Compiled by Arts Fuse Editor

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

Film

Belmont Film’s International Film Series

April 14 (Apple Cinema in Cambridge) at 7:15 Waves

This is an additional show after a sold-out earlier screening. Set during the Prague Spring of 1968 and the aftermath of the Warsaw Pact invasion, this historical thriller follows Tomáš, a young man who inadvertently joins a Czechoslovak public radio station. As Soviet forces invade, Tomáš and his fellow journalists risk their lives to broadcast uncensored information, confronting state censorship and secret police surveillance. With speaker: Igor Lukes, professor of international relations & history at Boston University,

April 21 (West Newton Cinema) at 7:30 p.m.: Reading Lolita in Tehran (Italy/Israel). Golshifteh Farahani (Paterson) stars in this film based on Azar Nafisi’s memoir about a literature professor who is compelled to lead a clandestine group of seven female students to explore forbidden Western literature amidst the political upheaval of post-revolutionary Iran. Shot in Italy with a predominantly Iranian cast, the film captures the essence of ’80s and ’90s Iran, highlighting the transformative power of literature.

April 28 (West Newton Cinema) 7:30: Manas (Brazil). Set in a remote riverside community in Brazil, this compelling drama follows a 13-year-old girl who becomes increasingly aware of the systemic violence and exploitation faced by the women in her village. Determined to change her destiny and protect her younger sister, she courageously challenges the oppressive structures governing their lives. Winner of the Venice Film Festival’s Giornate degli Autori Director’s Award.

Janis Ian: Breaking Silence
April 16 at 7:30
Regent Theater in Arlington

Singer-songwriter-musician Janis Ian shot to fame at age 14 with her debut single “Society’s Child,” a song about what was at the time the very taboo subject — interracial romance. It was followed in 1975 by the Top 10 single “At Seventeen.” With 23 albums and two Grammy Awards, she has continued recording into the 21st century. On April 7, Janis Ian celebrated her 74th birthday. The new documentary, directed by Varda Bar-Kar (Fandango at the Wall), charts the remarkable trajectory of her life and career. Arts Fuse review

The Satyajit Ray Collection
April 18 – May 18
Harvard Film Archive

The series includes films from beautiful and newly acquired 35mm Satyajit Ray prints from the HFA collection.

The Big City (April 18 & May 18 at 7 p.m.)

Charluta (April 19 at 7 p.m. & May 13 at 9:15 p.m.) and The Adversary (April 19 & May 13 at 9:30 p.m.)

Independent Film Festival Boston
April 23 through 30
Somerville Theatre in Davis Square, Brattle Theatre
Complete Schedule

The area’s premier independent festival will screen 90 films this year. Along with features, there are programs of narrative and documentary shorts.

Some of the selections include:

Come See Me in the Good Light (April 23 at the Somerville Theatre) Director Ryan White, who will be in attendance, has had five previous films at the festival, including The Case Against 8 and Ask Dr. Ruth. The Opening Night Party follows at the Crystal Ballroom and is open to all attendees of the film.

Pavements (April 26 at the Brattle Theatre). The Centerpiece Spotlight film is directed by Alex Ross Perry (Listen Up Philip, Her Smell). It is a “prismatic, narrative, scripted, documentary, musical, metatextual hybrid” that tracks the preparations for a musical based on the eponymous band preparing for their sold-out 2022 reunion tour. There are programs of narrative and documentary shorts.

Other notable films screening at the festival:

Friendship stars Tim Robinson, Paul Rudd, and Kate Mara in a film about a suburban dad who falls hard for his charismatic new neighbor.

Cracking The Code: Phil Sharp and the Biotech Revolution chronicles farm boy turned Nobel laureate Phil Sharp’s discovery of RNA splicing, which revolutionized biology and put Boston on the map as a leader in a life-saving industry.

Deaf President Now!: In this documentary, directors Nyle DiMarco & Davis Guggenheim recount the eight days of historic protests held at Gallaudet University in 1988 after the school’s board of trustees appointed a hearing president over several very qualified Deaf candidates.

My Sweet Land: Director Sareen Hairabedian’s debut is a coming-of-age story set against a multigenerational war in the post-Soviet Caucasus Mountains.

Sorry, Baby, directed by Eva Victor, will close the festival on April 30 at the Coolidge Corner Theatre. Writer/director Victor is expected to be in attendance.

Pick of the Week

America’s Lost Band on PBS

The Remains were one of Boston’s great bands from the late ’60s. Their distinctive songwriting and performances were inspired enough to land them an opening spot on the Beatles last American tour. Two of the members, Billy Briggs and Barry Tashian, were from my hometown. I saw them perform in the mid-’60s at my high school and the show was riveting. They were inspirational hometown heroes.

There is a longer documentary about the band narrated by Peter Wolf. This version, directed by Michael Stich, plays just under a half an hour and is compiled largely of recent interviews and revival shows. It captures The Remains’ return to Los Angeles 40 years after they last appeared at Dodger Stadium opening for the Fab Four. According to producer Fred Cantor: “It is perhaps the quintessential story of a band that came this close to the mountaintop but never quite got there — and how they dealt with not reaching their ultimate destination.”

