Virginia Opera, Joseph Walsh conducting
Nov. 28, Landmark Theater, Richmond
A lot of comedy is rooted in cruelty, and Donizetti’s "The Elixir of Love" may be the prime example of the cruelty joke in the opera repertory. Every principal character is a 
cynical, manipulative dirtball, with the sole exception of the male romantic lead, the love-struck bumpkin Nemorino, who, naturally, is the butt of all the jokes. And when all the highjinks have ensued, everyone lives happily ever after – even Nemorino, who has inherited a pile of money and the bride of his dreams, although we may safely guess that he won’t keep either any longer than she can help.
So goes one of the reputedly frothiest of comic operas. To the credit of Dorothy Danner, director of the current Virginia Opera production, this time the froth does not obscure the vinegary taste of the show. Aside from Joshua Kohl’s Nemorino, the characters’ egos are as fully inflated as the golden balloon that drifts over the stage, their insincerity as overripe as the grapes hanging from the ornate gold frame around which scenic designer Eduardo Sicangco built his set.
Characterization generally overrode vocalization in the first of two Richmond performances of this production. Kohl was a strong presence with a clear but youthfully unpolished voice. Jane Redding, as Adina, the dismissive object of Nemorino’s affection, spent much of the evening emphasizing coloratura over melody or projection; she found her balance in time for the lovers’ climactic love scene.
Stephen Hartley, as the self-absorbed Sergeant Belcore, and Todd Robinson, as the greedy quack Doctor Dulcamara, turned in satisfyingly comic characterizations, although they growled as much as they sang and tended to lag behind the beat in patter numbers.
The Virginia Opera Chorus was in good form theatrically – Danner kept the troupe moving and divertingly occupied in cartoonish fashion – and in better than usual form as a vocal ensemble.
Joseph Walsh, the company’s associate conductor, led a nicely animated performance by members of Hampton Roads’ Virginia Symphony, with an especially soulful solo from bassoonist Laura Leisring.
A repeat performance of "The Elixir of Love" begins at 2:30 p.m. Nov. 30 at the Landmark Theater, Laurel and Main streets in Richmond. Tickets: $22.50-$87.50. Details: (804) 262-8003 (Ticketmaster); www.vaopera.org
The recessionary hits keep coming: The Chattanooga (TN) Symphony & Opera Board, facing an accumulated deficit of $1.1 million, suspends opera productions for the 2009-10 season.The Chattanooga Symphony will enlarge its concert schedule to compensate; but "we are . . . not at a place where opera as we are currently offering it is sustainable,” Molly Sasse, the organization's executive director, tells the Chattanooga Times Free Press:http://timesfreepress.com/news/2008/nov/25/chattanooga-symphony-amp-opera-board-votes-suspend/
Richard Hickox, one of the leading interpreters of British music and choral and operatic repertory, died Nov. 23 in Cardiff, Wales.The 60-year-old conductor, founder of the City of London Sinfonia, music director of Opera Australia and associate guest conductor of the London Symphony, is most widely known for leading more than 300 recordings.Hickox fell ill during a session of recording Gustav Holst's "Choral Symphony," and subsequently died of an apparent heart attack, The Guardian reports:http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/nov/24/richard-hickox
Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, calls for giving the city's youths more exposure to high culture, including opportunities to learn to play musical instruments."Too often, it is presumed that young people will only like art that they can immediately relate to. . . . There's been a kind of inverse snobbery about culture," Munira Mirza, Johnson's chief of arts and culture strategy, tells The Guardian:http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2008/nov/24/london-johnson-culture-strategy-youth
Erin Freeman conducting
Nov. 21, Bon Air Baptist Church
The second of installment of the Richmond Symphony’s Haydn Festival is titled "Haydn Meets Beethoven." Good marketing – Beethoven is a name that sells tickets – and literally true in that symphonies by Haydn and Beethoven are presented alongside each other. But the real point of the program is to present Haydn’s music in historical and stylistic context.
Erin Freeman, associate conductor of the orchestra, presented one of the earliest of Haydn’s 104 numbered symphonies: No. 7 in C major ("Le Midi"), the central work in a trilogy titled "Morning," "Noon" and "Night," and an example of the young Haydn (29 when he introduced the trilogy in 1761) as a voice in the transition between baroque and classical styles. This symphony is studded with instrumental solos, duets and trios, in the manner of a baroque concerto grosso; the adagio, its most striking movement, echoes the recitative-aria form of opera and expresses itself with the stylized emotion (affectus) that early classical (or "rococo") composition inherited from the baroque.
Preceding "Lei Midi" were a pair of sinfonias in the three-movement, fast-slow-fast form first used in opera and oratorio overtures and subsequently written as stand-alone orchestral pieces. Representing the theatrical roots, the brooding Sinfonia from Johann Josef Fux’s 1716 oratorio "Il Fonte della Salute aperto dalla Grazia nel Calvario" ("The Fount of Salvation, Opened through Grace on Calvary"); representing the orchestral branches, Carl Phillipp Emanuel Bach’s virtuosic, percolating Symphony No. 11 in C major, third of his six "Hamburg" symphonies of 1773.
As Freeman explained in onstage comments during the first of two presentations of this program, Fux was a de facto teacher of Haydn and many other composers of the classical period by way of "Gradus ad Parnassum" ("Steps to Parnassus"), a text on composition that Fux published in 1725. C.P.E. Bach, the most prolific son of Johann Sebastian Bach, was known for spicing up classical style with quirky figures and unexpected outbursts, a practice that Haydn adopted to even more memorable effect.
