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

John Gilbert and Renée Adorée in a scene from The Big Parade.

The Big Parade
November 9 at 2 p.m.
Somerville Theatre

With live accompaniment by silent film musician Jeff Rapsis, Silents, Please! presents this 1925 classic directed by King Vidor, widely hailed as one of the greatest films about World War I as well as the box office champion of the year. With stunning cinematography, powerful editing, and an unflinching yet compassionate view of war’s absurdity, The Big Parade stands as one of the cinematic triumphs of the ’20s.

Columbia Rarities
Harvard Film Archives, Cambridge
Through December 14

To celebrate the centennial of Columbia Pictures, the 2024 Locarno Film Festival organized a retrospective of Columbia Studio gems made during the era of the Hollywood studio. The films selected for the HFA series are among the studio’s lesser-known gems and curios. This is a rare selection of edgy and innovative films. Several will have repeat screenings. Arts Fuse feature

Konrad Wolf: Ways to Enlightenment — streaming through November 30.

The Goethe Institut, in celebration of the 100th birthday of East German filmmaker Konrad Wolf (1925–1982) is offering streaming access — free of charge — to his pioneering, politically daring, and thought-provoking films. A committed anti-fascist of Jewish descent, Wolf vividly and pointedly depicted a generation questioning its role in the Third Reich’s horrors, inviting his viewers — then and today — to consider their own relationship to the historical movements of their time. Link to access to Films

Boston Jewish Festival
Multiple Venues
November 8 – 16 In Person
November 17 -19 Virtual

Boston Jewish Film celebrates the richness of the Jewish experience through film and media. This gathering will present 16 films and a shorts program. Check links for times, places, and descriptions. Calendar and Locations Tickets and Film Listings

Peter Hujar’s Day
November 13 at 8:15 p.m.
Brattle Theater

Filmmaker Ira Sachs (Love is Strange, Passages) will be on hand for this advance screening of his latest film, a two-hander set in 1974 with Ben Whishaw cast as photographer Peter Hujar. Rebecca Hall plays ‘nonfiction fiction’ author Linda Rosenkrantz, who recorded the activities of her friends in exquisite detail over a single day. According to Sacks: “It’s an extremely rare window into an artist’s circular thinking, which I really relate to. You go from confidence to insecurity, to this hope to that discovery, round and round and round, and you hope that something comes out of that.” The regular run begins on November 21.

A scene from A Deeper Love: Miss Peppermint. Photo: Wicked Queer

Wicked Queer: Docs
November 14 – 17
Brattle Theatre, Cambridge

Seven films document cultural movements that have shaped global culture. This is a special documentary satellite of the annual springtime Wicked Queer Film Festival. Profiles include the drag icon Miss Peppermint, queer Malaysian punks, “Modern Primitives,” transgender ecologist Brigitte Baptiste, feminist activist Sally Gearhart, and more—plus the Boston premiere of Elegance Bratton’s Move Ya Body: The Birth of House. Schedule of films

Life on the Other Planet
November 19 at 7:30 p.m.
Regent Theater in Arlington

The documentary by a local filmmaker Vincent Straggas about the Boston music scene of the ’70s and ’80s returns after an earlier sold-out show. It features archival material from Boston clubs, footage from the era, and interviews with Willie Alexander, The Real Kids, The Nervous Eaters, The Neighborhoods, Rick Berlin, Robin Lane, The Atlantics, Mission of Burma, and many more. The director will be on hand for a post-screening Q&A!

Pick of the Week

Riefenstahl, streaming on Amazon

Footage from the 2024 documentary Riefenstahl.

Leni Riefenstahl first broke into the German film industry as an actress before directing Triumph of the Will. Released in 1934, this documentary glorified Hitler and the Nazi party, breaking from previous documentary traditions by eschewing voice-over narration and skillfully manipulating imagery from 250 hours of footage. The goal was to create a mythic spectacle. In her 1975 essay “Fascinating Fascism,” Susan Sontag claimed this anesthetization of power and beauty was itself fascist. Andre Bazin claimed: “Triumph of the Will demonstrates that realism is not the same as truth. The camera does not record reality; it organizes it.” Critic Pauline Kael charged that “every shot glorifies power and submission in the same breath.”

Riefenstahl died in 2003 at the age of 101; she had spent decades unapologetically defending, reinventing, and rebranding herself as an artist, denying that she was a propagandist. Riefenstahl examines this question, using never-before-seen documents from the filmmaker’s estate, drawing on private films, photos, recordings, and letters. The doc takes fragments of her 1987 autobiography (Memoiren) and examines them in the historical context. We are in era in which fascism is on the rise again and fake news is prevalent. Political imagery needs to be dissected and debated, which makes this 2024 film more relevant than ever.

— Tim Jackson

Television

Warren Beatty and Julie Christie in McCabe and Mrs. Miller.

To start, be sure to check out what’s leaving the Criterion Channel this month and catch some streaming classics or rarities while you still can (annoyed with myself that I was so busy in October I failed to re-watch Sorcerer, The Devils, and Velvet Goldmine). By November’s end, these (and other) gems will be gone: Most of Robert Altman’s films are leaving (do watch 1971’s McCabe and Mrs. Miller if you’ve never seen it). Plus the theatrical versions of Michael Winterbottom’s quartet of wonderful travel films with Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, who are playing somewhat-fictionalized versions of themselves, The Trip (2010), The Trip to Italy (2014), The Trip to Spain (2017), and The Trip to Greece (2020). Also Taxi Driver (Scorsese, 1976)—whoa, what the fuck, Taxi Driver? Also other ’70s classics like Coppolla’s The Conversation (1974) and Alan J. Pakula’s Klute (1971). I realize these are not “coming attractions” so much as they are “last chances.”

