Compiled by Arts Fuse Editor

Our expert critics supply a guide to film, visual art, theater, author readings, and music. More offerings will be added as they come in.

Film

2025 Oscar Nominated Shorts: Live Action
2025 Oscar Nominated Shorts: Animated
2025 Oscar Nominated Shorts: Live Action
Through February 20 at Coolidge Corner Theatre, Brookline

Times and descriptions of the year’s best shorts in each category are linked in the listing.

Oscar Nominated Shorts Schedule at the Kendall Square Cinema
Through February 20 at Landmark Theater in Kendall Square

Oscar Nominated Shorts Schedule at the ICA Boston
February 20 through March 9

Judas and the Black Messiah
February 17 at 7 p.m.
Coolidge Corner Theatre

The Judas in the title is William O’Neal (LaKeith Stanfield), who betrays Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya) for a $300 bonus from the FBI. “Messiah” refers to the fact that, through this assassination, the American government wanted to prevent the rise of a Civil Rights messiah. The charismatic Hampton, chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party, could galvanize crowds and potentially incite a revolution. The screening will be followed by a conversation with the director Shaka King and filmmakers Louis Massiah and Terry Kay Rockefeller, producer of Eyes on the Prize II. Moderated by Callie Crossley.

Fleischer Studios’ Greatest Hits
February 18-20
Somerville Theatre in Davis Square

Created in the early 20th century by brothers Max and Dave Fleischer, Fleischer Studios was a pioneer in the art and craft of animation. The pair were responsible for creating and animating Betty Boop and Koko the Clown as well as Popeye and Superman. The artists were more than animators; they were innovators who should be credited for their groundbreaking marriage of live action with animation, their ingenious “bouncing ball” cartoons, their gritty, urban, and at times surreal visual landscapes. They also made cartoon features containing early film footage of the era’s popular jazz artists, including the very first film footage of Cab Calloway. This fabulous series of eight cartoons will be presented in new 4K restoration. (Editor’s Note: Be still, my heart. In the lineup is one of the studio’s noirish Superman cartoons — The Bulleteers!)

Global Cinema Now
Museum of Fine Arts Boston
February 15 through March 7

This Woman
February 23 at 2:30 p.m.

Chinese director Alan Zhang blurs the line between documentary and fiction in order to explore the role of women in contemporary Chinese society. He questions the expectations imposed on them and their pursuit of freedom. Awarded the Special Jury Prize at Visions du Réel.

Porcelain War
February 27 at 7 p.m.

One of last year’s best documentaries follows three artists who, amidst the chaos and destruction of the invasion of Ukraine, find inspiration and beauty as their spouses go off to defend their culture and their country. A brilliant and eye-opening film. Arts Fuse interview

Victor and Victoria (1933)
February 18 at 6 p.m.
Brattle Theatre in Cambridge

This presentation of the ongoing 100 Years of Queer German Cinema presents this film from 1933 on which Blake Edwards based his 1982 remake. A young woman, unable to find work as a music hall singer, partners with a down-and-out thespian to revamp her act pretending to be a man performing in drag, and becomes the toast of the international stage.

It Is Not the Homosexual Who Is Perverse, But the Society in Which He Lives
February 25 at 6 p.m.
Brattle Theatre in Cambridge

From the same Queer German Series comes this 1971 film that became a foundational text of the German gay rights movement. In the film, Daniel, a young gay man, tries to assimilate into the traditional way of life before realizing that it’s ultimately futile and finding his place in the gay liberation movement.

2025 New York Cat Film Festival
February 19 at 7 p.m.
Kendall Square Cinema

An exploration of the fascinating felines who share our lives, creating a shared audience experience that inspires, educates, and entertains. A portion of every ticket at every destination goes to a local animal welfare nonprofit, bringing community awareness and support for the needs of local kitties.

2025 New York Dog Film Festival
February 26 at 7 p.m.

A celebration of the bond between dogs and people around the world, as seen through the work of brilliant filmmakers.

Forest of Changing Shapes Film Series
Rose Art Museum Wasserman Cinematheque, Brandeis University, 415 South Street Waltham, through March 23

Inspired by Hugh Hayden’s evocative exhibition, the series unmasks nature’s relentless, ever-shifting resistance, and the uneasy bond between humanity and the untamed world.

The Enchanted
February 23 at 3 p.m.

The Enchanted weaves a hypnotic atmosphere of unease as a young rancher returns to his Florida homestead, drawn into a haunting romance with a mysterious woman who emerges from the wilderness.

Predator
March 9 at 3 p.m.

The 1987 classic action-film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger in an adrenaline-charged battle for survival: a team of soldiers faces off against an unseen alien predator stalking them in the jungle.

Frogs
March 23 at 3 p.m.

This 1972 horror-comedy serves up a campy, cautionary message: a ruthless millionaire’s war on nature backfires, unleashing a vengeful swarm of frogs and other creatures upon his isolated island estate.

Mountains Meet the Sea: Kathy Rugh
February 23 at 4 p.m.
Brattle Theatre in Cambridge

RPM Festival welcomes Kathy Rugh for a screening of her recent 16mm experimental works, which explore double exposure, pinhole lenses, and hand-processing techniques. A post-screening will follow with Rugh and Brittany Gravely.

Pick of the Week

Queen and Slim, streaming on Apple TV and Netflix

A Black couple’s first date turns into a nightmare after a traffic stop spirals out of control and the man kills a cop in self-defense. This Bonnie and Clyde tale may leave you shaken, but it should also spark important conversations about race and justice as we enter politically dark times. It was written by Lena Waithe (Master of None and The Chi) and stars Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out, Judas and the Black Messiah) and Jodie Turner-Smith (After Yang). Music video veteran Melina Matsoukas, who directed the film, told The L.A. Times: “Obviously, we made it as a meditation on the Black experience, and I hope that Black audiences really appreciate that it was for them. But I also think that in order to create change, we have to make people uncomfortable. So for me, it’s important that everybody sees this and that we create empathy for each other. In order to create change, there needs to be real dialogue, and I hope we can be a small part of that conversation.”