Freeman led animated readings of the three early classical pieces. Violinist Karen Johnson, cellist Neal Cary, double-bassist Paul Bedell and flutist Mary Boodell reveled in their cameos; the extended duet by Johnson and Cary in the Haydn symphony’s operatic adagio was especially satisfying. The orchestra's string sections made fine work of their quick-time figures.
Early classical music, however, does not sell itself. Played "straight," it trundles along agreeably and, mostly, forgettably. To make a real impression, it needs interpretive intervention – sharp accenting, dramatic crescendos, high contrast between loudness and quiet, assertive pathos in minor keys – practices that composers of the time didn’t write into their scores because they assumed that performers would employ them. Freeman and the orchestra, playing these pieces as they lay on the page, did not project them convincingly.
They might have taken a cue from the work on the other half of the program: Beethoven’s Eighth Symphony, perhaps the clearest echo of 18th-century style and expressive techniques that the composer (a onetime student of Haydn) produced in maturity. The dynamism and dramatic punch that were missing in the Haydn, Bach and Fux came surging out of the Beethoven.
The program repeats at 3 p.m. Sept. 23 at Blackwell Auditorium, Randolph-Macon College, 205 Henry St. in Ashland. Tickets: $25. Information: (804) 788-1212; www.richmondsymphony.com
The Virginia Opera is cutting its 2008-09 operating budget from $5.3 million to $4.8 million in response to decreased revenue during the economic downturn. The Norfolk-based company, which also stages its productions in Richmond and Fairfax, had already trimmed this season's budget from the 2007-08 level of $5.8 million.The opera company is reducing general operating expenses, reconfiguring some educational programs and adjusting its rehearsal schedules, said Gus Stuhlreyer, its general director and CEO. “While the show must go on, it would be irresponsible of us to pretend we can conduct business as usual,” he said in a prepared statement.Noting that this season's opening production, Verdi's "Il Trovatore," drew larger audiences but earned less revenue than the 2007-08 opener, Offenbach's "The Tales of Hoffmann," Stuhlreyer said that many patrons "are choosing seats in lower-priced sections . . . and we have to adjust for that.”Earlier this month, the Virginia Opera announced a 2009-10 season with four performances at Norfolk's Harrison Opera House, down from five in previous seasons. The company will continue with two performances in Richmond – returning to the Carpenter Theatre (formerly the Carpenter Center) in the new Richmond CenterStage complex after five seasons at the Landmark Theater – and two performances at George Mason University's Center for the Arts in Fairfax.
Two months after reporting a $1.5 million deficit, Hampton Roads' Virginia Symphony has begun cutting concerts and otherwise trimming its $6.5 million budget. "We haven't received any major new gifts that have moved us forward," F. Blair Wimbush, the orchestra's board chairman, told The Daily Press of Newport News:http://www.dailypress.com/features/dp-vasymphonynov18,0,4082938.story
Steven Smith conducting
Nov. 15, First Baptist Church
Samuel Barber and Igor Stravinsky are not names commonly associated with "ancient music," but the ears don’t lie: 
Barber, the American neoromantic, concluded his "Second Essay for Orchestra" with a clear echo of old English modal hymnody; and Stravinsky, the Russian neoclassicist, filled his "Symphony of Psalms" with resonations from the oldest liturgical chants.
Steven Smith, the third of nine candidates for music director to audition to conduct Masterworks concerts with the Richmond Symphony, brought out the antique qualities of the Barber and Stravinsky while clearly etching the harmonic modernism of these works (dating from 1942 and 1930, respectively) and italicizing their woodwind writing, where much of their instrumental discourse occurs.
Smith brought a comparable focus to Schubert’s Ninth Symphony, exposing far more of the work’s inner lines in brass and low strings than one normally hears in this work.
The Stravinsky is the most challenging piece of the program, both musically and logistically. Its orchestration omits violins, violas and clarinets, compensating with oversized complements of flutes, oboes, bassoons and trumpets; about a dozen of the instrumentalists in these performances are freelancers supplementing the orchestra’s regular roster of musicians.
In the concert at First Baptist Church, the Richmond Symphony Chorus was split in two and sang from balconies on either side of the orchestra. This division and elevation of the chorus gives it a hovering quality in any music, and Stravinsky’s more finely grained choral sound compounded that effect.
Smith generally maintained appropriate balances between chorus and orchestra. The choristers, prepared by Erin Freeman, chanted solidly and produced more rarified tonalities quite strikingly. The orchestra’s wind sections sounded unrefined, at times tentative – not surprising among musicians who don’t regularly perform with one another, taking on a piece that really requires an ensemble of solo-quality wind players playing chamber music within an orchestration.
The conductor obtained more satisfying results in the Barber’s active and often intricate wind passages, concentrated in the essay’s central section. The symphony strings were robustly lyrical in the opening section’s main theme (a cousin of Barber’s famous Adagio), and the full ensemble made nobly sonorous work of the hymn-like finale.
Schubert’s Ninth, the "Great C major," is one of the prime examples of this composer writing at "heavenly length." Clocking in at about 50 minutes, this symphony can seem even longer thanks to the composer’s repetition and very methodical development of themes. The variety in Schubert’s orchestral writing lies deep in its innards, in flourishes and echo effects that only a very attentive conductor will expose.
