Yo-Yo Ma & Kathryn Stott

David Sedaris

David Sedaris

Friday | April 12 | 8pm Symphony Hall

David Sedaris’ life has been an open book, and, through decades of his essays and diaries, he’s made us consider the absurdities of human nature and modern life: family, travel, relationships, aging, the pandemic and political upheavals…all of it. By turns misanthropic and poignant, Sedaris deploys his precise prose and keen observational skills to make you laugh, think, and be deeply moved.

Come laugh along with fellow fans when David Sedaris returns to Symphony Hall to read new and unpublished selections, take questions, and sign books.

Brentano String Quartet

Sunday | April 14 | 3pm

NEC’s Jordan Hall

“My best advice is never to pass up an opportunity to hear the Brentano String Quartet,” raves The Strad, citing the group’s intensity, commitment, and intelligent interpretations.

Since their inception in 1992, the Brentano String Quartet has appeared around the world to popular and critical acclaim. “Passionate, uninhibited and spellbinding,” raves the London Independent; the New York Times extols the Quartet’s “luxuriously warm sound [and] yearning lyricism.”

Their Boston program spans the standard quartet repertoire, from Mozart to Shostakovich, bringing together works from three centuries and vastly different styles.

Program:

W.A. Mozart String Quartet No. 20 in D Major, K. 499

Dmitri Shostakovich String Quartet No. 8 in C minor, Op. 110

Felix Mendelssohn String Quartet in D Major, Op. 44, no. 1

Bamberg Symphony

Jakub Hrůša conductor

Lukáš Vondráček piano

Tuesday | April 23 | 8pm

Symphony Hall

Jakub Hrůša, a “serious, thoughtful conductor” (ArtsDesk) whose star is on the rise around the world, leads the Bamberg Symphony in this all-German, all-Romantic program. The orchestra has appeared on the Series once before, in October 1983, and it’s a rare treat to welcome them back to Boston.

The Bamberg Symphony celebrates its Bohemian roots and touts its unique quality: the “Bamberg sound.” It’s at once dark and lustrous, with rich lower strings and distinctive horns. The orchestra lends its might and expressiveness to two works by Wagner that open and close the program: the Lohengrin prelude and the Tannhäuser overture.

The orchestra recorded Brahms’ Third Symphony in 2019, with Hrůša drawing praise from Gramophone for the “suppleness and warm intimacy” of his account.

Pianist Lukáš Vondráček joins the orchestra for Schumann’s Piano Concerto. In his most recent Boston appearance in 2022 with the BSO, also under Hrůša’s baton, the Boston Globe praised his “glittering, featherweight passagework” and “overall command of the work’s dark, rhetorical drama.”

Program:

Richard Wagner Prelude to Act I of Lohengrin

Johannes Brahms Symphony No. 3

Robert Schumann Piano Concerto

Richard Wagner Overture toTannhäuser

SHINE! Gala

Saturday | April 27

The Cyclorama at the Boston Center for the Arts

SAVE THE DATE!

Celebrity Series looks forward to another unforgettable SHINE! Gala, taking place on Saturday, April 27, 2024 at the Cyclorama at the Boston Center for the Arts.

The 2024 SHINE! Gala will celebrate the power of the performing arts to foster meaningful connection and collaboration in our increasingly divided world. Join us to commemorate Celebrity Series’ vision to connect and inspire through our mission to bring the arts to everyone and everyone to the arts with dinner, dancing, inspired performances, and more than a few surprises!

Young professional, cabaret, and Gala experiences will be available, starting at $250. More information will follow in the autumn; in the meantime, save the date for a celebration not to be missed!