Seasonal
Cambridge Arts River Festival
cambridgema.gov
Taking place in person for the first time since the pandemic, this dynamic annual event features music, dance, and theater performances, hands-on family activities, and a fine arts and crafts sale—along with local chefs serving a “World of Food.”
Memorial Drive riverfront. (June 15)
Hidden Gardens of Beacon Hill
beaconhillgardenclub.org
Self-guided tours of nine unique urban sanctuaries and other botanical spaces; refreshments at the King’s Chapel Parish. (May 16)
Music
Rockport Chamber Music Festival
rockportmusic.org
The stellar lineup includes pianist Garrick Ohlsson, the award-winning Dover Quartet, and the a cappella group The King’s Singers. Shalin Liu Performance Center. (June 7-July 7)
Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras
boxoffice.harvard.edu
The BYSO 66th Season Concert, with music director and conductor Federico Cortese. Sanders Theatre. (June 9)
Film
26th Annual Provincetown International Film Festival
provincetownfilm.org
More than 80 independent films, panel discussions, and other events. (June 12-16)
Dance
Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA)
icaboston.org
Boston Dance Theatre presents If As If, by Israeli choreographer and company co-director Itzik Galili, among other works.
(May 10 and 11)
Theater
American Repertory Theater
americanrepertorytheater.org
Gatsby is the premiere musical version of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby. Score by indie-rocker Florence Welch and singer and producer Thomas Bartlett, aka Doveman. (May 23-July 21)
The Huntington
huntingtontheatre.org
In the Tony Award-winning musical The Light in the Piazza, a mother and daughter learn about love and limits during a trip to Florence in 1953. (May 8-June 15)
Exhibitions
Harvard Museums of Science and Culture
hmsc.harvard.edu
Manifest: Thirteen Colonies highlights African American materials photographed by Wendel A. White, distinguished professor of art and American studies at Stockton University in New Jersey, and the 2021 Robert Gardner fellow in photography at Harvard’s Peabody Museum. (Opens May 18)
Summer Solstice is an outdoor fete with music, circus performances, and food. Free admission to all the museums. (June 20)
Harvard Art Museums
harvardartmuseums.org
LaToya M. Hobbs: It’s Time. Life-size woodcuts depict a day in the life of the Baltimore-based artist and her family. (For more, see harvardmag.com/hobbs-museums-24.) (Through July 21)
Houghton Library
library.harvard.edu
Spanning 500 years, the rare, illustrated botanical books in The Beauty and Science of Plants reveal empirical details as well as artisanship. (Through August 23)
Peabody Essex Museum
pem.org
Coins, religious icons, manuscripts, and other artifacts are paired with contemporary artwork in Ethiopia at the Crossroads. (Through July 7)
Museum of Fine Arts
mfa.org
Dress Up. Items from the museum’s fashion arts collection explore the industry’s role in society—and what constitutes a creative wardrobe. (Through September 2)