For their appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1965, the word was that they were required to write an original song. That tune, a weak mash-up of their better songs, did not help move their reputation forward. This setback is not mentioned, but the film does give the band another chance to have a moment in the spotlight and to once again assert their place in Boston rock history.

— Tim Jackson

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Theater

COVID PROTOCOLS: Check with specific theaters.

Notes on Killing Seven Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Board Members by Mara Vélez Meléndez. Directed by Javier Antonio González. Staged by Yale Rep, 1120 Chapel Street, New Haven, April 25 through May 17.

This play sounds like a piece of mischievous political theater. In New England? At a major regional stage? Maybe, like courage, the production will be contagious. The Yale Rep description: “Early one morning, Lolita, a young Boricua trans woman, arrives at a suspicious (let’s say evil) Wall Street office with a mission: to take down all seven members of the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Board. Much to her surprise, the receptionist who welcomes her has, more than a story to tell, a show to put on. A revenge saga/existential drag extravaganza, Mara Vélez Meléndez’s subversively funny play takes aim at the unelected officials who think they know what’s best for the people — and for our own bodies — and the elected ones who appoint them.”

La Tempestad — The Tempest by William Shakespeare. Adapted and translated by Orlando Hernández, Tatyana-Marie Carlo, and Leandro “Kufa” Castro. Directed by Christie Vela. Staged by Trinity Rep at the Dowling Theater, 201 Washington St., Providence, through April 27.

According to Trinity Rep: “Shakespeare’s familiar story of magic, betrayal, comedy, and love is told through a compelling mix of The Bard’s classic English, translated Spanish dialogue, and projected subtitles so you can understand it all. La Tempestad — The Tempest purposefully weaves two languages to deconstruct colonialist narratives, all while retaining the shipwreck, romance, magic, and fantasy that make Shakespeare’s final play so beloved. Originally presented in 2018 as a touring Teatro en el Verano production, La Tempestad is the first to transfer to Trinity Rep’s main stage.”

What You Are Now by Sam Chanse. Directed by Steve Cosson. Staged by the Merrimack Repertory Theatre at the Nancy L. Donahue Theatre at Liberty Hall, 50 E. Merrimack St. Lowell, April 23 through May 11.

The MRT summary of this intriguing-sounding new drama: “Set in Lowell, What You Are Now follows Pia, a passionate young researcher investigating new ideas about how to heal the mind from traumatic memories. Her interest is deeply intertwined with her family’s history. When a figure from the past shows up, urging Pia’s mother to testify about her experiences during the violence of 1970s Cambodia, unresolved histories are brought to the surface.” The drama “is one of the performance activities connected to Proleung Khmer (Khmer Soul): A 50-year Journey of Remembrance and Resilience.”

“In an effort to care for our community, we’re sharing details about this production that may be sensitive for members of our audience. The following information may reveal plot points. What You Are Now engages with the subject of deportation and the historical events surrounding the invasion of the Khmer Rouge. The production contains loud sounds, adult language, and is recommended for ages 12+.”

HARK!, created and devised by Wellesley College Theatre Studies students. Directed by Marta Rainer. Staged by Wellesley College Theatre in the Ruth Nagel Jones Theatre in Alumnae Hall at Wellesley College, 106 Central St, Wellesley, April 26 and 27.

This is billed as climate change entertainment for the entire family! “Created with young families especially in mind, HARK! invites audiences of all ages to explore what it’s like to be a human in nature! In a world facing environmental challenges and climate change, how do we connect with the ecosystem surrounding us? Through original songs, games, bubbles, stories, silliness, improvisation, imagination, and more, the HARK! ensemble will engage our wee ones in questions about our shared world. Bring your toddlers and preschoolers (and their families)!”

Night Side Songs Words and Music by the Lazours. Directed by Taibi Magar. Produced by the American Repertory Theater in association with Philadelphia Theatre Company at the Hibernian Hall, 184 Dudley Street, Roxbury, through April 20.

According to the A.R.T., this “communal music-theater experience performed for — and with — an intimate audience celebrates the resilience of the human spirit. Inspired by American writer, philosopher, and cultural critic Susan Sontag’s observation that ‘illness is the night side of life,’ this genre-breaking theatrical kaleidoscope with music by Richard Rodgers Award recipients Daniel Lazour and Patrick Lazour (We Live in Cairo, Flap My Wings) and directed by Taibi Magar (We Live in Cairo, Macbeth in Stride) gives voices to doctors, patients, researchers, and caregivers. A folk-inspired score and interconnected stories spanning time and perspective take us on a journey through illness that brings us closer to life.” Arts Fuse review

Her Portmanteau by Mfoniso Udofia. Directed by Tasia A. Jones. A co-production of Central Square Theater and Front Porch Arts Collective at Central Square Theater, 450 Mass. Ave., Cambridge, through April 20.

According to the Central Square Theater and Front Porch Arts Collective, this script, which is part of the dramatist’s nine-play Ufot Family Cycle,“delves into a story of betrayal and forgiveness, centering on a Nigerian mother in the US and her two daughters who have lived vastly different lives. Iniabasi, given up at birth by her mother, Abasiama, returns from Nigeria embittered, in search of answers and a better life for her own child. Adiaha, the American-raised child of Abasiama’s second marriage, has had a starkly different upbringing. The reunion forces them to confront their past, navigating clashing traditions and a family legacy that spans time, culture, and generations.” Note: “Each play in the Cycle stands alone, but together, they weave a rich tapestry of interconnected narratives.” Arts Fuse review

Skazki: A Spell of Ice and Snow by Justin Corriss, with music composed by Jonathan Blackshire. Staged by Mystic Evidence Productions at the Plaza Theatre at the Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, through April 20.

