Review: Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson

Feb. 28, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond

Most listeners rate musicians by the number of vivid, favorable impressions that their performance and programming make in the course of a concert. By that measure, the trio of pianist Joseph Kalichstein, violinist Jaime Laredo and cellist Sharon Robinson rank at the very top among chamber ensembles.

The threesome appeared in VCU’s Rennolds Chamber Concerts as a late substitution for the Guarneri String Quartet, after the Guarneri canceled the Richmond date on its farewell tour because of the illness of its second violinist, John Dalley. Richmond has had a long string of good luck with concert substitutions: Yuja Wang, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Yefim Bronfman and Ute Lemper are some of the artists who’ve made their debuts here filling in on short notice. Kalichstein, Laredo and Robinson have performed here in the past, singly and collectively, but have never treated a Richmond audience to better music-making.

They weren’t perfect – the dropped or warped notes and episodes of congestion and imbalance that inevitably crop up in live performances did so here, in about the usual number; but the trio’s intensity of expression and immersion in the styles and spirits of three very different composers overcame technical glitches and produced truly compelling musical experiences.

The three musicians were at their most passionate and focused in Dmitri Shostakovich’s Trio No. 2 in E minor, a starkly emotive and profoundly expressive product of World War II. The ensemble brought out the essential darkness of the piece, but also the graceful and nostalgic elements that often are overwhelmed by this music’s gloomy portent.

An earlier Russian work, Anton Arensky’s Trio in D minor (1894), requires a more lush tonal fabric and a fleshier romantic sensibility – a kind of Slavic Gemütlichkeit. The trio treated its melodies broadly and bittersweetly, and its more assertive moments (especially in its finale) with unbridled energy. The Arensky Trio is not the most familiar of romantic chamber works, but it’s now probably a new favorite of those who heard this performance.

The group cast Beethoven’s "Ghost" Trio in D major, Op. 70, as a herald of romanticism – the slow movement that gives the piece its nickname often sounds to anticipate Liszt or Schumann – and as a vehicle for virtuosic instrumental exchanges, especially in a lickety-split reading of the presto finale. Robinson produced an unusually effective tone of leanness and darkness in that ghostly largo.

Kalichstein spent most of the evening demonstrating not only extraordinary keyboard technique, but singular sensitivity to the delicate balancing act his instrument must play with less powerful string voices. His piano was a formidable, but rarely overpowering, presence throughout the program. Does any other pianist find this sweet spot so consistently? I doubt it.

Accept no substitutes

Scotland's Really Terrible Orchestra "has taken legal action to prevent its name being used by those who want to cash in on its really terrible reputation," as "[t]ribute acts have been formed in New York, California, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and in Inuvik, north of the Arctic Circle," Lindsay McIntosh reports in The Times of London:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article5786686.ece

Music and Alzheimer's

"[M]emory for autobiographically important music seems to be spared in people with Alzheimer's disease," a California researcher finds. Could regular exposure to favorite music slow memory loss? Richard Alleyne examines the question in The Telegraph:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/elderhealth/4787488/Alzheimers-sufferers-could-improve-memory-by-listening-to-favourite-music.html

King of the piano tuners

Ulrich Gerhartz is hardly a household name, except in the households of top-tier pianists. Gerhartz, perhaps the most in-demand piano technician, is profiled by Jasper Rees in The Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/feb/23/ulrich-gerhartz-piano-tuning-brendel

Progress report in Boston

The Boston Symphony "is clearly changing for the better" after five years under James Levine's direction, Jeremy A. Eichler writes in The Boston Globe:

http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2009/02/22/the_opening_movement/

Review: Richmond Symphony

Arthur Post conducting
Feb. 21, First Baptist Church

In the second of his three Masterworks series dates with the Richmond Symphony, Arthur Post, the sixth of nine music-director candidates to appear with the orchestra this season and next, conducted performances of two very different first symphonies, those of Beethoven and Shostakovich, very differently.

In the Beethoven, Post’s gestures were broad and his tempos were on the slow side. One got a sense of, "We all know how this goes. Let’s polish it off." The performance was agreeable, string parts nicely defined but some loose strands in the winds, altogether under-energized and not quite in focus.

The Shostakovich, in contrast, was razor-sharp. Post’s direction was economical in gesture, hyper-alert to every detail of articulation, balance and dynamics. The orchestra responded with a performance that was brisk in execution, intense in expression, rich in color and contour. Tightly as he controlled the pace, Post left space for oboist Gustav Highstein and half a dozen other principal players to deliver solos of refinement and character. Even at slow tempos – and much of this work is very slow – there was no lag in momentum or dissipation of energy.

Could this be a manifestation of the two-generation rule I posited last week (see "Rating today’s conductors"), that conductors (and classical musicians generally) tend to be more engaged in music of their generation and the previous generation than in works of more distant history? Post's performances seemed to follow the rule; but then there was the Boccherini Cello Concerto.

Or, more accurately, the Cello Concerto in B flat major assembled from various pieces by Luigi Boccherini, orchestrally "upholstered" (Post’s term) and reharmonized by Friedrich Grützmacher, a 19th-century German cellist, composer and prolific arranger of other composers’ works. The Boccherini concerto is said to date from 1780; but this and most other) performances of it actually present music that was assembled and arranged by Grützmacher and published in 1895.

Too much information? Perhaps; but some explanation seems in order for a piece in which the cello solo echoes and amplifies 18th-century classical style, while the orchestral accompaniment echoes Schumann, Bruch, Brahms and even Richard Strauss.