The Paper (November 10, NBC/Peacock) I’m one of those people who stopped watching The Office before the long-running series ended, but was nevertheless a huge fan. The creative team of Greg Daniels and Michael Koman has a new series following the same mockumentary format, and the workplace is a Toledo, Ohio newspaper whose website is a trash heap of clickbait until a new editor in chief (Domhnall Gleason) arrives and tries to turn the ragtag team into actual journalists. This couldn’t come at a better time, as many legacy media outlets seem to be mum about approaching fascism, while others are struggling with mergers, layoffs, and the job-destroying scourge of generative AI. The lively cast includes Italian actress Sabrina Impacciatore (who was terrific in The White Lotus), Chelsea Frei (The Moodys), Ramona Young (The Santa Clarita Diet), Melvin Gregg (Nine Perfect Strangers), and original cast member of The Office, Óscar Núñez.  Arts Fuse review

Keeley Hawes and Freddie Highmore in The Assassin.

The Assassin (November 20, AMC+) From the producing team of the mega-hit Fleabag comes this new high profile thriller-comedy series starring Keeley Hawes (High Rise) as a retired, reclusive killer for hire who joins forces with her estranged son (Freddie Highmore) after her dangerous past catches up with her. The great Gina Gerson also stars. While I have found a lot of the recent Brit TV offerings to be somewhat lackluster, I will definitely be tuning in.

— Peg Aloi

Popular Music

The Aces with Lydia Night
November 11 (doors at 7/show at 8)
Royale, Boston

Ramirez sisters Cristal and Alisa formed what was then called The Blue Aces with friends Katie Henderson and McKenna Petty in Provo, Utah, while still in school. They recorded two EPs (in 2012 and 2014) under their original name, and one additional EP and four LPs as The Aces since 2017. The band says that the vibe of this year’s Gold Star Baby was motivated by the fact that “All we wanted to do was dance.” In summation, the band adds, “This album is all about joy, confidence, even cockiness, and sex appeal.”

Jens Lekman with yeemz
November 12 (doors at 7/show at 8)
The Sinclair, Cambridge

Seven years is a long time to wait for new material by Jens Lekman. This is especially so given that his previous LP, 2018’s Life Will See You Know, was so damn good. Thankfully, the Swedish songmeister has made up for that absence with the 17-track, 80-minute Songs for Other People’s Weddings. Where the aforementioned album included the exquisite “Wedding in Finistère,” this one has “Wedding in Brooklyn” and “Wedding in Leipzig.” And his 2004 debut included “If You Ever Need a Stranger (To Sing at Your Wedding),” an offer that many such people have taken him up on. Of further interest is the fact that SFOPW is what Lekman says is “a companion album to a book of the same name, written by my old friend David Levithan.”

Rachael Sage & the Sequins with Hannah Judson
November 13 (doors at 6/show at 7:30)
City Winery, Boston

Rachael Sage’s sophisticated musical artistry has earned her the praise of numerous songwriting associations. In a recording career that spans four decades, Sage has been the recipient of six Independent Music Awards, three first-place Great American Song Contest finishes, four OutMusic Awards, grand prize in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, and several other honors and countless nominations. She is also the founder of the independent label MPress Records. Sage’s latest LP, Canopy, arrived in October.

Scrounge with Cozy Throne, Uma Thermos, and Soluna
November 13 (doors at 7)
O’Brien’s Pub, Allston

The debut LP by Scrounge, Almost Like You Could, is – to put it as plainly as possible – really good. Not a masterpiece. Not merely promising, but with room for improvement. Rather, it hits that supremely satisfying sweet spot at which it’s clear that a band is hitting its stride. To those who have heard this UK duo’s EPs (Ideal and Sugar, Daddy), this might be less of a surprise. To the first-time listener that I was, however, the musical terrain that that Lucy Alexander and Luke Cartledge cover in these 29 minutes was nothing short of astounding. From the kick-down-the-door punk of “Higher,” to the thoughtful melodicism of “UTG” and “Dreaming,” to the post-punky “RAT,” to the borderline folk of “Nothing Personal,” Almost Like You Could is addictively dynamic and effortlessly elicits repeat listens.Two Boston bands — Cozy Throne and Uma Thermos — will make this show very much worth arriving in a timely manner for.

— Blake Maddux

Theater

A scene from Manual Cinema’s The 4th Witch. Artist credit: Drew Dir

The 4th Witch, a Manual Cinema production, concept and direction by Drew Dir. Devised by Dir, Sarah Fornace, and Julia Miller. Presented by Arts Emerson at the Emerson Paramount Center, Robert J. Orchard Stage, 559 Washington Street, Boston, through November 9.

Manual Cinema brings its distinctive combination of handmade shadow puppetry, cinematic techniques, and innovative sound and music to a story about things that go bump in the night. The plot: “A displaced girl flees war, orphaned and exiled, until rescued by a witch who adopts her as an apprentice. As she advances in craft, her pain and fury propel her into a haunting quest against the warlord who annihilated her family.” Arts Fuse review

Cubamor, Music and lyrics by Charles Vincent Burwell. Book and lyrics by James Sasser. Directed by Arthur Gomez. Music directed by James Eldridge. A Front Porch Arts Collective and Teatro Chelsea co-presentation, Nov 12 & 13 at 7 p.m. at Chelsea Theatre Works, 189 Winnisimmet St., Chelsea and at November 14 at 7 p.m. at Hibernian Hall, 185 Dudley St., Roxbury.

A traveling staged reading of a new musical — a Cuban-American reimagining of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. According to the press release, the show “was inspired by the Sundance Award-winning film by Joshua Bee Alafia and weaves Afro-Cuban cultural traditions, contemporary dance and hip-hop into a dynamic theatrical experience. The story follows two Americans in love with two Cubans who navigate historical divides of both cultures. The couples are guided and challenged by the island’s spiritual forces and diverse musical heritage, and ultimately the power of their own love.”

Actor/comedian Chris Grace. Photo: courtesy of HTC

Sardines written and performed by Chris Grace. Directed by Eric Michaud. Presented by the Huntington Theatre Company at the Maso Studio in The Huntington Theatre, through November 16.

According to the HTC website, this one-man show explores the tragic, hilarious, and important questions of our time: Can we enjoy life if we know how it ends? Does making art actually help? And if Rihanna’s song is called ‘Don’t Stop the Music,’ why does the music… stop?” Find out the answers in this anything but depressing show created and performed by actor-comedian Chris Grace (TV’s Superstore, Dropout’s Chris Grace: as Scarlett Johansson).” Arts Fuse review

A Dream is Like a Dream By Stan Lai. Directed by Jay Scheib with Xinyu Xu ’25. Staged by the MIT Theater at Building W97 Theater, 345 Vassar Street, Cambridge, November 13 through 22.

