No matter how many other leisure-time options compete for our attention, there really is nothing to replace the connection that happens at a live performance. Fortunately for classical music lovers, local organizations are busting out a new season of enticing variety, from early music innovators to contemporary composers inspired by the findings of science.
Conductor Emeritus Ludovic Morlot returns to launch the orchestra’s new season with a lineup of shorter orchestral pieces. The program includes favorites by Villa-Lobos, Ravel and Copland, as well as “Fractal Isles” by Puerto Rican-born Angélica Negrón, whose “Color Shape Transmission” was one of the Symphony’s Sibelius-related commissions a couple of seasons ago. Star pianist Khatia Buniatishvili will also take the spotlight as the soloist in “Rhapsody in Blue,” to celebrate the 100th anniversary of George Gershwin’s history-making favorite.
Sept. 14; Benaroya Hall, 200 University St., Seattle; tickets from $60; 206-215-4747, seattlesymphony.org
Venturing far beyond Debussy’s “La Mer” — perhaps classical music’s most famous portrait of the sea — violinist Rachel Lee Priday, who also teaches at the University of Washington School of Music, combines music and science in this multimedia live performance premiere of her new project and album, “Fluid Dynamics.” Inspired by the research of oceanographer Georgy Manucharyan (also on the UW faculty), Priday commissioned six of today’s most interesting composers — including Gabriella Smith (now based in Seattle) and Kronos Quartet cellist Paul Wiancko — to respond to videos illustrating Manucharyan’s experiments tracking the physics of the ocean. Priday will be joined by pianist Cristina Valdés.
Oct. 8; Meany Hall, University of Washington, 4040 George Washington Lane N.E., Seattle; tickets from $20; 206-543-4880, st.news/fluid-dynamics
