Celebrity Series of Boston Announces 2020-2021 Season

CELEBRITY SERIES OF BOSTON ANNOUNCES 82^nd SEASON | 2020-2021

The Celebrity Series of Boston announces its 2020-2021 season today, marking 82 years of bringing the world’s greatest performing artists to Boston. In total, the 2020-2021 season will include 59 music, dance, and entertainment mainstage engagements. Neighborhood Arts will feature more than 150 workshops, classes, and concerts in schools and community venues across Boston and Cambridge.

Gary Dunning, President and Executive Director of the Celebrity Series of Boston, says, “Our audiences and artists have built deep relationships based on mutual respect and appreciation—for artistry, for generosity of spirit, for listening, and for the willingness to embrace the vulnerability to hear and see something new or different. Little did we know that vulnerability would become the word of the moment, given the invasive effects of COVID-19. Our health, for sure, but also our sense of community, is threatened. I do believe, however, that we will gather again in celebration of live performance. I believe that the arts can be a salvation after this time of lost community. In that spirit, we offer the 2020-2021 season to you. We hope it sparks a light in your day, and gives reason to pause and be grateful for the wealth of art we will one day be able to embrace together.”

TICKET INFORMATION

Subscription sales (any order with three or more events), both online and by mail, will begin on May 6, 2020 at www.celebrityseries.org. 

PERFORMANCES

For the most up to date performance information please visit www.celebrityseries.org.

SEPTEMBER
Let’s Dance Boston! 9/23-27, 2020
Béla Fleck’s My Bluegrass Heart Tour 9/26/20

OCTOBER
Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride, Brian Blade, "A MoodSwing Reunion" 10/4/20
Silkroad Ensemble - “Falling Out of Time” by Osvaldo Golijov 10/17/20
Alan Cumming and Ari Shapiro, "Och & Oy, A Considered Cabaret" 10/18/20
Taylor Mac - “A 24 Decade History of Popular Music (Abridged)” 10/23/20
Compañía Nacional de Danza, Carmen 10/24 & 25, 2020
"Not Our First Goat Rodeo" - Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer, Chris Thile 10/26/20
Alexander Malofeev, piano 10/28/20
Daniil Trifonov, piano 10/30/20

NOVEMBER
"Duets" – Dianne Reeves, Chucho Valdés, and Joe Lovano 11/8/20
Berliner Philharmoniker with Kirill Petrenko 11/11/20
"Watkins Family Hour" feat. Sara and Sean Watkins 11/15/20
"What Makes It Great?" with Rob Kapilow and Ariel Quartet, Mozart’s String Quartet in C major, K. 465 “Dissonance” 11/15/20
Joyce DiDonato, “Die Winterreise” 11/20/20

DECEMBER
Seong-Jin Cho, piano 12/6/20
Tetzla? Quartet 12/11/20
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis "Big Band Holidays con Rubén Blades" 12/12/20
Conrad Tao, piano 12/16/20

JANUARY
Sankofa Danzafro - "Accommodating Lie" 1/21 -23, 2021
Doric String Quartet with Benjamin Grosvenor 1/23/21
Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano 1/29/21
Aakash Odedra Company 1/29 & 30, 2021
The Romeros 60th Anniversary Tour, featuring Isabel Leonard, mezzo-soprano 1/30/21

FEBRUARY
Artemis - featuring Renee Rosnes, Ingrid Jensen, Anat Cohen, Melissa Aldana, Norko Ueda, Allison Miller, 2/5/21
Doug Varone and Dancers 2/5 & 6, 2021
Dashon Burton, bass-baritone 2/10/21
Time for Three 2/12/21
"What Makes It Great?" with Rob Kapilow - The Music of Lerner and Loewe 2/19/21
"A Tribute to Aretha Franklin: The Queen of Soul" with Damien Sneed and Karen Clark Sheard 2/21/21
"Making the Music" featuring Anaïs Mitchell, Duncan Sheik and Shaina Taub 2/24/21
Julian Lage Trio 2/25/21
Monica Bill Barnes & Company - "The Running Show" 2/27 & 28, 2021
Takács Quartet with Jeremy Denk 2/28/21