This ambitious play, performed by MIT Students and members of the MIT community, comes in two parts. Each part is a stand-alone performance. Audiences may see Part 1, Part 2, or both either on the same day or on separate days. “Both of the ‘marathon,’ two-part days will include a beautiful meal by Taiwanese restaurant, Mu Lan.”

The plot: “A meteor of the Chinese contemporary theater told through the eyes of over 100 characters onstage, offstage, backstage, and beyond from Shanghai to Paris and back. Paths intertwine and aspirations collide along a spiral littered with life in an epic and immersive meditation on our most unexpected and unfathomable desires, passionate loves, losses, jubilance, loneliness, and laughter.”

A scene from SpaceBridge. Photo: Walter Wiodarczyk.

SpaceBridge, created and directed by Irina Kruzhilina. Written by Kruzhilina and Clark Young. Presented by ArtsEmerson at the Emerson Paramount Center, Robert J. Orchard Stage, 559 Washington Street, Boston, November 21 through 23.

An example of documentary theater that “centers the stories of children we seldom consider: Russian youth affected by the war in Ukraine.” In the show, “Russian refugee children—who fled to the U.S. with their families for opposing the war in Ukraine and now reside in NYC shelters—join forces with their American-born peers to imagine a more welcoming world where new friendships can truly take root.”

“They are joined on stage by acclaimed actor Ellen Lauren (SITI Company) as Samantha Smith, who in 1983 at the age of 10 wrote a letter to Soviet leader Yuri Andropov pleading for peace. Invited to visit the Soviet Union in response, she became famously known as “America’s Youngest Ambassador” and was interviewed by everyone from Ted Koppel to Johnny Carson. Smith tragically died in 1985 at the age of 13, but in SpaceBridge she is brought back to life as an adult who continues the dialogue she began as a child.”

SpaceBridge is primarily in English with some portions in Russian. English subtitles are provided for any sections spoken in Russian. The show originally presented by La MaMa ETC in association with En Garde Arts and Visual Echo, as part of the Under the Radar Festival in NYC.

Summer, 1976 by David Auburn. Directed by Paula Plum. Staged by Central Square Theatre at 450 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, through November 30.

The plot of this two-hander: “1976. An Ohio college town. The second wave of feminism is cresting. Two very different women are thrown together through a faculty babysitting co-op and an unlikely friendship forms between Diana, a fiercely iconoclastic artist, and Alice, a free-spirited yet naive young housewife.” Two fine local actors in the cast — Lee Mikeska Gardner and Laura Latreille.

Ins Choi and Esther Chung in Kim’s Convenience. A Soulpepper Production in association with American Conservatory Theater & Adam Blanshay Productions. Photo: Dahlia Katz

Kim’s Convenience by Ins Choi. Directed by Weyni Mengesha. A Soulpepper Production in association with American Conservatory Theater & Adam Blanshay Productions, presented by the Huntington Theatre Company at The Huntington Calderwood, at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont Street, Boston, through November 30.

According to the HTC press release, this “comedy drama about a Korean family-run corner store that inspired the popular Netflix hit is a feel-good ode to generations of immigrants who have made Canada the country that it is today. Mr. Kim works hard to support his wife and children with his Toronto convenience store. As he evaluates his future, he faces both a changing neighborhood landscape and the gap between his values and those of his Canada-born children.” What about American hostility? FYI, according to a recent column in the Toronto Star: “During Prime Minister Mark Carney’s meeting last week with Donald Trump, the U.S. president said, ‘The people of Canada will love us again. Most of them still do, I think — they love us.’ Most people in Canada do not love the United States. They never have and never will.” Arts Fuse review

Utopia by Mikhail Durnenkov. Translated by Sasha Dugdale. Directed by Andreas Andreou. Staged by the David Geffen School of Drama at the Iseman Theater, 1156 Chapel Street, New Haven, CT, November 15 through 21.

The plot of this award-winning 2019 Russian play: “It’s the early days of post-Soviet Russia and everybody is on the make. When a canny new capitalist offers Alexei the chance to reopen his beloved Utopia, the former Moscow barman recruits his estranged wife and son to help him resurrect the shabby place. As they labor over the ruined relic, the question looms: once lost, can paradise be found again?”

The Dybbuk (between two worlds), by Roy Chen, based on the play by S. Ansky. Adapted by Igor Golyak with Dr. Rachel Merrill Moss. With additional translation from Joachim Neugroschel. Directed by Igor Golyak. Staged by Arlekin! at The Vilna Shul, 18 Phillips St, Boston, through November 16.

A revival of a critically acclaimed show that is based on the mystical original drama by S. Ansky. “A timeless and timely folktale about love, displacement and the restless Jewish soul is reimagined in this contemporary, site-specific production staged by Arlikin director Igor Golyak in the sanctuary of the historic Vilna Shul, one of the oldest immigrant synagogues in the United States. Arts Fuse review of the 2024 production.

From left: Peter DiMaggio, Keiji Ishiguri, and Chelsie Nectow in the Speakeasy Stage Company production of Lizard Boy. Photo: Benjamin Rose Photography

Lizard Boy: A New Musical, Book, music, and lyrics by Justin Huertas. Directed by Lyndsay Allyn Cox. Staged by SpeakEasy Stage Company at the Roberts Studio Theatre in the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont Street, Boston, through November 22.

Nominated for three 2024 Drama Desk Awards including Best Musical, Lizard Boy “tells the story of Trevor, a lonesome outsider whose skin turned green and scaly after a tragic childhood encounter with a dragon. Since that time, Trevor only leaves his house once a year, on Monsterfest, and that’s tonight. While out on a first date with new crush Cary, Trevor meets a fellow dragon survivor who fears the dragons have returned. Can Trevor accept who he is, help save his city, and keep his big date?” Arts Fuse review

A Sherlock Carol by Mark Shanahan. Directed by Ilyse Robbins. Staged by the Lyric Stage at 140 Clarendon Street, Boston, November 14 through December 21.

