Guide to the Arts: Our picks for best pop & classical music shows this season

As part of our Guide to the Arts, which publishes in PRIME Magazine on Oct. 1, Ben Crandell and Greg Carannante offer their “Critic’s Picks” for the best in pop and classical music shows this season.

POP MUSIC

Hot Tuna Electric
Oct. 5, The Parker, Fort Lauderdale, $49.50-$137.75, parkerplayhouse.com.

Guitarist Jorma Kaukonen, 83, and bassist Jack Casady, 77, were musical soul mates before they helped unleash psychedelia on the masses as the instrumental nucleus of Jefferson Airplane. In 1969, they launched a little side project that turned into their main gig for over a half-century. For most of that time, Hot Tuna has sunk its teeth into the bare-bones marrow of blues and roots music as an acoustic duo, releasing dozens of live performances. But there’ve also been electric incarnations with expanded lineups. On this farewell tour, that side of the band comes to an end, with this Parker show scheduled to be Hot Tuna’s second to last electric gig. — GC

Outlaw Music Festival

Oct. 6, iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre, West Palm Beach. Tickets start at $29.50+ at LiveNation.com.

At a time when an announcement of a “farewell” tour from one of your all-time favorite artists is an unfortunate and constant refrain, Willie Nelson isn’t saying goodbye to anyone just yet. The headliner for the touring Outlaw Music Festival, the 90-year-old cultural treasure is still putting out music at an astonishing pace. The year began with Nelson winning the Grammy Award for Best Country Album for 2022’s “A Beautiful Time.” He followed that honor by releasing the album “I Don’t Know a Thing About Love” a few weeks later, in March. A second album of 2023,  “Bluegrass,” is a collection of Nelson’s classic songs recorded with a bluegrass band, set for a Sept. 15 debut. The rest of the Outlaw Music Festival lineup includes The Avett Brothers, Gov’t Mule, Elizabeth Cook and Particle Kid (Willie’s son, Micah Nelson). — BC

Aerosmith

Oct. 20, FLA Live Arena, Sunrise. Tickets start at about $200+ (resale) at Ticketmaster.com. 

In 1973, Aerosmith released their self-titled debut album, a remarkable introduction to a band that seemed destined and eager to grab the mantle of reigning rock gods such as The Rolling Stones (heard in the bluesy swagger of “Walkin’ the Dog” and “Mama Kin”) and Led Zeppelin (see the artful balladry of instant-classic “Dream On”). After 50 years of pop-chart success and deep-cut excellence — we’re partial to “Sweet Emotion,” “Train Kept a Rollin’,” “Toys in the Attic,” “Draw the Line,” “Back in the Saddle” and “Last Child” — Steven Tyler, Joe Perry and the boys have hit the end of the road with Peace Out: The Farewell Tour. The Black Crowes are the opening act. Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer, who lost wife Linda last year, is on leave from the band. — BC

Ed Sheeran

Oct. 22, Hard Rock Live, Hollywood. Tickets are sold out, with resale prices starting at about $300+. Visit MyHRL.com.

The uncommonly versatile songwriter and performer’s Mathematics Tour, supporting Sheeran’s most recent No. 1 album, “Subtract,” is a stadium tour. NFL-sized stadiums, where he is routinely selling out. For instance, Sheeran set a venue attendance record of 73,000 fans at his recent concert at Soldier Field, home of the Chicago Bears. Not even his buddy Taylor Swift managed that. Which makes his appearance within the intimate confines of 7,000-seat Hard Rock Live all the more amazing. — BC

John Legend
Oct. 28, Hard Rock Live, Hollywood, $65-$1,503.50, MyHRL.com.

“An Evening with John Legend” is the type of songs-and-stories concert format now in vogue for a certain caliber of legendary artist. In Legend’s case, it fits the bill in more ways than name only. Weaving interludes of personal anecdotes between originals and covers, the charismatic EGOT-winner recreates for the stage the solo voice-and-piano vibe of his latest, eponymous album. In concert, it promises to be a captivating showcase for an artist whose personality is nearly as engaging as his musical and vocal attributes. — GC

Graham Nash
Nov. 6, The Parker, Fort Lauderdale, $190-$774 (resale), parkerplayhouse.com.

