MUSIC
Pop, Etc.
BEX BURCH The composer, percussionist, bandleader, and instrument maker leads a group of musicians through “as yet untitled,” a semi-improvised piece that incorporates the works of Providence-based poet John-Francis Quiñonez. Jan. 16, 7 p.m. Deep Cuts, Medford. 781-219-3815,deepcuts.rocks
SHAME The South London quintet, whose latest album, “Cutthroat,” came out in September, combines razor-wire riffing with snappily wry lyrics and vigorous rhythms. Jan. 19, 7 p.m. Brighton Music Hall. crossroadspresents.com
SHARP PINS Kai Slater is a 21-year-old Chicago power-pop prodigy whose scruffy, earworm-filled songs have occasioned comparisons to Guided By Voices’ similarly prolific hook master Robert Pollard. The project’s latest album, “Balloon Balloon Balloon,” released late last year, is a 21-song collection full of jangling guitars and lovelorn lyrics swathed in warm lo-fi fuzz. Jan. 22, 7 p.m. Arts at the Armory, Somerville. get2thegigbos.com
MAURA K. JOHNSTON
Folk, World & Country
BOSTON CELTIC MUSIC FESTIVAL The showcase event of this year’s annual festival featuring Altan is sold out, but there’s plenty more music on tap, and dances, sessions, and workshops, too. Renowned Scottish group Old Blind Dogs will play Saturday, and a parade of acts, from the Scottish Fiddle Orchestra to rising artist and duo performances, throughout the weekend. Jan. 16-18, various day and evening start times. Tickets: priced per individual event; see website for details. Venues: Club Passim, Cambridge; Arts at the Armory, Burren, Crystal Ballroom, the Rockwell, Somerville Theatre, Somerville. 617-492-7679.www.passim.org/bcmfest
SARAH BORGES/STAN MARTIN A fine double bill of two varieties of country music courtesy of two local purveyors of the form. If you like your country rocking, Ms. Borges will scratch that itch; if you’re partial to Telecaster twang, Martin’s your man. Jan. 17, 8:30 p.m. $20. Boston Harbor Distillery, 12R Ericsson St. 617-533-7001.www.bostonharbordistillery.com
J.S. ONDARA This singer-songwriter was born and raised in Kenya, and when he moved to the US after winning the green card lottery, he chose to live in Minnesota, the home state of his hero, Bob Dylan. Now he’s touting another rebirth that he’s labeled “the Jet Stone Conspiracy,” which brings him to town playing for the first time with a full band. Jan. 22, 8 p.m. $25. Warehouse XI, 11 Sanborn Court, Somerville. www.get2thegigbos.com
STUART MUNRO
Jazz & Blues
TYSHAWN SOREY TRIO The celebrated drummer, composer, and MacArthur Fellow’s expansive sounds enfold jazz, classical, and worldwide improvisatory traditions for a vibrant and visionary preview of tomorrow’s music. His trio mates include pianist Aaron Diehl and bassist Harish Raghavan. Jan.16, 7:30 p.m. $35.50 to $75.50. Berklee Performance Center. www.berklee.edu/BPC
KNICKERBOCKER ALL-STARS The acclaimed horn-driven, 9-piece band comprises some of New England’s most seasoned blues musicians — from soulful singer Alexus Lee to Texan guitar slinger Willie J Laws Jr. — who have played with everyone from Freddie King to Marcia Ball to Jimmie Vaughan. Jan. 17, 8 p.m. $20. Bull Run Restaurant, 215 Great Road, Route 2A, Shirley. bullrunrestaurant.com
PAUL JOST & ORRIN EVANS Mosesian Center for the Arts’ Chords and Cocktails Series presents jazz singer, multi-instrumentalist, arranger, and composer Jost, whose way with a standard has been compared to cognoscenti-favorite vocalist Mark Murphy, accompanied by accomplished pianist Paul Ridl. Jan. 21, 7:30 p.m. $40. Mosesian Center for the Arts, 321 Arsenal St., Watertown. mosesianarts.org
KEVIN LOWENTHAL
Classical
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Fan-favorite pianist Seong-Jin Cho joins the BSO and music director Andris Nelsons for Tchaikovsky’s brilliant Piano Concerto No. 1 at Symphony Hall, in a program that also features BSO principal flutist Lorna McGhee in Allison Loggins-Hull’s “Rhapsody on a Theme by Joni” and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus in Leonard Bernstein’s “Chichester Psalms (Jan. 16 and 17). Next week, Nelsons conducts an all-John Williams program that unites the Boston Pops laureate conductor’s concert and film music, including the local premiere of his Piano Concerto with its dedicatee, Emanuel Ax (Jan. 22-25). Symphony Hall. 617-266-1200, www.bso.org
