It’s festival season, so get out there and enjoy… or, if you prefer, stay in, and listen from the comfort of your home.

BBC Proms 2021
Now until September 11
Live broadcasts plus on-demand streaming
The BBC Proms is a classical music festival held every summer at the Royal Albert Hall in London, and in recent years has explored new venue spaces through the innovative Proms at… series of events. Its aim: to bring the best in classical music to the widest possible audience. Whether you are a classical connoisseur or think ‘classical music is not for me’ there is surely something for everyone in the 8 week stretch of concerts.
View the full Proms 2021 schedule
Listen live on BBC Radio 3

The Jazz Forum presents Samara Joy featuring Pasquale Grasso Trio
Friday, August 6, and Saturday, August 7
Live performances both nights at 7pm and 9:30pm
1 Dixon Lane Tarrytown, NY
Rising star Samara Joy was an Ella Fitzgerald Scholar at Purchase College and won the 2019 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition.
Get tickets

Mostly Mozart Summer Intensive Student Performance
Friday, August 6, at 6pm
Live on the Lincoln Center Plaza Green
The talented young participants of the Mostly Mozart Intensive, joined by members of the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra will perform a program of: Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges’ Symphony No. 2 (first movement), and Caribbean Twinkle, a fun variation on Mozart’s famous tune set to Afro-Cuban rhythms. Free, no ticket required.

Mozart’s First and Last Symphonies
Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra with Maestro Louis Langrée
Friday, August 6, at 8pm
Live at Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Bandshell
Maestro Louis Langrée perform Mozart Symphonies No. 1 and No. 41 at the Damrosch Bandshell at Lincoln Center. The orchestra will be joined by the talented students participating in the Mostly Mozart Intensive for Mozart’s Symphony No. 1.
To inquire about seats, please call Lincoln Center Guest Services at 212-875-5456
Learn more about Mostly Mozart musicians and view the full events schedule

The Bard Music Festival presents Nadia Boulanger and Her World
August 6-15
Live performances with live streams
The Bard Music Festival returns for its 31st season with an exploration of the life and work of Nadia Boulanger (1887–1979), the pioneering Parisian pedagogue, composer, conductor, pianist, organist, and indomitable personality who shaped more than a generation of American musicians. All live performances are also being offered as livestreams, available to view on the date and time of the performance only.
View the Bard Music Festival schedule

Tanglewood presents digital performances on BSO Now
Herbert Blomstedt, conductor /  Joshua Bell, violin
All-Beethoven Program: Violin Concerto, Symphony No. 7
Streaming live on Saturday, August 7, 8pm
Available on demand August 15 – September 14
Enjoy live streams and on-demand performances by the Boston Symphony Orchestra and esteemed guest artists throughout the summer.
Watch Tanglewood on BSO Now

Live and in person at Tanglewood this week (but not live-streamed)
Yo-Yo Ma cello master class on August 5 at 8pm; Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis on August 6 at 8pm; Boston Symphony Orchestra with conductor Karina Canellakis and cellist Yo-Yo Ma on August 8 at 2:30pm.
View the BSO performance schedule

The Bach Choir of Bethlehem presents Bach at Noon
Tuesday, August 10
Live stream from St. John’s Lutheran Church
Bach, Brahms, Handel and Vivaldi, featuring two-time Grammy winner Dashon Burton, bass-baritone; Anthony Cecere and Karen Schubert: French horns; Robert Skoniczin, trumpet; Greg Funfgeld, keyboards.
View the concert premiere on YouTube or Facebook or any time after that at your convenience.

New York Opera Conservatory presents Georges Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers
Tuesday, August 10; Thursday, August 12; Friday, August 13; all at 7pm
The Presbyterian Church of Mt. Kisco, 605 Millwood Rd (Rt 133), Mt. Kisco, NY
The Taconic Opera summer program for emerging opera singers offers you an opportunity to hear the upcoming generation of professional artists.
Tickets: (855) 886-7372 or buy online

The New Rochelle Council on the Arts Summer Sound Series presents the Ladies Day Jazz Ensemble
Wednesday, August 11, 7:30-9pm
Hudson Park, 1 Hudson Park Road, New Rochelle, NY
An evening of swinging jazz live and in person, outdoors, on Long Island Sound!
Enjoy a rich selection of compositions of classic and contemporary jazz women, played by MJ Territo, vocals; Linda Presgrave, piano; Iris Ornig, bass; Lucianna Padmore, drums. Free. No reservations are required. BYO chairs or blankets. Picnic from 6pm. Food trucks on site.
View the Summer Sound Series schedule

The International Festival of Arts & Ideas presents Mwenso and the Shakes
Thursday, August 12, at 5pm on the Virtual Stage
Livestream
The “wild” (PRI) troupe of multi-talents Mwenso and the Shakes throws “intense, prowling, ebullient” live gigs (The New York Times) that are as much party as they are performance. Enjoy this performance from the New Haven Green.
Mwenso and the Shakes at the International Festival of Arts and Ideas

Culture Picks is a weekly feature celebrating the performing arts. The arts are back and there is so much to take in, both live and virtual. PAC staff member Coni Guhl is here to help you sort through it all. Each week we will post her curated selection of events featuring the artists you know and love from The PAC Center Series, plus a sampling of stellar local experiences. Enjoy!

All times are EDT unless otherwise noted.

Photo: Samara Joy © Samara Joy