There wasn’t a Crosby, Stills and Nash until the Laurel Canyon house party at which Graham added his sweet high harmony to the others’ impromptu rendition of “You Don’t Have to Cry.” That was in 1968, and, hard to fathom, 55 years later at age 81, Nash still serenades listeners and audiences with that same ethereal pitch. On the heels of the May release, “Now,” Graham brings his Sixty Years Of Songs and Stories tour to the Parker — a date bound to be either boosted or beset (re: your tolerance level) with blissed-out boomer singalongs on “Our House” and “Teach Your Children,” at the very least. — GC

Pitbull, Enrique Iglesias, Ricky Martin

Nov. 10-11, Kaseya Center, Miami. Tickets start at $135.20+ at Ticketmaster.com. 

Featuring three performers who helped synthesize Miami’s signature “La Vida Loca” energy and diversity into a sound that captured fans around the globe, the Trilogy Tour will feature Pitbull, Enrique Iglesias and Ricky Martin in distinctive headlining sets from each artist. While the 19-city tour will no doubt produce plenty of hot nights filled with big hits, we’re counting on the trio to bring something special to fans in South Florida, where ticket demand prompted a second show to be added. — BC

Mavis Staples

March 8, Adrienne Arsht Center, Miami. Tickets on sale Sept. 8 at ArshtCenter.org. 

One of the defining voices of American soul and gospel music and an essential ambassador for peace and civil rights, Staples is, like Willie Nelson, a performer and a person to be treasured. A multiple Grammy winner and a member of both the Blues and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Staples draws from a deep well of music in her concerts. Recent sets have included timeless Staple Singers classics “Respect Yourself,” “Heavy Makes You Happy” and “I’ll Take You There,” their powerful treatment of Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth,” and the joyful Talking Heads cover, “Slippery People.” Staples’ performance is the culminating concert on the Arsht Center’s annual Jazz Roots series. — BC

Pat Metheny
March 19, The Parker, Fort Lauderdale, $59-$549, parkerplayhouse.com.

At 18, he was the youngest teacher ever at the University of Miami. Five decades later, Metheny, 69, is a 20-time Grammy-winning guitarist who helped make jazz fusion a genre and who continues to transport the instrument to previously unheard sonic dimensions. For his latest album, “Dream Box,” he accompanies himself on electric guitar on a virtuosic solo collection of hushed, jewel-toned compositions. His solo tour shares the same title, but it will feature a career’s worth of personal and fan favorites. “What I have planned,” he says, “is something different for me, focused on the various ways of playing solo I have explored across all these decades.” — GC

CLASSICAL MUSIC

The Cleveland Orchestra

Nov. 17-18, Adrienne Arsht Center, Miami. Subscription and ticket information at ClevelandOrchestra.com/Miami.

In a dynamic collaboration, New World Symphony’s new artistic director, Stéphane Denève, conducts more than 100 musicians from the esteemed Cleveland Orchestra and the NWS ensemble in Richard Strauss’ soaring ode to the majesty of nature, “An Alpine Symphony.” The program also includes Schumann’s adventurous “Cello Concerto,” a showcase for acclaimed Spanish cellist Pablo Ferrández. — BC

The Symphonia

Nov. 19, Roberts Theater at Saint Andrew’s School, Boca Raton. Subscription and ticket information at TheSymphonia.org.

