Summer classical music performances bring together communities of people — fans and non-fans — to be entertained by some of the best musicians on the planet, under starlight or in climate-controlled settings. Here are a few suggestions.
Tanglewood. Highlights of the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s annual summer retreat include Garrison Keillor’s annual broadcast of “A Prairie Home Companion” (June 25); violinist Joshua Bell (July 8); comedian Seth MacFarlane with Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops Orchestra (July 10); Christoph von Dohnányi leading the BSO with soprano Renée Fleming (July 16); pianist Jeremy Denk (Aug. 25); and, well, too many other riches to mention. June 17-Sept. 3. Tanglewood, Lenox, Mass. 888-266-1200, bso.org.
Cirque Mechanics with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra. New Haven’s International Festival of Arts & Ideas pairs aerialists with the nimble-fingered musicians of the NHSO (along with a contraption called a “Gantry Bike”) for a free show on the New Haven Green. June 25, 7 p.m., free. New Haven Green: First Niagara Stage, New Haven. 888-278-4332, artidea.org.
Talcott Mountain Music Festival. “Appalachian Spring.” Music Director and conductor Carolyn Kuan leads members of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra through the original chamber-ensemble arrangement of Aaron Copland’s masterpiece, “Tchaikovsky’s Serenade and Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 17, K. 453 in G major” July 15, 7:30 p.m. Performing Arts Center at Simsbury Meadows, Simsbury. 860-244-2999, hartfordsymphony.org.
Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. Connecticut’s annual celebration of chamber music hosts the Brentano String Quartet (July 16); a performance of “Letters From Argentina” by composer Lalo Schifrin (July 8); pianist André Watts, clarinetist David Shifrin, actor Jack Gilpin and others in a staging of “An Unlikely Muse,” writer Harry Clark’s biographical drama about Johannes Brahms’ late years (Aug. 13); and a performance by the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra (Aug. 27). Ellen Battell Stoeckel Estate, Norfolk. 860-542-3000, music.yale.edu.
Carmen. The Opera Theater of Connecticut, now in its fourth decade, gets Bizet with four performances of the French composer’s most famously seductive work, based on a novella by Prosper Mérimée and with a libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. Aug. 9, 11, 13 and 14. Andrews Memorial Theater, Clinton. 860-669-8999, operatheaterofct.org.