Smith, happily, is such a conductor. Although he chose fairly moderate tempos, the performance did not turn into a laborious read through long paragraphs. Judicious phrasing, attention to dynamics and emphasis on internal details, especially in ornamentation of wind and brass figures, kept the performance moving and kept it from too obviously retracing the same steps.
French horn player Paul LaFollette, oboist Gustav Highstein and clarinetist Ralph Skiano were solo voices of distinction.
The program repeats at 8 p.m. Nov. 17 at St. Michael Catholic Church, 4491 Springfield Road in Glen Allen. Tickets: $28. Details: (804) 788-1212; www.richmondsymphony.com That concert will be broadcast live on WCVE (88.9 FM).
Norman Lebrecht reports on a survey by the German Orchestral Association, which identified "561 professional orchestras in the world, working 31 weeks a year with enough players for a Beethoven Fifth." Of those, 133 were in Germany, 50 in the United States. Ranking third, with 43 ensembles currently performing and six more being organized, was China:http://www.scena.org/columns/lebrecht/081112-NL-power.html
In its 35th season, the Virginia Opera will stage productions of Puccini's "La Bohème," Donizetti's "The Daughter of the Regiment," Mozart's "Don Giovanni" and the Gershwins' "Porgy and Bess."Opening nights at Norfolk's Harrison Opera House will move to Saturdays, and the company will reduce its Norfolk runs from five to four performances. Richmond performances on Friday nights and Sunday afternoons will return to the Carpenter Theatre (formerly Carpenter Center) in the new downtown Richmond CenterStage complex. Northern Virginia performances, also on Friday nights and Sunday afternoons, will continue at the Center for the Arts, George Mason University, in Fairfax.The Virginia Opera's 2009-10 performance dates:* "La Bohème" – Oct. 3, 7, 9 and 11 in Norfolk; Oct. 16 and 18 in Fairfax; Oct. 23 and 25 in Richmond.* "The Daughter of the Regiment" – Nov. 14, 18, 20 and 22 in Norfolk; Nov. 27 and 29 in Richmond; Dec. 4 and 6 in Fairfax.* "Don Giovanni" – Feb. 13, 17, 19 and 21 in Norfolk; Feb. 26 and 28 in Fairfax; March 5 and 7 in Richmond.* "Porgy and Bess" – April 10, 14, 16 and 18 in Norfolk; April 23 and 25 in Fairfax; April 30 and May in Richmond.Casting for the productions will be announced later.Subscriptions for next neason are available to Norfolk and Richmond patrons by calling (866) 673-7282, and to Fairfax patrons by calling (703) 993-2787. Subscription rates will rise after Dec. 1.
The Richmond Symphony Chorus will audition prospective members from 6:30-9:30 p.m. Dec. 16. Candidates must submit applications by Nov. 21.To request an application, call (804) 788-4717, Ext. 109. Details: www.richmondsymphony.com The chorus rehearses from 7:30-10 p.m. Tuesdays at Grace Baptist Church.
Gerard Mortier has quit before staging his first production as general director of the New York City Opera, dissatisfied with a $36 million annual budget for the financially strapped institution.“I cannot go to run a company that has less than the smallest company in France. You don't need me for that," Mortier tells Daniel J. Wakin of The New York Times:http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/08/arts/music/08oper.html?hpGeorge Manahan, the former Richmond Symphony music director, now in his 12th year as the City Opera's music director, was to have been a key figure in Mortier's planned emphasis on modern and contemporary operas.
with Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, Tõnu Kaljuste conductingNov. 3, University of RichmondOpening their current North American tour, the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and Tallinn Chamber Orchestra divided their program between works of two Estonia's most prominent composers, Arvo Pärt and Toivo Tulev, and Vivaldi's "Beatus vir" for double choir and two orchestras.Tulev's "Rejoice! Rejoice! Rejoice!" (2006), an a cappella choral piece, balances soprano calls and lower-register responses from the full ensemble. A chant-like theme runs interference through spiky harmonies that seem to shade the rejoicing with spiritual ambivalence. Although the piece has been in this choir's repertory for two years, this performance sounded tentative, with stray patches of ragged ensemble.The choir and orchestra followed the Tulev with three pieces by Pärt, in which the chorus and orchestra sounded audibly well-versed."Ein Waldfahrtslied" ("Pilgrims' Song") is a setting of Psalm 121 ("I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help") that echoes Schubert in an ominously rustic orchestration. The chorus sings monotonally, but expressively."L'abbé Agathon," the tale of an abbot tested by the Angel of the Lord disguised as a roadside leper, has been enlarged from its original setting for soprano and eight cellos to an orchestrated piece with soprano and baritone soloists (portraying the leper and abbot) and a narrating chorus. The orchestration calls for largely vibrato-free strings, often sounding like an antique consort of viols."Da pacem Domine," one of Pärt's shorter and more accessible liturgical works, is slow-motion steady state music with traditionally "churchy" harmonies voiced in long-note sighs by chorus and orchestra."Beatus vir" is one of Vivaldi's most brilliant church compositions, full of swirling, fast-paced figures and exuberant vocal writing. Kaljuste led a brisk and strongly accented performance, nicely balanced among the four sections of singers and instrumentalists.
Classical performances in and around Richmond, with selected events elsewhere in Virginia and the Washington area. Program information, provided by presenters, is updated as details become available. Adult single-ticket prices are listed; senior, student, group and other discounts may be offered.
