MUSIC
Pop & Rock
LIDO PIMIENTA This Colombian-Canadian singer, composer, and performance artist known for her tremendous live show will spotlight tracks from her dazzling 2020 protest album, “Miss Colombia.” She opens for the duo Sylvan Esso, who are wrapping up their connection-minded “Shaking Out the Numb” tour. Nov. 13-14, 6:30 p.m. House of Blues. 888-693-2583, houseofblues.com/boston
MARGARET GLASPY The Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter, whose most recent album is 2020′s “Devotion,” crafts knotty, hooky alt-pop gems like the simmering “Without Him” and the driving “So Wrong It’s Right.” She shares the bill with Nashville troubadour Ruston Kelly. Nov. 13, 7 p.m. Paradise Rock Club. 617-562-8800, crossroadspresents.com
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WEDNESDAY Fuzzed-out guitars and stretched-out wails dominate “Twin Plagues,” the latest album from this North Carolina act, who cram a lot of musical ideas into their vision of shoegaze. With Philadelphia distorto-rock explorers They Are Gutting a Body of Water and local math-punkers Squitch. Nov. 16, 6 p.m. (doors). ONCE at The Elks, Cambridge. oncesomerville.com
MAURA JOHNSTON
Folk, World & Country
HANNEKE CASSEL BAND Boston-area fiddler Cassel began as a Texas-style practitioner on the instrument before migrating to Scottish fiddle music, where she wound up winning the US National Scottish Fiddle Championship. In fiddler Jenna Moynihan and guitarist Keith Murphy, she has a pair of players with no mean chops themselves to accompany her. Nov. 14, 5 p.m. $24-$29. Shalin Liu Performance Center, 37 Main St., Rockport. 978-546-7391, www.rockportmusic.org
SUNNY SWEENEY If you’re of the opinion that the twangier things are, the better, Sunny Sweeney is the performer for you. Start with the stone honky-tonk fare that she writes and plays, add the thick-as-molasses timbre of her voice, and you’ll get all that you could wish for. Nov. 17, 7:30 p.m. $20. City Winery, 80 Beverly St. 617-933-8047, www.citywinery.com/boston
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THE JAYHAWKS Is it remarkable that a band has put out something as strong as “XOXO” 11 albums into their recording career? Maybe, maybe not, but with the album’s change-up — for the first time, all four band members contributing on both the songwriting and the vocal fronts — “XOXO” maintains the band’s vintage rusticized-Beatles sound while roaming as wide, and rocking as hard, as it ever has. Don’t miss the Mastersons, who open Thursday’s show. Nov. 18, 8 p.m. $35. Brighton Music Hall, 158 Brighton Ave. www.livenation.com
STUART MUNRO
Jazz & Blues
AMERICAN CLASSICS: HIGH HOPES Helmed by musician/scholars Benjamin Sears and Bradford Connor, the American Songbook specialists return to in-person performance with an evening of numbers from Lerner and Loewe to Sheryl Crow, Irving Berlin to Jimmy Buffett. With pianist Connor accompanying singers Sears, Michelle Deluise, Wes Hunter, Caryn May, Cynthia Mork, Julia Zerbinetta Nelson, Nate Ramsayer, and Ethan Sagin. Plus, Dan Prior on ukulele! Nov. 13, 7:30 p.m. First Parish Church, 75 Great Road, Bedford. $20. 617-254-1125, www.eventbrite.com/e/high-hopes-tickets-198308244297
STAN STRICKLAND & JOSH ROSEN QUARTET The playful to profound quartet of saxophonist-vocalist Strickland and pianist Rosen, with bassist Bruno Råberg and drummer Dave Fox, will play new compositions, reworked classics, and their “Be Here Now Suite.” Nov. 14, 7 p.m. $15. The Lilypad, 1353 Cambridge St., Cambridge. www.lilypadinman.com
DAYMÉ AROCENA MEETS BERKLEE The Havana-born Afro-Cuban jazz diva, whose voice has drawn comparisons to Celia Cruz and Aretha Franklin, will perform with Berklee students in a concert directed by faculty members Oscar Stagnaro and Matthew Nicholl. Nov. 18, 8 p.m. $15-$25. Berklee Performance Center. 617-747-2261, www.berklee.edu/BPC
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KEVIN LOWENTHAL
Classical
BROOKLYN RIDER The forward-thinking string quartet continues its Celebrity Series of Boston residency and welcomes tenor Nicholas Phan to the stage for the Boston premieres of Rufus Wainwright’s “Trois valses anglaises” and Nico Muhly’s “Stranger;” the program concludes with Schubert’s thrilling “Death and the Maiden” string quartet. Nov. 12, 8 p.m. 617-482-2595, www.celebrityseries.org/live-performances/
