All Hail the Queen

With all the Shakespeare productions in town this season, it was only a matter of time before Queen Elizabeth herself showed up (after all, that’s what happened in Shakespeare In Love, isn’t it?). This time, though, she’s not attending a play; she’s the guest of honor at the Choral Arts Society’s Elizabethan Evening, the first of several smartly packaged concerts in Choral Arts’ new season under dynamic artistic director Donald Nally. The program will include a wide variety of music for Shakespeare text by composers ranging from Henry Purcell to Samuel Barber to jazz legend George Shearing — including dances by Benjamin Britten written for the coronation of the second Queen Elizabeth in 1953. After the concert, the original Liz (played by the estimable actress Ann Wilcox) will lead the audience in a procession across Rittenhouse Square for a Renaissance dinner at the Ethical Society.

—David Warner

Sat., Nov. 6, 7 p.m., First Baptist Church, 17th and Sansom Sts. Concert only: $25, $20, $14. Dinner is an additional $65. 215-545-8634.