Neal Cary, the symphony’s principal cellist, and Post deftly melded the contrasting styles that rub shoulders in this piece. The cellist applied judicious vibrato to warm up the clean lineality of his part – and adorned the first and last movements with cadenzas of quasi-romantic expressiveness and portent – while the conductor gave Grützmacher’s upholstery idiomatically romantic richness without letting it get too plush or turgid.

To hear Post’s handling of Grützmacher as a hint of his way with Brahms may be a stretch. Or maybe not.

The program repeats at 8 p.m. Feb. 23 at St. Michael Catholic Church, 4491 Springfield Road in Glen Allen. Tickets: $28. Details: 9804) 788-1212; www.richmondsymphony.com

Bernstein under Broadway

As the No. 2 train of New York's subway system pulls out of Times Square Station, it seems to sing the opening line ("There's a place for us . . .") of "Somewhere" from Leonard Bernstein's "West Side Story."

"The sound is a fluke. Newer trains run on alternating current, but the third rail delivers direct current; inverters chop it into frequencies that can be used by the alternating current motors, said Jeff Hakner, a professor of electrical engineering at Cooper Union. The frequencies excite the steel, he said, which — in the case of the R142 subway cars — responds by singing 'Somewhere,' " Jim Dwyer writes in The New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/21/nyregion/21about.html?_r=1&hp

This brings to mind an acoustical anamoly from my youth. Late at night, something outside my bedroom window seemed to play, over and over, the low-pitched warble that launches the clarinet glissando at the beginning of Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue." For a long time, I thought there was an obsessive, insomniac clarinetist in the neighborhood. I asked around — no such person. Was it an owl? An electrical transformer? The eaves of some house creaking? I never found out.

Review: 'Tosca'

Virginia Opera, Peter Mark conducting
Feb. 20, Landmark Theater, Richmond

"Tosca," Giacomo Puccini’s most compact opera, and in some ways his most potent, normally has three stars: the soprano portraying the singer Floria Tosca; the tenor, as Tosca’s lover, the artist Mario Cavaradossi; and the bass or baritone, as Baron Scarpia, the villanous and licentious oppressor of the tottering city-state of Rome at the turn of the 19th century.

The current Virginia Opera production has four stars.

Its Tosca, Mary Elizabeth Williams, is a singer who shows every sign of owning this role in a stellar career. In the first of two Richmond performances that complete this production’s three-city run, Williams displayed a big, well-polished voice, which she projected powerfully, emotively and with plenty of nuance when it’s called for. She also proved to be a formidable stage presence, with a highly expressive face and a knack for gestures that are vivid but not overplayed. All that came together most memorably in the Act 2 aria "Vissi d’arte, vissi d’amore" and the Act 3 duet, but consistently throughout the soprano’s performance.

Michael Hayes, the Cavaradossi, demonstrated his Puccinian chops with this company as Calaf in "Turandot" in 2004. He wasn’t as polished this time – his voice succumbed to an infection last weekend during performances in Fairfax – and tended toward the sobby in moments of high passion; but he held his own in projection and presence alongside Williams (no mean feat), and hit his stride in Act 3, with "O dolci manni" and the duet.

Baritone Stephen Kechulius, as Scarpia, has the physical heft and menacing presence for the role, and seems to relish playing the heavy; but in this performance he growled more than he sang. That, alas, is not uncommon in Scarpias these days. Puccini, however, wrote melodies as well as snarling exclamations for this character, and they really ought to be done justice.

The production’s fourth star is its stage director, Marc Astafan, who shows an uncommon grasp of melodrama. This theatrical genre must be high-strung, but if it departs too far from real-life emotion and passion it becomes high-camp. Astafan gives his cast reasonably free rein, but never lets matters get out of hand.

Michael Yeargan’s darkly monumental set, "reconceptualized" by Astafan and lighting designer Chris Kitrell, served the drama nicely. Supporting singers were adequate, although frequently barely audible in this venue, and the Virginia Opera Chorus was in very good form.

The orchestra, drawn from the Virginia Symphony, was uncharacteristically sloppy in this performance.

The final performance of the Virginia Opera’s "Tosca" begins at 2:30 p.m. Feb. 22 at Richmond’s Landmark Theater, Main and Laurel streets. Tickets: $22.50-$92.50. Details: (804) 262-8003 (Ticketmaster); www.vaopera.org

Taxis and fiddlers

Glenn Dicterow, concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic, is the latest in a string of fiddlers (sorry) to alight from taxis and leave their instruments behind:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/arts/music/20viol.html?ref=music

These stories, which we seem to hear two or three times a year, are utterly mystifying. Leaving a stringed instrument in a cab is not like leaving a purse or laptop. A fiddle in its case is a bulky object, and one that rarely has been far from the musician's reach since childhood.

Yo-Yo Ma, the most famous of the forgetful cab riders, had spent decades toting a cello, which in its case is the size (if not the weight) of an 8-year-old child. Oh, and it's worth several million dollars. He got out of a cab and left his cello behind. And took how many steps away from the vehicle before noticing that something substantial was missing? Enough for the cab to drive away and an urgent hunt to ensue.

Do cab rides kill string musicians' brain cells? Someone should do a clinical trial.

'A warm-up act'

Highbrow provocateur Norman Lebrecht marks the bicentennial of Joseph Haydn's death by contending that "Haydn is not a stand-alone composer, but a warm-up act. . . . Anyone who works his way through a batch of Haydn scores will soon recognise that he is not a composer who, like Mozart or Beethoven, shows consistent novelty and strength of will."

And here we were, thinking that "consistent novelty" was one of Haydn's strongest suits.

Also, he wrote too much music to keep track of (unlike, say, Bach?) and produced just one good tune, and that got turned into "Deutschland über Alles" . . .

http://www.scena.org/columns/lebrecht/090218-NL-Haydn.html

Axiom of punditry: When making a fallacious assertion, don't stop at one or two errors. Go for broke.