The game’s afoot in this theatrical mash-up: “the tales of Sherlock Holmes and A Christmas Carol come together like you’ve never seen before.” Well, I have never seen it before. The plot: “Moriarity is as dead as a doornail. Sherlock Holmes is depressed. Without his number one adversary, what’s the point of it all? Enter a grown-up Tiny Tim and the mysterious death of everyone’s favorite humbug.” The cast includes Leigh Barrett, Christopher Chew, Mark Linehan, Paul Melendy, Michelle Moran, and Jon Vellante.

Fun Home Music by Jeanine Tesori, Book & Lyrics by Lisa Kron. Based on the graphic novel by Alison Bechdel Directed by Logan Ellis. Staged by the Huntington Theatre Company at the Huntington Theatre (264 Huntington Ave), Boston, November 14 through December 14.

A revival of the 2015 hit musical that won five Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Score, and Best Book. From the Arts Fuse review of the 2018 production of the show:

“It made perfect sense for self-described lesbian cartoonist Alison Bechdel—author of the long-running comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For—to use the form of the graphic novel for her 2006 memoir Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. That critically acclaimed, bestselling book told—and showed—in searing, honest detail the story of Bechdel’s growing up as the daughter of a closeted gay father and distant mother in a small Pennsylvania town.

The crux of the tale is the death—a probable suicide—of Bechdel’s father, Bruce, and how it entwined, in her mind, with acknowledging her own homosexuality a few months before his death. Bechdel’s writing is lyrical, sharply funny, filled with literary allusions and discussions with her father, a high-school English teacher who moonlighted as director of the family-owned funeral home—the “Fun Home” of the title—but whose true love was meticulously restoring their ornate, Gothic-style house. And her drawings brilliantly animate her memories, down to the smallest detail (a box of Crayola crayons; The Rifleman, Yogi Bear, and other TV shows she and her brothers watched, for example).”

EDITOR’S NOTE: Boston area theaters have pretty much decided to ignore what is happening in America and beyond — mounting threats to democracy, the slide toward authoritarianism, the climate crisis, growing economic inequality, ICE’s savage round-up of immigrants, the expansion of internment camps, ongoing genocide in Gaza, the grueling war in Ukraine, etc. The American Repertory Theater tells us that “Wonder Awaits.” I disagree. I have decided to spotlight in each Coming Attractions a stage production, in America and elsewhere, that grapples with today’s alarming realities. Sometimes the productions will be available via Zoom, sometimes not. It is important to present evidence that theater artists are reflecting, and reflecting on, the world around us.

A glimpse of ITA’s upcoming production of Prophet Song.

A world premiere adaptation of Paul Lynch’s 2023 Booker Prize-winning novel Prophet Song by the ITA Ensemble and German-Iranian director Mina Salehpour. The play is “set in a hauntingly near future. When a repressive, democratically elected regime takes power, the rule of law begins to erode. A mother does everything she can to protect her four children in an increasingly suffocating reality. As she struggles to hold on to her identity, her rights are stripped away by an unyielding government in a society that is slowly erasing its humanity.”

The production will, alas, not be streamed. Perhaps it will be in the future. It will be staged at the ITA Ensemble venue at Leidseplein 26 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and will run from November 13 to 28, for a return engagement from January 8 to 25, 2026. The performance will have English subtitles on November 20 and 27 and on January 8, 15 and 22, 2026. Perhaps an enterprising local theater might get its hands on the script?

— Bill Marx

Visual Art

Gabriel Frey, Shopper Basket, 2019. Brown Ash. 9 × 16.75 × 14 in. Photo: Colby College Museum of Art

In the Penobscot language, Mawte expresses various forms of togetherness: proximity, interconnection, binding, or just being together. This layered concept is the organizing theme of Mawte: Bound Together, an exhibition of Wabanaki art opening at the Colby Museum of Art at Colby College on November 19. A core group of artists from the indigenous nations that make up the Wabanaki Confederation created new works for the show after group discussions and meetings that “determined the show’s central themes of binding and rebinding, environment and place, and Indigenous-led expression.” Other works on view include a loan from the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor.

What does it mean to be a contemporary indigenous artist? The artists in the show tackle its theme physically— by “weaving, mending, combining, fusing”— and metaphorically— “as being bound to a culture, a history, a family, or a community.”

On November 22, the Worcester Art Museum unveils to the public its new Arms and Armor Galleries— 5,000 square feet of space with more than a thousand battle-related objects from around the world. The museum claims to have the second largest collection of arms and armor in the United States, largely thanks to its 2014 acquisition of the John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection, following the closing of Worcester’s Higgins Armory Museum. Highlights of the display include a 2,000-year old Roman gladiator’s helmet, an ornate Indian dagger, and a ceremonial suit of armor once worn by the samurai Sakai Genzo. Designed for all ages, this new installation is accessible only via timed-entry reservations (available through the museum’s website).

A companion show, Power on the Page: Arms and Armor on the Page explores images of arms and armor selected from the museum’s works on paper collections. No reservation required.

Watertown’s long-established Armenian community is one of the largest and most active in the nation. Long after other immigrant neighborhoods in the Boston area have dispersed into the outer suburbs, the descendants of first generation of Armenian-Americans continue to run businesses, churches, and cultural institutions in the city.

A photo in Astrig Agopian’s Like There’s No Tomorrow. Photo: Project Save

One of those cultural institutions, the fifty-year-old Project Save Photographic Archive, is dedicated to “preserving the global Armenian experience through photography.” Project Save maintains a collection of more than 100,000 images from around the world. Its first major exhibition, Like There’s No Tomorrow, features a multimedia installation by the French-Armenian photojournalist and documentary filmmaker Astrid Agopian and opens at its Watertown headquarters November 13. Focused on the embattled Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh, the disputed region of Azerbaijan, the show “digs deeply into questions of cultural heritage, identity in diaspora, and wartime displacement.”

