When Tori Amos released her debut Little Earthquakes in 1992, she didn’t quite fit the traditional axe-shredding rocker stereotype, but she was as alternative as they come: a golden-voiced, ginger-haired, piano-humping goddess who rattled nerves and paradigms around the planet with her deeply confessional songs of the female experience on every theme from sexual assault and relationships to religion. Since Earthquakes, her many releases have run the gamut from chamber pop to techno, but Amos’ music—and her activism with RAINN, The Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network she co-founded—has been a resource for the women who look to her for emotional support. Her shape-shifting discography, including this year’s Night of Hunters, the singer’s first classical crossover album—which also features daughter Natashya on a few tracks—has rewarded fans with an unpredictable, ambitious oeuvre as self-possessed and down right rockin’ as the artist herself. GWENDOLYN ELLIOTT

Wed., Dec. 14, 8 p.m., 2011