SCOUTING REPORT
* In/around Richmond: Steven Smith, next of the Richmond Symphony’s music-director candidates, leads an all-Gershwin pops concert with pianist Norman Krieger, Nov. 8 at the Landmark Theater, and a Masterworks program of Barber, Stravinsky and Schubert with the Richmond Symphony Chorus, Nov. 14, 15 and 17 at three area churches. . . . The Hungarian Virtuosi chamber orchestra performs at Virginia Commonwealth University, Nov. 15. . . . Pianist Awadagin Pratt joins the One Voice community chorus in works by Beethoven and Glenn Burleigh, Nov. 15 at the Greater Richmond Convention Center. . . . Erin Freeman conducts the second of the Richmond Symphony’s Haydn Festival programs, with rarities by Fux and C.P.E. Bach and symphonies of Haydn and Beethoven, Nov. 21 at Bon Air Baptist Church and Nov. 23 at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland. . . . The Virginia Opera presents Donizetti’s "Elixir of Love," Nov. 28 and 30 at the Landmark Theater (also Nov. 14, 16, 19, 21 and 23 at the Harrison Opera House in Norfolk).
* New and/or different: Mezzo-soprano Nancy Maultsby and tenor Donald George join an Opera Roanoke ensemble in Schoenberg’s chamber arrangement of Mahler’s "Das Lied von der Erde," Nov. 2 at the Jefferson Center. . . . The University of Richmond spotlights contemporary composers from Estonia in a concert by the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and Tallinn Chamber Orchestra on Nov. 3 and the Third Practice Electroacoustic Music Festival, Nov. 7-8. . . . Trio Solisti plays piano-trio arrangements of Astor Piazzolla’s "Four Seasons of Buenos Aires" and Mussorgsky’s "Pictures at an Exhibition," Nov. 4 at the Williamsburg Library Theatre. . . . Richmond-bred mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey performs in a New York Festival of Song program of 20th-century Viennese art songs, Nov. 14 at the Kennedy Center in Washington. . . . The Pro Musica Hebraica series debuts with Canada’s ARC Ensemble performing works by Prokofiev, Szymon Laks and Mieczyslaw Weinberg, Nov. 18 at the Kennedy Center. . . . Yakov Kreizberg conducts the National Symphony in Franz Schmidt’s Symphony No. 4, Nov. 20-22 at the Kennedy Center. . . . The U.Va. Chamber Singers celebrate St. Cecilia’s Day with an all-Britten program, Nov. 23 at St. Paul’s Memorial Church in Charlottesville.
* Star turns: The Emerson String Quartet plays four quartets by Shostakovich, Nov. 5 at the Kennedy Center. . . . Soprano Renée Fleming stars and Plácido Domingo conducts in a Washington National Opera production of Donizetti’s "Lucrezia Borgia," Nov. 5, 7, 9, 11, 15 and 17 at the Kennedy Center (few tickets available). . . . Pianist Jeremy Denk serves heaping helpings of Ives ("Concord" Sonata) and Beethoven ("Hammerklavier"), Nov. 7 at the Barns at Wolf Trap in Vienna. . . . Violinist Jennifer Koh joins Michael Christie and the National Symphony for Bernstein’s Serenade ("after Plato’s Symposium"), Nov. 13-15 at the Kennedy Center. . . . Valery Gergiev conducts his Kirov Orchestra, with pianist Alexei Volodin, Nov. 14 at George Mason University in Fairfax. . . . Violinist Vadim Repin plays Beethoven, Debussy and Stravinsky, Nov. 15 at the Kennedy Center. . . . Gustavo Dudamel conducts the Israel Philharmonic in Mendelssohn and Brahms, Nov. 18 at the Kennedy Center (few tickets available). . . . Domingo conducts and Andrea Bocelli sings in Rossini’s "Petite Messe Solenelle," Nov. 21-22 at the Kennedy Center. . . . Emanuel Ax and Yefim Bronfman play duo-piano works of Rachmaninoff and Brahms, Nov. 23 at George Mason University.
* Bargain of the month: The U.Va. Chamber Singers’ all-Britten St. Cecilia’s Day program, Nov. 23 at St. Paul’s Memorial Church in Charlottesville (free).
* My picks: The Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Nov. 3 at the University of Richmond. . . . Jeremy Denk at Wolf Trap, Nov. 7. . . . Steven Smith conducting the Richmond Symphony and Symphony Chorus in Stravinsky’s "Symphony of Psalms," Schubert’s Ninth Symphony and Barber’s "Second Essay," Nov. 14, 15 and 17. . . . Erin Freeman conducting the Richmond Symphony in Haydn, Beethovem Fux and C.P.E. Bach, Nov. 21 and 23.
Nov. 1 (8 p.m.)
Chrysler Hall, 201 E. Bremelton Ave., Norfolk
Nov. 2 (2:30 p.m.)
Sandler Arts Center, 201 S. Market St., Virginia Beach
Nov. 6 (8 p.m.)
Ferguson Arts Center, Christopher Newport University, 1 University Place, Newport News
Virginia Symphony
Larry Rachleff conducting
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4
Awadagin Pratt, piano
Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 ("Eroica")
$23-$83
(757) 892-6366
www.virginiasymphony.orgNov. 1 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Iván Fischer conducting
Wagner: "Die Meistersinger" Prelude
Wagner: "Dawn and Siegfried’s Rhine Journey" from "Götterdämmerung"
Wagner: Prelude and "Liebestod" from "Tristan und Isolde"
Wagner: "Die Walküre," Act 3, Scene 3
Elizabeth Connell, soprano
Juha Uusitalo, bass-baritone
$20-$80
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.orgNov. 2 (3 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Schola Cantorum & University Women’s Chorale
Jeffrey Riehl directing
Program TBA
Free
(804) 289-8980
www.modlin.richmond.eduNov. 2 (7 p.m.)