The Cape Cod Museum of Art opens Wrap It Up!, its annual Members Holiday Show and Sale, also on November 13. Featuring artists local to the Cape Cod region, all works in the exhibition are for sale and are intended to be “reasonably priced” to encourage collectors and gift-givers.

Winslow Homer, The Dunes, 1894. Watercolor over graphite. Photo: MFA

In conjunction with Of Light and Air: Winslow Homer in Watercolor, the Museum of Fine Arts will present Homer in Context: Coastlines and Cultural Legacy on November 12 at 1 p.m. The program is the first in a four-session course, taught by “prominent scholars,” on Homer’s fascination with coastal scenes and seascapes, particularly in New England. Registration for the session or the four-session package at a discount, in either livestream or in-person participation, on the MFA’s website.

On November 20, Harvard’s Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts offers An Evening with Tulapop Saenjaroen, Andrew Yong Hoon Lee and Thuy-Han Nguyen-Chi, a film program starting at 6 p.m.. Organized in conjunction with the Carpenter’s exhibition Cinematic Evolutions, the program will screen works by two of the artists in the show followed by a conversation and question and answer session with the creators led by filmmaker and PhD candidate Kendra McLaughlin. Film program: 6:00-7:30 p.m. Q&A: 7:30-8 p.m.. Free and open to the public. Seating is limited; first come, first served.

— Peter Walsh

Classical Music

La Boheme
Presented by Cambridge Symphony Orchestra
November 9, 4 p.m.
Kresge Auditorium

The CSO presents a semistaged production of Puccini’s tragedy in collaboration with the Cambridge Children’s Chorus, New World Chorale, and the Middlesex County Volunteers Fife & Drums. Kayla Harriott sings Mimi, Eric Botto is Rodolfo, and music director Cynthia Woods conducts.

Saxophonist James Carter in performance. Photo: Chris Wurm

James Carter plays Sierra
Presented by Boston Symphony Orchestra
November 13 at 7:30 p.m., 14 at 1:30 p.m., & 15 at 8 p.m.
Symphony Hall

Saxophonist Carter returns to Symphony Hall to reprise his triumphant 2019 performance of Roberto Sierra’s Concertos for Saxophone and Orchestra. Dima Slobodeniouk is on the podium and leads further selections by Tania Léon (Time to Time, in its world premiere) and Brahms (Symphony No. 2).

Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra
Presented by Boston Symphony Orchestra
November 14, 8 p.m.
Symphony Hall

The PRSO kicks off the BSO’s E Pluribus Unum series with a celebration of music of the Caribbean. Maximiano Valdés conducts.

Joshua Bell play de Hartmann
Presented by Boston Symphony Orchestra
November 20 at 7:30 p.m., 21 at 1:30 p.m., & 22 at 8 p.m.
Symphony Hall

Violinist Bell is the BSO premiere of Thomas de Hartmann’s rediscovered Violin Concerto. Music by Grace-Evangeline Mason and Mussorgsky fill out the program. Jonathon Hayward makes his BSO debut on the podium.

Currents
Presented by Radius Ensemble
November 20, 8 p.m.
Pickman Hall

Radius’s season continues with the world premiere of Elena Ruehr’s Carnival. Also on the docket are selections by Kinan Azmeh, Reena Esmail, and Ravel’s Piano Trio.

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Photo: WikiMedia

Yo-Yo Ma plays Bach
Presented by Celebrity Series
November 21, 8 p.m.
Symphony Hall

The world’s preeminent cellist summits the Everest of the cello canon: Bach’s Suites Nos. 1-6. Symphony Hall has been sold out for months, but the event is being simulcast to various locations in and around Boston.

Verdi’s Requiem
Presented by Boston Philharmonic Orchestra
November 23, 3 p.m.
Symphony Hall

The BPO take a short break from German Romanticism to sample the Italian variety—in the form of Verdi’s electrifying Requiem. Ailyn Perez, Daniela Mack, John Osborn, and Maharram Huseynov are the soloists and the orchestra is joined by Chorus Pro Musica. Benjamin Zander conducts.

— Jonathan Blumhofer

Roots and World Music

Americana and blues practitioner Danielle Miraglia. Photo: Mass Arts Center

The Boston Rebel Rock Coalition
Nov. 13
Which Side: A Protest Music Teach-Out
Nov. 19
The Burren, Davis Square, Somerville

Democracy remains threatened and corporate media capitulates, so artists are doing what they’ve always done: Taking things into their own hands and making art for change.

Boston’s rock scene is offering a wealth of inspirational and worthy events, two of which are coming to the Burren this month. The Boston Rebel Rock Coalition is the brainchild of Jesse Mayer. It’s an all-star aggregation devoted to creating change and benefitting worthy organizations. The next edition is an ACLU benefit that includes such luminaries as Sal Baglio (The Amplifier Heads, The Peppermint Kicks, The Stompers), Dan Kopko (The Peppermint Kicks, The Shang Hi Los, Watts), Tim McCoy (Watts, Heaven to Murgatroid, The Wheel of Awesome, Weed, Inc.), and Linda Viens (Girl with a Hawk, Angeline, Witch Doctor, Children of Paradise), plus bluesy opener Danielle Miraglia. Which Side is a monthly mix of protest music along with commentary from author James Sullivan. The November edition is a typically eclectic affair with Victoria Cardona, Ali McGuirk, Yaryna Tsymbal, Barrence Whitfield, Thalia Zedek, and The Funtime Hour Players.

Hurricane Melissa Relief Concerts
Nov. 9-23, Various locations

Speaking of local artists coming together, climate change delivered a devastating blow when Hurricane Melissa touched down in Jamaica, Cuba, and Haiti. Many Boston musicians have direct links to those islands, and even more draw musical inspiration from those places.

The benefits start on Nov. 9 with a sound system dance at Unity Sports Club co-organized by veteran selector Jr. Rodigan.

On Nov. 10, Jonathan Grambling and the Ghetto People Band will host a Jam for Jamrock at District 7 Tavern, 380 Warren St., Roxbury. The event begins at 9 p.m and musicians and singers are welcome, as are donations of cash and supplies.