— Tim Jackson

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Popular Music

Benjamin Booker
February 23 at 8 p.m.
Crystal Ballroom, Somerville

A decade since Benjamin Booker burst onto the scene with a grainy garage-rock howl and seven years since his last record, he’s back with a reimagined sound. Booker’s new album Lower casts his bleak songs of loneliness and defiance in stark atmospheres of distorted guitar, hushed vocals, and lo-fi hip-hop beats. It’ll be interesting to hear how Booker transfers his revamped music to the stage when he hits the Crystal Ballroom with Lower co-producer Kenny Segal in support.

— Paul Robicheau

Divine Sweater with Alright, Thanks and Lions and Lavender
February 22 (doors at 7/show at 8)
Taffeta Music Hall, Lowell

The latest effort by Boston-formed, NYC-based Divine Sweater, A Time for Everything, arrived last September, doing so rapidly on the heels of the previous May’s Deep Down (A Nautical Apocalypse). In addition to praise from widely read and niche publications, both local and national, the LP’s contents have garnered the approval of the indispensable musician/producer Brian Eno and (apparently) the beloved actor/musician Kevin Bacon. While lead singer Meghan Kelleher handles all the vocals, A Time for Everything was a songwriting group effort, which keeps the 11-track collection interesting at all turns.

The Bevis Frond with Oneida
February 28 (doors at 7/show at 8)
Crystal Ballroom, Somerville

Nick Saloman performed at The Rockwell on October 26, 2018, with Salem native Mary Lou Lord, who covered several of his songs — and co-wrote three with him — on her 1998 album Got No Shadow. On February 28, The Bevis Frond (Saloman’s nom de stage) will kick off their/his first US tour in 25 years in the same neighborhood. This time around, he will be showcasing his latest release, last year’s all-highlights Focus on Nature. Although Saloman’s output is never predicable, it is also never missing the essential elements: Peter Gabriel/Robert Pollard (with a touch of Pete Townsend) vocals, alternatingly scorching and unassuming fretwork, and delightfully idiosyncratic lyrics. In addition to a new album and his return to the US, Saloman is the subject of a documentary, Little Eden, which longtime Bevis Frond fan Evan Dando praised at a recent art exhibit in London. (Linked page includes trailer.)

— Blake Maddux

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Theater

COVID PROTOCOLS: Check with specific theaters.

Night Sings Its Songs by Jon Fosse. Directed by Jerry Heymann and translated by Sarah Cameron. Presented by New Light Theater Project at Theatre Row, Theatre 1 – 410 West 42nd Street (between 9th and Dyer Avenues), New York, through March 1.

Why am I listing this New York production of a play by Jon Fosse? Because, to my knowledge, no Boston company (unless I missed a student production) has staged a script by the Norwegian winner of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Literature. The award went to him “for his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable.” Fosse has written over 20 scripts since the mid-’90s, and they have been mounted throughout Europe, including successful runs at major British theaters. Nothing produced here, and that is a disgrace, a cultural embarrassment, really, for the “Athens of America.” Granted, Fosse cruises down the poetically gloomy lane paved by Samuel Beckett, and our theaters are hellbent on serving up empowerment these days. But this lacuna is embarrassing.

The plot deals with “unraveling relationships within a claustrophobic household, centering on a young couple trapped in an unspoken cycle of discontent. The Man, an unemployed writer, languishes in apathy while The Woman, overwhelmed by the demands of caring for their infant son, struggles to bridge the emotional void between them.”

The Piano Lesson by August Wilson. Directed by Christopher V. Edwards. Staged by Actors’ Shakespeare Project at Hibernian Hall, 184 Dudley St., Roxbury, through February 23.

Here is Fuse critic Robert Israel’s synopsis of August Wilson’s Pulitzer prize-winning script lifted from his review of the recent Netflix film version of the script: “The play centers on the history, and quarrels over the fate, of a carved spinet piano that has gone largely unused for years. It sits in the parlor of Bernie Charles’s Pittsburgh home, circa 1930s. Boy Willie, her brother, has come to sell the valuable piano so he can afford to buy farm land down South. There are backstories aplenty in this play, and they revolve around slavery, the endurance of racism, and a Black family’s quest for the American dream.”

Someone Will Remember Us by Deborah Salem Smith and Charlie Thurston. Created by Dr. Michelle Cruz, Deborah Salem Smith, and Charlie Thurston. Directed by Christopher Windom. Staged by Trinity Rep at the Dowling Theater, 201 Washington St., Providence, through February 23.

The world premiere of a play that “interlaces the real-life testimonies of U.S. military veterans, a Gold Star family, Iraqi civilians, and refugees living in Rhode Island. As military conflict wages on multiple fronts across the world, this production paints a moving portrait of the innumerable tolls of war, and how we find connection through it all.”

A Man of No Importance Book by Terrence McNally. Music by Stephen Flaherty. Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens. Directed by Paul Daigneault. Music direction by Paul S. Katz. Choreography by Ilyse Robbins. Staged by SpeakEasy Stage Company in the Roberts Studio Theatre in the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont Street, in Boston’s South End, February 21 through March 22.

In his 2020 remembrance of dramatist Terrence McNally, Christopher Caggiano called this musical “an urgent but quiet tale of a closeted gay bus conductor who seeks escape through theater and poetry in a small Dublin parish.” He went on to write that “McNally completed 10 musical works, and there is not a single conventional effort among them. Each show had a distinctive edge, a tragicomic bite, a vibrant sense of the theatrical. The American stage has lost not only a singular playwright, but also a committed, serious innovator of the musical theater canon.”

