Come celebrate the launch of our Beyond100 campaign to restore and renovate The Z!

We’re throwing a party at Cisco Brewers with live music, dancing, roving entertainers, and fun activities for kids. The event will feature performances by Boston-based East Coast Soul, close-up magic, circus acts, face painting, puppet-making, and much more. Cisco’s fabulous food and beverages will be available for purchase.  

Free transportation by Reliable Bus Lines is available from Downtown New Bedford to Cisco. A shuttle will leave every 30 minutes from the DeMello International Center parking lot starting at 5:15pm. The last departure from Cisco will be 10pm. Click here to reserve your spot.

‍Tickets are pay-what-you-can ($10 minimum) and kids under 12 are free! All proceeds directly support the Zeiterion’s restoration and renovation. To cover the cost of the event, we recommend $30 per ticket. Any amount more than $30 supports this transformational project. 

A special thanks to Cisco for hosting us!

Should we experience inclement weather, the rain date is Thursday, September 26.

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East Coast Soul

Grab your dancing shoes! East Coast Soul is a collective of world-class musicians with a repertoire spanning 1960s Soul & Motown through current hits and a reputation for delivering high-energy performances.

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raise the roof Entertainment

A night with the Azorean Green Bean herself, presented by the Zeiterion and Bristol Community College!

Learn about the rich – and delicious – culinary history of the Azores with renowned cook, author and PBS host Maria Lawton.

She’ll enlighten your pantry with historical insights into the traditional ingredients from the Azores, exploring how oils, spices, fish and preparation techniques have been woven into dishes throughout generations. Large screens will allow the audience to follow Maria as she explains their cultural and culinary significance.

Then, in a talk show setting, Maria will share the influences and inspirations she has encountered through her cooking over the years within Portuguese culture, providing both background and historical context. You’ll even have the chance to ask her some of your culinary questions!

Immediately following the event, please join us for a post-show reception with Maria where you’ll be treated to pastries made by Bristol Community College's Baking & Pastry students and a performance by Portuguese guitarist Joao Silva sponsored by LusoCentro. Click here to purchase tickets to the reception.

A limited number of her yet-to-be-released cookbook, "At My Portuguese Table: Azorean Cooking and More," will be available for purchase in the lobby.

‍This event will take place at and is in partnership with Bristol Community College. Tickets are general admission.

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‍About Maria Lawton

Maria Lawton, also known as the "Azorean Green Bean," is an esteemed host and executive producer of the multi award-winning series "Maria's Portuguese Table" on PBS. With a deep connection to her Azorean roots in Portugal, Maria has successfully brought the essence of authentic Portuguese cuisine and culture to American television audiences and has garnered worldwide acclaim for her dedication. The series also made television history as the first series on PBS to showcase the Portuguese culture.

Rooted deeply in her Azorean heritage, Maria's culinary odyssey started in her grandmother's kitchen, where she learned the essence of Portuguese cooking. Fueled by a profound desire to preserve her cultural legacy, she embarked on a mission to share these invaluable traditions with a broader audience with the production of "Maria's Portuguese Table."  

Maria continues to share Azorean cuisine as the Emmy-nominated host of Maria's Portuguese Table, distributed nationally via PBS and is featured on CreateTV. The culinary travel show, now in its second season, features Azorean dishes and culture not only in the Azores, but around the world.

Beyond her television prowess, Maria Lawton is a celebrated author, with her best-selling first cookbook, "Azorean Cooking: From My Family Table to Yours," offering a heartfelt narrative intertwined with authentic family recipes, offering a window into the rich culinary heritage of the Azores. Her new cookbook, "At My Portuguese Table: Azorean Cooking and More," will be released on November 13.

Do you like anime, manga, comic books, or the Marvel and DC cinematic universe?

Do you like to play games and create stories?

Do you want an opportunity to tap into your creativity while making friends?

Then this FREE program might be right for you!

Who is this program intended for? 10-14 year olds

What is this program? A free series of workshops, led by comic book illustrator Roger Andrews and Playback Theatre teacher Jennie Kristel, where you will get to tap into your creativity and create a mural together. Over the course of 11 weeks, you will identify your unique superpowers and how you can use art and your own experiences to improve your community. You will connect with other kids, play games, and create art. Free food will be provided at every session and transportation is available for those who need it!

When is this program? Every Tuesday 4:30-6PM September 24^th – December 3^rd 2024

Where is this program? North Star Learning Centers, 80 Rivet St., New Bedford

How do I sign up? Reach out to Jennifer Torres, Director of Youth Services at North Star Learning Center, to sign up by emailing jtorres@northstarlc.org or calling (774) 992-0130.  