BOSTON SYMPHONY CHAMBER PLAYERS The top-ranking players at the BSO join forces at Jordan Hall for the world premiere of the BSO-commissioned “Gardner Suite” by composer chair Carlos Simon; the piece was inspired by the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum down the road. The afternoon also includes Valerie Coleman’s “Rubispheres” for flute, clarinet, and bassoon, and special guest Seong-Jin Cho appears in Brahms’s Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor. Jan. 18, 3 p.m. New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall. 617-266-1200, www.bso.org
LYDIAN STRING QUARTET The Lydians continue their exploration of the string quartets of Beethoven, performed in juxtaposition with contemporary music; this week’s concert sandwiches Peter Ruzicka’s 1970 String Quartet No. 1 between Beethoven’s String Quartets Nos. 3 and 16. Jan. 18, 3 p.m. Goethe-Institut Boston. www.lydianquartet.com
A.Z. MADONNA
ARTS
Theater
THE GREAT PRIVATION (HOW TO FLIP TEN CENTS INTO A DOLLAR) Nia Akilah Robinson’s play tells parallel stories of mothers and daughters, set on the same plot of land. The present-day parent-child pair work as counselors at a sleepaway camp in Philadelphia. The other mother and daughter are standing vigil in 1832 by the grave of their newly deceased husband and father. In an era when it was not uncommon for Black corpses to be disinterred by white so-called “resurrectionists” and sold to medical schools, they are determined to protect him from grave robbers. Yetunde Felix-Ukwu is superb as the mothers, and is ably supported by Victoria Omoregie, who plays both daughters. Directed by Mina Morita, “The Great Privation” is a coproduction by Boston’s Company One Theatre and Washington’s Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, featuring two actors from each city. The Boston-based performers are Omoregie and Marc Pierre. Through Jan. 31. At the Modern Theatre at Suffolk University, Boston. companyone.org
JOB Josephine Moshiri Elwood plays Jane, a young woman on a leave of absence from her job as a moderator of online content, and Dennis Trainor Jr. plays Loyd, her psychiatrist. The conversation between patient and therapist brings them to some very dark places in this psychological thriller by Max Wolf Friedlich, which is directed by Marianna Bassham. Jan. 16-Feb. 7. SpeakEasy Stage Company. Roberts Studio Theatre, Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA, Boston. 617-933-8600,www.speakeasystage.com
STOKELY AND MARTIN Written and directed by Najee Brown, “Stokely and Martin” imagines a conversation in the afterlife between Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Stokely Carmichael, a passionate advocate of civil rights who popularized the term “Black Power.” Stetson Marshall plays King, and Darren Paul portrays Carmichael. In Brown’s play, they “explore their ideological differences, personal struggles, and shared hopes for Black liberation,” according to press materials. Jan. 16-18. At Multicultural Arts Center, Cambridge. https://multiculturalartscenter.org/stokely-and-martin/
DON AUCOIN
Dance
COMMUNITY BARN DANCE While dance performances are scant as the new year gets underway, you might want to consider kicking up your own heels. New England Conservatory’s new Expanded Education Contemporary Musical Arts (CMA) program is sponsoring this all-ages dance/play party with live music. No partner or prior experience necessary, with a variety of dances taught as the afternoon goes on. Put on your dancin’ shoes! Jan. 18, 4:30 p.m., Free. New England Conservatory’s Brown Hall. https://necmusic.edu/events/community-barn-dance-and-workshops/
CONNECTING THROUGH TIME: 50 SEASONS WITH NORTON OWEN Jacob’s Pillow has been celebrating the half century career of its beloved historian and founding director of preservation, Norton Owen, and some of the materials the organization is releasing digitally are so worth checking out, including this online exhibition that spools through a curated selection of memorable moments. Don’t miss the short video of Owen through the years with a stellar slate of dance luminaries. https://danceinteractive.jacobspillow.org/themes-essays/exhibitions/connecting-through-time-fifty-seasons-with-norton-owen/
KAREN CAMPBELL
Visual art
