{"id":309284,"date":"2026-10-18T12:36:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-18T12:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/309284\/"},"modified":"2026-10-18T12:36:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T12:36:09","slug":"suddenly-last-summer-sphinx-virtuosi-and-carmina-burana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/309284\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Suddenly Last Summer,’ Sphinx Virtuosi, and ‘Carmina burana’"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the intimate drama of a new chamber opera to the full-throated spectacle of Carmina burana, the expressive potential of the human voice is on full display in this week\u2019s Fanfare. Sing (or listen) to your heart\u2019s content! And if you aren\u2019t yet receiving this free concert guide in your inbox, subscribe now<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Spotlight: Suddenly Last Summer \u2014 Thursday, Friday, and Oct. 25, Forrest Theatre<\/p>\n

\u201cIn memory everything seems to happen to music,\u201d wrote Tennessee Williams in The Glass Menagerie. Memory \u2014 and the fight over who gets to control it \u2014 is at the center of Suddenly Last Summer, his 1958 one-act play about Catherine Holly, who returns to New Orleans haunted by the mysterious death of her cousin Sebastian. In her first opera, composer Courtney Bryan<\/a> sets Williams\u2019 play with a striking conceit: Catherine (soprano Mikaela Bennett) is the only principal character who sings, while the other principal characters speak. This divide throws the play\u2019s central conflict \u2014 who gets to tell the story and whose version will be believed \u2014 into sharp relief.<\/p>\n

A 2023 MacArthur Fellow<\/a> and former Opera Philadelphia Composer-in-Residence<\/a>, Bryan began developing the work during her tenure with the company. Following its world premiere at Bard College earlier this year, Suddenly Last Summer receives its Philadelphia premiere at the Forrest Theatre under conductor Nathan Koci. (Our Editorial Director, Nate Chinen<\/a>, recently had an illuminating conversation with Bryan; watch out for it this week at WRTI.org<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Oct. 22 at 7 p.m., Oct. 23 at 8 p.m., and Oct. 25 at 2 p.m., Forrest Theatre, 1114 Walnut Street, $11-$250; tickets and information<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Steve Reich at 90: Electric Counterpoint and Beyond \u2014 Monday, Parkway Central Library<\/p>\n

The pioneering and hugely influential American composer Steve Reich<\/a> turned 90 earlier this month. To celebrate, the Free Library of Philadelphia presents a free recital by guitarist and composer Thomas Schuttenhelm. At the center of the program is Reich\u2019s landmark 1987 work Electric Counterpoint; Schuttenhelm, who also serves as Artistic Director of Network for New Music<\/a>, will perform music by Philadelphia composer Quinn Collins that pays homage to Reich\u2019s innovations.<\/p>\n

Oct. 19 at 6 p.m., Parkway Central Library, 1901 Vine Street, Free; more information<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Mezzo-soprano<\/p>\n

Arvin Prem Kumar<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

Courtesy of the Artist<\/p>\n

Mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges.<\/p>\n

Philadelphia Chamber Music Society \u2014 Various Dates, Various Locations<\/p>\n

The 2026-27 PCMS season gets off to a fast start with three concerts this week. On Friday, Sphinx Virtuosi<\/a>, an ensemble of top Black and Latinx string players, is joined by mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges<\/a> for a program exploring the notion of American identity. Anchored by the Philadelphia premiere of Damien Geter\u2019s song cycle Declaration (with a libretto by Sphinx founder Aaron Dworkin), the program also includes works by Jessie Montgomery, Roberto Sierra, Ravel, and Stravinsky.<\/p>\n

Both of this week\u2019s other programs are sold out, but you can email the PCMS box office to add your name to the waitlist. On Monday, Don Liuzzi<\/a>, The Philadelphia Orchestra\u2019s longtime principal timpanist, gathers friends and colleagues for a farewell concert featuring Takemitsu, Debussy, and some of his own compositions as he marks his final season with the Orchestra. And next Sunday, violinist Carmit Zori<\/a> leads a formidable group of chamber music veterans through a program of Schubert, Dvo\u0159\u00e1k, and Brahms.<\/p>\n

