The colder months are the perfect time to head indoors and experience all the culture that Boston has to offer
Opera
The Boston Lyric Opera (BLO) doesn’t resume in-person performances until spring, yet there are still exciting doings at New England’s oldest opera troupe. The BLO’s operabox.tv online service begins streaming Ana Sokolovic’s Svadba, a co-production with Opera Philadelphia, on January 28. The film, featuring an a cappella score for six voices and a regional cast, tells the tale of a bride and her five girlfriends as they celebrate at a seaside cottage the night before the wedding. This innovative mix of movement and singing was filmed in Massachusetts and directed by Shura Baryshnikov. Guerilla Opera, Boston’s acclaimed fringe company, also gets back on stage in the warmer months. Like the BLO, though, fans need not wait until the flowers bloom in order to get their opera fix as Guerilla Opera continues Guerilla Underground, its “virtual speakeasy” series, through April. Upcoming performances include The Cellos’ Dialogue, the story of a Middle Eastern woman facing an unexpected pregnancy in America, on February 11 and The Colony, a piece exploring the evolution of communication through both the interactions of humans and ants, on March 11. If you’re yearning for some live opera, though, fear not. Head over to the Fenway as Symphony Hall hosts Odyssey Opera’s Troika, a trio of Rachmaninoff one-acts inspired by Alexander Pushkin and Dante’s Inferno, on March 19.
Dance
The Boston Center for the Arts in the South End continues hosting original dance from its Dancemakers Research Laboratory resident choreographers when Jenny Oliver presents an open rehearsal of her Untitled on January 30 at the Calderwood Pavilion. Celebrity Series of Boston welcomes Colombian dance company Sankofa Danzafro and its work Accommodating Lie (pictured), a dismantling of the stereotypes surrounding Black bodies, to the Boch Center’s Shubert Theatre February 26 & 27. The latter part of winter sees the Boston Ballet return to the Citizens Bank Opera House with the female-focused ChoreograpHER March 3–13 and the repertory program DREAMstate—featuring works from George Balanchine, Stephen Galloway and Jirí Kylián—March 17–27.
As of January 15, the City of Boston is requiring patrons for indoor performances wear masks and show proof of vaccination.