Manna for moderns

The Shanghai Quartet introduces Krzysztof Penderecki's Quartet No. 3, and members of eighth blackbird join pianists Paul Hanson and Joanne Kong in marking the centenaries of Elliott Carter and Olivier Messiaen, in print in Style Weekly, online at:

http://www.styleweekly.com/ME2/Audiences/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=Publishing&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle&mid=8F3A7027421841978F18BE895F87F791&tier=4&id=740BD9D887984E5C9B12D98CEC8F8E51&AudID=C3A7C1EDE4E54E24AF4637F9AAFFD1B6

Review: Jennifer Larmore

Feb. 16, University of Richmond

Maureen Forrester, the great Canadian mezzo-soprano, likes to say that a mezzo’s operatic opportunities are limited largely to portraying "mothers, maids, witches and bitches." Except for that last category, "lovers" don’t seem to fit into the career trajectory.

Jennifer Larmore, one of today’s reigning mezzos, pushed back against Forrester’s quip in a recital titled "The Art of Love." Accompanied by pianist Antoine Palloc, Larmore revisited three of the best-known operatic roles for her voice register: Carmen and Cinderella from the operas of Bizet and Rossini, and Cherubino, the chronically love-struck adolescent boy from Mozart’s "The Marriage of Figaro." She also sang Ravel’s song cycle "Shéhérazade," Haydn’s concert aria "Berenice che fai" and a set of four songs by the Cuban Joaquín Nin, the Spaniard Ferran Jaumandreau Obradors and the Argentinian Carlos Guastavino.

This program required substantial range in musical style, vocal timbre and characterization, not to mention range up and down the scale. Larmore was in command of most of it; her pitch was occasionally wayward in the most florid or fiery material. The heft and brilliance of her voice, and her palette of tone colors, were sounds to behold.

Ravel’s three songs on poems of Tristan Klingsor, a tonally luscious and dreamily erotic fantasy for both the singer and pianist, were the recital’s artistic summit. Larmore and Palloc rendered Ravel’s colors, sound effects and subtle dynamics vividly; the pianist summoned as much technique as he might in one of Ravel's finger-busters for solo piano. The singer’s treatment of the French language was a seduction scene in itself.

The earthier French of "Carmen" isn’t as seductive as the tunes Bizet wrote for his gypsy heroine. Larmore garnished her vocalizations with body language and bits of vampish shtick.

Her performances of the Italian opera arias were fueled mostly by nervy vocal brilliance and emotional intensity, more convincingly in the Haydn and Rossini than in Mozart’s numbers for Cherubino. Comparable intensity propelled the set of Spanish songs.

Larmore will give a free master class from 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Feb. 17 in Camp Concert of the University of Richmond’s Modlin Arts Center. Details: (804) 289-8980; www.modlin.richmond.edu

The show must go on

The London premiere of George Benjamin's "Into the Little Hill," a chamber opera on the tale of the Pied Piper, had been under way for 10 minutes when the lights went out in Linbury Theatre at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Patrons adjourned to the bar to wait for power to be restored. They kept waiting, and, presumably, kept drinking. Finally, the composer, two-person cast and London Sinfonietta trooped in to perform the opera in the bar.

"Soprano Claire Booth improvised by sitting on the bar itself among the unwashed glasses and the performance finished with enthusiastic applause," Alan Rusbridger reports in The Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/feb/15/royal-opera-house-power-cut

Farewell to the Guarneri

The Washington Post's Anne Midgette reviews the Guarneri Quartet, currently on its farewell tour:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/11/AR2009021103686.html

The ensemble was scheduled for a last engagement in Richmond on Feb. 28 at Virginia Commonwealth University, but canceled the date because its second violinist, John Dalley, is undergoing treatment for cancer. The Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio will perform instead.

'Just another casualty'

After 67 years, the Connecticut Opera has shut down. "It's just another casualty of the economic conditions," the opera board's president tells The Hartford Courant:

http://www.courant.com/entertainment/hc-connopera.artfeb12,0,4184300.story

A critic speaks

Anthony Tommasini, chief classical music critic of The New York Times, has been responding to readers' questions and comments this week. It's as comprehensive and sincere a discussion of the state of live performance of classical music (focusing on New York and environs, naturally) and the craft of reviewing as I've read in quite a while:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/09/business/media/09askthetimes.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=all

The joys of proximity

Steve Smith, reviewing a Carnegie Hall concert by the Emerson Quartet in The New York Times, observes that some ensembles and some music are best heard in "conspiratorial proximity:"

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/11/arts/music/11emer.html?ref=music

A point to ponder as Richmonders anticipate this fall's reopening of the Carpenter Theatre (formerly Carpenter Center) in the new CenterStage arts complex. The theater is smaller than Carnegie Hall – about 1,800 seats vs. 2,800 in the New York venue – but considerably larger than the spaces in which the Richmond Symphony has been playing for the past five years, and touring classical soloists and ensembles for far longer.

Since the orchestra is unlikely to expand its roster of musicians, its performances probably won't pack the same sonic punch as they have in 800-seat church sanctuaries. Nuances of tone color and articulation are even less likely to come across in the larger hall. Listeners who have become accustomed to hearing those subtleties as clearly as they hear big tunes and rousing climaxes – having listened to the symphony, figuratively, under headphones – will have to develop a new perspective.

Just what that perspective will be is a great unknown. Promoters of the downtown complex promise an improvement in acoustics over those of the old Carpenter Center. The proof will be in the hearing.