The chamber orchestra, founded nearly two decades ago, opens its 2023-2024 season with more expressions in its ongoing conversation about the environment, which inspired works found in Concert I: Native Wonders, including Handel’s “Water Music Suite No. 2,” Tchaikovsky’s “Souvenir D’un Lieu Cher” and Copland’s “Appalachian Spring.” The most intriguing section of the program may be “Chokfi,” by American Indian classical composer and pianist Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate, an Oklahoma City-based citizen of the Chickasaw Nation who filters his often haunting music through layers of Indian culture and history. Named last season to the Washington Post’s list of 22 artists that are “changing the classical landscape,” Tate’s music will be heard in October at New York’s Lincoln Center as part of “See Me As I Am,” the venue’s yearlong celebration of composer and musician Terence Blanchard. — BC

Seraphic Fire

Dec. 8-10, 12-13, 15 and 17, multiple South Florida locations from Boca Raton to Cutler Bay. Subscription and ticket information at SeraphicFire.org.

South Florida’s revered, Grammy-nominated vocal ensemble will offer another season (its 21st) rich in creative inspiration and diversity, including songs of American protest movements, French Baroque, the German sacred madrigals of the rarely performed “Fountains of Israel,” and the two-weekend Enlightenment Festival dedicated to Scarlatti and Haydn. But the tumult of these particular times seems to call for the irresistible comfort and joy of the Seraphic Fire Christmas concerts. This annual chestnut, featuring traditional choral performances of iconic holiday music by candlelight, is a guaranteed Scrooge-proof season setter. The concerts also will offer an opportunity to take home Seraphic Fire’s new Christmas album. — BC

‘Beethoven Ninth: Ode to Joy’
Jan. 13, Adrienne Arsht Center, Miami. Tickets at nws.edu, masterchoraleofsouthflorida.org.

Now in its 21st season, the Fort Lauderdale-based Master Chorale of South Florida joins Miami Beach’s celebrated New World Symphony to celebrate the 200th anniversary of orchestral music’s ne plus ultra. Other highlights of the Chorale’s season include Fauré’s “Requiem” (Oct. 27, 29) and Mozart’s “Great Mass” (April 5, 7). Under the baton of conductor Brett Karlin, the highly select ensemble of singers from the tri-county area also incorporates lighter fare into its program, such as its Comfort & Joy program (Dec. 8-9) and Free Family Concerts, which this season features Beethoven for Kids (Jan. 20) and Meet Mr. Mozart (April 6). — GC

Florida Grand Opera

Jan. 27-28 and 30, Arsht Center, Miami; Feb. 8 and 10, Broward Center, Fort Lauderdale. Subscription and ticket information at FGO.org. 

Rising tenor Limmie Pulliam will make his FGO debut as the lead in Leoncavallo’s earthy “Pagliacci,” continuing a reputation-building run that included his Carnegie Hall debut in January (in the title role of R. Nathaniel Dett’s “The Ordering of Moses”) and his Metropolitan Opera debut last December (as Radamès in “Aida”). Pulliam also brings an engaging backstory to the production: The singer, who has struggled with his weight, grew weary of body-shaming commentary in the industry and quit singing for more than a decade to work as a loan collector and security guard. An impromptu performance of the national anthem at an event he was working (the scheduled singer got cold feet) left Pulliam surprised at how his voice had matured and improved. So he got back in the game. — BC    

Michael Tilson Thomas

March 9-10, New World Center, Miami Beach; March 16, Arsht Center, Miami. Subscription and information at  NWS.edu.   

Having stepped back from his leading role with New World Symphony in 2022, Michael Tilson Thomas remains artistic director laureate and returns this season to conduct several concerts with the company he founded. On March 9-10, he will lead the orchestra in a program with world-renowned, Grammy-winning pianist Emanuel Ax. The program will include Schoenberg (Five Pieces for Orchestra), Beethoven (Piano Concerto No. 3) and Schumann (Symphony No. 1, “Spring”). On March 16, MTT and NWS will share the spotlight with venturesome bass-baritone Dashon Burton, a founding member of the idiosyncratic New York vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth. The evening will include Tilson Thomas’ buoyant and jazzy Agnegram, along with works by Copland (Old American Songs) and Tchaikovsky (Symphony No. 4). — BC

Staff writer Ben Crandell can be reached at bcrandell@sunsentinel.com. Follow on Instagram @BenCrandell and Twitter @BenCrandell.