Jennie Kristel is a Registered Expressive Arts therapist, Accredited Playback Theatre trainer, core instructor in Lesley University’s Expressive Arts Therapy Department. Jennie is the director of JourneyWorks, a holistic expressive arts therapy practice that offers expressive arts therapy, training, and supervision. She has traveled across the world, to places like India, Egypt, and Kenya, teaching therapists how to integrate the arts into their practice.

Roger Andrews is a world-renowned illustrator whose work was used to create the Marvel Superhero Squad, Star Wars Galactic Heroes (now Playskool Jedi Force), Transformers Robot Heroes, Toy Story 3, and Angry Birds Star Wars! Roger grew up in New Bedford and went to the elementary school that used to be at 80 Rivet St. He owns his own business: Sketchie Go Iche where he creates custom art and teaches young people how to do digital art.

Join us for the 2024-2025 NBSO Season. We are YOUR Symphony!

This season, we will continue to present at the Bronspiegel Auditorium at New Bedford High School and will have our final concert of the season at Fireman Performing Arts Center at Tabor Academy. A listing of performances and descriptions is below.

Purchase a subscription to three or more performances and receive a discount for each performance.  

To purchase a subscription to all seven shows, click here.

For a subscription of three, four, five or six shows, click here.

‍NBSO's 2024-25 SEASON

A New Bedford Collage‍
Saturday, September 28, 2024, 7:30PM
Bronspiegel Auditorium, New Bedford High School
Yaniv Dinur, conductor

‍Click here for tickets to A New Bedford Collage.‍

Jazz Quartet: Dino Govoni (tenor sax), Ben Cook (piano), Dave Zinno (bass), Max Goldman (drums)
Richard Wagner: Prelude to Tristan und Isolde
Jazz Quartet: Jamming on “Tristan Chord”
KabuJazz Ensemble: Love Each Other Through, Sodade
Giovanni Gabrieli: Canzon per sonar duodecimi toni a 8
Johann Sebastian Bach: Chaconne, featuring Ethan Wood
Johannes Brahms: Symphony No. 4

We’ve all made collages as kids, or with our kids. In this concert we create a musical collage for you with some Cape Verdean music, some jazz, and of course some classical. The different groups will be set up around the auditorium so you will be part of the collage too, and hear the music all around you.

This concert features New Bedford-based jazz giant Dino Govoni, New Bedford legend Candida Rose, New Bedford resident (and NBSO Assistant Concertmaster) Ethan Wood, and (we suppose this goes without saying …) your New Bedford Symphony Orchestra! The concert ends with Brahms’ very large, emotional, and beautiful Symphony No. 4. It’s a perfect way to capture everything our community means to us.

In the art world, a collage gives the artist the freedom to create a beautiful visual experience using many different and even seemingly unrelated objects. We have created this New Bedford Collage to give you that experience through music. This concert celebrates the amazing talent we have in our community and the creativity that is unleashed when we break down barriers and join forces to express the joy and beauty inside every one of us. Immerse yourself in this experience and see what effect it has on you!

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Dance the Night Away‍Saturday, October 26, 2024, 7:30PM
Bronspiegel Auditorium, New Bedford High School
Yaniv Dinur, conductor

Click here for tickets to Dance the Night Away.

Newport Contemporary Ballet
Mathilde Wantenaar: Prélude à une nuit américaine
George Gershwin: An American In Paris
Leonard Bernstein: Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
Maurice Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No. 2

Whether it’s in the kitchen, at a wedding, or at a club, dancing is something we all do. Some of us took dance lessons as a child, some of us got up our nerve at a school dance, and some of us just can’t help moving when we feel the beat.

We hope you won’t be shocked to learn that classical music composers are no different than the rest of us. They feel that beat too, and they love to create motion and energy with their music. In this program, we dive into the power music has to make us want to move and express ourselves in motion. Each piece is inspired by dance and probably the best way to prepare for the concert is to watch Gene Kelly dancing in An American in Paris and watching the Sharks and the Jets dance it out in West Side Story.

The extraordinary Newport Contemporary Ballet will join us in the final piece of the concert. They will glide across the stage and around the auditorium to Ravel’s musical love story, Daphnis et Chloe. Let the motion in the music and the motion in the dance soothe you and inspire you.

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Bridging Oceans‍
Saturday, November 16, 2024, 7:30PM
Bronspiegel Auditorium, New Bedford High School
Yaniv Dinur, conductor
Guest artist:  Hector Del Curto, bandoneon

Click here for tickets to Bridging Oceans.