Note that the symphony's chamber-orchestra concerts are not returning to the downtown hall. That's partly so the orchestra can maintain some presence in the suburbs; but just as likely because a 30-to-50 piece ensemble, and the repertory scored for such forces, don't carry satisfactorily in an 1,800-seat hall.

The symphony's musicians no doubt will be glad to return to a "proper" concert hall. Its audience, however, will savor memories of hearing big romantic scores of Wagner, Brahms, Bruckner, Mahler, Sibelius, Dvořák, Tchaikovsky and Verdi, and truly hearing tonal and timbral details of all kinds of orchestral music, in closer proximity than most concertgoers ever get to experience. (Proximity wasn't always a good thing: I don't hanker for another go at Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man" with the sound of the percussion section resonating through my feet.)

Moving back to the Carpenter Theatre after five years in exile in the 3,600-seat Landmark Theater, the Virginia Opera and its patrons will, by contrast, return to relative intimacy. Mozart and Handel in the Landmark are not fond memories. In the Carpenter Theatre, the company's singers and smallish pit orchestra will project with far more power, and finer points of vocalization will become audible once more.

No word yet on what other classical music may be in store in the theater and CenterStage's two smaller venues, the 150-seat Rhythm Hall and 200-seat Gottwald Community Playhouse.

For chamber music, the format in which most touring classical artists have been brought to Richmond over the past 20 years, CenterStage will be at a competitive disadvantage with the University of Richmond's Camp Concert Hall, Virginia Commonwealth University's Vlahcevic Concert Hall and the Virginia Museum Theater, which will reopen once the museum's expansion project is completed next year. All three of these halls seat 500-600 patrons, a better size for hearing solo recitalists and chamber groups while generating enough ticket revenue to pay them.

For touring orchestras and opera troupes, as well as top-tier recitalists (the likes of Yo-Yo Ma, Renée Fleming, Joshua Bell and Evgeny Kissin), the Carpenter Theatre certainly would offer better acoustics and sightlines than the Landmark Theater; but ticket prices for big ensembles and big names in an 1,800-seat hall likely would be higher than most Richmonders are prepared to pay, especially during a recession. It will be challenge enough for the Richmond Symphony to convince its patrons to pay more than the $25 or so they've gotten used to being charged for good seats at mainstage concerts.

Circumstances have conspired to condition Richmond's classical audience to intimacy. That habit will be hard to break, and on purely musical grounds there's a strong argument that it shouldn't be broken.

Rating today's conductors

As we chatted during intermission at a recent concert, a friend asked me whom I would rate as the top conductors at work today. I blurted out a top five. Post-blurt, I always have misgivings and second thoughts. Does X really lead the pack? How could I have failed to mention Y? While Z has a huge repertory, breadth doesn’t trump depth. And so on . . .

So, after some time spent reflecting, permit me, as they say in Congress, to revise and extend my remarks.

There are more capable conductors today than at any time in the history of the modern orchestra. It’s not a very long history: The symphony orchestra as we know it, with a permanent roster of 75-100 professional musicians performing from nine to 12 months a year, didn’t exist outside a handful of large cities until well into the 20th century. Most American cities had radio stations, movie theaters and professional sports teams before they had professional orchestras. Richmond had a TV station before it had a symphony.

Orchestral conducting, as we now know it, is an even younger profession. Many of the early greats were composers (Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss, Hans Pfitzner, Wilhelm Furtwängler), or ascended to the podium from the ranks of orchestras (Theodore Thomas, Arturo Toscanini, Pierre Monteux, Vaclav Talich), or had the means to organize their own orchestra and teach themselves to lead it (Serge Koussevitzky, Thomas Beecham).

Conducting was a craft learned through apprenticeship, typically starting with coaching singers at opera houses, followed by promotion to second- and third-string conducting assignments at the theater, followed by appointment as conductors of progressively larger opera companies and orchestras.

Most conductors of the past had limited repertories, concentrated on music of their generation and the one preceding it, or of their home countries, or of a specific musical period (typically, the romantic). A Monteux, fluent in every style from the baroque to the contemporary and every nationality, was the exception. Now, a conductor who can’t lead credible performances of, say, Vivaldi, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Debussy, Stravinsky, Shostakovich and Corigliano, isn’t considered ready for prime time.

Conducting as a profession, studied at conservatory and pursued full-time since graduation, is about two generations old. Many of today’s elder maestros, especially the Europeans, are products of the old apprenticeship system. And now, more than in the past, solo instrumentalists are likely to take up conducting in mid-career.

That’s the many-featured horizon to tour before attempting to identify today’s leading conductors. And, as always, a judgment of a conductor’s mettle should balance considerations of technical craft, artistic inspiration, stylistic fluency and charisma as a leader of musicians and a public performer.

Taking all that into account, I find my list topped by a name that probably will surprise you: Charles Mackerras, an 83-year-old Englishman (by way of America and Australia) who studied conducting with Talich and has been active throughout his career in both the opera house and concert hall. He was one of the first mainstream conductors to absorb the lessons of the "historically informed" movement in pre-romantic music and to apply them to the modern orchestra, and is one of the most scrupulous in purging scores of textual inaccuracies and clarifying articulation and dynamics. He is an authoritative and inspired interpreter of music ranging from Handel to Janáček.

Some other elders I rank in the first tier would come as no surprise: Claudio Abbado, perhaps the most inspirational force on the podium today; Colin Davis, another maestro of breadth (Mozart, Beethoven, Berlioz, Dvořák, Elgar, Tippett) and depth; and Pierre Boulez, the composer-conductor who concentrates on music since Mahler but also is a distinguished interpreter of Mozart. My one contra-consensus choice among old-timers is André Previn, who has disappointed a succession of orchestras in the role of music director but consistently has achieved a natural, breathing quality in orchestral performance – something that eludes many of his more highly touted colleagues.

