The return of warmer weather means the return of the free Creative Music Series to Saturdays at Assembly Square, starting with an Easter Weekend concert led by Boston musician and composer Eric Zinman.

Cambridge’s resident celebrities are low-key, but renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma has popped up lately in a flurry of charitable work – and with an impromptu performance Saturday after getting vaccinated.

A space for aspiring electronic music artists and studio producers called Subcentral launches this weekend in Central Square – just steps from where The Mmmmaven Project operated with a similar mission until April 2019.

Sea chantey TikTok somehow became the music that sang goodbye to 2020 and ahoy to the new year. Folk musician and chantey expert David Coffin will tell you all about those videos you’ve been loving and lead a free, virtual Sea Chantey Sing on Feb. 19.

These modern, accessible and utterly lighthearted takes on cabaret songs offer the closest thing resembling companionship most of us have felt in months.

If there was any doubt: The Boston Celtic Music Fest will be online for its 18th year due to coronavirus restrictions.

The board of the music venue and arts nonprofit Passim has seen some turnover, with Jerry Potts stepping down as chair and musician Annie Bartlett elected by the board to replace him. Passim announced the creation of an annual giving program in honor of Potts.

Billy Dean Thomas’ seven-track EP “For Better or Worse” is unapologetically left-leaning, intersectional and inclusive, even while addressing the 2020 election and racial justice.

Housecat’s sunny debut single, “Disco D,” waxes poetic about the ways we lean on each other for relief from loneliness, a highly-caffeinated, mid-pandemic nod to the social interaction we all so dearly miss.  

The lineup of Boston Music Awards nominees for the year is rich with Cambridge and Somerville venues and performers.