“This production” SpeakEasy Stage informs us, “marks the New England premiere of the recently reimagined version of this beloved show staged by Classic Stage Company in New York, and includes the use of onstage musicians. Elliot Norton Award-winners Eddie Shields and Aimee Doherty lead an all-star Boston cast that includes Kerry A. Dowling, Jennifer Ellis, Meagan Lewis-Michelson, Will McGarrahan, Billy Meleady, Keith Richardson, Rebecca Rae Robles, Sam Simahk, and Kathy St. George.”

Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen, adapted by the company from the translation by Edmund Gosse and William Archer. Staged by Apollinaire Theatre Company at the Chelsea Theatre Works, 189 Winnisimmet St., Chelsea, MA, February 21 through March 16.

As a longtime Ibsenite, I will be reviewing this production. I am a bit wary about Apollinaire using the now moldy late-19th-century translation of Gosse and Archer — let’s hope the company has done some nimble linguistic re-rejiggering. As for the play — it remains a towering achievement. Here is what I wrote about the drama in a 2011 review of a fine BU student production:

“The trick is to see that Ibsen remains with-it because, for all of their brilliance, his plays are sexy, witty, ironic, and mischievous. He nestles his visionary astringency in a frisky package, no more so than in Hedda Gabler, its anti-heroine one of drama’s most fascinating imps of the perverse. Her rejection of ‘normal’ life remains tantalizingly absolute, enigmatic, and thrillingly self-destructive.

“In fact, critic Toril Moi argues that the play marks the first time in Ibsen where the ‘everyday is no longer represented as the only sphere where we have a chance to find acknowledgment and love; here the everyday is no longer represented as potentially redemptive; it has become, rather, a petty and banal sphere of routinized, conventional, and empty transactions. In Ibsen’s previous plays, marriage stands as a figure for the redemptive everyday: in Hedda Gabler marriage and the everyday are equally empty.’ Demonic individuality, fueled by an unrequited idealism, swallows itself up — life as a bad dream.” Arts Fuse review

SPACE by L M Feldman. Directed by Larissa Lury. Created by Feldman and Lury. A Brit d’Arbeloff Women in Science production at the Central Square Theatre, 450 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, through February 23.

The world premiere of a drama about the Mercury 13 that marks the 20th Anniversary of Catalyst Collaborative@MIT, the nation’s only ongoing partnership between a professional theater and a research institution. The setup: “At the dawn of two different Space Races, aviators traverse time, generations, Newtonian physics, governments, political bodies — and human bodies — to reach beyond our star system for a radical restart. SPACE intertwines imagined scenes with Congressional transcripts, and feats of endurance with the historical record, to interrogate the story of the Mercury 13 female pilots and their ancestors — Bessie Coleman, Hazel Ying Lee — and descendants — Mae Jemison, Sally Ride — over the course of a national Civil Rights Space Race that has spanned our past century. SPACE asks: What future are we headed towards?” The cast includes Barlow Adamson, Valencia Proctor, Monica Risi, Mitra Sharif, Catharine K. Slusar, MK Tuomanen, Kaili Y. Turner, and Hui Ying Wen.

The Grove by Mfoniso Udofia. Directed by Awoye Timpo. Staged by the Huntington Theatre Company at The Huntington Calderwood, 527 Tremont St. Boston, through March 9.

The plot, according to the HTC publicity: This is the “story of a family homecoming, asking how we draw on the wisdom and beauty of our ancestors when the bonds of family are stretched to the limit. Abasiama’s eldest daughter Adiaha believes that becoming a writer can make her family proud, but at her graduation party, she has to choose whether to fulfill her parents’ desires or stay true to her own dreams.” Part of the ongoing Ufot Family Cycle.

The Odyssey, an adaptation of Homer’s epic by Kate Hamill. Directed by Shana Cooper. Staged by the American Repertory Theater at the Loeb Drama Center, Cambridge, through March 16.

According to A.R.T. publicity: “Kate Hamill turns a contemporary lens on Homer’s Odyssey in this new play that reimagines the stories of both Odysseus and his wife, Penelope, and asks how we can learn to embrace healing and forgiveness in order to end cycles of violence and revenge.”

Flora & Ulysses by John Glore. Based on the Newbery Medal-Winning children’s book by Kate DiCamillo. Directed by Joshua Rashon Streeter. Staged by the Wheelock Family Theater on the Riverway, between the intersections of Brookline Ave and Longwood Ave., Boston, through March 9

The lowdown from WFT: “After getting sucked up by a vacuum cleaner, a (now hairless) squirrel is rescued by Flora Belle Buckman, a 10-year-old self-proclaimed cynic. She names him Ulysses and discovers he has been reborn as a superhero. Indeed, this once average squirrel can suddenly understand Flora, fly, and even write poetry. Together they embark on an adventure full of quirky characters and bursting with heart. ”

ART by Yasmina Reza. Translated by Christopher Hampton. Directed by Courtney O’Connor. Staged by the Lyric Stage at 140 Clarendon Street, Boston, February 21 through March 16.

A revival of Reza’s enormously popular 1994 three-hander that dramatizes how aesthetics can embattle friendships. The tragicomic plot, according to the Lyric Sage: “Serge has purchased a modern painting for an outrageous sum. Marc hates it. Yvan is stuck in the middle. When superficial ideals and values that they once joked about appear to be at the core of Serge’s intentions, comradery is quickly replaced by a sense of betrayal.” The powerhouse cast of squabblers includes Remo Airaldi, Michael Kaye, and John Kuntz.

Beastly: An Autobiographical Feminist Folk Tale, written and performed by Melissa Hale Woodman. At the Boston Center for the Arts’ Plaza Theatre, 539 Tremont Street, Boston, February 28 through March 2.

This one-woman show, according to writer/performer Woodman, is a “Vagina Monologues/Roald Dahl mashup that blends naughty animal poetry, perimenopausal stand-up and a strategic call to action that asks us to reckon with the power we have in our hands to change the course of history.”