J.R. Tucker High School, 2910 N. Parham Road, Richmond
Commonwealth Winds
Terry L. Austin directing
Works by Hindemith, J.S. Bach, Percy Grainger, Jaromir Weinberger, Timothy Mahr, Nathan Daughtrey
Free
(804) 828-6776
Nov. 2 (3:30 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Mimi Tung, piano
Max Rabinovitsj, violin
Schubert: Sonata in D major
Beethoven: Sonata in C minor
Prokofiev: Sonata in D major
Free
(434) 924-3984
http://artsandsciences.virginia.edu/music/performance/events/index.htmlNov. 2 (2:30 p.m.)
Shaftman Performance Hall, Jefferson Center, 541 Luck Ave., Roanoke
Opera Roanoke musicians
Steven White directing
Mahler-Schoenberg: "Das Lied von der Erde"
Nancy Maultsby, mezzo-soprano
Donald George, tenor
Handel: arias TBA
Elizabeth Futral, soprano
$20-$50
(540) 982-2742
www.operaroanoke.orgNov. 2 (3 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
Choral Arts Society of Washington, Heritage Signature Chorale & orchestra
Norman Scribner conducting
Verdi: Requiem
Alexandra Deshorties, sopranoStacey Rishoi, mezzo-sopranoYeghishe Manucharyan, tenorKirk Eichelberger, bass$15-$65
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.orgNov. 2 (4 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Midori, violin
Robert McDonald, piano
Schumann: Sonata in A minor, Op. 105
Beethoven: Sonata in G major, Op. 96
Cage: "Six Melodies"
Enescu: Sonata in A minor, Op. 25
$27-$77
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
www.wpas.orgNov. 3 (7:30 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir
Tallinn Chamber Orchestra
Tonu Kaljuste conducting
Toivo Tulev: "Rejoice, Rejoice, Rejoice"
Arvo Pärt: "L’Abbe Agathon"
Arvo Pärt: "Wallfahrtslied"
Arvo Pärt: "Da Pacem"
Vivaldi: "Beatus Vir"
$36
(804) 289-8980
www.modlin.richmond.eduNov. 4 (8 p.m.)
Williamsburg Library Theatre, 515 Scotland St.
Chamber Music Society of Williamsburg:
Trio Solisti
Ravel: Piano Trio in A minor
Piazzolla-Briaga: "The Four Season of Buenos Aires"
Mussorgsky: "Pictures at an Exhibition" (arr. Trio Solisti)
$15 (waiting list)
(757) 229-2901
www.chambermusicwilliamsburg.orgNov. 5 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Emerson String Quartet
Shostakovich: Quartets Nos. 9-12
$42
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.orgNov. 5 (7:30 p.m.)
Nov. 7 (7:30 p.m.)
Nov. 9 (2 p.m.)
Nov. 11 (7:30 p.m.)
Nov. 15 (7 p.m.)
Nov. 17 (7 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Opera House, Washington
Washington National Opera
Plácido Domingo conducting
Donizetti: "Lucrezia Borgia"
Renée Fleming/Sondra Radvanovsky (Lucrezia)
Vittorio Grigolo (Gennaro)
Ruggieri Raimomdi (Duke Alfonso)
Kate Aldrich (Mafffio Orsini)
Yingxi Zhang (Rustighello)
Jesus Hernandez (Jeppo Liverotto)
John Pascoe, stage direction & design
in Italian, English captions
$75-$225
(800) 876-7372
www.dc-opera.orgNov. 7 (2 and 7:30 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Third Practice Electroacoustic Music Festival:
Artists and program TBA
Free
(804) 289-8980
www.modlin.richmond.eduNov. 7 (8 p.m.)
The Barns at Wolf Trap, Trap Road, Vienna
Jeremy Denk, piano
Ives: Sonata No. 2 ("Concord")
Beethoven: Sonata in B flat major, Op. 106 ("Hammerklavier")
$35
(877) 965-3872
www.wolftrap.orgNov. 8 (11 a.m. and 4 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Third Practice Electroacoustic Music Festival:
Artists and program TBA
Free
(804) 289-8980
www.modlin.richmond.eduNov. 8 (7:30 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Third Practice Electroacoustic Music Festival:
Toivo Tulev: new work TBA
eighth blackbird
Other works TBA
Free
(804) 289-8980
www.modlin.richmond.eduNov. 8 (8 p.m.)
Landmark Theater, Main and Laurel streets, Richmond
Richmond Symphony Pops
Steven Smith conducting
Gershwin: "An American in Paris"
Gershwin: "Rhapsody in Blue"
Norman Krieger, piano
Gershwin: "Porgy and Bess" (excerpts)
$35-$60
(804) 788-1212
www.richmondsymphony.comNov. 8 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Nov. 9 (3:30 p.m.)
Monticello High School, 400 Independence Way, Charlottesville
Charlottesville and University Symphony Orchestra
Kate Tamarkin conducting
Wagner: "The Flying Dutchman" Overture
Richard Strauss: Horn Concerto No. 1
David Jolley, French horn
Mahler: Symphony No. 5 (adagietto)
Richard Strauss: "Death and Transfiguration"
$10-$35
(434) 924-3984
www.cvillesymphony.orgNov. 8 (7 p.m.)
