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This late-night Seattle Symphony performance of chamber music for the younger set features works by contemporary composers: “Road Movies” by Pulitzer Prize-winning minimalist John Adams, a piece for solo violin and piano; “Life Story” by Briton Thomas Adès, featuring the poetry of Tennessee Williams; and “Different Trains” by Steve Reich, a piece that recalls his childhood train trips between New York and Los Angeles during World War II and imagines the Holocaust trains he might have taken had he been living in Europe at the time.
Benaroya Hall / Oct. 13
The Barber of Seville
Seattle Opera presents Rossini’s masterpiece opera buffa, The Barber of Seville, a 200-year-old rom-com set in Spain and complete with disguises, a love triangle, a series of ridiculous schemes and a happy ending. Matchmaker/barber/funnyman Figaro helps Count Almaviva rescue his beloved Rosina from a mean old doctor named Bartolo. (The sequel to this story is Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro.) Loaded with vivid costumes and sets to match the fun, sultry vibes of southern Spain, this new production was co-produced by Seattle Opera, Australia’s Opera Queensland and New Zealand Opera. Expect to recognize some familiar melodies.
McCaw Hall / Oct. 14–28
Habib Koité
Listening to the sublimely soothing sounds of Habib Koité, you might not guess that the singer-songwriter-guitarist is based in Mali, the West African country ravaged by violence since the 2012 dawn of the Malian Civil War. But Koité comes from a long lineage of griots—musicians who carry on an oral tradition of song and storytelling through music—and his acclaimed albums carry a sense of defiant tradition along with sumptuous soul. His latest, 2014’s Soô, is an outspoken petition for peace.
Meany Theater / Nov. 4