According to dramatist Justin Corriss, this musical theater piece (which is receiving its world premiere) “is a reimagining of Russian folklore with thoughtful new interpretations of classic characters like Baba Yaga and Morozko, the Lord of Winter.” An article by the critically praised Russian author Mikhail Shishkin inspired the script. Corriss explains that Shishkin “decried the mass censorship and backlash against Russian culture following the invasion of Ukraine by declaring, ‘Culture, too, is a casualty of war.’ Skazki was born out of a deep love of history and culture, especially those unfairly maligned and misunderstood due to the past and present influences of totalitarian governments. The actions of a government are not the actions of its people.” The musical is a fantasy adventure, but many of the show’s deeper themes reflect upon the horrors of war and the destruction caused by such totalitarian regimes.

Bread & Puppet Spring Tour: The Obligation to Live, written and performed by Bread & Puppet Theater. Tour schedule: April 23 – New Bedford; April 24 – Somerville; April 26 & Sunday, April 27 – Portland, ME

Bread & Puppet Theater is out on spring tour, traveling from Vermont down the Eastern Seaboard. About this show, the troupe’s venerable artistic director Peter Schumann comments that “the obligation to be alive and act against the actors of death is just one of humanity’s many obligations. We also have the obligation to courage and the obligation to plant garlic in the rubble of the empire. Possibilitarians know this and bring giants, dragons, horses, sheep, butterflies, and the exact dance of death required for this exact moment.”

Water’s Rising: Festival of New Climate Action Plays, a series of staged readings presented by Gloucester Stage Company at 267 East Main Street, Gloucester, April 27.

“Timed to coincide with Earth Week, Gloucester Stage will present three staged readings of the festival’s winning plays: TERRA FIRMA by Barbara Hammond, Mox Nox by Patrick Gabridge, and The Tusk Hunters by Dan Caffrey. Each selected play illuminates the climate crisis from vastly different perspectives, transporting us from a platform in the middle of the ocean to a family’s home on a newly formed East Coast to the middle of the Arctic tundra. In addition to the staged readings, each play will be followed by a talkback session featuring climate experts. These experts will address the themes of the theatrical piece, highlight organizations taking action, and discuss the impact of climate change on Gloucester and the global landscape.”

Hamlet by William Shakespeare. Directed by Tony Estrella. Staged by Gamm Theatre at 245 Jefferson Blvd, Warwick, RI, through May 4.

W.H. Auden on Shakespeare’s towering tragedy: “The plays of the period in which Shakespeare wrote Hamlet have a great richness, but one is not sure that at this point he even wants to be a dramatist. Hamlet offers strong evidence of this indecision, because it indicates what Shakespeare might have done if he had had an absolutely free hand: he might well have confined himself to dramatic monologue.”

The Boston Butoh and Performance Art Festival. presented by Mobius at the Boston Center for the Arts Plaza Theater, 539 Tremont Street, Boston, April 24 through 27.

Here is what I know: “This unique festival will feature 3 incredible evenings of live performance by 8 internationally-acclaimed Butoh and Performance Artists, as well as 2 days of movement workshops and a free film night. This is a rare opportunity for Boston audiences to dive deeply into these enigmatic avant-garde performance and dance forms. Featuring solo performances by Joan Laage/Kogut Butoh, Mitsu Salmon, Julie Andree T, Alejandra Herrera Silva, Sara Zalek and Rosemary Candelario.”

The Great Reveal by David Valdes. Directed by Bridget Kathleen O’Leary and Charlotte Snow. Staged by Lyric Stage at 140 Clarendon Street, 2nd Floor, Boston, through April 27.

“This commissioned work by Lyric Stage Boston shines a light on the complexities of family and what it takes to fight for the unconditional love that is always there despite differences and disagreements. Newly married and seven months pregnant, Lexi has planned the perfect backyard gender-reveal party with every detail immaculately in place. But not everyone is as enthusiastic about the celebration. Her immature husband, Christopher, is rattled by what the future holds for him as a father. Her brother Linus, a trans man, is caught between his sister and his partner Dosia, who is tasked with making the cake for an event that goes against everything they stand for. When emotions escalate and revelations are shared, a family and the importance of being true to oneself is tested as they all grapple to find ways to keep on loving each other.”

Don’t Eat the Mangos by Ricardo Pérez González. Directed by David Mendizábal. Staged by the Huntington Theatre Company at the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA (527 Tremont Street, Boston), through April 27.

According to the HTC, the script “portrays life on the playwright’s home island of Puerto Rico with compassion and humor through the saga of three sisters living just outside San Juan. As a hurricane approaches the beautiful island, secrets and ugly truths are revealed that cause the sisters to wrestle with how to stay true to their familia and homeland — and seek a satisfying revenge.” Arts Fuse review

A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare. Directed by Maurice Emmanuel Parent. Staged by the Actors’ Shakespeare Project at the Dorothy and Charles Mosesian Center for the Arts, 1321 Arsenal St, Watertown, MA, through May 4.