MARCH
Circa - En Masse 3/3-7, 2021
Alfredo Rodriguez & Richard Bona 3/6/21
Sir András Schi?, piano 3/7/21
Simone Porter, violin 3/10/21
Maria Schneider Orchestra - "Data Lords" 3/12/21
KODO 3/14/21
Stave Sessions - Cristina Pato Quartet 3/16/21
Stave Sessions - Theo Bleckmann & The Westerlies - This Land 3/17/21
Stave Sessions - Nathalie Joachim & Spektral Quartet - Fanm d’Ayiti 3/18/21
Stave Sessions - Mark Lettieri Trio 3/19/21
Stave Sessions - Flor de Toloache 3/20/21

APRIL/MAY
Benjamin Appl, baritone 4/7/21
David Sedaris 4/9/21
Celebrity Series Gala 4/10/21
Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia 4/11/21
with Sir Antonio Pappano, conductor and Maxim Vengerov, violin soloist/21
SFJAZZ Collective: The Music of Joni Mitchell feat. Lizz Wright & Chris Potter 4/15/21
Dreamers’ Circus 4/17/21
An Evening with Itzhak Perlman 4/18/21
Alisa Weilerstein & Trondheim Soloists 4/24/21
Evgeny Kissin, piano 4/25/21
Jess Gillam, saxophone 4/28/21
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater 4/29 - 5/2, 2021
Emerson String Quartet 5/7/21

The 2020-2021 season is sponsored by Amy and Joshua Boger.

ARTS FOR ALL!

Alongside the main stage performances, Celebrity Series’ Arts for All! community engagement programs reach over 10,000 individuals annually, through master classes with main stage artists in public schools and conservatories; hands-on, interactive workshops for youth led by a core group of Boston area artists; community concerts in Boston neighborhoods; free and discounted tickets to main stage performances; and large-scale, public performance projects.

Experience the talent of local artists and youth at free and $5 Neighborhood Arts concerts in Dorchester, Hyde Park, Mattapan, Roslindale, Roxbury, and the South End (and come with us as we expand to Cambridge in 2020–2021)! Throughout the season, these same artists lead in-depth, interactive workshops for youth, in partnership with 50 community organizations.

Neighborhood Arts programming in 2020-2021 will highlight female composers and ensembles in celebration of the women’s vote centennial. Performances will also focus on world music and live dance by music ensembles paired with professional dancers from the Haitian, Kathak, Plena, contemporary, flamenco, salsa, and tango genres. Stringfests in Dorchester, Roxbury, and the South End continue the collaboration of Neighborhood Arts artists with local youth musicians.

ABOUT CELEBRITY SERIES OF BOSTON

Celebrity Series of Boston was founded in 1938 by pianist and impresario Aaron Richmond. The Celebrity Series has been bringing the very best performers–from orchestras and chamber ensembles, vocal and piano music, to dance companies, jazz, and more–to Boston’s major concert halls for 82 years. The Celebrity Series of Boston believes in the power of excellence and innovation in the performing arts to enrich life experiences, transform lives and build better communities. Through its education initiatives, the Celebrity Series seeks to build a community of Greater Boston where the performing arts are a valued, lifelong, shared experience—on stages, on streets, in neighborhoods—everywhere.

Celebrity Series of Boston is grateful to our 2020-21 Season Sponsors Amy & Joshua Boger, and to the many individuals, corporations, foundations, and government agencies whose support helps fulfill our mission to present performing artists who inspire and enrich our community. Institutional supporters include the Barr Foundation through its ArtsAmplified initiative, Stephanie L. Brown Foundation, The Catered Affair, Susanne Marcus Collins Foundation, D.L. Saunders Real Estate Corp., Foley & Lardner LLP, Liberty Mutual Foundation, Massachusetts Cultural Council, National Endowment for the Arts, Outside the Box: A Production of the Boston Arts Summer Institute, Cynthia and John S. Reed Foundation, Royal Little Family Foundation, Stifler Family Foundation, Anonymous, and many others.

celebrityseries.org

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