Cécile McLorin Salvant

“I think what I try to do is more akin to revealing secrets than telling stories. Revealing secrets is also the snake’s role in the Garden [of Eden]. The snake brings secrets, knowledge, pain, and mayhem.”

Cécile McLorin Salvant

Friday | February 2 | 8pm Sanders Theatre

Brilliant jazz vocalist, composer, and lyricist Cécile McLorin Salvant weaves a tale of women’s secrecy under the male gaze in her latest project, Mélusine. Salvant takes as her inspiration the European folk legend of Mélusine, the woman cursed to spend one day each week as a half-snake.

Featuring a mix of originals and reorchestrations of songs dating back to the twelfth century, Salvant brings her wide-ranging intellect, powerfully expressive voice, boundless creativity, and theatrical imagination to songs sung in French, English, Haitian Kreyól, and the ancient Southern French language Occitan.

Experience the profound vision of a major talent with this fascinating song cycle from one of today’s most acclaimed singers in any genre.

What Makes It Great? with Rob Kapilow featuring A Far Cry

Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings

Saturday | February 3 | 8pm

NEC’s Jordan Hall

If you’ve heard Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings, you know it’s full of gorgeous moments and sweeping feeling, but have you ever wondered what, specifically, makes it great and keeps avid listeners coming back again and again?

Rob Kapilow, with the support of A Far Cry, explores the work in the context of Tchaikovsky’s life and career. He unpacks and illustrates some of Tchaikovsky’s compositional choices and provides illuminating biographical and historical context about the composer, and how he negotiated the various political and artistic movements of his time.

Boston’s A Far Cry chamber orchestra returns for their second performance alongside Kapilow. The self-conducted, democratically governed, and adventurous ensemble was praised by the Boston Musical Intelligencer for its “top-drawer playing.”

“This was a totally engaging event. … [Rob Kapilow] was perfectly paired with A Far Cry, one of the most intelligent, musical, and fun ensembles here in Boston.”

–What Makes it Great? Audience Member, 2023