Among conductors in their prime years (say, 50 to 70), tops on my list would include the Latvian-born Mariss Jansons, chief conductor of Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (rated the world’s best in a recent Gramophone magazine critics' poll, thanks in large part to Jansons’ leadership); James Levine, who after decades of whipping the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra into world-class shape is now restoring the Boston Symphony to its old glory; Neeme Järvi, patriarch of the Estonian conducting clan, who probably has the most wide-ranging repertory of any conductor at work today and is accomplished, often distinguished, in all of it; David Zinman, who burnished his modernist credentials at home (principally with the Baltimore Symphony) and now is demonstrating mastery of the classical-romantic repertory at the helm of the Tonhalle Orchestra of Zürich; Osmo Vänskä, the Finnish maestro under whose direction the Minnesota Orchestra has vaulted past many more stellar U.S. and European ensembles; and Michael Tilson Thomas, who besides being the inimitable "MTT" who made the San Francisco Symphony something like a pop-cult phenomenon in its hometown has also grown into an interpreter of distinction in a wide range of orchestral music.

Among younger fry, my choices are Esa-Pekka Salonen, the composer-conductor who has transformed the Los Angeles Philharmonic into a virtuoso orchestra with ears keenly attuned to the present and future; David Robertson, who has achieved a similar updating of musical perspective at the St. Louis Symphony but is arguably more firmly grounded than Salonen in "core" classics and romantics; and Jaap van Zweden, the Dutch conductor who recently took over the Dallas Symphony, and makes a stronger case for mainstream Austro-German repertory than most of his contemporaries.

Gustavo Dudamel, who at 28 is the youngest player in the international first string, is a special case: clearly a conductor of high charisma and musicality, maybe the Leonard Bernstein of the 21st century, but still a blank slate in much of the orchestral repertory. We may infer what he would make of Ravel or Bartók, but what of Mozart or Brahms, not to mention Bach or Wagner? Dudamel takes over as music director of the LA Phil this fall; we’ll know more about his range and depth in two or three years.

Conductors of period-instruments ensembles are a collective special case, even though many – most notably, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Christopher Hogwood, Roger Norrington and John Eliot Gardiner – have long since made the transition to conducting modern-instruments orchestras. Among those who still concentrate on baroque and classical repertory with period-instruments bands and early-music singers, I would rate William Christie, Philippe Herreweghe and René Jacobs as the standouts.

Have I omitted some high-powered, highly paid maestros recently, currently or soon to be in command of some high-prestige orchestras? Yep. On purpose? Yep.

POSTSCRIPT: One thing hasn't changed from the old days: Conductors – and classical musicians generally – still are most likely to be most fluent and engaged in music of their own time and of the previous generation (i.e., the generation of their teachers and other role models). This is why so many conductors who deliver white-hot interpretations of Stravinsky and Shostakovich obtain lukewarm readings of Brahms and Schumann. Pre-classical music would seem to be the exception to this rule; but most Renaissance and baroque works, other than a few pieces by Bach and Handel, were not widely performed before the 1950s. (This is also true of some late-romantic repertory, notably Mahler.) So, the two-generation rule holds up even when straight chronology suggests otherwise.

Classical Grammy Awards

A rundown of the Grammy Awards in non-technical classical categories:

Multiple winners included the DVD of the Los Angles Opera production of Kurt Weill’s "The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny" (Euro-Arts), conducted by James Conlon, which won in both the Best Classical Album and Best Opera Recording categories, and John Corigliano’s "Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan" (Naxos), recorded by soprano Hila Plitmann and the Buffalo Philharmonic, JoAnn Falletta conducting, which won both Best Classical Vocal Performance and Best Classical Contemporary Composition.

Best Orchestral Performance went to a disc of Shostakovich’s Fourth Symphony (CSO Resound) by the Chicago Symphony, Bernard Haitink conducting. The recording of Stravinsky’s "Symphony of Psalms" (EMI Classics) by Simon Rattle, the Berlin Philharmonic and Berlin Radio Choir, won Best Choral Performance.

Violinist Hilary Hahn won in the Best Instrumental Soloist Performance with Orchestra category for her disc of the Schoenberg and Sibelius concertos (Deutsche Grammophon) with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Swedish Radio Symphony. Gloria Cheng’s recording of piano works by Salonen, Lutoslawski and Steven Stucky (Telarc) won Best Instrumental Soloist Performance without Orchestra.

The Pacifica Quartet’s disc of Elliott Carter’s quartets Nos. 1 and 5 (Naxos) won in the Best Chamber Music Performance category. "Spotless Rose: Hymns to the Virgin Mary" (Chandos), a disc by the Phoenix Chorale, Charles Bruffy directing, won Best Small Ensemble Performance.

Best Classical Crossover Album went to the King’s Singers for "Simple Gifts" (Signum).

The Creation (humanist version)

Richard Einhorn, the composer best-known for "Voices of Light," has introduced "The Origin," an oratorio on Charles Darwin's "The Origin of Species," the Syracuse Post-Standard's Melinda Johnson reports:

http://www.syracuse.com/cny/index.ssf?/base/entertainment-2/123382786918160.xml&coll=1

Review: The 5 Browns

Feb. 7, University of Richmond

The classical concert as crowd-pleasing spectacle has a long, gaudy history – prodigies playing pianos behind their backs, orchestras of hundreds and choirs of thousands, cameo appearances by livestock, artillery batteries and pyrotechnic displays that always made an impression and on at least one occasion (the premiere of Handel’s “Royal Fireworks Music”) sent crowds running for their lives.

