Arts Agenda: Classical music

Each week, ArtsATL delivers a critic’s short list of the shows, exhibitions, concerts and events we recommend for the coming weeks within one area in the kaleidoscope of Atlanta arts and culture.

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January 24

Pianist Gabriela Montero returns to Spivey Hall with Westward, a program featuring extraordinary immigrant composers and anchored by her improvised accompaniment to Charlie Chaplin’s 1917 film The Immigrant. She’ll perform at 3 p.m. January 24.

Johns Creek Symphony Orchestra presents Imagine: What We Carry, which will include Bach’s Sarabande, Pärt’s Fratres and Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis. The concert takes place at Mount Pisgah Church in Johns Creek at 7:30 p.m. January 24.

January 24-February 1

The SoundNOW Festival gathers some of Atlanta’s premier new music ensembles to perform contemporary classical music. Four ensembles are making their SoudNOW debut: the Atlanta Contemporary Music Collective; Ayres & Graces; the Hera Trio; and the Kruziki + Toulouse Duo. Returning groups include the Atlanta Contemporary Ensemble, Bent Frequency, Chamber Cartel, neoPhonia New Music Ensemble and Smol ensemble. Performances take place January 24 through February 1 at the Bradley Planetarium at Agnes Scott College, Core Dance Studio in Decatur and Georgia State University’s Kopleff Recital Hall.

January 25

DeKalb Symphony’s Children’s Concert with the Decatur School of Ballet happens at 3 p.m. January 25 at Decatur Presbyterian Church. The program includes Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, selections from Grieg’s Peer Gynt and excerpts from symphonies by Mozart and Beethoven.

January 26

The Summit Piano Trio joins faculty from the Bailey School of Music for a program that features Beethoven’s Piano Trio in C Minor, Piazzolla’s Five Tangos and Dvořák’s beloved Piano Quintet No. 2. Experience it at Kennesaw State University’s Moran Concert Hall at 7:30 p.m. January 26. The Summit Piano Trio will also perform at 7:30 p.m. on February 6 at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church.

January 29

Grammy-winning Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson makes his Schwartz Center for Performing Arts debut with a program of Beethoven, Bach and Schubert centered around Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 30 in E Major, op. 109, at 8 p.m. January 29

January 29 and 31

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra celebrates American music with America @ 250 with a program that includes Barber’s Violin Concerto, featuring young violin virtuoso Randall Goosby, and Copland’s Symphony No. 3. Conductor Leonard Slatkin leads the concert that also includes his own Schubertiade: An Orchestral Fantasy. Concerts are at 8 p.m. January 29 and January 31.

February 6

The Alpharetta Symphony marks America’s 250th birthday with Revolution, featuring music that celebrates both our origins and our rich national history, from British composers such as Elgar and Holst to works by American composers Copland, Gershwin and Bernstein. The performance is at 7:30 p.m. on February 6 at the Innovation Academy Auditorium, with a pre-concert talk at 6:30 p.m.

February 8

The Atlanta Chamber Players’ Winter Public Concert takes place at 2:30 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta. The program features Beethoven’s Piano Trio in C minor, Op. 1 No. 3; Rachmaninoff’s Sonata in G minor for Cello and Piano, Op. 19; and the world premiere of Andrea Casarrubios’ Sextet for Clarinet, Horn, Violin, Viola, Cello and Piano. The latter celebrates ACP’s 50th anniversary.

February 19

The Sphinx Virtuosi’s Visions of Peace will include Suite for Cello by William Grant Still, featuring the acclaimed young cellist Sterling Elliott, and Alberto Ginastera’s Concerto for Strings. The concert is at the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts at 8 p.m. on February 19.

February 19 and 21

Pianist Sergei Babayan joins the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and conductor Robert Treviño for Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 4. The concert opens with En otra noche, en otro mundo, an atmospheric work by Puerto Rican composer Angélica Negrón. Concerts are at 8 p.m. on February 19 and February 21.

February 20

The innovative Kronos Quartet comes to Kennesaw State University’s Bailey Performance Center at 8 p.m. on February 20.

February 21

Join the Georgia Philharmonic Orchestra for The Uncommon Woman at Lassiter Concert Hall at 7 p.m. on February 21. The program features Joan Tower’s Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman, Jennifer Higdon’s Blue Cathedral, Dvorak’s Violin Concerto in A Minor, performed by Martha Gardner, and William Grant Still’s Symphony No. 1.

February 27 and March 1

The Atlanta Baroque Orchestra’s Lute and Strings by Candlelight will spotlight Vivaldi’s Lute Concerto in D Major, RV 93 and will also include music by Vivaldi’s contemporaries. The first concert is at 7:30 p.m. on February 27 at the Cathedral of St. Philip and will also celebrate the ABO’s 10th year in residence at the Cathedral with a performance of Vivaldi’s Laetatus sum for chorus and strings. The ABO will also perform at Lassiter Concert Hall at 3 p.m. on March 1.

March 12-15

Music Director Nathalie Stutzmann, one of the great interpreters of this exalted work, leads a stellar lineup of soloists with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in Bach’s immersive Mass in B Minor. Performances take place at Symphony Hall at 8 p.m. on March 12 and March 13 and at 3 p.m. on March 15.

March 14

The Atlanta Gay Men’s Chorus presents Pub AGMC – An Immersive Concert Experience, where they’ll transform the stage into a lively, makeshift pub. Shows happen at 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. on March 14 at Monday Night Garage.

March 14-22

The clever servant Figaro fights to marry his true love while outsmarting his amorous and scheming master, who has his own designs on Figaro’s bride-to-be, Susanna, in Mozart’s operatic masterpiece The Marriage of Figaro. The Atlanta Opera production takes the stage at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre at 7:30 p.m. on March 14, March 17 and March 20 and at 3 p.m. on March 22.

March 21

We Shake, We Shine! is the Atlanta Women’s Chorus’ celebration of the legacy of the women’s suffrage movement and the ongoing fight for justice and equality. Performances are at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. on March 21 at Druid Hills Presbyterian Church.

March 22

The Michael O’Neal Singers will offer two musical interpretations of the biblical creation story. Franz Josef Haydn wrote The Creation in 1798, and it has become the definitive choral/orchestral work on that topic. Dan Forrest, inspired by Haydn’s oratorio, wrote his own Creation in 2024. This performance at 3 p.m. on March 22 at Roswell United Methodist Church will present musical highlights from both scores and will feature the MOS Chorus, vocal soloists and orchestra.