What the Duck?!?, written and performed by Susan Linn. Presented by Puppets at Night at the Puppet Showplace Theater, 32 Station Street, Brookline, February 28 and March 1.

A night of stand-up puppet comedy featuring ventriloquist Susan Linn — children’s entertainer, psychologist, and activist. The real star is “Audrey Duck, her ageless avian sidekick” who “provides cheeky, occasionally neurotic, always truthful commentary.”

Spring Rep Festival Produced in collaboration with the Boston University College of Fine Arts School of Theatre at the Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, 949 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, February 20 through March 9.

Two plays running in rep: Isabelle Fereshteh Sanatdar Stevens’s The Fig Tree, and The Phoenix and The Desire to Be Reborn (directed by Nikta Sabouri) and The Recursion of a Moth by Brandon Zang (directed by Katie Brook). The BPT’s lowdown on Fig Tree: “In the Iranian province of Zanjan, in an orchard where all of the trees have gone to sleep, one remains ripe with fruit. Underneath its fig-studded branches, on the chilliest August night of 1988, eight-year-olds Mandana and Javeed meet for the first time — except somehow it doesn’t feel like the first time. A story of what the world has been, what it is now, and what it could be.” The BPT’s sum-up of the plot of Recursion: Icarus and Mikey time travel. Icarus and Mikey fall out of love. Icarus and Mikey meet each other for the first time at a job interview. Somewhere else, sometime else, Chrys buys a yellow house. The rules are: you can travel to any timeline as long as you don’t change anything. But of course, there’s always someone who thinks the rules don’t apply to them.

— Bill Marx

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Roots and World Music

Labyrinth New England Festival
March 1-2
Powers Music School, Belmont

The Boston area is a hotbed of music that is rooted in the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern modal traditions. Finding those sounds can sometimes be a challenge, so the work of the exciting new modal music organization, Labyrinth New England, is quite welcome. The organization may be just starting up, but the musicians appearing at this weekend of concerts and workshops are some of the most acclaimed artists and educators in their fields: Artistic director and plucked instrument virtuoso Tev Stevig, violinist Beth Bahia Cohen, clarinetist, guitarist, and oud player Mal Barsamian, percussionist George Lernis, and bassist MIchael Harrist will be among the many players and teachers at the festival.

Mardi Gras Bash
March 1, 1 to 4 p.m.
Great American Beer Hall, Medford

After two successful years, the Medford Traditional Jazz Festival returns this summer with a new name: The Bay State Hot Jazz Festival. Two of the best New Orleans-inspired early jazz outfits in the area, Annie and the Fur Trappers and the Soggy Po’ Boys, will be celebrating the Mardi Gras season via this fundraiser for the festival. There’s no admission charge to enter, but donations will be accepted.

Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer with Chao Tian
March 2, 7 p.m.
Club Passim, Cambridge

Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer have been making old-time music sound fresh and exciting for decades, but their new recording is something special. In From China to Appalachia the duo collaborates with Chinese classical hammered dulcimer player Chao Tian. Their journey into mixing traditional American and Chinese melodies proves that string music can bridge together disparate musical cultures in ways that are fun as well as surprising. For this album release concert they’re adding in another special guest — Boston-based fiddler and percussive dancer Sophie Wellington.

— Noah Schaffer

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Visual Art

“Performative” is a popular term in American culture these days, applying to the tendency to turn everything into a performance, from a quick vacation video on Instagram to an official appearance in the Oval Office. On and Off Stage: Performance and Persona, opening at the Addison Gallery in Andover on February 22, looks at the performative from two sides. The first two galleries at the Addison are devoted to the sort of exuberant, onstage movement that has inspired artists for thousand of years: the theater, the circus, the dance, and the ways artists have found to capture “the interplay between performer and audience, spectacle and spectators.”

The second half of the show moves from public stages to private ones. All identities, the exhibition suggests, are constructed and fluid, an ongoing process of “self-identification.” In this section, artists use performance, the museum “to explore new identities and modes of expression, as well as challenge stereotypes and societal norms.”

Artists on view include Ida Applebroog, Charles Atlas, Gifford Beal, George Bellows, Nick Cave, George Platt Lynes, Barbara Morgan, Cindy Sherman, and Lorna Simpson, among others, all drawn from the Addison’s ample collections.

For Black History month, a number of museums are presenting exhibitions or events featuring African-American artists or history. The Gardner Museum’s Winter/Spring exhibitions focus on the Haitian-American artist Fabiola Jean-Louis, now based in Brooklyn. Working in a variety of media, she is particularly well known for her photography that recreates lavish 18th-century scenes while recentering them on Black women.

The Gardner exhibition begins outside on the Anne H. Fitzpatrick facade with Ayiti-Tome (the title means “from now onwards this land is our land,” in Fon, an African language spoken by Haitian slaves). The public display combines early photographs of Haiti with early versions of sculptures from Waters of the Abyss: An Intersection of Spirit and Freedom, the indoor section of the show.

Inside the Gardner, Waters of the Abyss includes a number of commissioned works, composed of paper pulp, mineral stones, shells, metal, glass and other materials that “invoke the sanctity of Vodou and its role in Haitian liberation.” The show’s climax comes with a gallery transformed into the ruins of a Vodou sacred space under a towering Lwa or angel spirit carrying a sword. “The rallying cry of Ayiti-Tome is felt here, among funerary urns, mirrors, paintings, and massive sculptures of mermaids, each a portal — to the self, to holiness, to understanding.”

The outdoor part of the exhibition opens on February 18, followed by the indoor sections on February 27.

Art Evolved: Intertwined, opening March 1 at the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, bills itself as a “conversation” that “highlights the enduring connections between quilting and basketry, as well as the relationship between beauty and functionality.” A collaboration between Studio Art Quilt Associates and the National Basketry Association, the show includes a juried selection of 59 artists drawn from both organizations.

