Listen Up!

Show up and tune into this eclectic mix of must-see concerts hitting the stage this season.

Emmanuel Music

Emmanuel Music pays tribute to the poetry of Allen Ginsberg with two-late night performances of Howl! on Sept. 23 in Emmanuel Church’s Parish Hall. Performed by the Arneis Quartet, the evening’s titular work gets into the Beat Generation founding father’s stay at a psychiatric institution with friend Carl Solomon and also includes Ginsberg’s “A Supermarket in California,” which imagines a conversation with Walt Whitman. Meanwhile, principal guest conductor John Harbison also debuts Schwartzsongs, three pieces written in the past three years to mimic the reading voice of Fresh Air classical music critic and UMass Boston professor Lloyd Schwartz.

The Boston Pops. Photo Credit: Marco Borggreve

The Boston Pops have played alfresco in Franklin Park twice before—with Arthur Fiedler in 1968 and again in 2000—but it’ll be a first when the Boston Symphony Orchestra joins on Oct. 1 for a free outdoor concert at the Playstead. Andris Nelsons is on hand to conduct the fourth movement of Mahler’s Symphony No. 1, with Keith Lockhart leading John Williams’ favorites such as the Main Theme from Star Wars and Hedwig’s Theme from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, but not before a pre-concert festival filled with art exhibits, crafts and musical demonstrations. 

Jack DeJohnette, John Scofield, John Medeski and Larry Grenadier. Photo Credit: Nick Suttle

Jazz greats Jack DeJohnette, John Scofield, John Medeski and Larry Grenadier joined forces for a 2014 Woodstock Jazz Festival gig, but the musicians had crossed paths before while working with legends like Miles Davis and Keith Jarrett. Now the Hudson Valley residents are touring a just-released album that taps into the background of their new hometown. In addition to original tracks, the master improvisers bring a jazz twist to Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix Experience and other classic rock hits, including Joni Mitchell’s 1970 anthem “Woodstock.” Hudson’s Celebrity Series appearance hits Berklee Performance Center on Oct. 8.

Julie Rhodes. Photo Credit: Roberto Terrones

Songwriters and authors come together for the Earfull series, established in 2001 by owners of Q Division Studios, Newtonville Books and Kendall Cafe with past guests such as the Dropkick Murphys and Dennis Lehane bringing down the house. The recently revived fall edition includes three dates at Mosesian Center for the Arts’ Black Box Theater, including Oct. 17, when 100 Days of Cake novelist Shari Goldhagen and Marblehead native and National Book Award recipient Julia Glass team up with Ron Sexsmith touring partner Kim Taylor and Americana up-and-comer Julie Rhodes.

T-Pain

T-Pain fell in love with his stripped-down NPR Tiny Desk Concert in 2014 and then showed off his synth-free chops when he opened a Dodgers game with the national anthem. Now the chart-topping rapper is taking his unplugged show on the road to just six cities, including Cambridge. For his Acoustic Tour’s Oct. 25 stop at the Sinclair, expect greatest hits like “Buy U a Drank” and “I’m Sprung”—minus the Auto-tune.

John Carpenter. Photo Credit: Philip Cosores

John Carpenter revisits some of his greatest film scores from Halloween, Escape From New York and other cult classics in his October release,
Anthology: Movie Themes, 1974-1998. The creepy chorus comes alive on Nov. 15 at Royale, when the legendary director and composer is joined by his son Cody Carpenter and godson Daniel Davies—whose father, Kinks guitarist Dave Davies, played the lead for Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness theme more than two decades ago.

THE IMPROPER’S 2017 FALL ARTS PREVIEW: DANCE | BOOKS | COMEDY | MUSIC | PERFORMING ARTS | VISUAL ART