Nov. 10 (7 p.m.)
Nov. 12 (7:30 p.m.)
Nov. 14 (7:30 p.m.)
Nov. 16 (2 p.m.)
Nov. 18 (7:30 p.m.)
Nov. 19 (7:30 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Opera House, Washington
Washington National Opera
Julius Rudel conducting
Bizet: "Carmen"
Denyce Graves/Laura Brioli (Carmen)
Thiago Arancam/Brandon Jovanovich (Don José)
Alexander Vinogradov/Jorge Lagunes (Escamillo)
Sabina Cvilak (Micaëla)
David Gately, stage direction
in French, English captions
$55-$300
(800) 876-7372
www.dc-opera.orgNov. 9 (4 p.m.)
Steward School, 11600 Gayton Road, Richmond
Richmond Symphony Youth Orchestra
Erin Freeman conducting
Youth Concert Orchestra
Beth Almore conducting
Mussorgsky: "Night on Bald Mountain"
Wagner: "Die Meistersinger" Overture
Bizet: "L’Arlesienne" Suite No. 2
Khachaturian: "Sabre Dances"
Rossini-Britten: "Soirées Musicales"
Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 (allegretto)
Bizet: "Carmen" Suite No. 1
$5-$12
(804) 788-1212
www.richmondsymphony.comNov. 9 (4:30 p.m.)
Holy Comforter Episcopal Church, Monument Avenue at Staples Mill Road, Richmond
VCU Commonwealth Singers
John Guthmiller directing
VCU Women’s Choir
Rebecca Tyree directing
Program TBA
Free
(804) 828-6776
www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.htmlNov. 9 (7 p.m.)
Ferguson Arts Center, Christopher Newport University, 1 University Place, Newport News
Warsaw Philharmonic
Antoni Wit conducting
Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 1
Valentina Lisitsa, piano
Brahms: Symphony No. 2
$52-$67
(804) 262-8100 (Ticketmaster)
http://fergusoncenter.cnu.edu/artists/index.htmlNov. 9 (3 p.m.)
Nov. 10 (8 p.m.)
Shaftman Performance Hall, Jefferson Center, 541 Luck Ave., Roanoke
Roanoke Symphony
David Stewart Wiley conducting
Mozart: Sinfonia concertante in E flat major, K. 364
Akemi Takayama, violin
Bernard DiGrigorio, viola
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5
$19-$39
(540) 343-9127
www.rso.comNov. 11 (8 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Kristopher Keeton, percussion
Program TBA
Free
(804) 828-6776
www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.htmlNov. 12 (8 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
VCU Symphonic Wind Ensekmble
Terry L. Austin directing
Program TBA
$5
(804) 828-6776
www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.htmlNov. 12 (7:30 p.m.)
Historic Freight Shed, Yorktown
Virginia Symphony members
Beethoven: Sextet, Op. 81b
Prokofiev: Sonata, Op. 56, for two violins
Brahms: String Quartet No. 2, Op. 51
$20
(757) 892-6366
www.virginiasymphony.orgNov. 12 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Navah Perlman, piano
Giora Schmidt, violin
Zuill Bailey, cello
Beethoven: Piano Trio in E flat major, Op. 70, No. 2
Mendelssohn: Piano Trio in D minor, Op. 49
$38
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.orgNov. 13 (8 p.m.)
St. Bede Catholic Church, 3686 Ironbound Road, Williamsburg
Nov. 15 (8 p.m.)
Sandler Arts Center, 201 S. Market St., Virginia Beach
Virginia Symphony
Matthew Kraemer conducting
J.S. Bach: Suite No. 2 in B minor
Debra Wendells Cross, flute
Mozart: Symphony No. 35 ("Haffner")
Schumann: Symphony No. 2
$26-$46
(757) 892-6366
www.virginiasymphony.orgNov. 13 (7 p.m.)
Nov. 14 (1:30 p.m.)
Nov. 15 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Michael Christie conducting
Stravinsky: "Symphonies of Wind Instruments"
Bernstein: Serenade ("after Plato’s Symposium")
Jennifer Koh, violin
Stravinsky: "Pétrouchka"
$20-$80
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.orgNov. 14 (8 p.m.)
Second Baptist Church, River and Gaskins roads, Richmond
Nov. 15 (8 p.m.)
First Baptist Church, Boulevard at Monument Avenue, Richmond
Nov. 17 (8 p.m.)
St. Michael Catholic Church, 4491 Springfield Road, Glen Allen
Richmond Symphony
Steven Smith conducting
Barber: "Second Essay" for orchestra
Stravinsky: "Symphony of Psalms"
Richmond Symphony Chorus
Erin Freeman directing
Schubert: Symphony No. 9 in C major ("Great")
$20-$50
(804) 788-1212
www.richmondsymphony.comNov. 14 (8 p.m.)
Nov. 16 (2:30 p.m.)
Nov. 19 (7:30 p.m.)
Nov. 21 (8 p.m.)
Nov. 23 (2:30 p.m.)
