures at Black Mountain College, it was lost for decades before this new reconstruction. Part of the ICA’s tribute to the college’s influence, the performance also includes Boston Conservatory students in excerpts from other Cunningham works.
Karen Campbell
Among the dozens of free events at the New England Conservatory this season (including a solo concert by pianist and composer Fred Hersch, Oct. 29), this tribute to the grand guru of NEC’s borderless Third Stream department (now known as Contemporary Improvisation) will be extra special. NEC colleagues Eden MacAdam-Somer and Aaron Hartley are bringing together students and faculty, past and present (including saxophonist Ricky Ford), and we can also expect a performance from the man himself.
Jon Garelick
Melding dance with the contortions, balances, and gravity-defying acrobatics of the circus arts, this 14-member Australian troupe is joined by the string ensemble Quatuor Debussy for “Opus.” An exploration of the complex dynamics between the individual and the group, “Opus” is fueled by the music of three of Shostakovich’s brilliant quartets. Presented by Celebrity Series of Boston.
Karen Campbell
The Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra opens its family concert season with this narrated symphony created for children by Sergei Prokofiev. It’s young-attention-span-friendly, clocking in at just under an hour.
Jeff Wagenheim
Picture Book Theatre uses puppets, dance, and costumes to bring to life Eric Carle’s picture books “Rooster’s Off to See the World” and “‘Slowly, Slowly, Slowly,’ Said the Sloth.” It’s Carle’s iconic artwork in three dimensions and in motion.
Jeff Wagenheim
Cantata Singers opens with an eclectic program under guest conductor Joseph Flummerfelt (Oct. 10); Blue Heron continues its ambitious Ockeghem project with the composer’s “Missa L’homme armé” (Oct. 17); Boston Cecilia opens with works by Howells and Nicholas White (Oct. 18); Musica Sacra has a Renaissance program (Oct. 24); Chorus pro Musica begins with Bach, Esenvalds, and more (Nov. 7); Back Bay Chorale sings Brahms and Schubert (Nov. 7); Masterworks Chorale takes on the Fauré Requiem (Nov. 13); and Cappella Clausura offers music by Copland, Rebecca Clarke, and Elena Ruehr (Nov. 14-15).
Jeremy Eichler
Formed in 2002, the Soweto Gospel Choir quickly vaulted to the top of South Africa’s cultural exports, conveying the country’s rich vocal traditions and inspirational, syncretistic messages. (Matinee show.)
Siddhartha Mitter
The guitarist and composer Garrison Fewell, who died July 5 at the age of 61, left an inspiring legacy, both as teacher (at Berklee) and performer — a peerless mainstream player who reinvented himself late in his career as a lyrical free improviser. Guitarist and Fewell collaborator Eric Hofbauer has organized a tribute intended to sketch Fewell’s remarkable musical journey. Other players will include saxophonists Jim Hobbs and Charlie Kohlhase and drummer Luther Gray.
Jon Garelick
Legendary flamenco guitarist Paco Peña and his talented troupe of dancers, singers, and instrumentalists offer the Boston premiere of the new “Flamencura,” which highlights both flamenco’s traditions and its contemporary relevance. Presented by World Music/CRASHarts.
Karen Campbell
Hard to know exactly where this unlikely collaboration sprang from, but the combination of Ry Cooder, Ricky Skaggs, and Sharon White should make for one of the fall’s most interesting shows.
Stuart Munro
The Official 2016 Texas State Musician turns his eye to West Texas, the place where he was raised and has spent his life, on the first record he’s released in four years, “Panhandle Rambler.”
Stuart Munro
As the holidays approach, this funny tale of an orphan mistakenly transported to Santa’s workshop might inspire children to beg for a family trip to the North Pole. Based on the 2003 film — but loosely, since the movie isn’t a musical.
Jeff Wagenheim
The title of this Nashville up-and-comer’s song, “Honky Tonk Moan,” provides the perfect description for the sound of his Hank-channeling voice and music. Tyson is another one to keep an eye on.
Stuart Munro
People are still talking about his sold-out show at Great Scott back in June, where the Vegas-born singer turned the Allston club into his own private dance floor. The rising star broke out this year with the release of his assured and hyperfun debut, “Ratchet.”
James Reed
A couple of seasons ago, the Celebrity Series presented the brilliant Brazilian jazz singer and composer Luciana Souza in an unforgettable show at Sanders Theatre with her Speaking in Tongues band. Now she’s back with the same superb crew for two shows at the Regattabar: guitarist and singer Lionel Loueke, harmonica player Grégoire Maret, bassist Massimo Biolcati, and drummer Kendrick Scott.
Jon Garelick
The rhythm section of the Wayne Shorter Quartet, pianist Pérez, bassist Patitucci, and drummer Blade have launched a trio with a new CD, “Children of the Light,” and everyone contributing compositions. Twelve-year-old Balinese jazz-piano phenom Joey Alexander will open.
Jon Garelick
Tony-winning tango artists Fernanda Ghi and Guillermo Merlo, along with musician Alfredo Minetti, bring their company of 12 dancers and musicians for the world premiere of “CARMEN . . . de Buenos Aires.” Blending tango and flamenco, the production features an original score that mines the familiar melodies of Bizet’s opera classic. Presented by World Music/CRASHarts.
Karen Campbell
The mighty Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra holds forth at Symphony Hall, undoubtedly playing a selection or two by trumpeter, artistic director, and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Wynton Marsalis. Expect the arrangements to be spot-on, the ensembles tight, and the soloists sharp.
Jon Garelick
Starting in December
Nothing has created more buzz this season than the nascent trio led by veteran drummer and composer DeJohnette, 73, with saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, 50, and electric bassist Matt Garrison, 45. And yes, Ravi is a son of John, and Matt of John Coltrane Quartet bassist Jimmy.
Jon Garelick
Special section
Your complete guide to 2015 fall arts
