Philadelphia Music Roundup - March 2022

Please note, due to the ongoing pandemic, some events are being cancelled, postponed, or moved online. We recommend visiting each organization’s website to find the latest details about these events.

Did we miss something? Events coming up in April? Let us know at calendar@acfphiladelphia.org.

March 2022 Events

PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA

The Philadelphia Orchestra presents three programs that include new music in March. First up March 18 and 20 is the world premiere of composer Kevin Puts’s The Hours, a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Michael Cunningham and an award-winning film that chronicles a day in the life of three women from three different eras with interwoven stories connected to Virginia Woolf’s novel Mrs. Dalloway. Inbetween those two performances on Saturday March 19, the orchestra will perform Wynton Marsalis’s Tuba Concerto which was premiered last year featuring principal tuba Carol Jantsch. Finally on March 24 - 27 the orchestra will perform selections from Conductor-in-Residence Gabriela Lena Frank’s Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout, which mixes elements from the western classical and Andean folk-music traditions, and draws inspiration from the idea that cultures can coexist without the subjugation of one by the other.

ARS NOVA WORKSHOP 

Ars Nova Workshop presents three programs of live in-person performances in March. First on Friday March 18 they present Trefoil, an all-star trio of modern jazz luminaries featuring trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, pianist Kris Davis and drummer Gerald Cleaver at the American Philosophical Society. Then the next day on Saturday March 19th at the Ruba Club, they present the irreverent and exploratory trumpeter jaimie branch and her stunning quartet Fly or Die. Also at the Ruba Club on March 31 Ars Nova presents the Immanuel Wilkins / Odean Pope / Kresten Osgood Trio.

PHILADELPHIA CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY

On Sunday March 13, PCMS presents Isata Kanneh-Mason—one of Britain’s most acclaimed young pianists—performing a new work by British-Jamaican composer Eleanor Alberga and Sofia Gubaidulina’s Chaconne. Then on Thursday March 17th at the Kimmel Center the Philadelphia premiere of Fanm d’Ayiti, an evening-length work for voice, flute, string quartet, and electronics developed by composer/performer Nathalie Joachim. Finally on Wednesday March 23 virtuoso mandolinist Avi Avital and string quartet Brooklyn Rider unite for a program of new works and arrangements for mandolin and string quartet.

FIRE MUSEUM PRESENTS 

This March Fire Museum Presents four programs in West Philly and Fishtown. Starting things off on Saturday March 5 at 2223.fish is 75 Dollar Bill and Bark Culture, the first a duo of percussion and guitar the second a trio of vibraphone, bass, and drums. Then at the Rotunda in West Philadelphia on Friday March 11 a trio led by Indian musician Kiranavali Vidyasankar. Also at the Rotunda on Saturday March 19 Thollem with ACVilla and Sunken Cages, which will feature multi-media and electroacoustic music. Finally on Wednesday March 30th Fire Museum Presents Erik Ruins Ominous Cloud Ensemble with guests Skylighght at the Ice Box.

BOWERBIRD

In March, Bowerbird, in collaboration with Slought, presents “Beyond Borders”, a mini-symposium introducing and exploring the Shiraz Festival of Arts, an international festival held annually in Iran from 1967 to 1977. The four events will all take place online and feature panel discussions, lectures, film screenings, and performances. Bowerbird also continues its online series Liminal States with Bhob Rainey and harpist Elizabeth Steiner. They will also be presenting two in person concerts, the first on March 17 is a reschedule of Variant 6: I Heart Artemis at the Maas Building and the second is film screening Sons of Jack Smith at University Lutheran Church on March 23.

STREAMING AND LIVE EVENTS

  • Penn Live Arts presents to concerts of new music, first Saturday March 5 is banjo prodigy, Nora Brown then on March 27 The Crossing performs A House Besieged at St. Mark’s Church.  

  • On Sunday March 6, Relâche presents Re-Charge at the Ethical Society with Chris Coyle and Ron Stabinsky joined by Guest Artists Doug Hirlinger and Andrew Urbina.

  • On March 10 the new music series at the Delaware County Community College in Media, PA presents the NakedEye Ensemble performing world premieres by Theresa Wong and Jerome Kitzke. 

  • Tuesday March 15, American Composers Forum Philadelphia Chapter presents an online talk - BOOK TALK: Industry: Bang on a Can and New Music in the Marketplace.

  • The University of Penn Department of Music presents two lectures the last two Tuesdays of March. On March 22, the department presents Annea Lockwood and on March 29 Thomas Meadowcroft, both in Lerner 101.

ON GOING

  • Opera Philadelphia presents Organ Stops, a musical tour of Philadelphia’s historic pipe organs with the Opera Philadelphia Chorus. Among works to be performed are newer works written specifically for chorus and organ by contemporary composers Hannah Kendall, Melissa Dunphy, Marcus DeLoach, and David Hurd.

March 2022 at a glance

CHRONOLOGICAL LISTING

ACF Philadelphia