The University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music plans the Saxophone Artist Series. On Jan. 18, saxophonist Jonathan Hulting-Cohen and harpist Jennifer R. Ellis will perform at the school. That one’s free, as is the Timothy McAllister/Liz Ames recital on Jan. 24 at Crowder Hall. He plays sax, she piano. Then, Jan. 22 it’s Clarinet Day. The afternoon will be full of performances (players are invited to join the “Clarinet Choir”). That one’s free, too.
More classical music:
• Classical guitarist Carlos Bonell has advised Paul McCartney, recorded more than 20 albums and performed around the world. On Jan. 14, he joins equally-impressive classical guitarist Brad Richter for a concert at the Vail Theatre of the Arts.
• The University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music celebrates individual instruments with a series of events. The school teams with up with UA Presents for the Tucson Cello Congress. Cello players — more than 100 of them — from around the Southwest will participate. It will culminate in a recital at Crowder Hall on Jan. 14, featuring soloist Matt Haimovitz.
• And on Jan. 15, the school hosts the Tucson Bass Jam with clinics all day. That evening there’s a free performance of a bass orchestra piece. It’s in Room 170 of the music school.
• The school is also giving us a chance to hear Joseph Alessi. He’s the principal trombonist for the New York Philharmonic and a trombone professor at Juilliard — and a visiting prof at the UA’s music school this semester. He’ll be playing with pianist Martha Locker at Crowder Hall on Jan. 19. It’s free.
• The Arizona Friends of Chamber Music will totally indulge us Jan. 18 with the St. Lawrence Quartet, which will perform works by Beethoven, Haydn and John Adams at the Leo Rich Theatre.
• Here’s a chance for a euphoric experience: The Tucson Symphony Orchestra performs Brahms Requiem Jan. 20-22 as part of the Song Festival. Soprano Heidi Stober, baritone Andrew Craig Brown and the TSO Chorus all help to make for what will surely be a soaring event.
• Lute lovers will be in heaven Jan. 22 with “A Musical Banquet” at Grace St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. It features a program of lute songs performed by tenor Rufus Müller and Daniel Swenberg on Renaissance guitar and lute. It’s part of the Desert Song Fest and an Arizona Early Music Society concert.
• True Concord Voices & Orchestra has a massive project coming up, and we are the better for it: The group teams up with the Tucson Desert Song Fest to perform Mendelssohn’s epic “Elijah” Jan. 27-29. It features a 50-piece orchestra, 70 vocalists and 13 soloists — including Grammy-winning baritone Richard Paul Fink. It’s at Catalina Foothills High School Jan. 27; Green Valley’s Valley Presbyterian Church Jan. 28; and Catalina United Methodist Church Jan. 29.
• Arizona Friends of Chamber Music’s annual Winter Chamber Music Festival is March 12-19 at the Leo Rich Theatre. Choosing is impossible: Poulenc, Schubert, Mozart and Beethoven are on the programs. And there will be a world premiere of a piece by Pierre Jalbert. And, of course, some of the finest musicians from around the world will perform. I guess we’ll just have to do it all.
• Making life even more delectable: UA Presents brings the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields to Centennial Hall on March 28. They’ll be performing Haydn’s Symphony No. 26 D minor “Lamentatione,” and a few pieces by Shostakovich.
