Arts Agenda: Classical music

April 24

The Magnolia String Quartet will perform as part of the Candlelight Concerts series at 6:45 p.m. and 8:45 p.m. April 24 at The Chapel on Sycamore in Decatur. The program is From Bach to the Beatles, and the title is true to the content, with works that span the careers of these two musical titans. Check out more of the Candlelight Concerts series, which takes place in various venues around town.

April 25

The Emory University Symphony Orchestra and University Chorus will perform Poulenc’s Gloria, Brahms’ Symphony No. 2 and Barber’s Second Essay for Orchestra at 8 p.m. April 25 at the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts. The concert is free.

April 26 and 29, May 2 and 4

Atlanta Opera’s Siegfried will be performed at 6:30 p.m. on April 26, April 29 and May 2 and at 2 p.m. on May 4 at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre. Don’t miss our conversation with one of the world’s pre-eminent Wagnerian tenors, Stefan Vinke, who will be performing the title role for the 130th time.

April 27

The Agnes Scott Community Orchestra is the largest instrumental ensemble on campus and consists of Agnes Scott College students, community musicians and ASC artist affiliates. This semester’s concert, taking place at 3 p.m. on April 27 in the college’s Gaines Chapel, features works by Dvorak and Elgar, along with Haydn’s Violin Concerto in C major with Qiao Chen Solomon as soloist, artistic director and conductor.

The Atlanta Youth Symphony Orchestra’s season finale concert will include Eden, a work by former AYSO violinist Alice Hong, along with Emmanuel Séjourné’s Marimba Concerto and works by Nielsen and Ravel. The concert takes place at 6:30 p.m. April 27, and tickets are free but must be reserved in advance.

For his Spivey Hall debut, Pavel Kolesnikov will perform a program imaginatively interweaving works by Mozart and Ravel at 3 p.m. on April 27. He’ll return to Atlanta to perform Greig’s Piano Concerto with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in October.

May 1 and 3

Have an Italian Holiday without ever leaving Atlanta, as Italian conductor Jader Bignamini makes his Atlanta Symphony Orchestra debut with Respighi’s Pines of Rome and Fountains of Rome. Joining Bignamini is Italian violin sensation Giuseppe Gibboni, winner of the Paganini International Violin Competition and the soloist for the Paganini Violin Concerto No. 1. Performances are at 8 p.m. on May 1 and May 3.

May 2 and 3

Spend an evening with the Atlanta Master Chorale as they perform Mozart’s Requiem and the Coronation Mass at Emory University’s Schwartz Center for Performing Arts. Concerts are at 8 p.m. May 2 and May 3.

May 3

Under the direction of conductor John Thomas Dodson, pianists Piotr and Eliza Folkert will perform works by Chopin and Górecki with the Chopin Academy Chamber Orchestra. The concert is presented by the Chopin Society of Atlanta at Spivey Hall at 3 p.m. on May 3.

May 7

The Emory Youth Symphony Orchestra, composed of the region’s finest high school-aged musicians, is celebrating its 20th season performing major orchestral works. This concert will shine the spotlight on the winner of the ensemble’s 2025 Concerto Competititon. It’s free and happens at 8 p.m. on May 7 at the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts.

May 8, 10 and 11

Nathalie Stutzmann and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra continue their Beethoven marathon this spring with the composer’s Missa solemnis, a massive work that has been described as “almost too big for the concert hall, too dramatic for the church and notoriously difficult for the singers.” Hear it at 8 p.m. on May 8 and May 10 and 3 p.m. on May 11. There will be a preconcert talk at 6:30 p.m. on May 10.

May 15 and 17

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra welcomes Canadian piano virtuoso Marc-André Hamelin for a performance of Bartók’s Piano Concerto No. 3. Guest conductor Marzena Diakun opens the concert with Weinberg’s Rhapsody on Moldovan Themes and finishes the evening with Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 1 (“Winter Daydreams”).

June 5 and 7

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s season wraps up with guest conductor Peter Oundjian taking on two orchestral heavyweights: Mahler’s Symphony No. 7 and Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 1. Pianist Inon Barnatan is the soloist for the Shostakovich, and, despite the title, the work is also a showcase for the trumpet. Performances are at 8 p.m. on June 5 and June 7.

June 7, 10, 13 and 15

The Atlanta Opera will bring Handel’s Baroque masterpiece Semele to the Cobb Energy Centre for Performing Arts on June 7, June 10, June 13 and June 15. The opera finds Princess Semele caught up in a love triangle with Jupiter, king of the gods, and his wife Juno.

June 8, 22 and 27

The worlds of pop and classical collide at the Classical Remix Music Festival. Musicians from the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Alabama Symphony, the Toronto Symphony and more will perform at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Atlanta, the Leafmore-Creek Park Club in Decatur and the Historic DeKalb Courthouse on the square in downtown Decatur.

June 20 and 22

Winners of the Atlanta Opera’s 2023 96-Hour Opera Project, composer Dave Ragland and librettist Selda Sahin, have created a new chamber opera titled Steele Roots, a work inspired by the life and legacy of Carrie Steele Logan, a formerly enslaved woman who dedicated her life to caring for orphaned children in Atlanta. It will be performed at Morehouse College’s Ray Charles Performing Arts Center at 7 p.m. on June 20 and 3 p.m. on June 22.

June 21

Now in its fourth season, the Atlanta Opera’s 96-Hour Opera Festival celebrates the artistry of emerging creative talents and offers a path into the art of opera, pairing emerging composers and librettists to write 10-minute operas. Bringing their completed works to Atlanta, the creative teams are allowed 96 hours to rehearse and develop their productions, with guidance from specialists, followed by a public showcase at 3 p.m. on June 21 at the Ray Charles Performing Arts Center at Morehouse College.