My teenaged daughter is a self-declared musical theater nut and was thrilled to see Sutton Foster as part of next year’s Celebrity Series line-up. She first discovered her as Fiona in Shrek on Netflix and can’t wait to see her perform live. In Ma’s words: “ I think she’s really authentic…she really loves what she does and it shows through her performances. I admire that.”

It is simple. There are a couple of reasons why Béla Fleck and the Flecktones will rock, roll, and rehabilitate our winter-worn souls on March 27 at Berklee Performance Center.

1. Rocket Science: If you want to smile, play this album. On the Mount Rushmore of best banjo songs ever recorded, “Gravity Lane” is basically Teddy Roosevelt. Like a bull moose, “Gravity Lane” is a positive, powerful, and bold way to kick-off the epic album. The 2011 LP is only 12 tracks, but this collection of a dozen songs does something not many albums are capable of doing - it captures every mood one might face in a day. It’s a groovy, harmonious, and jazzed up celebration of the banjo. 
2. The Wooten Brothers: Whoa! Wait what? Two Wootens on one stage. Funk runs through the Wooten brothers’ blood, and no doubt it will be on full display in March. Victor Wooten is perhaps the greatest bassist ever to live. He is the living colossus of electric bass, a wise musical soul, and the reason why I chose to play bass when I was younger.

I cannot wait for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's performance this season. The musicians who make up the ensemble, David Finkel, Wu Han, Arnaud Sussman, and Paul Neubauer, should pique the interest of any music aficionado. However, music snobs like myself will notice that they will be performing Beethoven's Piano Trio in E-flat Major, Opus 1, no. 1.

Although the trio is not the first piece written or published by Beethoven, it is the first piece he published in this young adulthood as a proper Viennese composer. This piece is not Romantic Beethoven. It's Classical Beethoven fresh with the playful and delicate influences from Mozart and the wit and humor from his teacher Haydn. If you listen carefully, you can hear the musical foreshadowing of the expressive intensity that marked his Heroic period. 

Beethoven's Classical period begins the forte E-flat major chord at the beginning of this trio and ends with the forte E-flat major chords of his Eroica Symphony. Get ready for goosebumps!