Photographer William Earle Williams and the State of Connecticut have had a long, if intermittent, relationship. The great American photographer Walker Evans, Williams’s mentor in the ’70s, had a home in Lyme. Williams attended the Yale School of Art at Evans’s suggestion. Williams returned to Connecticut in 2011 to see the Griswold Museum’s exhibition The Exacting Eye of Walker Evans. In 2021 he reconnected with the Griswold through his interest in a local initiative that researches and marks places where enslaved people lived and worked in the Old Lyme area. This led to an invitation to return as Artist-in-Residence in 2023-25, and finally to the exhibition Their Kindred Earth: Photographs by William Earle Williams, opening at the Florence Griswold Museum on February 22. The exhibition focuses on Williams’s work of the past 40 years “to identify and photograph places across the country that hold histories of enslavement, the Underground Railroad, and emancipation.”

Edmund Barry Gaither, longtime director of the National Center of Afro-American Artists, and Paula C. Austin, associate professor of History and African American and Black Diaspora Studies, Boston University, will present a lecture, John Wilson and Boston’s Black Arts Community, at the MFA Boston on February 26, at 1 p.m. Tickets are $35, $28 for members, in person, and $20, $16 for members, livestream. The lecture is offered in connection with the exhibition Witnessing Humanity: The Art of John Wilson, on view through June 22.

— Peter Walsh

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Jazz

Jazz Composers Alliance Orchestra
February 18 at 8 p.m.
Berklee Performance Center

The Jazz Composers Alliance Orchestra always plays new stuff — it’s their raison d’être, after all. Expect a broad range of references — from funk and swing to out — by resident composers David Harris, Darrell Katz, Bob Pilkington, and Mimi Rabson, played by the all-star 21-piece ensemble. The concert will be recorded for possible release as a follow-up to the JCA Orchestra’s last album, Live at the BPC.

Nicholas Payton
February 19 at 7:30 p.m.
City Winery, Boston

Trumpeter Nicholas Payton — in recent years playing keyboard as well, sometimes at the same time — hits City Winery, probably with a trio. (Here’s hoping he plays “The Backward Step.”)

Rick McLaughlin Trio
February 20 at 7:30 p.m.
Sahara Club, Methuen, MA

The talented bassist and composer Rick McLaughlin (see March 2) has drawn my attention to a venue I did not know, which appears to have a beautiful little stage that, every Thursday night, is given over to “Arthur’s House of Jazz at the Sahara Club.” God bless ’em. McLaughlin will front an estimable trio with guitarist Sheryl Bailey and drummer Yoron Israel.

Sachal Vasandani
February 21 at 7:30 p.m.
Regattabar, Cambridge

Singer and songwriter Sachal Vasandani has an appealing new album, Best Life Now (produced by drummer/producer Nate Smith), and he’s coming to the Regattabar with an impressive band: saxophonist Dayna Stephens, pianist Romain Collin, bassist Dezron Douglas, and drummer Tyson Jackson.

Jeremy Pelt
February 22 at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Scullers Jazz Club, Boston

The 48-year-old trumpeter Jeremy Pelt is touring in support of Woven, the latest in a long line of solid albums in the post-bop mode, noteworthy for the leader’s crafty writing, equally supple improvisations, and warm tone. He’s joined by the core group from that album: vibraphonist Jalen Baker, guitarist Misha Mendelenko, bassist Leighton Harrell, and drummer Jared Spears

Charles Overton & Devon Gates
February 23, 5 p.m. – 6p.m.
Eustis Estate, 1424 Canton Ave, Milton, MA.

Harpist Charles Overton and bassist/singer Devon Gates have been working in varied formats as instrumentalists, composers, and bandleaders, traversing classical, jazz, and pop. Overton’s orchestral conception and folk music cross references should complement Gates’s singing and songwriting well.

“Zildjians, Atlantic Records and Jazz: The Legacy of Istanbul in America”
February 27 at 7:30 p.m.
Jordan Hall, Boston

When Turkish Cypriot Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol came to America in 1993 to study at Berklee, it was to leave Turkey and all things Turkish behind and become “a hip jazz dude.” Now many years later, Sanlıkol — PhD in hand, and a book of compositions that delves deep into Turkish folk traditions as well as classical music and jazz — is a singular exponent of Turkish music in America. This concert caps a Turkish-themed day at New England Conservatory that includes a workshop, a panel discussion, and scholarly presentations. The evening concert will feature multi-instrumentalist Sanlıkol, fellow faculty member Nasheet Waits (drums), saxophonist Sam Newsome, and the NEC Jazz Orchestra, under the direction of Jazz Studies co-chair Ken Schaphorst. They’ll be playing a new piece by Sanlıkol inspired by Turkish mehter bands (aka Ottoman janissary bands) and a second half of “jazz classics from the Atlantic catalogue,” the label founded by Turkish American brothers Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegun. And, oh yeah, the history of Zildjian cymbals (another Turkish American company) will also be in there somewhere.

Josiah Reibstein and the HubTones Mardi Gras Party, featuring guest vocalist Robbie Pate
February 28 at 7:30 p.m.
Regattabar, Cambridge

Josiah Reibstein’s skills as brass player (tuba, trombone) and bassist have served multiple ensembles, covering everything from New Orleans-style brass band to straight-ahead and avant-garde jazz, including Charlie Kohlhase’s Explorers Club. Here he gathers his HubTones crew for a Mardis Gras party: singer Robbie Pate, Dan Gabel (trombone and vocals), Annie Linders (trumpet, vocals), Joseph Thieman (piano, accordion, vocals), drummer David Andrew Moore, and reed player(s) TBA.

Revolutionary Snake Ensemble
March 1 at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Scullers Jazz Club, Boston

If you caught the HubTones’ Mardi Gras party (see Feb. 28) and are hungry for more, another sure bet is the Revolutionary Snake Ensemble, who have been at it for more than two decades, fusing second-line rhythms with their own and others’ funk-centric writing, in a band that includes some of the best jazz players in the Boston area. They’ll be joined by Henri Smith, a beautiful singer who has been hanging with the RSE since moving to Massachusetts from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, in 2005, and the superb trumpet player Jason Palmer. The core members are RSE founder Ken Field (alto sax), Tom Hall (tenor), Dave Harris (sousaphone), Blake Newman (bass), and Phil Neighbors (drums).