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Conductor Roderick Cox makes his BSO debut this week in lieu of Ton Koopman as principal clarinet William Hudgins takes center stage in Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto (Nov. 13). Next week, music director Andris Nelsons returns to Symphony Hall to conduct Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 and the American premiere of Jörg Widmann’s “Towards Paradise (Labyrinth VI),” a BSO co-commission (Nov. 18-20). 617-266-1200, www.bso.org
ASHMONT HILL CHAMBER MUSIC Cellist Sterling Elliott and pianist Wynona Yinuo Wang grace Peabody Hall with music by Cesar Franck, Robert Schumann, Brian Raphael Nabors, and more. Nov. 14, 4 p.m. 617-827-7857, www.ahchambermusic.org
A.Z. MADONNA
ARTS
Theater
HADESTOWN Songcraft and stagecraft meet and marry, with each element exquisitely reinforcing and enlarging the other, in this Tony-winning, folk- and jazz-infused retelling of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, entwined with the tale of King Hades and his restless wife Persephone. The unified artistic vision of Vermont native Anaïs Mitchell (music, lyrics, and book) and director Rachel Chavkin, combined with a topnotch cast, adds up to an entrancing evening. Through Nov. 14. Presented by Broadway In Boston at Citizens Bank Opera House. www.BroadwayInBoston.com
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YOU WILL NOT PLAY WAGNER A young Israeli conductor ignites a storm of controversy when he opts to perform a piece by antisemitic composer Richard Wagner in an international competition held in Israel. That brings the conductor (Ofek Cohen) into conflict with the competition’s organizer (Avi Hoffman) and with a Holocaust survivor (played by Annette Miller). Among the questions the plays seeks to address is: “Would a Jewish Israeli conducting Wagner be treachery or triumph?” An online production directed by Lilia Levitina, “You Will Not Play Wagner” was written by South African dramatist Victor Gordon, who adapted the play for Zoom shortly before he died in June of COVID-19. Nov. 16 at 7 p.m. JArts Theatreworks Group. Register online at https://jartsboston.org/event/you-will-not-play-wagner
MACBETH IN STRIDE Created by Whitney White and starring her as Woman/Lady Macbeth, this electric work delineates the gulf between women’s — especially Black women’s — opportunities and their capabilities in broad but incisive strokes. Featuring nearly a dozen new songs composed by White, “Macbeth In Stride” is bolstered by vividly expressive performances from the dynamic trio of Phoenix Best, Kira Sarai Helper, and Reggie D. White as the Witches. Codirected by Tyler Dobrowsky and Taibi Magar. Through Nov. 14. American Repertory Theater. At Loeb Drama Center, Cambridge. 617-547-8300, www.AmericanRepertoryTheater.org
BLKS Three Black women in their early 20s try to navigate the hairpin turns of romance as well as careers, friendship, connection, and intimacy — all of which isn’t easy when the wheels are coming off, as they often are in “BLKS.” The exuberance of Aziza Barnes’s comedy is leavened with honesty about the need to find a sense of belonging amid the chaos and confusion of early adulthood, the playwright’s awareness that joy and sadness are never more than an inch apart, and the knowledge that racism can rear its head without warning. Directed by Tonasia Jones and featuring Shanelle Chloe Villegas, Thomika Marie Bridwell, and Kelsey Fonise. Through Nov. 20. SpeakEasy Stage Company. At Roberts Studio Theatre, Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts. 617-933-8600, www.SpeakEasyStage.com
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DON AUCOIN
Dance
INITIATION — IN LOVE SOLIDARITY The latest work by choreographer/scholar Nailah Randall-Bellinger invites audiences into a dialogue about the African diaspora, exploring the trans-Atlantic slave trade, emancipation, and the evolving identities of women. The Harvard Dance Center presentation includes a live performance, a film showing, and a moderated conversation. Nov. 13, 4 and 7 p.m. Free in person with reservation. (Virtual via https://harvard.zoom.us/u/adVnuj3PqG.) Harvard Dance Center, Cambridge. https://ofa.fas.harvard.edu/dance
PAUL TAYLOR DANCE COMPANY For the past month, the legendary company has been offering private, in-studio reunion performances to benefit the organization. But for the rest of us, a one-night-only virtual opportunity appears well worth checking out. The program features a unique look at the timeless “Promethean Fire,” celebrating its 20th anniversary, as well as special guest appearances and a tribute to Jennifer Tipton, one of the most acclaimed lighting designers in the dance/theater world. Nov. 18, 8 p.m., Free. www.paultaylordance.org
KAREN CAMPBELL
Visual Arts