On Nov. 14, Travel Through Music and roots singer Jahriffe are hosting a wealth of local talent at Warehouse XI, 11 Sanborn Ct in Somerville. Among those performing are Conscious Band, Niu Raza and Safiya.

On Nov. 23, the pan-Caribbean outfit Roots Alley Collective will host a late afternoon benefit and turkey drive at Sorrell and Lime in Dorchester.

American Patchwork Quartet
Nov. 14, 7:30 p.m.
Prior Center, Holy Cross

Guitarist Clay Ross made a big stir on the roots music circuit with Ranky Tanky, which blends jazz with the traditional Gullah sounds of South Carolina. He’s also got another group, American Patchwork Quartet, which brings together a remarkable array of music masters: Hindustani classical vocalist Falguni Shah and a killer jazz rhythm section: bassist Moto Fukushima and drummer Clarence Penn, for a cross-cultural musical dialogue.

Kentucky guitarist  Kyle Eldridge. Photo: courtesy of the artist

Kyle Eldridge
Nov. 16, 8 p.m.
Koto, Lowell

The exciting young Kentucky guitarist Kyle Eldridge draws on the great Merle Travis-style guitar sound of his home state and adds honky tonk and Western swing songs that are endlessly charming. He’s joined by Bay State rockabilly and country master Shaun Young & the Swingin’ Strikes.

Afghan Memory Leaves: Sounding With Sola
Nov. 21, noon
Distler Performance Hall, Tufts University

Author and quantum computer researcher Sola Mahfouz secretly educated herself when she was growing up in Afghanistan, a story she detailed in her 2023 book Defiant Dreams. Now she’s staging an experimental opera which imagines a live radio broadcast from Kandahar, as filtered through her memory. (An actual radio broadcast in Kandahar today would be subject to the same Taliban restrictions that made Mahfouz’s schooling so challenging.) Among the ensemble members are Dexter Eames, clarinet; Yasaman Ghodsi, composer and setar; Qudrat Wasefi, composer and trumpet.

— Noah Schaffer

Jazz

Mandorla Collective
November 9 at 5 p.m.
Peabody Hall, Parish of All Saints, Dorchester

The nonprofit Mandorla Music, established to present music by Boston-area musicians, has broadened its reach to include producing recordings and now, the Mandorla Collective, an ensemble that will focus an annual project on “a figure central to Boston jazz history whose influence continues to reverberate.” The inaugural celebrant is the towering jazz composer and educator George Russell (1923-2009), who made New England Conservatory his home base from 1969 until his death. The program will survey a range of Russell’s music, played by saxophonist Allan Chase, trumpeter Peter Kenagy, trombonist Randy Pingrey, guitarist Amaury Cabral, pianist Liz Sinn, bassist Rick McLaughlin, and drummer Brooke Sofferman.

Fully Celebrated Orchestra, Charlie Kohlhase’s Explorers Club, and Saxophone Support Group.
November 12, at 9 p.m.
Midway Café, Jamacia Plain, Mass.

Not long ago, Jim Hobbs’s Fully Celebrated Orchestra started bringing in special guests for their regular spot at the Midway. Tonight, the guests are Charlie Kohlhase’s outstanding Explorers Club and his Saxophone Support Group. Alto saxophonist Hobbs also happens to be a Boston treasure, and these days his FCO includes charter member Timo Shanko on bass, cornet player Taylor Ho Bynum, guitarist Ian Ayers, and drummer Luther Gray.

The late trumpeter John McNeil. Photo: courtesy of New England Conservatory

John McNeil Tribute
November 13 at 7 p.m.
Lilypad, Cambridge, Mass.

Some of us fondly remember a few albums by the band Hush Point, from the early 2010s, with the front line of trumpeter John McNeil and saxophonist Jeremy Udden As befitting the name, the band extoled a kind of swinging, exploratory quietude, owing as much to Jimmy Giuffre and Ornette Coleman as the Gerry Mulligan-Chet Baker quartet. There were plenty of other albums from McNeil, including a similar format with the saxophonist Bill McHenry, or with Allan Chase, who is playing in this tribute concert for McNeil. The trumpeter, who taught for years at New England Conservatory, died in September 2024 at the age of 76. Along with Chase on saxophone, the tribute band also includes trumpeter Mark Tipton, pianist Mark Shilansky, bassist Joe Fitzgerald, and drummer Austin McMahon, with a special guest spot for Jerry Bergonzi.

James Carter with the BSO
November 13-15
Symphony Hall, Boston

A chunk of the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s November schedule continues the multi-season project, “E Pluribus Unum: From Many, One,” celebrating “the music of America,” with some particularly audacious programming. To wit, this week’s concerts include performances by the BSO, the Boston Pops, and the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra “performing music by composers and musicians from Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Cuba.” Of special interest to jazz fans is a performance by the commanding saxophonist James Carter of Puerto Rican composer Roberto Sierra’s Concerto for Saxophones and Orchestra. But that’s not all: The program will also include the world premiere of Pulitzer Prize-winning Cuban American composer Tania León’s “Time to Time” and . . . Brahms’s Symphony No. 2. The conductor is frequent BSO guest conductor Dima Slobodeniouk.

Sao Paolo-born pianist, singer, and composer Eliane Elias. Photo: courtesy of the artist

Eliane Elias
November 14 and 15 at 7 p.m. and 9 p..m.
Scullers Jazz Club, Boston

The remarkable Sao Paolo-born pianist, singer, and composer Eliane Elias plies her authoritative blend of Brazilian samba and bossa with post-bop jazz alongside her longtime associates Leandro Pellegrino on guitar, drummer Rafael Barata, and the great bassist Marc Johnson, her musical partner and husband for going on four decades.

“3B3s”
November 14 at 7:30 p.m.
Regattabar, Cambridge, Mass.
The Regattabar website announces that the “Hammond B3 Organ is making a comeback.” But, really, did it ever go away? Be that as it may, tonight’s show promises a unique lineup: three different jazz organ trios, playing individually and then facing off for a “Battle of the Hammond Organs.” Plying the greasy grooves will be Johnny Trama and the B3 Kings, Jared Sim’s Firecracker Organ Trio with Ken Clark, and Jordan Gravel’s Jorgan Trio.