This version of Shakespeare’s most popular romantic comedy was “inspired by the club culture of late ’90s and early ’00s New York City.” W.H. Auden on the play: “In A Midsummer Night’s Dream Shakespeare mythologically anthropomorphizes nature, making nature like man, and reducing the figurants of nature in size in comic situations. In the tragedies, however, Shakespeare does not anthropomorphize nature. Storms and shipwrecks in the tragedies are represented as the will of God, and they either reflect or contrast with human emotion.”

The Swamp Dwellers by Wole Soyinka. Directed by Awoye Timpo. Staged by Theatre for a New Audience, Polonsky Shakespeare Center, 262 Ashland Place, Brooklyn, NY, through April 27.

Given how unadventurous so much of Boston theater is at the moment, I can’t help but note the New York production of an early play (1958) by the esteemed Nigerian writer, Wole Soyinka, winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature. He’s best known as a playwright and poet, though Soyinka is also a fine novelist and memorist. (His 1971 prison memoir, The Man Died, is a marvel. He wrote it in his cell on toilet paper: “For me, justice is the first condition of humanity.”) The writer, now 90, wrote this one-act play, set in a village in the swamps of the Niger Delta, at the age of 25 on the eve of Nigerian independence: “Yoruba myth is integrated with the mid-20th century in a story about change that includes clashes between parents and children, women and men, tradition, and modernity, rural and city life, poverty and wealth, nature and survival, and subservience to religious authority and freedom.”

Crowns by Regina Taylor, adapted from the book by Michael Cunningham and Craig Marberry. Directed by Regine Vital. Music director David Coleman. Staged by Moonbox Productions at 2 Arrow Street, Cambridge, through May 4.

According to the Arrow Street Arts website: “A musical play in which hats become a springboard for an exploration of Black history and identity as seen through the eyes of a young Black woman who has come down South to stay with her aunt after her brother is killed in Brooklyn. Hats are everywhere, in exquisite variety, and the characters use the hats to tell tales concerning everything from the etiquette of hats to their historical and contemporary social function. There is a hat for every occasion, from flirting to churchgoing to funerals to baptisms, and the tradition of hats is traced back to African rituals and slavery and forward to the New Testament and current fashion. Some rap but predominantly gospel music and dance underscore and support the narratives.”

The Squirrels by Robert Askins. Directed by Brooks Reeves. Movement choreography by Audrey Johnson. Staged by the Apollinaire Theatre Company at Chelsea Theatre Works, 189 Winnisimmet St., Chelsea, MA, April 18 through May 18.

This satire of prejudice and greed, says the Apollinaire Theatre Company website, revolves around “a bitter struggle for love, power, and the almighty acorn” that “divides a once-peaceful tree.”

— Bill Marx

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Television

The Last of Us, Season 2 (April 13, HBO Max): This well-made series made its debut in 2023 to almost instantaneous critical acclaim. One can’t always say that about shows based on video games. Part postapocalyptic thriller, part character-driven drama, The Last of Us posits a hellscape where a pandemic generated by a mutant fungus has turned people into monstrous predators and decimated society. The show made a star of Pedro Pascal and wisely cast other fine actors such as Melanie Lynskey, Nick Offerman, Kaitlyn Dever, and Jeffrey Wright.

You, Season 5 (April 24, Netflix): This show became hugely popular almost immediately, in part due to a consistently winning performance by lead Penn Badgley as Joe Goldberg. The handsome, mild-mannered bookstore employee becomes obsessed with beautiful women, falls hard for them, scares them with his possessive behavior, kidnaps and holds them captive, and then, well, other things happen. Yes, it’s about a psychopath, but the narrative has a weirdly romantic, sexy overlay that some fans of the show focus on rather than the violence and stalking. Indeed, the enthusiasts are so passionate that Netflix is hosting events to promote the final season premiere, including bookstore screenings, and, um, scavenger hunts. The shifting locales also keep the dark doings interesting: New York, California, Paris, London, and now back to New York. I confess, this one’s a guilty pleasure for me: well produced, well acted, suspenseful, and kinda hard to resist.

David Frost Vs. (April 27, MSNBC) The newest installment of this documentary series, produced by David Frost’s son, will feature Frost’s infamous interviews (16 in total) with the Beatles, which dovetails nicely with the casting announcements for the new four-film biopic anthology directed by Sam Mendes.

New from Apple TV this month: Government Cheese (April 16): Set in 1969, this new series is being described as “surrealist comedy.” It is about a man recently released from prison trying to reunite with his family. Then there’s Jon Hamm starring as a newly divorced hedge fund manager whose life spins out of control in Your Friends and Neighbors, which debuted on April 11.