Nothing of that sort greeted listeners at the Richmond debut of The 5 Browns, the piano-playing siblings Deondra, Desirae, Gregory, Melody and Ryan Brown.

Still, the sight of five topless concert grands arranged in fan shape, and the sound of all five pianists (facing their keyboards, thank you) bearing down on the big chords of the first movement of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, “Mars” from Holst’s “The Planets” and “In the Hall of the Mountain King” from Grieg’s music for “Peer Gynt,” qualified as spectacular by today’s tame recital standards. Spoken introductions bubbling with youthful enthusiasm and hip wardrobing (sharkskin, spiked heels, chinos and jeans) loosened things up even further.

Audience-friendly as they are, the Browns, ranging in age from 23 to 30, are well past their prodigy years and, outside the uptempo, high-volume showpieces, perform as one would expect of Juilliard-schooled grownups. Each could thrive in a solo career. Gregory could give Lang Lang a run for his dazzle. Desirae and Deondra could rival the Labeque sisters among duo-pianists.

All five have technique to burn, showed off by Gregory in Prokofiev’s Toccata, Gregory and Ryan in the “Grande Tarantelle” of Louis Moreau Gottschalk, Desirae and Deondra in “Braziliera” from Milhaud’s “Scaramouche,” Gregory and Melody in “Fêtes” from Debussy’s Nocturnes, and Desirae, Deondra and Melody in Rachmaninoff’s “Valse and Romance.”

Each also revealed a keen ear for color and sonority and sensitivity to mood and spirit. On that score, the evening’s standout was Melody, capturing the elusive combination of passion and repose in Brahms’ Intermezzo in A major, Op. 118, No. 2.

Among the orchestral pieces arranged for five pianos, the most successful (and least doctored) was Greg Anderson’s version of the “Danse macabre” by Saint-Saëns, whose colors and sound effects proved nicely transferable to keyboards and whose nervy urgency fits this group's collective temperament.

Review: Richmond Symphony

Dorian Wilson conducting
Feb. 6, Bon Air Baptist Church

If you think the instrumental techniques and stylistic nuances brought to 18th-century music by the "historically informed" period-instruments movement are dead wrong on almost all counts, Dorian Wilson sounds to be your kind of conductor.

Wilson, the fifth of nine music-director candidates to appear with the Richmond Symphony, is conducting a program of Mozart and the Haydn brothers, Joseph and Michael, this weekend. The orchestral sound he obtained in the first of two concerts was not markedly different from what we are accustomed to hearing in, say, Mendelssohn.

Tempos were broad, at times quite slow. Accents were blunt. String vibrato was applied generously. There was little dynamic gradation beyond soft, medium and loud. Phrasing in slow movements was lyrical in the romantic manner. Minuets were elegant, with nary a trace of the earthiness of the Ländler, the Austrian folk dance from which the ballroom minuet evolved. It was, in sum, a flashback to Haydn and Mozart as they customarily were played 40 or 50 years ago.

Mozart’s "Jupiter" Symphony (No. 41 in C major, K. 551) takes to this interpretive approach much more readily than the "Mercury" Symphony (No. 43 in E flat major) of Joseph Haydn or the "Andromeda and Perseus" Overture of Michael Haydn.

The Mozart is more richly orchestrated and its themes are grandly declamatory or rhapsodic – sturdy stuff that stands up to the robust treatment it got from Wilson and the symphony players. String tone was full-bodied, gratifyingly so in the cellos and double-basses, and the wind sections were refined and well-balanced outside the full-tilt climaxes.

The works by the Haydns, smaller-scaled products of an earlier stage of classical style, needed sharper accenting, more dynamic variety and a lighter, more transparent orchestral sound.

The program repeats at 3 p.m. Feb. 8 at Blackwell Auditorium, Randolph-Macon College, in Ashland. Tickets: $25. Details: (804) 788-1212; www.richmondsymphony.com

Symphony 'Music Marathon'

The Richmond Symphony will present a free "Music Marathon," with more than 100 members of the orchestra, Richmond Symphony Chorus, Richmond Symphony Youth Orchestra, staff and board performing from 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Feb. 14 at the Nordstrom store at Short Pump Town Center in Richmond's West End.

In advance of the Valentine's Day event, the symphony is raising funds to support its operations and programs.

Donors may sponsor a marathon participant by calling Matthew Rose at (804) 788-4717, Ext. 113, or by making a secure online donation at www.richmondsymphony.com

Some of the music scheduled:

* Cellist Neal Cary, accompanied by pianist Aimee Halbruner, in Boccherini's Concerto in B flat major (10 a.m. hour).

* Symphony board member Joe Murillo and Symphony Chorus member Kelly Grey singing Cole Porter, and cellist Barbara Gaden and pianist Russell Wilson playing Schumann's "Fantasy Pieces" (11 a.m. hour).

* Violinists Susy Yim and Alana Carithers, violist Molly Sharp and cellist William Comita (aka the Oberon Quartet) playing an excerpt from Dvořák’s Quartet in E flat major, and violinist Yim, cellist Ryan Lannan and pianist David Fisk (the symphony's executive director) playing an excerpt from Mendelssohn's Piano Trio in D minor (noon hour).

* Flutists Mary Boodell and Ann Choomack, oboist Shawn Welk and two members of the Youth Orchestra, flutists Hannah Hammel and Caroline Connolly, playing a piece from Telemann's "Tafelmusik" (2 p.m. hour).

* Flutist Choomack, oboist Welk, clarinetist Jared Davis, French horn player Rachel Velvikis and bassoonist Matthew Harvell playing Nielsen's Wind Quintet, and Erin Freeman singing Schubert's "Shepherd on the Rock" with clarinetist Nicholas Lewis and pianist Halbruner (3 p.m. hour).