Donal Fox/Jacques Schwarz-Bart Duo
March 1 at 7:30 p.m.
Regattabar, Cambridge

The broadly-skilled (jazz, classical, Latin) and learned pianist and composer Donal Fox has pursued his explorations in some fruitful duos — including with Oliver Lake, Warren Wolf, and Maya Beiser. Now he gets together with the equally adventurous saxophonist Jacques Schwarz-Bart, who of late has been digging into his Afro-Caribbean musical heritage.

Man On Land + Lihi Haruvi
March 1 at 8 p.m.
Theodore Parker UU Church, Boston

The trio Man On Land — “bassist Greg LoughMAN, drummer Austin McMahON, pianist Brian FriedLAND” — are joined by the formidable saxophonist Lihi Haruvi (here playing sopranino) in anticipation of a new album they’ve been working on. Man on Land, a collective of Boston-area journeymen who have been together since 2009, with two albums under their belt, favor a straight-ahead sound — chords, rhythm — that is free of cliché and extremely tasty. An early sampling of a track for the project with Haruvi — an assistant prof at Berklee out of the Global Jazz Institute — adds a welcome wrinkle.

Jason Moran
March 1 at 8 p.m.
Berklee Performance Center, Boston
March 6 at 8 p.m. (FREE)
Williams Hall, New England Conservatory, Boston

The indomitable 50-year-old pianist, composer, and conceptualist Jason Moran plays two Boston concerts this week. The first, presented by Celebrity Series of Boston, is a rare solo recital, with the self-explanatory title “Duke Ellington: My Heart Sings.” The second is the culmination of a three-day residency at New England Conservatory celebrating “the history of Boogie Woogie, the influential piano style that straddles blues and jazz and inspired a musical revolution in rhythm and blues, as well as rock and roll.” That show will include Moran solo and in ensemble performances with NEC students. And it’s free.

Burk/McLaughlin/Sofferman Trio
March 2 at 3:30 p.m.
Lilypad, Cambridge

I last wrote about pianist/composer Greg Burk in 2002, in anticipation of an upcoming Regattabar gig. Burk, with a master’s degree from New England Conservatory, had been the pianist, as well as contributing composer, for the Either/Orchestra, and had a new trio CD coming out that I described as shining “with quiet authority,” mixing beautifully wrought original pieces with free improvisation. Then Burk decamped for Rome, Italy. Now he’s back, checking in with some of his old compadres, bassist Rick McLaughlin (see Feb. 20) and drummer Brooke Sofferman.

— Jon Garelick

Marc Ribot Quartet: Hurry Red Telephone
February 21 at 8 p.m.
Arts at the Armory, Somerville

Genre-slashing guitar virtuoso Marc Ribot makes up for rarely playing Boston (though he brought a jazz organ trio just two years ago) by hitting Somerville’s Armory with an impressive band that should rekindle the avant-skronk power of his old Albert Ayler-shaped project Spiritual Unity. With that group’s Chad Taylor on drums, Soul Coughing’s Sebastian Steinberg on bass, and fearless improvisor Ava Mendoza on second guitar, Ribot promises a volatile summit.

Simon Phillips and Protocol
February 28 at 7 and 9 p.m.
Scullers Jazz Club, Boston

Powerhouse drummer Simon Phillips — who rocked with the Who and Toto as well as anchored pianist Hiromi’s jazz trio — doesn’t get to town often. But he is here now and will flex his chops on an oversized kit with formidable fusion mates in Protocol. The group he brings to Scullers is slated to include longtime bassist Ernest Tibbs, keyboardist Otmaro Ruiz, saxophonist Jacob Scesney, and emerging guitarist Alex Sill, whose sound can be reminiscent of Allan Holdsworth.

— Paul Robicheau

Third Thursdays
February 20 at 8 p.m.
Harvard-Epworth United Methodist Church, Cambridge

Join Gabriel Solomon (violin), Eric Hofbauer (guitar), Jacob William (bass), and Brooke Sofferman (drums) “for an evening of string exploration, electric and acoustic, communal and adventurous.” Leader and keyboardist Dave Bryant is excited: “This should be a volatile — but sympathetic! — blending of three wonderful string players with whom I’ve collaborated for many years. And I’m glad to finally have the chance to welcome Brooke into the fold after playing with him once in Russ Gershon’s group. An intriguing combination of the familiar and the unknown, and the best of both worlds!”

— Bill Marx

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Classical

Zander conducts Mahler
Presented by Boston Philharmonic Orchestra
February 16, 3 p.m.
Symphony Hall, Boston

The Boston Philharmonic returns to action with a program of 20th-century Romantic favorites. Soprano Claire Booth joins the ensemble for Richard Strauss’s Four Last Songs. Afterwards, Benjamin Zander conducts Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 4.

Isabelle Faust plays Stravinsky
Presented by Boston Symphony Orchestra
February 20 at 7:30 p.m., 21 at 1:30 p.m., and 22 at 8 p.m.
Symphony Hall, Boston

Violinist Faust returns to Symphony Hall to perform Stravinsky’s acerbic Violin Concerto. Alan Gilbert makes his return, too, leading symphonies by Haydn (Nos. 48 and 99).

Yuja Wang & Víkingur Ólafsson
Presented by Celebrity Series
February 21, 8 p.m.
Symphony Hall, Boston

Two of the day’s hottest keyboard stars team up for a duo recital that promises fireworks. With a program that includes selections by Rachmaninoff, John Adams, Franz Schubert, and György Ligeti, how could it do otherwise?

