BSR Classical Interludes, the end of October 2025

Pipe Up! Series at The Wanamaker Building
Various dates and times
The Wanamaker Building, 1300 Market Street

This remarkable venture organized by Opera Philadelphia will bring audiences back to the historic Wanamaker Grand Court for an unfolding series of musical and arts events, along with a Mural Arts window display. Performances scheduled through November (with more promised for later) are organist Peter Richard Conte with the Rodney Marsalis Philadelphia Big Brass (October 25); an evening with the great tenor Lawrence Brownlee (November 4); City to City (a youth choir celebration on November 15); and Opera Philadelphia’s composer-in-residence Nathalie Joachim in Concert (November 19). Some concerts feature the great Wanamaker Organ, and all are affordably priced, in line with the opera’s current pricing policies.

Variant Six: Nexus
Friday, October 24, 8pm
University Lutheran Church, 3637 Chestnut Street

This fine ensemble has shifted its vocal focus for this program, creating a concert featuring repertoire tailored for three treble voices. Sopranos Jessica Beebe and Rebecca Myers and mezzo-soprano Elisa Sutherland will sing rarely performed vocal works that range from the medieval era to contemporary pieces by some of the group’s favorite composers.

Filament Baroque: Bach Revisited
Friday, October 24, 7pm
Fleisher Art Memorial, 719 Catharine Street

Saturday, October 25, 7pm
Immanuel on the Green, The Strand and Harmony Streets, New Castle, DE

Sunday, October 26, 3pm
Locktown Stone Church, 323 Locktown-Sergeantsville Road, Flemington, NJ

Baroque trio Filament returns to one of their favorite composers, Johann Sebastian Bach. To open their seventh season, the ensemble re-arranged mature works from Bach’s organ repertoire. Each of the trio sonatas on the program was originally written to help his son Wilhelm Friedmann perfect his technique. And Filament has adapted them for their own forces—violin (Evan Few), treble viola da gamba (Elena Kauffman), and harpsichord (John Walthausen). After these regional performances, the trio will play this program on October 30 as part of New York City’s Gotham Early Music Scene Midtown Concerts.

Convoco: Perennial: IV
Saturday, October 25, 7pm
St. Clements Church, 2013 Appletree Street

This relatively new Philadelphia-based choral collective has toured and performed throughout the region, but this month they’ll sing a Philly fall concert. The evening will feature a range of their favorite pieces, vocal works by Byrd, Coleridge-Taylor, Gjeilo, Lawson, Vaughan Williams, Wilbye, and others. Admission is free—no tickets are necessary—and donations will be accepted.

Delaware Symphony Musicians Series: Windswept Tales
Tuesday, October 28, 7:30pm
Westminster Presbyterian Church, 1502 West 13 Street, Wilmington

This chamber concert will feature eight DSO players, four each from the orchestra’s winds and strings, joined by three actors from Delaware Shakespeare in a salute to the spooky season. Interspersed between moody compositions by Debussy, Britten, Esmail, Clarke, Stravinsky, and Shostakovich will be dramatic readings that complement the music, excerpts taken from works by Shakespeare, Poe, Shirley Jackson, and Robert Frost.