AN INDIGENOUS PRESENT For a long time — and until very recently — “Indigenous” and “present” might have been regarded by the broader public as anathema. The dynamic culture of Indigenous peoples has survived years of assault, neglect, and disregard as archeology, but it’s risen in recent years to greater and greater prominence to arrive at a moment when its vibrance is undeniable. This exhibition takes in much of that arc: Spanning 100 years of art made by Indigenous people, it underscores cultural resilience over generations of hardship to arrive on triumph in the here and now. Through March 8. Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, 25 Harbor Shore Drive. 617-478-3100, www.icaboston.org
SKETCH, SHADE, SMUDGE: DRAWINGS FROM GRAY TO BLACK Last chance: This offering of almost 120 works from the collection of Harvard Art Museums covers the gamut of materials and techniques: charcoal, chalk, crayon, and graphite, among others, swabbed, scraped, shaded, smudged (and of course, drawn). Drawing is as close to a universal written language as humanity will ever have, and its breadth and age is as diverse as humanity itself. Here, you’ll have to settle for just three centuries and a couple of hemispheres’ worth of artists, which is hardly a hardship: The show includes remarkable works by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Edgar Degas, John Singer Sargent, Piet Mondrian, Lyonel Feininger, Diego Rivera, Richard Serra, John Wilson, Isabella Quintanilla, and Toyin Ojih Odutola, among others. Through Jan. 18. Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy St., Cambridge. 617-495-9400, https://harvardartmuseums.org/
DAVID C. DRISKELL: COLLECTOR The late David Driskell, known more as an educator and advocate for centuries — yes, centuries — of lineage of Black art in America than for his own paintings, died in 2020 with an art collection that reflected his deeply held priorities. This exhibition, drawn from those personal holdings, puts on view, for the first time since his death, works that served as touchstones over a lifetime of advocacy and artistic production. Paintings from the 19th century onward by Black artists like Edward Mitchell Bannister, Loïs Mailou Jones, Romare Bearden, and Elizabeth Catlett hang with Driskell’s own, and help frame a legacy as much rooted in those he held up as his work itself. Through March 1. Portland Museum of Art, 7 Congress Square, Portland, Maine. 207-775-6148, www.portlandmuseum.org
MURRAY WHYTE
DREW BOUGHTON: NEO-ADIRONDACK WOOD PORTRAITS Boughton, a production designer who worked on Netflix’s “The Man in the High Castle” and Apple TV’s “Dope Thief,” sculpts in his spare time. This show features jaunty portraits of 20th-century art-world giants such as Andy Warhol and Frida Kahlo, along with one 19th-century outlier, Vincent Van Gogh, crafted from pine, plywood, nails, and glue. “I hope the viewer feels as if they are in an Absinthe cocktail party with these luminaries at some perfect Paris dive bar,” he said in his artist’s statement. Through Feb. 8. Pulp, 80 Race St., Holyoke. www.pulpholyoke.com
CATE McQUAID
EVENTS
Comedy
“TRANS! AT THE D.M.V.” New York comedian Sunny Laprade debuts her new hour of stand-up, about having to rebuild and refocus after coming out and releasing her first special, “Queer Enough.” As she says, “Everyone loves a coming out story, but what happens after, when you have to be transgender in your day-to-day — at work, on the train, and of course, at the D.M.V.?” Jan. 16, 9 p.m. $15-$20. The Rockwell, 255 Elm St., Somerville. www.therockwell.org
ROBBIE PRINTZ “I’m a bad driver,” says Printz on his self-titled album. “There’s so much to do in the car nowadays, right? I’m on my way here, I’m on the phone, I’m eating a burger, there’s music, I’m dancing. Who’s got time to pay attention to the road?” Jan. 16-17, 8 p.m. $29.50. the Comedy Scene, 23 Patriot Place, Foxborough. www.thecomedyscene.club
SUDDEN JEST: AN INTERACTIVE COMEDY GAME SHOW Shawn Carter, who moved from Boston to Bristol, Tenn., in 2021 to open his own comedy club, returns home with this smorgasbord of stand-up and games, including trivia, debates, and a spelling bee. Jan. 17, 5 p.m. $18.95.The Comedy Studio, 5 John F. Kennedy St., Boston.www.thecomedystudio.com
NICK A. ZAINO III
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