— Peg Aloi

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Popular Music

Remember Sports with Anna McClellan
April 14 (doors at 7/show at 8)
Arts at the Armory, Somerville

Remember Sports formed as Sports in 2012 when its members were students at one of Ohio’s premier institutes of higher learning, Kenyon College. After three self-releases, including the highly praised Sunchokes, the Carmen Perry-fronted quartet signed to Father/Daughter Records, which distributed three LPs between 2015 and 2021, the 2022 EP Leap Day, and a reissued deluxe edition of Sunchokes. During their decade-plus existence, the now Philadelphia-based Remember Sports have piled up fan favorites such as “Saturday,” “Tiny Planets,” “I Liked You Best,” “Get Bummed Out,” and “Pinky Ring.” These are all sure to be accounted for when they hit up Arts at the Armory, where label mate Anna McClellan will kick of the festivities.

— Blake Maddux

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Visual Art

After a long New England winter, seaside art colonies start to come back to life this month. In Maine, the Ogunquit Museum of American Art begins its 72nd season with three summer exhibitions opening on April 18.

A Sailboat in the Moonlight is the first solo exhibition of the work of Nicole Wittenberg, organized in conjunction with parallel exhibitions at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockland and the Fondation Le Corbusier in Paris, France. A landscape and figural painter, Wittenberg is based in New York City and has taught at the School of Visual Arts and the New York School of Drawing, Painting, and Sculpture. Besides her nature work, she is known for nude studies made from videos, photography, and amateur pornography. The woods of Maine are a favorite source of material. There she makes pastel studies on the spot that she uses in the studio to create vivid, large-scale paintings in saturated colors. The Ogunquit exhibition will include both the formal, finished paintings and pastel studies made in the field.

As a kind of antidote to what it calls the “chaos” and “breakdown of a shared sense of reality” of the 21st century, the museum next offers Where the Real Lies, a group show of artists who “engage the magical, fantastical, and abstract” as they “question the veracity of our reality and search for its true location.” The imagery of childhood memories, dreams, and symbols are among the visual sources.

Henry Strater, the Ogunquit Museum’s founder, is the subject of the third exhibition: Henry Strater’s Ogunquit. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, to a family made rich by selling snuff, Strater first visited Ogunquit in 1919, when the seaside town was already a well-established summer resort and artists’ colony with two seasonal art schools. After a period in France, he returned to build a permanent home there in 1925, became an important figure in the local arts community, and opened the Ogunquit Museum in 1953. Henry Strater’s Ogunquit explores his decades-long exploration of Ogunquit and southern Maine, his many friendships, and the stunning natural scenery of Ogunquit and its coastal environs that he painted for decades.

Besides the indoor galleries in its mid-century modern building, the Ogunquit Museum is surrounded by a sculpture garden amid weathered rocks overlooking the town’s picturesque Narrow Cove — surely among the most beautiful settings of any art museum.

Further up the coast in the aforementioned Rockland, an old fishing and tourist hub and diversified industrial town that now bills itself as Maine’s leading art center, the Farnsworth Museum offers two two-day workshops in unusual media. In Pulp Painting with Ashley Page, April 22-23, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., participants will learn to make pulp, the basic material of hand-made paper, and then be told how to add pigments to create fields of color in a single sheet of paper that becomes a composition. Exploring the unique properties of paper pulp and finished paper is a major goal of the workshop.

Mixed Media and Wax Workshop with Hélène Farrar, April 24 and 25, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. teaches the long-established wax resist method for creating patterns on textiles along with how to use natural pigments to make dye and ink. Participants will learn how to extract pigments to create a palette of liquid inks and then the basics of dyeing with shibori wax resist methods to decorate a cotton bandana from the natural dyes they have made.

Back in Boston, the Institute of Contemporary Art opens two new, season-long shows on April 17. Inspired by a 1940s jazz standard, the title for Stanley Whitney: How High the Moon introduces the first retrospective of a 50-year career evolving “wholly unique abstractions.” The exhibition includes Whitney’s improvisational small paintings, his works on paper, and a selection of sketchbooks from 1987 to 2021, as well as his grid-organized abstract paintings in saturated colors. American quilts, the history of architecture, and music and poetry are among his sources.

Born in San Rafael, California, Christian Marclay is a DJ and composer as well as a multimedia artist working in sound, video, sculpture, collage, and installation. Christian Marclay: Doors at the ICA is the US premiere of a clip collage of doors opening and closing, assembled from hundreds of films from French New Wave to Hollywood blockbusters. Sidney Poitier, Mia Farrow, John Travolta, and Bill Murray are among the familiar players opening doors only to have the video move abruptly to the next clip. “Doors are fascinating objects,” Marclay says, “rich with symbolism.… They are commonplace, yet unfamiliar. We find ourselves wondering what is on the other side, where we may end up.”

— Peter Walsh

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Jazz

Janie Barnett
April 17 at 7:30 p.m.
City Winery, Boston

The singer Janie Barnett, an accomplished back-up and studio musician, brings a spectacular band for her program “Cole Porter Reimagined” (based on her appealingly inventive 2023 album), leaning to country-folk and bluegrass as well as jazz. The players include Barnett playing guitar as well as singing, bassist Marty Ballou, fiddler Sara Caswell, mandolinist Dan Bui, guitarist and pedal steel player Rich Hinman, accordion and harmonica man Gary Schreiner, pianist/keyboardist Mark Shilansky, and guest vocalists Rene Pfister, Nichelle Mungo, and Jonathan Miguel Gallegos.