Gabriela Ortiz’s Revolución diamantina
Presented by Boston Symphony Orchestra
February 27 at 7:30 p.m. and 28 at 1:30 p.m.
Symphony Hall, Boston

Giancarlo Guerrero leads the BSO in the local premiere of Ortiz’s ballet that explores Mexico’s “Glitter Revolution,” a recent campaign highlighting the issue of violence against women. Also on the docket are Tchaikovsky’s Francesca da Rimini and Rococo Variations.

Lang Lang in recital
Presented by Celebrity Series
February 28, 8 p.m.
Symphony Hall, Boston

Lang Lang returns to Boston for a recital consisting of hearty Romantic fare: Schumann’s Kreisleriana, Fauré’s Pavane, and selected works by Chopin.

— Jonathan Blumhofer

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Author Events

Tom Acitelli at Harvard Book Store
The Golden Age of Beer: A 52-Week Guide to the Perfect Beer for Every Week of the Year
February 17 at 7 p.m.
Free

“All hail the golden age of beer! Today there are nearly nine thousand breweries in the US alone, brewing an enormous range of styles from imperial stouts to double India pale ales, golden pilsners, briny melon goses, and much more. But while this breadth can delight the taste buds all year, how does one choose what to drink without feeling overwhelmed or defaulting to the same brews again and again?

“In this unique volume, acclaimed beer expert Tom Acitelli presents a 52-week guide to choosing the perfect beer to complement every week of the year. With tasting notes, brand recommendations, a guide to how to best serve, sip, and savor, plus fascinating backstories and trivia, Acitelli unearths what beer lovers actually care about and reveals how to appreciate the best that the golden age of beer has to offer.

“The Golden Age of Beer embraces Acitelli’s inviting, accessible voice and dives into homebrewing, beer icons, today’s industry game-changers, and more. It cuts through the noise and the hype to leave you with a lush, inspiring, and reliable guide for sampling and entertaining all year long.”

Haunting As Inheritance – Brookline Booksmith
February 18 from 5:30- 7 p.m.
Free

“The Transnational Literature Series at Brookline Booksmith is the proud bookstore partner of Literatures of Annihilation, Exile, and Resistance. Join them for a multiplatform event on haunting as inheritance with Hannah Lillith Assadi, author of Sonora, and Noor Naga, author of the verse-novel Washes, Prays. They will be in conversation with Francisco Robles and Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi.” It will be a “conversation about belonging, place, and displacement that will take us on a tour de force from Cairo, to the Sonoran Desert, to the gritty streets of New York City.”

Panel Discussion: The War in Europe – Goethe-Institut
February 19 at 7 p.m.
Goethe Institut Boston
Free

“On the eve of the third anniversary of the bloodiest war in Europe in 80 years, we’ll reflect on how we got here, where we stand now, and what might be required in the aftermath — for the United States, Europe, and of course, Ukraine. Three of the world’s leading authorities on Ukraine will assist us in exploring these matters.

“Serhii Plokhii, Director of the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, will offer an update on the current situation in Ukraine, along with relevant background on the war; Professor of Modern European Intellectual History at Yale University Marci Shore will examine the intellectual framework that enabled the war, together with its impact and implications for Ukrainian, and European, culture. Economist Liudmyla Kurnosikova, currently a McCloy Fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School, will speak about plans for the postwar reconstruction of Ukraine. The panel will be moderated by writer and editor Askold Melnyczuk, University of Massachusetts Boston.

This panel discussion marks the publication of a special issue of Ireland’s leading literary journal, Irish Pages, guest-edited by Askold Melnyczuk, on the topic of The War in Europe. Copies of Irish Pages will be available for sale.”

Third Thursday Poetry at Ten Trees Books
Natick
February 20 from 6:30 – 8 p.m.
Free

“Join us for Third Thursday Poetry! We have a 15-minute featured poet, a time to socialize, with wine and cheese, and then an open mic. Before COVID, for more than 15 years, Third Thursday Poetry was hosted inside Gallery 55 in Natick Center. We’re excited the founder, Molly Saccardo, relaunched the series at Ten Trees Books. Poetry reading will start promptly at 6:45 p.m.

“Our featured poet will be Lynne Viti, a lecturer emerita at Wellesley College and the inaugural Poet Laureate of Westwood, Massachusetts. Her most recent poetry collection is The Walk to Cefalù (Cornerstone Press, 2022). Her poem ‘No Registration Required’ was named poem of the year in the 2024 Hale Education Poetry Contest. She was selected for the 2023 Miriam Chaikin/Westbeth Artists Poetry Award and a third place prize in the 2023 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Contest. She facilitates a poets in the schools program in Westwood, as well as a poetry workshop for adults at the Westwood Public Library. Space is limited to 30. Our first one sold out — reserve your ticket early, so you don’t miss out.”

Sophie Lewis with E.T. Stone – Brookline Booksmith
Enemy Feminisms
February 21 at 7 p.m.
Free

In her book, “Sophie Lewis offers an unflinching tour of enemy feminisms, from 19th-century imperial feminists and police officers to 20th-century KKK feminists and pornophobes to today’s anti-abortion and TERF feminists. Enemy feminisms exist. Feminism is not an inherent political good. Only when we acknowledge that can we finally reckon with the ways these feminisms have pushed us toward counterproductive and even violent ends. And only then can we finally engage in feminist strategizing that is truly antifascist.

“At once a left transfeminist battlecry against cisness, a decolonial takedown of nationalist womanhoods, and a sex-radical retort to femmephobia in all its guises, Enemy Feminisms is above all a fierce, brilliant love letter to feminism.”

“Be the Change” with Betsy Leondar-Wright in conversation with Natasha Warikoo – Porter Square Books
Is It Racist? Is it Sexist?
February 23 at 3 p.m.
Free

“Is It Racist? Is It Sexist?” Two questions that seem simple on their face, but which invite a host of tangled responses. In their book, Jessi Streib and Betsy Leondar-Wright offer a new way of understanding how inequalities persist by focusing on the individual judgment calls that lead us to decide what’s racist, what’s sexist, and what’s not.