Harrison Opera House, 160 W. Virginia Beach Boulevard, Norfolk
Virginia Opera
Joseph Walsh conducting
Donizetti: "The Elixir of Love"
Jane Redding (Adina)
Joshua Kohl (Nemorino)
Stephen Hartley (Belcore)
Todd Robinson (Dr. Dulcamara)
Allison Pohl (Gianetta)
Dorothy Danner, stage direction
in Italian, English captions
$27-$110
(866) 673-7282
www.vaopera.orgNov. 14 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
University Singers
U.Va. Chamber Singers
Michael Slon directing
Stephen Paulus: "Psalm 46"
Tchesnokov: "Spaseniye sodelal"
Pärt: "Bogoroditse Deyvo"
Tavener: "Song for Athene"
Rheinberger: "Abendlied"
Eric Whitacre: "Sleep"
Bernstein: "Make Our Garden Grow" from "Candide"
Sephardic and Czech folk songs
$15
(434) 924-3984
http://artsandsciences.virginia.edu/music/performance/events/index.htmlNov. 14 (8 p.m.)
Center for the Arts, George Mason University, Fairfax
Kirov Orchestra
Valery Gergiev conducting
Prokofiev: "Cinderella" Suite No. 3
Prokofiev: "Romeo and Juliet" (Act 3)
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4
Alexei Volodin, piano
$30-$60
(888) 945-2468
www.gmu.edu/cfa/calendar/allmusic/Nov. 14 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washingyon
New York Festival of Song:
Kate Lindsey, mezzo-soprano
Joseph Kaiser, tenor
Steven Blier, piano
Works by Zemlinsky, Schoenberg, Korngold, Weill, Eisler, others
$45
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.orgNov. 15 (7 p.m.)
Greater Richmond Convention Center, Fifth and Marshall streets
One Voice community chorus & orchestra
Glen McCune & Frank Williams directing
Beethoven: "Hallelujah" from "Christ on the Mount of Olives"
Beethoven: Mass in C major
Glenn Burleigh: Sarabande from "Fantasy Dance Suite"
Awadagin Pratt, piano
Brahms: "How lovely is Thy dwelling place" from "A German Requiem"
Beethoven: "Choral Fantasy"
Awadagin Pratt, piano
$20-$25
(804) 231-0324
www.onevoicechorus.orgNov. 15 (8 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Rennolds Chamber Concerts:
Hungarian Virtuosi
Program TBA
$32
(804) 828-6776
www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.htmlNov. 15 (2 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Daria Rabotkina, piano
Miaskovski: Sonata No. 2 in F-sharp minor, Op.13Rachmaninoff: Étude-Tableaux in A minor, Op. 39, No. 2Prokofiev: Three etudes, from Op. 2 (1909)Tchaikovsky: Grande Sonata in G Major, Op. 37
$38
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
www.wpas.orgNov. 15 (4 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
Vadim Repin, violin
Nikolai Lugansky, piano
Debussy: Sonata in G minor
Stravinsky: Divertimento
Beethoven: Sonata in A major ("Kreutzer")
$42-$77
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
www.wpas.orgNov. 16 (7:30 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
University Wind Ensemble
David Niethamer directing
Holst: Suite No. 1 for military band
Other works TBA
Free
(804) 289-8980
www.modlin.richmond.eduNov. 16 (3 p.m.)Talmadge Recital Hall, Hollins University, RoanokeColorado String QuartetProgram TBAFree(540) 362-6451Nov. 16 (5 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
The Washington Chorus & orchestra
Julian Wachner conducting
J.S. Bach: Mass in B minor
Lisa Saffer, sopranoClare Wilkinson, mezzo sopranoDaniel Taylor, countertenorCharles Daniels, tenorSanford Sylvan, baritone
$15-$60
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.orgNov. 17 (8 p.m.)Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, RichmondPatrick Smith, hornProgram TBAFree(804) 828-6776www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.htmlNov. 18 (8 p.m.)
Nov. 19 (8 p.m.)
Kimball Theatre, Merchants Square, Duke of Gloucester Street, Williamsburg
Williamsburg Symphonia
Janna Hymes conducting
Sibelius: "Valse triste"
Mozart: Flute Concerto in G major
Göran Marcusson, flute
Colin McPhee: Nocturne for chamber orchestra
Beethoven: Symphony No. 8
$30-$42
(757) 229-9857
www.williamsburgsymphonia.orgNov. 18 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Tuesday Evening Concerts:
Trio Capuçon
Haydn: Trio in G major ("alla Ungarese")
Shostakovich: Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor
Mendelssohn: Piano Trio No. 2 in C minor, Op. 66
$5-$28
(434) 924-3984
www.tecs.orgNov. 18 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Pro Musica Hebraica:
ARC Ensemble
Symon Wynberg directing
Szymon Laks: Passacaille
Mieczyslaw Weinberg: Sonata for clarinet and piano
Prokofiev: "Overture on Hebrew Themes"
Mieczyslaw Weinberg: Quintet for piano and string
$50
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.orgNov. 18 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
Israel Philharmonic
Gustavo Dudamel conducting
Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 4 ("Italian")
Brahms: Symphony No. 4
$42-$152
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
www.wpas.orgNov. 20 (7:30 p.m.)
American Theatre, 125 E. Mellen St., Hampton
Chamber Winds of U.S. Army TRADOC Band
Mozart: Serenade No. 10 ("Gran Partita")
Free
(757) 722-2787
http://hamptonarts.net/american_theatre/onsalenow.phpNov. 20 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
David Colwell, violin
Michael Mizrahi, piano
Mozart: Sonata in B flat major, K. 378
Bartók: Sonata No. 2
Fauré: Sonata in A major, Op. 13
$20
(434) 924-3984
http://artsandsciences.virginia.edu/music/performance/events/index.htmlNov. 20 (7 p.m.)
Nov. 21 (8 p.m.)