* Violinist Karen Johnson, accompanied by Fisk, in a Fritz Kreisler selection, and Dr. O. Christian Bredrup Jr., a board member, playing a Schubert impromptu (5 p.m. hour).

* Songs featuring Anne O'Byrne (Fisk's wife) and Freeman, accompanied by Bredrup, and violinist Susanna Klein and pianist Fisk playing excerpts from Brahms' Sonata in D minor (7 p.m. hour).

Death notice for Decca

Norman Lebrecht on the imminent demise of Decca, the iconic English record label:

http://www.scena.org/columns/lebrecht/090204-NL-decca.html

'This is a very tough time'

Musicians of the Cincinnati Symphony will take an 11 percent cut in salaries, on top of 15 pay cuts for the orchestra's administrative staff, to help ease a $3.8 million deficit, Janelle Gelfand reports in the Cincinnati Enquirer:

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090202/NEWS01/302020030/1025/ENT

The Shreveport (LA) Symphony, mired in a long-running labor dispute, cancels the rest of the season:

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/article/20090203/NEWS01/90203021/1060

The Charleston (SC) Symphony considers cutting $500,000 from its $2.9 million budget next season:

http://eargasm.ccpblogs.com/2009/01/31/cso-plans-big-time-budget-slash/

The Augusta (GA) Opera cancels the rest of its 2008-09 season:

http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2009/02/03/met_510018.shtml

The Portland (ME) Symphony will cut staff, reduce salaries and cancel summer pops concerts in the face of a $200,000 deficit:

http://news.mainetoday.com/updates/039220.html

"This is a very tough time," says Ari Solotoff, the Maine orchestra's executive director.

Spring ahead

An overview of Richmond's classical calendar in coming months, in print in Style Weekly's Mid-season Arts Issue, online at:

http://www.styleweekly.com/ME2/Audiences/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=Publishing&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle&mid=8F3A7027421841978F18BE895F87F791&tier=4&id=73F8904239EB4CFE89F0897A7FCE1366&AudID=C3A7C1EDE4E54E24AF4637F9AAFFD1B6

Crisis management

Washington's Kennedy Center has launched "Arts in Crisis," described by The Washington Post's Jacqueline Trescott as "a high-tech support service through which arts administrators can talk to the center's personnel about shrinking income, budget-conscious audiences and other difficulties in keeping the doors open."

A video introduction to the initiative by the Kennedy Center's president, Michael Kaiser, and other details at:

http://www.artsincrisis.org/

The land without Wagner

In The Wall Street Journal, Terry Teachout revists Israel's 60-year-old informal ban on performances of Wagner.

Considering the composer's own anti-Semitic ravings, long predating the Wagner cult of Hitler and the Nazis, "I do think it fitting that there should be one place in the world where Wagner's music is not played in public solely because of the hateful ideas of the man who wrote it. . . . Israel's Wagner ban serves as a still-useful reminder that ideas have consequences – and that those who spread evil ideas should be held responsible for their evil consequences. Even geniuses," Teachout writes:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123335355844034825.html

Lukas Foss (1922-2009)

Lukas Foss, the German-born American composer whose work spanned serial, neoclassical and minimalist styles, died Feb. 1 at the age of 86. Foss also was active as a teacher, pianist and conductor, serving as music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic (1963-70), Milwaukee Symphony (1980-86) and the Brooklyn Philharmonia, predecessor of the Brooklyn Philharmonic (1971-90).

His obituary in The New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/02/arts/music/02foss.html?_r=1&ref=music

UPDATE: "What Foss really wanted was to make the unexpected seem inevitable," Matthew Guerrieri, who studied with the composer, writes in The Boston Globe:

http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2009/02/07/a_master_of_musics_complexities/

Part-time composers

Only 10 percent of American composers make their livings primarily from composition (note the career track of Lukas Foss, above), plus other facts of contemporary composing life, from "Taking Note," a study commissioned by the American Music Center and American Composers Forum:

http://www.newmusicbox.org/article.nmbx?id=5852

February 2009 calendar

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: Two more candidates for music director of the Richmond Symphony conduct this month: Dorian Wilson in Haydn Festival concerts, Feb. 6 at Bon Air Baptist Church and Feb. 8 at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland; and Arthur Post in a Masterworks program of the first symphonies of Beethoven and Shostakovich and Boccherini’s Cello Concerto with Neal Cary, Feb. 20 at Second Baptist Church, Feb. 21 at First Baptist Church and Feb. 23 at St. Michael Catholic Church, as well as a "Hollywood Nights" pops concert featuring violinist Karen Johnson and clarinetist Ralph Skiano, Feb. 28 at the Landmark Theater. . . . The 5 Browns, the sibling piano troupe, perform on Feb. 7 at the University of Richmond. . . . Soprano Anne O’Byrne, tenor Tracey Welborn and friends celebrate Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14 at Grace and Holy Trinity Episcopal Church. . . . The Virginia Opera stages Puccini’s "Tosca," Feb. 20 and 22 at the Landmark, following runs in Norfolk (Feb. 1, 4, 6 and 8) and Fairfax (Feb. 13 and 15). . . . The Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio plays Beethoven, Shostakovich and Arensky, Feb. 28 at Virginia Commonwealth University.