Johann Sebastian Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 in F
Astor Piazzolla: Oblivion (arr. Robert Longfield )
Johann Sebastian Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G
Astor Piazzolla: Aconcagua; Concerto for Bandoneon
Johann Sebastian Bach: Suite No. 2 in B minor

There are two oceans (and two centuries) between Argentinian Astor Piazzolla and German Johann Sebastian Bach, but there are strong connections between them. That is why this concert pairs the music of these two great composers. Bach’s music often uses forms developed from dances and Piazzolla caused quite a stir when he merged his love of the tango with his love of classical music. At an early age, Piazzolla discovered the music of Bach and couldn’t stop playing it on the piano. He then became a virtuoso bandoneon player (an Argentinian accordion-like instrument that was actually invented in Germany) and learned to play Bach on that. Even when he formed his own tango band and played in the clubs of Buenos Aires, he infused his music with both jazz and Bach-inspired fugues.

This concert will transport you back and forth between two worlds of music, worlds that are in some ways very different from each other but in the most important ways very connected to each other. We want you to feel that connection and help you create your own world for one night.  

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Holiday Pops‍
Sunday, December 15, 2024, 3:30 & 7:30PM
Bronspiegel Auditorium, New Bedford High School
Yaniv Dinur, conductor and emcee
Appearances by the Southeastern Massachusetts Youth Orchestra and the Showstoppers

Click here for tickets to Holiday Pops.

Celebrate the season with family and friends at our Holiday Pops concerts. You will be immersed in joyous music, laughter, and the spirit of the season. The festively-decorated auditorium and family-friendly atmosphere are just what everybody needs at this time of year.  We have an amazing line-up of holiday entertainment with Yaniv, our musicians, and special guests, including The Showstoppers and the Southeastern Massachusetts Youth Orchestra. Both performances are about one hour long, with no intermission.

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Super Mario vs. ZeldaSaturday, January 18, 2025, 7:30PM
Bronspiegel Auditorium, New Bedford High School
Yaniv Dinur, conductor and emcee

Click here for tickets to Super Mario vs. Zelda.

Did you know that video games take their music very seriously? Major contemporary composers, themes from great classical works of the past, and the high energy and many moods that spring from the boundless imagination of virtual worlds will all come together and fill the concert hall. The program will include music from:

Starfield
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Return Fire
Saints Row IV
Forza Horizon 3
Cyberpunk 2077
Gerda: A Flame in Winter
Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture
Final Fantasy VII
Call of Duty
Minecraft
Fallout 4
Super Mario Bros.
The Legend of Zelda

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‍Love and EcstasySaturday, February 15, 2025, 7:30PM
Bronspiegel Auditorium, New Bedford High School
Yaniv Dinur, conductor
Bella Hristova, violin

Click here for tickets to Love and Ecstasy.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet,  Fantasy - Overture
David Ludwig: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra
Manuel de Falla: The Three-Cornered Hat,  Suite No. 1

Wouldn’t it be nice if a person who loved you wrote a song (or a whole concerto!) to celebrate who you are and how deeply they love you? Well, that might be asking too much for most of us, but not for our guest artist and her composer husband, Bella Hristova and David Ludwig. When they married, he wrote for her the concerto we are performing for you in this concert, and we’ve invited her to be the soloist. Let the sparks fly and feel the love on Valentine’s Weekend!

You might have heard of two other lovers named Romeo and Juliet. While things did not work out well for them, the longing and the passion they felt for each other (thank you, Shakespeare!) has been immortalized in Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet. We guarantee this music will transport you. Come to the concert and find out where it will take you.

Scriabin’s Poem of Ecstasy is exactly what love is: quiet, soothing, joyous – and messy, loud, and chaotic! We really can’t call this one a love song, but it is a song about love. Of course, you will get to decide for yourself when you hear it.

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Yaniv Plays Beethoven
‍‍Friday, March 14, 2025, 7:30PM
Saturday, March 15, 2025, 7:30PM
Fireman Performing Arts Center, Tabor Academy
Yaniv Dinur, conductor & piano

Click here for tickets to Yaniv Plays Beethoven.

Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3
Adolphus Hailstork: Symphony No. 3

When your music director is an incredible conductor and a talented pianist, it only makes sense to put him to work doing both (at the same time). Yaniv has impressed us in the past as a musical multitasker. In this concert he once again brings his artistry performing as soloist and conducting the orchestra in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3. Beethoven’s music has been delighting people and touching their souls for a couple of hundred years. Come find out why.

Adolphus Hailstork is one of the most talented and beloved composers living in the United States today. His Symphony No. 3 is considered a masterpiece. The symphony’s music ranges from rousing brass marches to the sweetest of melodies. True story: When we played one of his pieces during the pandemic we sent him the video of the performance. He emailed back to us “OMG – what a sound your orchestra has!” We have to admit we love his music as much as he loves our orchestra.

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For complete details on NBSO season and subscriptions, click here.