Nov. 22 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Yakov Kreizberg conducting
Dvořák: “Carnival” Overture
Mozart: Piano Concerto in D minor, K. 466
Lars Vogt, piano
Franz Schmidt: Symphony No. 4
$20-$80
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.orgNov. 20 (7:30 p.m.)The Mansion at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MDJames Weaver, baritoneJoanne Kong, pianoSchubert: "Die Winterreise"$25(301) 581-5100http://www.strathmore.org/Nov. 21 (8 p.m.)
Bon Air Baptist Church, Forest Hill Avenue at Buford Road, Richmond
Nov. 23 (3 p.m.)
Blackwell Auditorium, Randolph-Macon College, 205 Henry St., Ashland
Richmond Symphony
Erin Freeman conducting
Fux: Sinfonia from "Il Fonte della Salute"
C.P.E. Bach: Sinfonia No. 3 in C major
Haydn: Symphony No. 7 ("Le Midi")
Beethoven: Symphony No. 8
$20-$38
(804) 788-1212
www.richmondsymphony.comNov. 21 (8 p.m.)
American Theatre, 125 E. Mellen St., Hampton
Ahn Trio
Program TBA
$25-$30
(757) 722-2787
http://hamptonarts.net/american_theatre/onsalenow.phpNov. 21 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Trio Capuçon
Haydn: Trio in G major ("alla Ungarese")
Shostakovich: Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor
Mendelssohn: Piano Trio No. 2 in C minor, Op. 66
$45
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.orgNov. 21 (7:30 p.m.)
Nov. 22 (7 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Opera House, Washington
Washington National Opera members
Plácido Domingo conducting
Rossini: "Petite Messe Solennelle"
Sabina Cvilak, soprano
Kate Aldrich, mezzo-soprano
Andrea Bocelli, tenor
Alexander Vinogradov, bass$50-$500
(800) 876-7372
www.dc-opera.orgNov. 22 (7:30 p.m.)
Nov. 23 (4 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Opera Theatre VCU
Melanie Kohn Day directing
Scenes and arias TBA
Free
(804) 828-6776
www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.htmlNov. 22 (7 p.m.)First Presbyterian Church, 4602 Cary Street Road, RichmondNov. 23 (4 p.m.)St. Mark's Episcopal Church, 520 N. Boulevard, RichmondJames River SingersChristopher Lindbloom directing"Words and Music," works by Haydn, Brahms, Barber, Gershwin, others$15www.jamesriversingers.orgNov. 22 (8 p.m.)
Chrysler Hall, 201 E. Bremelton Ave., Norfolk
Virginia Symphony
David Amado conducting
Mendelssohn: "Hebrides" Overture
Debussy: Nocturnes
Holst: "The Planets"
Women of Virginia Symphony Chorus
$23-$83
(757) 892-6366
www.virginiasymphony.orgNov. 22 (8 p.m.)
Center for the Arts, George Mason University, Fairfax
Fairfax Symphony
Laura Jackson conducting
Theofandis: "Rainbow Body"
Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 2
Rachel Lee, violin
Beethoven: Symphony No. 7
$25-$55
(888) 945-2468 (Tickets.com)
www.fairfaxsymphony.orgNov. 23 (5 p.m.)All Saints Episcopal Church, 8787 River Road, RichmondRichmond Concert ChoraleGrant Hellmers directingPachelbel: MagnificatWorks by Sweelinck, Praetorius, Tavener, Lauridsen, Warlock, othersDonation requested(804) 643-3589Nov. 23 (3 p.m.)
St. Paul’s Memorial Church, 1700 University Ave., Charlottesville
U.Va. Chamber Singers
Michael Slon directing
Britten: "Rejoice in the Lamb"
Britten: "Hymn to St. Cecilia"
Britten: "Psalm 70: Deus in Adjutorium Meum"
Free
(434) 924-3984
www.stpaulsmemorialchurch.orgNov. 23 (8 p.m.)
Center for the Arts, George Mason University, Fairfax
Emanuel Ax & Yefim Bronfman, pianos
Works by Rachmaninoff, Brahms
$30-$60
(888) 945-2468 (Tickets.com)
www.gmu.edu/cfa/calendar/allmusic/Nov. 23 (3 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
Master Chorale of Washington & orchestra
Donald McCullough conducting
Mendelssohn: "Elijah"
Colleen Daly, sopranoLinda Maguire, mezzo-sopranoCharles Reid, tenorNathan Berg, bass-baritoneMelissa Coombs, youth$25-$80
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.orgNov. 28 (8 p.m.)
Nov. 30 (2:30 p.m.)
Landmark Theater, Main and Laurel streets, Richmond
Virginia Opera
Joseph Walsh conducting
Donizetti: "The Elixir of Love"
Jane Redding (Adina)
Joshua Kohl (Nemorino)
Stephen Hartley (Belcore)
Todd Robinson (Dr. Dulcamara)
Allison Pohl (Gianetta)
Dorothy Danner, stage direction
in Italian, English captions
$22.50-$87.50
(804) 262-8003 (Ticketmaster)
www.vaopera.orgNov. 28 (1:30 and 8 p.m.)
Nov. 29 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra Pops
Marvin Hamlisch conducting
"D.C. and the Duke," works by Duke Ellington, Billy Taylor, James Reese Europe
Jazz Ambassadors of the U.S. Army Field Band
Christian Sands, piano
Afro Blue vocal ensemble
Billy Taylor, special guest
$20-$85
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org