September 20-27, 2025

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Although Opera-tober officially starts on September 28, get your Pre-Opera-tober Game on with these beautiful events!

 

WHEN: Saturday, September 20, 2025, 8:00 PM

WHAT: The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra presents “Malofeev Plays Tchaikovsky.” Featuring JoAnn Falletta, conductor; Alexander Malofeev, piano.

The Opening Night of our Classics Series greets this year’s listeners with Leonard Bernstein’s exuberant overture to Candide, the witty operetta inspired by Voltaire’s satire of the same name. This bombastic kaleidoscope of musical styles contrasts with Richard Strauss’s famed Der Rosenkavalier Suite, which captures motifs important to the romance of the opera’s plot and evokes an earlier era of splendid waltzes and courting rituals. 

The frenetic energy of Bernstein’s overture paired with Strauss’s scintillating, late-Romantic suite sets the stage for the highlight of the evening—Tchaikovsky’s dramatic Piano Concerto No. 1—which soars under Sasha Malofeev’s dazzling musicianship and brings us to the pinnacle of Opening Night.

 

WHERE: Kleinhans Music Hall, 3 Symphony Circle, Buffalo, NY 14201

HOW: Order Tickets Online https://bpo.org/event/malofeev-plays-tchaikovsky/ or call the box office (716) 885-5000

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WHEN: Friday, September 26, 2025, 7:00 PM; Sunday, September 28, 2025, 2:30 PM

WHAT: Buffalo Opera Unlimited presents Pagliacci, a staple of the Italian verismo tradition opens Buffalo Opera Unlimited’s 40th anniversary season. The opera is a larger-than-life story of love, jealously, and betrayal set within a Commedia dell'arte circus troupe, where painted smiles and bright costumes mask infidelity. The lead clown, Canio, is consumed by jealousy when he suspects his wife, Nedda, of having an affair. The line between on-stage and off-stage drama is blurred, ultimately leading to a tragic climax.

 Buffalo native Jordan Weatherston Pitts returns home to perform the lead role of Canio. Pitts is joined by Andrea Bickford as Nedda (Metropolitan Opera National Council District Auditions winner), Joshua Conyers as Tonio (Eastman School of Music faculty), and Andrew George as Beppe, making his BOU debut. Brent Weber (Fredonia School of Music) directs and Matt Marco (BOU Artistic Director) conducts the full orchestra and chorus.

 

Sung in Italian with projected English translation, the performance will run approximately 100 minutes with one intermission.

 

WHERE: Buffalo State Performing Arts Center Rockwell Hall, 1300 Elmwood Avenue

Buffalo, NY 14222

HOW: Adult $40 Senior $30  Student $10. Order Tickets Online Here 

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WHEN: September 27 - October 18, 2025

WHAT: The Canadian Opera Company presents Roméo et Juliette by Gounod.

Relocating the feuding Montagues and Capulets from Renaissance Verona to Gilded Age New York, this daring and delightful production takes audiences on a journey from the soaring emotional highs of young love to heartrending despair as a fateful romance turns to tragedy.

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Featuring: Stephen Costello as Roméo; Kseniia Proshina as Juliette; Robert Pomakov as Frère Laurent; Gordon Bintner as Mercutio; Korin Thomas-Smith as Mercutio (October 16 & 18); Angelo Moretti as Benvolio; Megan Latham as Gertrude; Owen McCausland as Tybalt; Mark Stone as Count Capulet; Ben Wallace as Paris; Alex Halliday as The Duke; Alex Hetherington as Stéphano.

Yves Abel, Conductor; Amy Lane, Director

 

WHERE: Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen Street West, Toronto, ON 

HOW: Order Tickets online https://www.coc.ca/tickets/2526-season/romeo-et-juliette

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WHEN: Saturday, September 27, 2025, 7:00 PM

WHAT: BTPM Classical Live on Stage: The Music of Amy Beach

Please join BTPM Classical Live on Stage #31 on Saturday Evening - as Pianist and Buffalo State University Music Faculty member Dr. Emily Boyce will present a program of music by the great American composer Amy Beach (1867-1944). She will be joined by soprano, Dr. Holly Bewley, and music student, Michael Brouder. Highly regarded as both pianist and composer, Mrs. Beach’s music continues to be performed and celebrated around the world. 

Dr. Boyce will be joined by soprano Dr. Holly Bewlay for six of Mrs. Beach’s songs, including Ecstasy, which was so popular in its day that it is reported that the Beach family purchased a plot of land on Cape Cod solely from the proceeds of its sales. Michael Brouder, a piano student of Dr. Boyce, will join her for selections from Summer Dreams, Op. 47, a suite for piano, four-hands. Highly regarded as both pianist and composer throughout the Americas and Europe during her lifetime, Mrs. Beach’s music continues to be performed and celebrated around the world.

 

WHERE: Buffalo Toronto Public Media, 140 Lower Terrace, Buffalo, NY

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HOW: This event is free and includes a post-concert Q&A and light refreshments. Free Parking is available in our parking lot located off of Charles Street. You must register on Eventbrite to attend this free event. Register Here https://www.btpm.org/events/LOS-31 

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