Elliott Sharp
November 14 at 10 p.m.
Lilypad, Cambridge, Mass.

The vastly accomplished unclassifiable guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Elliott Sharp comes to the tiny Lilypad to “perform solo electroacoustic music on 8-string guitarbass and electronics.” He will later be joined by guitarist Gabe Boyarin and drummer Noah Mark “for an improvisation.” No advance ticket sales on this one, so get there early!

Saxophonist and composer Joshua Redman. Photo: Zack Smith

Joshua Redman
November 15 at 7:30 p.m.
Shalin Liu Performance Center, Rockport, Mass.

The restlessly creative saxophonist and composer Joshua Redman comes to the Shalin Liu Performance Center for this Rockport Music show. His exciting young quartet, featured on his latest recording, Words Fall Short: pianist Paul Cornish, bassist Philp Norris, and drummer Nazir Ebo — who are clearly spurring him to new creative terrain. (There will be a pre-concert talk at 6:30 p.m.)

Ekep Nkwelle
November 15 at 7:30 p.m.
Regattabar, Cambridge, Mass.

It’s become clichéd to describe a young artist as “mature beyond her years,” but let’s just say that when 25-year-old Ekep Nkwelle sings, the songs sound lived in — whether it’s the gravitas of Ellington’s sacred music, the funky spontaneity of the blues, or the savoir faire of mid-century Sinatra-isms. Having performed with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and at the Umbria and Newport festivals, Ekwelle comes to the Regattabar with the equally celebrated young pianist Luther Allison, bassist Liany Mateo, and drummer Brian Richburg Jr.

Kim Perlak and Francisco Mela
November 16 at 5 p.m.
Eustis Estate, Milton, Mass.

Berklee colleagues Kim Perlak (guitar) and Francisco Mela (drums) started working together as a duo last year and have now honed a show that “connects the sounds of modern classical guitar and avant-garde percussion,” including “original works and spontaneous compositions.” Perlak is chair of Berklee’s guitar department and Mela, an associate professor, is known for his work in the Fringe as well as a long stint with Mccoy Tyner, so both musicians know whereof they play.

Gunther Schuller in action conducting. Photo: courtesy of New England Conservatory

“Jazz Without Borders”
November 20 at 7:30 p.m.
Jordan Hall, Boston
FREE

The subtitle for this event is “Schuller’s Bold Experiment at NEC,” one of several concerts at New England Conservatory this week honoring the 100th birthday of polymath musical genius Gunther Schuller (1925-2015), who served as president of NEC between 1967 and 1977. Schuller’s range of credentials are probably unparalleled in 20^th century music — a virtuoso French horn player who served as principal chair in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and in Miles Davis’s “Birth of the Cool” sessions (among many other gigs); a jazz critic and scholar, author of the definitive (and bracingly readable) Early Jazz: Its Roots and Musical Development; orchestra conductor (author of The Compleat Conductor); and a Pulitzer Prize-winning composer of more than 190 pieces. As a composer and educator, Schuller coined the term Third Stream to identify the fusion of classical and jazz. And, in that regard, he brought jazz to NEC, creating both the jazz studies program (“the first fully accredited jazz studies program in a conservatory”) and the Third Stream department (now Contemporary Musical Arts), bringing in as teachers folks like George Russell, Jaki Byard, and Ran Blake. For tonight’s show, the NEC Jazz Orchestra will perform pieces emblematic of Schuller’s legacy: Duke Ellington’s “Reminiscing in Tempo,” Russell’s “All About Rosie,” current NEC faculty member Mehmet Alı Sanlıkol’s “Temmuz,” and Schuller’s own “Jumpin’ in the Future.” Guest artists include pianist Fred Hersch, reedman and original jazz studies chair Carl Atkins, and drummer George Schuller (Gunther’s son). The concert is free, but tickets are required, available at the NEC link.

Tenor saxophonist Gregory Groover Jr. Photo: courtesy of the artist

Gregory Groover Jr.
November 21 at 7:30 p.m.
Regattabar, Cambridge, Mass.

The exciting young tenor saxophonist Gregory Groover Jr. celebrates the release of a star-laden and exuberant new album, Old Knew with another very cool band at the Regattabar: guitarist Matt Greenwood, pianist Kris Davis, bassist John Lockwood, and drummer Jharis Yokley.

The Makanda Project feat. Chico Freeman
November 22 at 7:00 p.m.
Twelfth Baptist Church, 160 Warren Street, Roxbury, Mass.
FREE

The long-running, invaluable Makanda Project closes out its free 2025 Nubian Square concert series with this show, with the distinguished Chicago-born saxophonist Chico Freeman. It will feature several Freeman compositions, including “To Hear a Teardrop in the Rain.”  The usually 13-piece Makanda Project expands to 19 pieces for this one, including the five-cello City Strings United. The band is also a who’s who of top-flight Boston area players: saxophonists Kurtis Rivers, Seth Meicht, Sean Berry, Temidayo Balogun, and Charlie Kohlhase; trumpets Haneef Nelson and Zoe Murphy; trombones Alfred Patterson, Samuel Padua and Bill Lowe; bassist West Brown, and drummer Hector Falu Guzman. Makanda leader John Kordalewski is on piano. Two sets, and it’s free.

Mike Tucker and Tucker Antell
November 22 at 7 p.m.
Scullers Jazz Club, Boston

Billed as “The Two Tuckers: Friendly Fire,” the duo of Mike Tucker and Tucker Antell brings to mind tenor “battles” of old, as it’s clearly meant to (just check their recreation of Sonnys Stitt and Rollins in the online clip of “The Eternal Triangle”). And they fire up Scullers with a top-shelf band: pianist Adam Birnbaum, bassist Edward Perez, and drummer Kush Abadey.

Guitarist John Scofield. Photo: courtesy of the artist

John Scofield Trio
November 22 at 8 p.m.
Groton Music Center, Groton, Mass.

One of the guitar gods of his generation (which includes Bill Frisell and Pat Metheny), Scofield comes to Groton with his great trio, featuring bassist Vicente Archer and drummer Bill Stewart. Arts Fuse feature on John Scofield.