Brad Mehldau solo
April 17 at 8 p.m.
Shalin Liu Performance Center, Rockport, MA
Brad Mehldau Trio
April 18 at 8 p.m.
Groton Hill Music Center, Groton, MA

A busy couple of days for the masterful and probing pianist and composer Brad Mehldau: Thursday night solo, in Rockport, and Friday night with his stellar trio (bassist Christian McBride and drummer Marcus Gilmore), in Groton.

Greg Abate
April 19 at 7 p.m.
Scullers Jazz Club, Boston

For in-the-pocket hard bop, you can’t do better than the venerable Providence sax hero Greg Abate (b. in Woonsocket, RI). He returns to Scullers with pianist Steve Hunt, bassist John Lockwood, and drummer Gary Johnson.

Charlie Kohlhase’s Explorers Club
April 20 at 6 p.m.
Lilypad, Cambridge

Performances by multi-sax man and composer Charlie Kohlhase’s Explorers Club are always an event. (The band’s A Second Life, on Mandorla Music, was one of the best jazz releases of 2024.) The lineup: Kohlhase and Seth Meicht on saxes, trumpeter and flugelhornist Dan Rosenthal, bass trombonist Bill Lowe, tubist Josiah Reibstein, guitarist Eric Hofbauer, bassist Tony Leva, and drummer Curt Newton. The program will include pieces by Kohlhase, Billy Frazier, Roswell Rudd, and John Tchicai.

Aardvark Jazz Orchestra
April 23 at 7:30 p.m.
Concord City Auditorium, Concord, N.H.
FREE

The magnificent Boston-based Aardvark Jazz Orchestra, led by founder and music director Mark Harvey, ventures north with what promises to be a beautiful program: a “Tribute to Duke Ellington,”  “with classics and rarities by Duke and his circle, including ‘The Mooche,’ ‘Caravan’ by Juan Tizol, ‘Blues to Be There’ from the Ellington/Strayhorn Newport Jazz Festival Suite, ‘Chinoiserie’ from The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse Suite, and ‘It’s Freedom,’ from the Second Sacred Concert.”  Also on tap: Mercer Ellington’s “Blue Serge.” Aardvark vocalist Grace Hughes will sing “I’m Beginning to See the Light,” “Tell Me It’s the Truth,” and “Come Sunday.’” Presented as part of the Walker Lecture Series, the show is free.

Stephane Wrembel
April 24 at 7:30 p.m.
Regattabar, Cambridge

Probably no one has done more to expand on the sub-genre “Gypsy jazz” created by Django Reinhardt than guitarist Stephane Wrembel, who has brought Arabic and other “world music” influences into his very authoritative take. For years, his band released albums under the moniker the Django Experiment, as well as contributing a couple of tracks to Woody Allen movies. He is, it almost goes without saying, a hell of a guitar player. He’s joined for this show by fellow guitarist Josh Kaye, drummer Nick Anderson, and his longtime bassist Ari Foman-Cohen.

Joe Locke
April 25 at 7 p.m.
Scullers Jazz Club, Boston

The formidable vibist and composer Joe Locke — with a four-mallet technique that encompasses the post-bop harmonic breadth and tunefulness of his compositions (and a few well-chosen standards) as well rhythmic propulsion — hits Scullers for one show. No word yet on the band.

Nadia Washington Quartet
April 26 at 3 p.m.
Arlington Street Church, Boston
FREE

The singer, songwriter and guitarist Nadia Washington — who crosses jazz with all manner of gospel, folk, and pop — makes her Celebrity Series of Boston debut in this free concert with pianist Jiri Nedoma, drummer Lee Fish, and bassist Max Ridley.

Gregory Groover Jr. Quintet
April 26 at 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.
Regattabar, Cambridge

The exciting young saxophonist and composer Gregory Groover comes to the Regattabar with a band that features a couple of players from his tasty 2024 album Lovabye (Criss Cross), guitarist Matthew Stevens and bassist Vincente Archer, plus trumpeter Jason Palmer and drummer Tyson Jackson.

Rich Greenblatt Group
April 26 at 8 p.m.
Theodore Parker UU Church, Boston

The wonderful vibraphonist and composer Rich Greenblatt brings in an ace band for this Mandorla Music event: Greg Hopkins on trumpet and flugelhorn, tenor saxophonist Rick DiMuzio, bassist Keala Kaumeheiwa, and drummer Steve Langone.

Bruno Råberg Tentet
April 27 at 6:30 p.m.
Lilypad, Cambridge

Luckily, the excellent 2024 album Evolver was not a one-off for Bruno Råberg’s Tentet. The fine bassist and composer continues to work in the format, which gives him the opportunity to combine orchestral color with small-ensemble agility. In this outing he’s joined by reed players Allan Chase and Rick DiMuzio, trumpet/flugelhorn Dan Rosenthal, trombonist Clayton DeWalt, bass clarinetist Rinat Fishman, guitarist Nate Radley, Anastassiya Petrova on piano and synths, and drummer Gen Yoshimura.

