One of the world's outstanding conservatories, The Curtis Institute of Music offers more than 125 public performances per season at their home on Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia, most of which are free.  Curtis alumni include such legendary figures as Leonard Bernstein and Samuel Barber, and contemporary musicians such as Juan Diego Flórez, Alan Gilbert, Hilary Hahn, Leila Josefowicz, and Lang Lang.

Home of the Philadelphia Orchestra, the architecturally stunning Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts also hosts touring orchestras and popular entertainers from around the world, plus a series of touring Broadway musicals presented at the historic Academy of Music. There are two concert halls inside the Kimmel Center: the 2500 seat Verizon Hall, which includes a 6,938 pipe Dobson organ; and the more intimate 650 seat Perelman Theater. The impressive lobby and rooftop garden are open everyday to the public.

The Opera Company of Philadelphia brings superb singers to Philadelphia's historic Academy of Music in full-scale operatic productions of new and historic works.  In 2011 the company launched its American Repertoire Program, pledging to present a new American opera each season for ten years.

Philadelphia is fortunate to have a top-notch chamber music concert series, welcoming many of the world's best soloists and chamber groups. In a given season, a Swarthmore student might hear Pierre-Laurent Aimard, the Imani Winds, the Juilliard Quartet, Anonymous 4, Mitsuko Uchida, or Swarthmore College's own Marcantonio Barone, to name just a few.

One of the greatest orchestras in the world, the Philadelphia Orchestra performs on most weeks during the school year at Verizon Hall in Center City Philadelphia. Incredibly, Swarthmore students can attend an unlimited number of Philadelphia Orchestra concerts for only $25 per year. Under the leadership of their dynamic music director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the Fabulous Philadelphians regularly welcome the world's greatest soloists and guest conductors, including Simon Rattle, Hilary Hahn, Joshua Bell, Renée Fleming, André Watts, and Lang Lang.

One of Philadelphia's best venues for live music, World Cafe Live is just a short walk from the University City train station. World Cafe Live hosts many of the best musicians performing today across a variety of genres, including Indie Rock, Folk, R&B, and a wide range of World Music traditions. World Cafe Live is also the setting for the nationally syndicated NPR radio program World Cafe.