“Racism and sexism often seem like optical illusions — with some people sure they see them and others sure they’re not there — but the lines that most consistently divide our decisions might surprise you. Indeed, white people’s views of what’s racist and sexist are increasingly up for grabs. As the largest racial group in the country and the group that occupies the most and the highest positions of power, what they decide is racist and sexist helps determine the contours of inequality.

“By asking white people — Southerners and Northerners, Republicans and Democrats, working-class and professional-middle-class, men and women — to decide whether specific interactions and institutions are racist, sexist, or not, Streib and Leondar-Wright take us on a journey through the decision-making processes of white people in America. By presenting them with a variety of scenarios, the authors are able to distinguish the responses as being characteristic of different patterns of reasoning. They produce a framework for understanding these patterns that invites us all to engage with each other in a new way, even on topics that might divide us.”

Chelsea Handler — Brookline Booksmith
I’ll Have What She’s Having
February 26 at 5:30 p.m.
Free

“At ten years old, Chelsea opened a lemonade stand and realized she’d make more money if the drinks were spiked. So she added vodka to her recipe and used her earnings to upgrade herself to first-class on a family vacation — leaving her parents and siblings in coach. She moved to Los Angeles and got fired from her temp job when she admitted she didn’t know how to transfer calls. She’s played pickleball with the scions of an American dynasty. She’s sexted a governor. She shared psychedelics with strangers in Spain. When she accidentally ended up at dinner with Woody Allen, she was not going to leave the table without asking him a very personal pointed question. She went on national television and talked about having threesomes. She’s never been one to hold back.”

Sarah Jones at Harvard Book Store
Disposable: America’s Contempt for the Underclass
February 26 at 7 p.m.
Free

“In the tradition of Matthew Desmond’s Evicted and Andrea Elliot’s Invisible Child, Disposable is a poignant exploration of America’s underclass, left vulnerable by systemic racism and capitalism. Here, Sarah Jones delves into the lives of the essential workers, seniors, and people with disabilities who were disproportionately affected by COVID-19—not due to their age or profession, but because of the systemic inequality and poverty that left them exposed.

“The pandemic served as a stark revelation of the true state of America, a country where the dream of prosperity is a distant mirage for millions. Jones argues that the pandemic didn’t create these dynamics, but rather revealed the existing social mobility issues and wealth gap that have long plagued the nation. Behind the staggering death toll are stories of lives lost, injustices suffered, and institutions that failed to protect their people.

“Jones brings these stories to the forefront, transforming the abstract concept of the pandemic into a deeply personal and political phenomenon. She argues that America has abandoned a sacrificial underclass of millions but insists that another future is possible. By addressing the pervasive issues of racial justice and public policy, Jones calls for a future where no one is seen as disposable again.”

Tell-All Boston Presents: Theresa Okokon – Porter Square Books
What Makes Me Who I Am?
February 27 at 7 p.m.
Free

“PSB: Boston Edition is excited to present Tell-All Boston for an evening celebrating essays that evoke a time, place, or person defining the authors. The evening’s program will feature work from several writers, including Theresa Okokon, author of the essay collection Who I Always Was. A Wisconsinite living in New England, she is a writer, a storyteller, and the co-host of “Stories From The Stage.” In addition to writing and performing her own stories, Okokon also teaches storytelling and writing workshops and classes, coaches other tellers, hosts story slams, and frequently emcees events for nonprofits. An alum of both the Memoir Incubator and Essay Incubator programs at GrubStreet, Theresa’s book is a memoir in essays about memory, family stories, and the death of her father.”

Shilpi Suneja – Newtonville Books
House of Caravans
March 2 at 2 p.m.
Free

“Join us for an author talk with Shilpi Suneja, whose acclaimed novel House of Caravans is just being released in paperback.” Born in India, her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and published in Guernica, McSweeney’s, Cognoscenti, and the Michigan Quarterly Review.

Leslie Jamison in conversation with Louisa Thomas – Porter Square Books
Splinter
March 4 at 7 p.m.
Free

“Leslie Jamison is among our most beloved contemporary voices, acclaimed for her powerful thinking, deep feeling, and electric prose. In Splinters, Jamison turns her unrivaled powers of perception on some of her most intimate relationships: new motherhood, a ruptured marriage, and the shaping legacy of her own parents’ complicated bond. In examining what it means for a woman to be many things at once, Jamison juxtaposes the magical and the mundane in surprising ways. The result is a work of nonfiction like no other, a deep reckoning that grieves the departure of one love even as it celebrates the arrival of another.”

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie at First Parish Church – Harvard Book Store
Dream Count: A Novel
March 5 at 7 p.m.
First Parish Church, Cambridge
Tickets are $42 with book

“Chiamaka is a Nigerian travel writer living in America. Alone in the midst of the pandemic, she recalls her past lovers and grapples with her choices and regrets. Zikora, her best friend, is a lawyer who has been successful at everything until — betrayed and brokenhearted — she must turn to the person she thought she needed least. Omelogor, Chiamaka’s bold, outspoken cousin, is a financial powerhouse in Nigeria who begins to question how well she knows herself. And Kadiatou, Chiamaka’s housekeeper, is proudly raising her daughter in America — but faces an unthinkable hardship that threatens all she has worked to achieve.

“In Dream Count, Adichie trains her fierce eye on these women in a sparkling, transcendent novel that takes up the very nature of love itself. Is true happiness ever attainable or is it just a fleeting state? And how honest must we be with ourselves in order to love, and to be loved? A trenchant reflection on the choices we make and those made for us, on daughters and mothers, on our interconnected world, Dream Count pulses with emotional urgency and poignant, unflinching observations of the human heart, in language that soars with beauty and power. It confirms Adichie’s status as one of the most exciting and dynamic writers on the literary landscape.”

— Matt Hanson