— Jon Garelick

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Roots and World Music

Ebo Taylor and Pat Thomas
April 18, 8 p.m.
The Paradise, Boston

Ghana’s Ebo Taylor was one of the creators of highlife music, and the nonagenarian is enjoying a grand finish to his career, thanks to the publicity he’s gotten from his farewell tour and a new recording with Jazz Is Dead. I caught Taylor in 2022 — even then he was frail and only performed a few songs. His son filled out the show. The good news is that his Global Arts Live-produced Boston debut will also include the great highlife singer Pat Thomas, who’s been a part of Taylor’s bands for decades. A relative youngster at 78, Thomas will have no problem carrying the night.

Cultural Crossroads present Fabiola Méndez and Kina Zoré
April 19, 6:30 p.m.
Croma Space at Arlington St. Church, Boston

Fans of Boston’s Latin music scene received a nice surprise when Bad Bunny released his highly anticipated Tiny Desk Concert this week: Our own cuatro master Fabiola Méndez was in his band. Now she’s teaming up with Zimbabwe’s Kina Zoré for the second installment of this local series which is being copresented by We Black Folk in partnership with Ágora Cultural Architects.

The Town and the City Festival
April 25 through 27
Lowell

This musically eclectic indoor festival continues to act as a wonderful beacon for both the regional music scene and for Lowell. This year’s edition has an especially strong lineup that includes funk heroes Couch, folk legend Loudon Wainwright III, songwriters Ezra Furman and Lady Lamb, the newgrass of Twisted Pine, and such top-shelf local acts as Melo Green, Debo Ray, Lovina Falls, and Girls with a Hawk.

Eric Bibb
April 25
Club Passim

In a world full of blues dabblers, acoustic guitarist and singer/songwriter Eric Bibb represents the real deal: A lifetime commitment to acoustic blues and folk activism that’s on full display on over 40 albums. The latest addition to that discography is In the Real World, an especially thoughtful meditation on this musician’s life and legacy.

— Noah Schaffer

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Classical Music

Zlatomir Fung in recital
Presented by Celebrity Series
April 16 at 7:30 p.m. and 17 at 8 p.m.
Pickman Hall (Wednesday) and Groton Hill Music Center (Thursday)

Cellist (and Westborough native) Fung, whose 2019 triumph at the International Tchaikovsky Competition made him the youngest winner of that award, makes his Celebrity Series debut with a program of fantasies based on stage and film works.

Beethoven & Shostakovich
Presented by Boston Symphony Orchestra
April 17 at 7:30 p.m., 18 at 1:30 p.m., and 19 at 8 p.m.
Symphony Hall

Andris Nelsons and the BSO combine two of their favorite composers: Mitsuko Uchida performs Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 while the orchestra assays the Russian master’s enigmatic Symphony No. 15.

Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony
Presented by Boston Philharmonic Orchestra
April 18, 8 p.m.
Symphony Hall

Benjamin Zander and the BPO wrap their season in style with a performance of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2. Miah Persson and Dame Sarah Connolly are the soloists and Jamie Kirsch’s Chorus Pro Musica takes on the work’s glorious choral duties.

Ariodante
Presented by Boston Baroque
April 24 & 25 at 7:30 p.m., 27 at 3 p.m.
GBH Calderwood Studio

Martin Pearlman marks the end of his 50-plus years at the helm of Boston Baroque with these performances of one of Handel’s most popular operas. The cast includes Megan Moore, Amanda Forsythe, and Ann McMahon Quintero.

Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms
Presented by Boston Symphony Orchestra
April 26 at 8 p.m., 27 at 2 p.m.
Symphony Hall

Nelsons and the BSO present Stravinsky’s beloved score alongside the world premiere of Aleksandra Vrebalov’s Love Canticles and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 6.

Evgeny Kissin in recital
Presented by Celebrity Series
April 29, 8 p.m.
Symphony Hall

Pianist Kissin returns to the Celebrity Series with a program of favorites by Bach, Chopin, and Shostakovich.

— Jonathan Blumhofer

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Author Events

Nafis Hasan with Calvin Wu – Brookline Booksmith
Metastasis
April 15 at 7 p.m.
Free

“Metastasis brings the cancer-industrial complex to the fore of our understanding of what cancer is, the chronic nature of the disease, its unmistakable parallels to capitalism, its inextricable link to the neoliberal model of economic development, and its disproportionate burden on nonwhite and poor populations—and what it will really take to rid ourselves of the gravest dangers to our individual and collective well-being.

“Trained as a cancer scientist, Nafis Hasan offers a critical and clinical reading of current narratives of cancer research and the conditions that put the onus on the individual rather than our collective efforts to prevent cancer incidence and deaths. He offers a visionary alternative theory about carcinogenesis — one countering the dominant neoliberal idea of mutations causing cancer—and centers a dialectical approach to understanding the biology and sociology of cancer. Hasan states, ‘If we must fight the longest war, then it should be the war against capitalism, whose growth has metastasized in every aspect of our society and ourselves.’”

Jonathan Lethem in conversation with Damon Krukowski – Porter Square Books
Cellophane Bricks
April 16 at 7 p.m.
Free

“Cellophane Bricks gathers a lifetime of Lethem’s art-writing, along with stunning full-color images from the author’s own collection and elsewhere. Here we tour Lethem’s fictions in response to (and in exchange for) artworks by his friends; his meditations on comics and graffiti art; his collaborations with artists and interventions into visual culture, and his portrait of the museum that was and continues to be his home, untethered from geography. More than just a compilation, Cellophane Bricks comprises a kind of stealth memoir of Jonathan Lethem’s parallel life in visual culture — a ravishing assemblage that makes the perfect gift for story lovers of all kinds, and an essential, singular brick to add to your own collection.”

