Anticipation: 10 things we’re looking forward to in Music in 2025

As Bob Dylan once sang, the times they are a-changin’. Since the pandemic lockdown in March 2020, the music festival lineup has shifted considerably, but there is still plenty to enjoy. Changes are happening on the jazz and classical front, too, including new venues, competitions and lots of Beethoven. (Since we mentioned Dylan, be sure to check out the biopic A Complete Unknown.)

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A final decision on the TikTok ban

Will they, won’t they allow TikTok in the United States? The social platform behemoth is where many musicians get their start or build audiences. If it’s banned, it will have a huge impact on their careers and what we will be listening to in the future. We are — ahem — staying tuned.

New jazz venues

Jazz clubs have been through hard times in Atlanta. The Velvet Note in Alpharetta is open but struggling financially with few major events lined up and Churchill Grounds closed a long time ago, in 2016. So we were excited to learn that Churchill Grounds is looking to open again in East Atlanta, and there are plans for a new club in downtown Decatur: Jazz saxophonist Will Scruggs has acquired what was once the Decatur post office and more recently Greene’s Fine Foods and is converting it into the Cornerstone Jazz Center, a multi-use facility with a 140-seat performance hall and a high-end restaurant.

Shaky Knees’ new spot

The much loved Shaky Knees Festival is moving to Piedmont Park (September 19 through September 21), filling the typical slot for Music Midtown, which announced an indefinite hiatus in 2024.

Hyperlocal fests

Shaky Knees is just one indication that the major music festival landscape post-2020 is rapidly changing in Georgia. In the meantime, smaller, hyperlocal fests such as Porchfest (East Atlanta Village, Grant Park, Virginia Highlands and more), Dog Days Fest (previously Savannah Stopover) and the Mainline Fest in Little Five Points are still going strong.

30 years since André 3000 put Southern hip-hop on top

2025 marks the 30th anniversary of André 3000 declaring “the South got something to say” during the 1995 Source Awards. It was news to some folks then, but not anymore. He won’t be in Atlanta in 2025, but check out this very informal concert on the New York Times Popcast.

The Atlanta Opera’s new building

The Atlanta Opera plans to break ground on its new building, a renovation and expansion of Buckhead’s old Bobby Jones clubhouse, in January 2026. The building’s 200-seat recital hall will be a boon to many arts organizations that have often bemoaned Atlanta’s lack of intimate venues.

And the winner is: Steel Roots

In June, Steele Roots, the 2023 winner of The Atlanta Opera’s 96-Hour Opera project, will premiere at the Ray Charles Performing Arts Center at Morehouse College. Anyone who has an idea for a 10-minute opera can apply now for the 2027 festival. We don’t, but kudos to those brave and talented folks who do!

The Met’s Laffont Competition

Opera is having its moment in Atlanta. The Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition: Southeast Region will take place at Spivey Hall on February 9. Young vocalists from Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee and Florida will compete to advance to the National Auditions finals on the stage of New York’s Metropolitan Opera. Maybe some of them want to write a 10-minute opera, too?

The Beethoven Project

OK, enough about opera. How about Beethoven? In case you haven’t heard, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s Nathalie Stutzmann will be conducting all nine of his symphonies this year — eight this season and the ninth in November. Look for the first and third (the “Eroica”) symphonies to launch the project this weekend, January 23 through January 25.

Music Biz 2025

For the first time, the Music Business Association conference, “Music Biz 2025,” will be held in Atlanta May 12 through May 15. The organization’s mission is to connect, educate and empower the global music business community — and for many years the conference was held in Los Angeles or Nashville. The organization presents the Bizzy Awards every year to music execs who are making waves. Celebs such as Taylor Swift, Annie Lennox, Cyndi Lauper and Tyrese Gibson have been honored as well, and the artists really do show up to collect the awards in person.

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ArtsATL senior editor Gillian Anne Renault and writers Lindsay Thomaston and Shannon Marie Tovey contributed to this section.