CERAMICS IN THE EXPANDED FIELD Old boundaries between what used to be defined as “art” and “craft” have been eroding for at least a couple of decades now (the 2010 Whitney Biennial was a big coming-out party), and this exhibition looks to push a message through the medium: to showcase work grounded “in regional and national cultures . . . [and] its relationship to colonialism and globalization,” to help “speak to other histories that have been buried and devalued.” Through April 2. Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, 1040 Mass MoCA Way, North Adams. 413-662-2111, www.massmoca.org
FABRIC OF A NATION: AMERICAN QUILT STORIES A loosely chronological display of quilts, this show subverts the notion of fusty craftwork with pieces that empower marginalized people from an array of multiracial and LGBTQIA+ communities. It spans eras, showing that quilting has always had urgent narrative purpose, from the Underground Railroad of years past to the stories of Indigenous people and their struggle to thrive today. Through Jan. 17. Museum of Fine Arts Boston, 465 Huntington Ave. 617-267-9300, www.mfa.org
ABELARDO MORELL: PROJECTING ITALY For this series, Morell, a master of the camera obscura technique — a darkened room with a pinprick of light, through which light carries an inverted image of the world outside — used his tent-size camera to capture the dense layers of cultural centers in Italy, from Florence to Rome. The resulting images perfectly capture the dizzying strata of cultural history in places where the western pictorial tradition was born. Through Jan. 2. Fitchburg Art Museum. 185 Elm St., Fitchburg. 978-345-4207, fitchburgartmuseum.org
MURRAY WHYTE
MITHSUCA BERRY: THE SUN KNOWS NO IMPOSTOR Berry’s paintings and digital illustrations are all about healing and releasing trauma — personal, societal, and historical. The afro-futurist artist draws on folklore and fables, depicting Black people in spectacular colors and visionary settings as a means of confronting past pain and claiming a softer, brighter future. Nov. 13-Dec. 19. Mills Gallery, Boston Center for the Arts, 551 Tremont St. https://bostonarts.org/event/the-sun-knows-no-impostor/
CATE McQUAID
EVENTS
Comedy
CHRIS FLEMING: TRICKY TRICKY Nothing really compares to the sheer lunacy and energy Fleming, who spent some formative time in Boston clubs, brings to a live performance, especially when he can feed off of his devoted fans in the audience. Nov. 12, 7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. $39-$45. The Wilbur, 246 Tremont St. 617-248-9700, www.thewilbur.com
JON RINEMAN After getting put through the ringer as a writer on “The Tonight Show,” Boston comic Rineman wasn’t sure he would do stand-up again as recently as March of this year. Now, after teaching comedy at Emerson, he’s got the bug again and headlining in Boston for the first time since leaving late night. Nov. 12-13, 8 p.m. $20. Nick’s Comedy Stop, 200 Warrenton St. www.nickscomedystop.com
BEST OF BOSTON SHOWCASE Six local comedians on the rise — Jay Whittaker, Will Noonan, Laura Severse, Jason Cordova, Tooky Kavanagh, and Katlin McFee — will tape some of their best stuff to submit to SiriusXM Radio. Hosted by Monica Carroll, presented at the White Bull by Hideout Comedy. Nov. 13, 7:30 p.m. $20. The White Bull Tavern, 1 Union St. 617-681-4600, www.thewhitebulltavern.com
NICK A. ZAINO III
Family
MASTER CHEF JR. LIVE! Stir up the fun in this stage production of “Master Chef Jr.” Watch live cooking demonstrations and messy food challenges with former “Master Chef” and “Master Chef Jr.” contestants. Limited VIP packages are available which include a premium seat, meet and greet, signed show poster, photos, and more. Nov. 12, 7 p.m. $49.75-$129.75. Emerson Colonial Theatre, 106 Boylston St. emersoncolonialtheatre.com
FALL FAMILY FUN FEST As the leaves continue to fall, enjoy the colors of the outdoors with crafts, games, and music. Enjoy a round of cornhole, potato sack races, and a thank-you-card-making station for service members. Through Nov. 14, 11 a.m. $20 family ticket. American Legion, 32 Dedham St., Dover. eventbrite.com
FENWAY SPARTAN KIDS RACE Cheer on the mini Spartans who hurdle over obstacles across Fenway Park. Kids Races are for children ages 4-13 and range between half a mile and a mile long for competitors. All finishers will receive a medal, T-shirt, and professional photos. Through Nov. 14, 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Saturday, 9 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Sunday. $25-$30.99 per kids ticket. Fenway Park. race.spartan.com
RIANA BUCHMAN