Don Liuzzi & Friends: Oct. 19 at 7:30 p.m., Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, 300 S Broad Street, sold out (waitlist: contact 215-569-8080 or boxoffice@pcmsconcerts.org); tickets and information<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sphinx Virtuosi: Oct. 23 at 7:30 p.m., Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, 300 S Broad Street, $32; tickets and information<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Carmit Zori: Oct. 25 at 2 p.m., American Philosophical Society, 427 Chestnut Street, sold out (waitlist: contact 215-569-8080 or boxoffice@pcmsconcerts.org); tickets and information<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Philadelphia Orchestra: Carmina burana \u2014 Thursday, Friday, Saturday & Oct. 25, Marian Anderson Hall<\/p>\n

Even if you don\u2019t know Carmina burana by name, chances are you\u2019ve heard its thunderous opening chorus, \u201cO Fortuna,\u201d in a movie trailer or TV commercial. Yannick N\u00e9zet-S\u00e9guin<\/a> leads Carl Orff\u2019s sprawling celebration of fate, springtime, drinking, and love with soprano Janai Brugger, tenor Jonah Hoskins, baritone Will Liverman<\/a>, the Philadelphia Symphonic Choir, and three local youth choruses. It\u2019s preceded by two vivid curtain-raisers: Samuel Coleridge-Taylor\u2019s Ballade in A minor and Gabriela Ortiz\u2019s Clara, a musical portrait of Clara and Robert Schumann\u2019s turbulent marriage.<\/p>\n

Oct. 22 at 7:30 p.m., Oct. 23 at 2 p.m., Oct. 24 at 8 p.m., and Oct. 25 at 2 p.m., Marian Anderson Hall, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, 300 South Broad Street, $80-$254; tickets and information<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"BlackBox<\/p>\n

Kayla Miller<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

Courtesy of the Artists<\/p>\n

BlackBox Ensemble performing at the BlackBox Festival, 2025.<\/p>\n

BlackBox Ensemble \u2014 Saturday, The Perch<\/p>\n

Two American anniversaries converge in this program from New York\u2019s BlackBox Ensemble<\/a>: the centennial of composer Morton Feldman and the nation\u2019s 250th birthday. Feldman\u2019s Four Songs to e.e. cummings shares the bill with Elliott Carter\u2019s A Mirror on Which to Dwell, composed for the 1976 Bicentennial, and Tania Le\u00f3n\u2019s In the Field, a song cycle on poems by Carlos Pintado reflecting on Philadelphia\u2019s historical landmarks.<\/p>\n

Oct. 24 at 8 p.m., The Perch, 2321 Emerald Street, $15-$25; tickets and information<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Crossing: Time \u2014 Oct. 25, The Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill<\/p>\n

The Crossing<\/a> opens its 2026-27 season by contemplating time on both a geological and distinctly local scale. The program is headlined by the East Coast premiere of Nicholas Cline\u2019s The Sea Came Up and Drowned, which sets poems by Rachel Jamison Webster drawn from John McPhee\u2019s monumental geological history Annals of the Former World. It\u2019s paired with Joshua Stamper\u2019s 2017 \u2019mid the steep sky\u2019s commotion, with a found-text libretto fashioned from \u201cobjects that have been moved, gathered, and discarded by the wind\u201d on the streets of Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

Oct. 25 at 5 p.m., The Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill, 8855 Germantown Avenue, $42 ($32 for seniors and $21 for students); tickets and information<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From the intimate drama of a new chamber opera to the full-throated spectacle of Carmina burana, the expressive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":309285,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[69,71,70],"class_list":["post-309284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=309284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309284\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/309285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=309284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=309284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=309284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}