Classical Uprising
Fall 2023's top 10 classical performances include Richard Goode, Audra McDonald and Anthony McGill
Will climate change scramble the seasonal context of Antonio Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" violin concertos? This Maine group offers a thought-provoking revision, "The [uncertain] Four Seasons," with violinist Jesse Irons and the Minnesota Opera Orchestra. (7:30 p.m. Sept. 30, O'Shaughnessy Auditorium, St. Catherine University, 2004 Randolph Av., St. Paul, $5-$33, 651-690-6700 or oshag.stkate.edu)
Stile Antico
The 12-voice English a cappella group is among early music's most popular ensembles, with multiple awards and three Grammy nominations to its credit. They'll harmonize on the resonant Renaissance music of England's William Byrd in Landmark Center's cathedral-like acoustics. (7:30 p.m. Oct. 10, 75 W. Fifth St., St. Paul, free-$33, 651-292-3268 or schubert.org)
Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Lisa Batiashvili and Gautier Capuçon
Three star soloists and good friends unite to play works for piano, violin and cello by Joseph Haydn, Maurice Ravel and Felix Mendelssohn, opening the Schubert Club's International Artist Series season. By the way, Schubert Club concerts are now free for students and children. (7:30 p.m. Oct. 17, Ordway Music Theater, 345 Washington St., St. Paul, free-$75, 651-292-3268 or schubert.org)
Anthony McGill and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra
That "free for students and children" offer goes for the SPCO, too. Bring the family when one of the world's great clarinetists performs concertos by Joseph Bologne and Mozart. (11 a.m. Oct. 20 and 7 p.m. Oct. 21, Ordway Concert Hall, 345 Washington St., St. Paul, 2 p.m. Oct. 22, Benson Great Hall, Bethel University, 3900 Bethel Drive, Arden Hills, free-$55, 651-291-1144 or thespco.org)
Audra McDonald
America's queen of musical theater is just an Oscar short of the EGOT, as she's won six Tonys, two Grammys and an Emmy. She'll sing an evening's worth of art song, show tunes and pop with the Minnesota Orchestra. (7 p.m. Nov. 4, Orchestra Hall, 1111 Nicollet Mall, $65-$125, 612-371-5656 or minnesotaorchestra.org)
'Cruzar la Cara de la Luna'
Minnesota Opera thinks outside the conventional opera box by opening its season with this mariachi opera by José "Pepe" Martínez and Leonard Foglia, in which the members of a multigenerational Mexican American family seek a sense of belonging. (7:30 p.m. Nov. 4, Nov. 9 and Nov. 11, and 2 p.m. Nov. 12, Ordway Music Theater, $26-$239, 612-333-6669 or mnopera.org)
Richard Goode
One of the world's finest pianists offers an intimate Chopin Society recital. After a fantasia and a sonata by Mozart, he'll devote the concert's second half to Beethoven's devilishly demanding "Diabelli" Variations. (3 p.m. Nov. 12, Mairs Concert Hall, Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center, 130 Macalester St., St. Paul, $20-$40, chopinsocietymn.org)
Bertrand Chamayou and the Minnesota Orchestra
In 2019, this rising star of a French pianist won the Gramophone Award for Recording of the Year for two Camille Saint-Saëns piano concertos he recorded with the French National Orchestra. One of them was the Fifth, which he'll perform with his countryman, Fabien Gabel, and the orchestra. (11 a.m. Nov. 16, 8 p.m. Nov. 17, 7 p.m. Nov. 18, Orchestra Hall, $25-$106, 612-371-5656 or minnesotaorchestra.org)
Miloš
The Montenegro-born classical guitarist not only regularly tops the classical charts with each new album, but also hits the pop charts with everything from Joaquín Rodrigo to the Beatles. Baroque music will be the chief focus of his two Schubert Club recitals. (7:30 p.m. Nov. 18, 3 p.m. Nov. 19, Ordway Concert Hall, free-$75, 651-292-3268 or schubert.org)
The Kahanes and the SPCO
Celebrated pianist and conductor Jeffrey Kahane will turn the baton over to his son, composer Gabriel Kahane, and man the keys on a new piano concerto by Kahane the younger and a fresh arrangement of George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue." (7 p.m. Nov. 24 and 25, 2 p.m. Nov. 26, Ordway Concert Hall, free-$55, 651-291-1144 or thespco.org)
Critics’ picks for entertainment in the week ahead.