Jazz Composers Alliance Orchestra-Mini
November 23 at 4:45 p.m.
Lilypad, Cambridge, Mass.

JCA’s Orchestra-Mini is a 10-piece ensemble created from the personnel of the full orchestra. The Mini will present “a new collection of original extended jazz compositions by JCA resident composers Darrell Katz, Bob Pilkington, David Harris, and Mimi Rabson.” The JCA Orchestra-Mini goes for “the feel of chamber jazz but the energy of the full jazz orchestra.” Expect the usual JCAO enlivening presentation of varied material.

— Jon Garelick

Author Events

America’s Test Kitchen Cocktails Illustrated – Brookline Booksmith
November 10 at 6:30 p.m.
WBUR CitySpace, 890 Commonwealth Ave, Boston
Tickets are $20 GA or $10 for BU Students

“Join America’s Test Kitchen and Cook’s Illustrated to unleash your inner bartender with a demystifying dive into the world of classic and contemporary cocktail making. Organized around categories including martinis, Manhattans, highballs, sours, flips, tropical, and more, Cocktails Illustrated is the ultimate “how-to” cocktail cookbook. Dan Souza, chief content officer of America’s Test Kitchen, and test cook Joe Gitter will be in conversation with Here & Now managing producer and cocktail aficionado Todd Mundt. Expand your repertoire, learn new techniques and find out why glassware matters. Guests will enjoy a complimentary cocktail or mocktail before the conversation. Copies of the book will be available to purchase and Souza will sign after the event.”

Nikolay Kukushkin at the Harvard Science Center – Harvard Book Store
One Hand Clapping: Unraveling the Mystery of the Human Mind
November 12 at 6 p.m. (doors at 5:30)
Tickets are $31 with book or free without

“Using gleaming analysis, cutting-edge science, and whimsical doodles from the author, this elegant and absorbing book reaches deep into our oceanic past to show how the evolution of the most basic features of cells and molecules at the dawn of life on Earth ultimately led to the formation of our own minds. It turns out that dinosaurs are to blame for human suffering, lungs exist thanks to lichens, and the major event in the life of our ancestors over the last eon was the transformation into worms. One Hand Clapping is the story of humans and our inner worlds, spanning the entire journey from inorganic molecules to the emergence of language, told as a mythical epic.”

Kamala Harris – Brookline Booksmith
107 Days
November 15 at 2 p.m.
Chevalier Theatre, Medford MA
Tickets range from $100 to $400

“For the first time, and with surprising and revealing insights, former Vice President Kamala Harris tells the story of one of the wildest and most consequential presidential campaigns in American history.

During this special event, Harris will share what she saw, what she learned, and what it will take to move forward. With nuance, candor, and a unique perspective, Harris will lead a conversation about how we collectively chart a blueprint that sets an alternative vision for our country now.

Every ticket includes a copy of Harris’s new book, 107 Days (published by Simon & Schuster), which takes readers inside the race for the presidency as no one has ever done before. VIP Meet & Greet tickets are available and include a photo with Former Vice President Kamala Harris and a signed copy of 107 Days.”

Pam Bailey and Ahmed Alanouq at the Cambridge Public Library – Harvard Book Store
We Are Not Numbers: Amplifying the Voices of Gaza’s Youth
November 17 at 6 p.m. (doors at 5:30)
Tickets are $26.56 with book, or free without

“A teenage girl stares at her roof, hoping it won’t collapse over her head. A young student searches the Internet for photos of libraries around the world, hoping he’ll be able to visit them one day. Another walks around the city, taking notes of all the buildings she dreams of repairing.

These are the stories of young people from Gaza, born under Israeli occupation and blockade. They are people who have endured unspeakable struggles and losses, who keep fighting to be recognized not as numbers, but as human beings with hopes, dreams, and lives worth living.

We Are Not Numbers was founded in 2014 to give voice to the youth of Gaza. In this collection—vital, urgent and full of heart, spanning over ten years to the present moment—we gain an unparalleled insight into the past, as well as the current and next generation of Palestinian leaders, artists, scientists and scholars and imagine where we might go from here.”

Ellen Pinsky and Michael Slevin at the Cambridge Public Library – Harvard Book Store
Driven to Write: 45 Writers on the Motives and Mysteries of their Craft (with contributors Robert Pinsky, Stephen Greenblatt, Ha Jin and Sigrid Nunez and others)
November 18 at 6 p.m. (doors at 5:30)
Tickets are $26.55 with book, free without

“In this book of essays, over 40 successful writers in varied fields —poetry, science, the performing and visual arts, psychoanalysis, journalism, literature and more— explore what drives them to write, and to work at their craft.

In contributions arranged under three headings— “Models and Mentors,” “Urges and Traumas,” and “Evidence and Experiences”—each writer explores their personal understanding of writing as a psychological necessity. In varying ways, these candid, often emotional essays reveal a range of intimate, mysterious and unpredictable purposes and motivations.

Driven to Write provides fresh, practical, and imaginative approaches to literary art for aspiring and established writers alike.”

Kareem Khubchandani, author of Lessons in Drag. Photo: Costume Society of America

Kareem Khubchandani at Harvard Book Store
Lessons in Drag: A Queer Manual for Academics, Artists, and Aunties
November 21 at 7 p.m.
Free

“Lessons in Drag brings to life a vibrant and thought-provoking dialogue between scholar Kareem Khubchandani and his drag persona LaWhore Vagistan. Beginning with an intimate interview, the book unfolds in alternating chapters where the two exchange insights, stories, and critiques. Khubchandani delves into the lessons LaWhore’s drag practice offers about academia—shaping his approaches to research, teaching, and writing—while Vagistan reveals how Khubchandani’s scholarship influences her performances, inspiring her understanding of fashion, music, divas, and aunties. Together, their reflections and conversations weave a compelling tapestry of drag’s instructive power. Witty, bold, and deeply personal, Lessons in Drag is both an invitation to explore drag as a practice and a celebration of its transformative potential.”

— Matt Hanson