Dance

Ancient legends and traditional Chinese culture are brought to life through dance and music January 22–24 when the acclaimed, New York-based Shen Yun (shenyun.com) takes the Boston Opera House stage. At the Shubert Theatre January 29 & 30, BalletBoyz, the all-male troupe that is a creation of former Royal Ballet principal dancers Michael Nunn and Billy Trevitt, leaps into town. 

Classical Music

For the soothing sounds of violins, cellos and the like, look no further that Symphony Hall this winter. The Boston Symphony Orchestra gets back in action with upcoming performances January 21–23 of an all-Czech program, and, on January 29 & 30, work inspired by Shakespeare conducted by BSO Artistic Director Andris Nelsons. The Handel and Haydn Society lives up to half its name with an all-Haydn program January 29 & 31. Boston is a hub of classical music not just because of its home-grown scene, however. Visiting luminaries—like Orchestre National de France, who appear on January 24—pass through quite frequently. 

Theater

Emerson College’s producing arm, ArtsEmerson, has brought some of the most cutting-edge theater artists to Boston over the last several years, and this January is no different. From England, Filter presents a rollicking, music-filled take on the Bard’s Twelfth Night January 20–30 at the Paramount Theatre. Along with local theater troupe Company One Theatre, ArtsEmerson also presents An Octoroon—a searing and satirical examination of race in America that is a radical revision of a 19th-century melodrama—beginning January 29 at the Paramount’s Liebergott Black Box. Other Boston theater includes the Huntington Theatre’s presentation of Ayad Akhtar’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Disgraced at the B.U. Theatre through February 7. Over in Cambridge, American Repertory Theater’s Nice Fish starring Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies, “Wolf Hall”) runs through February 7, while Central Square Theater hosts The Convert, a Colonial Africa-set drama written by actress Danai Gurira (“The Walking Dead”), beginning January 28. 

Visual Arts

Catch the finals days of a pair of blockbuster exhibits at two of the area’s most popular museums. The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum highlights the art of a Renaissance master through January 25 in the show Ornament and Illusion: Carlo Crivelli of Venice, while the Institute of Contemporary Art, through January 24, presents the work of more than 90 influential mid-20th century artists in Leap Before You Look: Black Mountain College 1933–1957.