Jon King at Harvard Book Store
To Hell With Poverty!: A Class Act: Inside the Gang of Four
April 17 at 7 p.m.
Free

“To Hell With Poverty! documents Jon King’s story from a South London slum and impoverished working-class background to international success as core musician, lyricist, writer, and producer in the legendary postpunk/funk band Gang of Four. The reader is taken on an episodic and kaleidoscopic journey full of adventures from childhood to the end of Gang of Four’s ‘golden period’ in 1984. Thrown off the hit British TV show Top of the Pops; beaten by police at an anti-Nazi rally; being at the heart of the UK postpunk movement in the 1970s; fraternizing with Hells Angels and other ‘undesirables’; supported by bands like R.E.M. and playing with the likes of the Police, Iggy Pop, and the Buzzcocks — King’s times with Gang of Four are rich with stories.

“Gang of Four’s Entertainment! LP is consistently ranked as one of the greatest debut albums of all time and continues to inspire new generations of musicians today. The band has influenced numerous bands, from the Red Hot Chili Peppers and INXS, to 2024-era hip-hop giants Run the Jewels, whose hit song “The Ground Below” is built on samples from the Gang of Four’s song “Ether.” Gang of Four have been championed by the likes of Flea, Sofia Coppola, Massive Attack, Damien Hirst, Greil Marcus, and many more.”

April Poetry Month Readings – Cambridge Arts
City Nights Reading Series
April 18 from 6:30- 8:30
Little Crepe Cafe, 102 Oxford St, Cambridge
Free

Dozens of poets gather to read and play music, with an open mic available.

Heather Christle at Harvard Book Store 
In the Rhododendrons: A Memoir with Appearances by Virginia Woolf 
April 18 at 7 p.m.
Free

“Christle’s exacting rigor and ferocious curiosity are matched only by the utter eccentricity of her vision, the delicious and frankly peerless freshness of her idiom: ‘There is a difference between bones and a book,’ she writes, ‘but both have at their center a spine.’ What results is irreducibly human. In the Rhododendrons is vital consolation. It’s a triumph, an instant classic. Christle has become one of our art’s most urgent living practitioners.”—Kaveh Akbar

An Evening with Black Seed Writers: OUT HERE 8 – Brookline Booksmith
April 23 at 7 p.m.
Free

“Since 2011 the Black Seed Writers Group has been making a space in downtown Boston for homeless, transitional, and recently housed writers. Its weekly sessions have produced an unstoppable stream of poetry, protest, prayer, reportage, memoir and prophetic insight.

“Join the group’s co-founder, Atlantic staff writer James Parker, and the Black Seed writers as they celebrate their work. The latest issue of their magazine The Pilgrim will be available, as well as broadsheets by individual writers.”

Martín Espada – Porter Square Books
Jailbreak of Sparrows
April 23 at 7 p.m.
Free

“The poems in Jailbreak of Sparrows reveal the ways in which the ordinary becomes monumental: family portraits, politically charged reports, and tributes to the unsung. Espada’s focus ranges from the bombardment of his family’s hometown in Puerto Rico amid an anti-colonial uprising to the murder of a Mexican man by police in California, from the poet’s adolescent brawl on a basketball court over martyred baseball hero Roberto Clemente to his unorthodox methods of representing undocumented migrants as a tenant lawyer. We also encounter ‘love songs’ to the poet’s wife from a series of unexpected voices: a bat with vertigo, the polar bear mascot for a minor league ball club, a disembodied head in a jar.

“Jailbreak of Sparrows is a collection of arresting poems that roots itself in the image, the musicality of language, and the depth of human experience. ‘Look at this was all he said, and all he had to say,’ the poet says about his father, a photographer who documented his Puerto Rican community in Brooklyn and beyond. The poems of Martín Espada tell us: Look.”

Story Hour! Christopher Willard -Brookline Booksmith
Feelings Are Like Farts
April 27 at 10:30 a.m.
Free

“Feelings and farts are facts of life. We all have them! And we have to live with them, even when they’re inconvenient, unpleasant, or surprising. They might come out of nowhere! It’s definitely not a good idea to hold them in for too long. But among friends and family, they are usually no big deal.

“Striking a perfect balance of funny and factual, this charming picture book encourages young readers to accept their emotions (and their farts) without shame, even when they really stink.

“Christopher Willard, PsyD, is a clinical psychologist at Harvard Medical School and author of more than 18 publications for children and adults. An internationally sought-after speaker and mindfulness educator, his books include Growing Up Mindful, Raising Resilience, The Breathing Book, Alphabreaths, and Alphabreaths Too.”

April Poetry Month Readings – Cambridge Arts
Poets in the Garden
Ekua Holmes & Toni Bee
Longfellow House Washington Headquarters, 105 Brattle St, Cambridge
April 27 from 2-4 p.m.
Free

“Euka Holmes and Toni Bee will be in conversation at The Longfellow House. They will read nature poems, share insight into artistic accomplishments, and the ways gardens help expand creativity.”

— Matt Hanson