* New and/or different: Clarinetist Darryl Harper and colleagues present a multimedia Black History Month program, "The C3 Project: Looking Forward, Looking Back," Feb. 4 at VCU. . . . Members of the Rivanna String Quartet and Albemarle Ensemble play works of Antonin Pasculli, Arthur Weisberg, David Diamond and Judith Shatin, plus Schubert’s "Trout" Quintet, Feb. 5 at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. . . . Hungarian composer György Kurtág premieres his "Hommage à Bartók" and the Keller Quartet plays Bartók’s Fifth Quartet, Feb. 7 at the Library of Congress in Washington. . . . The LOC also celebrates the Mendelssohn bicentennial with five concerts this month; a Feb. 10 Mira Trio program of works by Felix and his sister, Fanny Mendelssohn-Henselt, and a Feb. 27 performance by the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh, look especially appealing. . . . The Hilliard Ensemble sings Lassus’ Requiem Mass, interspersed with liturgical pieces by Palestrina, Feb. 12 at the Kennedy Center in Washington. . . . All of Beethoven’s works for cello and piano, played by David Hardy and Lambert Orkis in back-to-back concerts, Feb. 15 at the Kennedy Center. . . . The Shanghai Quartet gives one of the debut round of performances of Krzysztof Penderecki’s String Quartet No. 3, and plays quartets of Mozart and Debussy, Feb. 22 at UR. . . . Pianists Paul Hanson and Joanne Kong and members of eighth blackbird sample works of Elliott Carter and Olivier Messiaen, Feb. 23 at UR. . . . Soprano Lisa Edwards-Burrs, bass-baritone James Lynn and pianist Pamela McClain perform Taneyev’s rarely heard realization of a duet conceived by Tchaikovsky for an opera on "Romeo and Juliet," in an all-Russian program also featuring works by Rachmaninoff and Shostakovich, Feb. 28 at the Richmond Public Library.

* Star turns: Violinist Joshua Bell and pianist Jeremy Denk play Janáček, Brahms, Ysaÿe and Franck, Feb. 4 at Strathmore in suburban D.C. . . . Pianist Jon Nakamatsu joins the Roanoke Symphony in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23, Feb. 8-9 at the Jefferson Center. . . . Mezzo-soprano Jennifer Larmore visits UR for a Feb. 16 recital. . . . The young piano virtuoso Yuja Wang plays Prokofiev’s Second Concerto with Charles Dutoit and the National Symphony, Feb. 19-21 at the Kennedy Center. . . . Lorin Maazel conducts the new Qatar Philharmonic, Feb. 24 at the Kennedy Center. . . . Violinist Julia Fischer plays Bach with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Feb. 24 at Strathmore. . . . Leon Fleisher plays Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 with Vladimir Jurowski and the London Philharmonic, Feb. 26 at Strathmore. . . . Gil Shaham plays Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto with the National Symphony, Feb. 26-28 at the Kennedy Center.

* Bargain of the month: Pianist Richard Becker plays Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin and Liszt in his annual recital for refugees from the Super Bowl, Feb. 1 at UR. (Free)

* My picks: Iván Fischer conducting the National Symphony in Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra and Dvořák’s Seventh Symphony, Feb. 5-7 at the Kennedy Center. . . . The Hilliard Ensemble’s Lassus-Palestrina program, Feb. 12 at the Kennedy Center. . . . Arthur Post, Neal Cary and the Richmond Symphony, Feb. 20, 21 and 23. . . . Jennifer Larmore’s Feb. 16 recital at UR. . . . The Shanghai Quartet’s Penderecki premiere, Feb. 22 at UR. . . . The Carter-Messiaen retrospective by Hanson, Kong and eighth blackbird members, Feb. 23 at UR.


Feb. 1 (3 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Richard Becker, piano
Works by Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt
Free
(804) 289-8980
www.modlin.richmond.edu

Feb. 1 (2:30 p.m.)
Feb. 4 (7:30 p.m.)
Feb. 6 (8 p.m.)
Feb. 8 (2:30 p.m.)
Harrison Opera House, 160 W. Virginia Beach Boulevard, Norfolk
Virginia Opera
Peter Mark conducting
Puccini: "Tosca"
Mary Elizabeth Williams (Tosca)
Michael Hayes (Cavaradossi)
Stephen Kechulius (Scarpia)
Marc Astafan, stage direction
in Italian, English captions
$27-$110
(866) 673-7282
www.vaopera.org

Feb. 3 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Tuesday Evening Concerts:
Arabella Steinbacher, violin
Robert Kulek, piano
Beethoven: Sonata in G major, Op. 30, No. 3
Alfred Schnittke: Violin Sonata No. 1
Bach: Chaconne from Partita No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1004
Ravel: Violin Sonata
$28 (waiting list)
(434) 924-3984
www.tecs.org

Feb. 3 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Nicola Benedetti, violin
Pianist TBA
Program TBA
$40
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
www.wpas.org

Feb. 4 (8 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Darryl Harper, clarinet
Other artists TBA
"The C3 Project: Looking Forward, Looking Back," music with video, poetry and dance marking Black History Month
$5
(804) 828-6776
www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html

Feb. 4 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Joshua Bell, violin
Jeremy Denk, piano
Janáček: Violin Sonata
Brahms: Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Op. 108
Ysaÿe: Violin Sonata No. 2 in A minor, Op. 27, No. 2
Franck: Violin Sonata
$47-$105
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
www.wpas.org

Feb. 5 (8 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Brett Dietz, percussion
Griffin Campbell, saxophone
Program TBA
Free
(804) 828-6776
www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html

Feb. 5 (7:30 p.m.)
American Theatre, 125 E. Mellen St., Hampton
Turtle Island Quartet
Cyrus Chestnut, piano
Jazz and classical program TBA
$25-$30
(757) 722-2787
http://hamptonarts.net/american_theatre/onsalenow.php

Feb. 5 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Rivanna String Quartet members
Albemarle Ensemble members
Antonin Pasculli: "Gran Concerto su temi dall’opera ‘I Vespri Sicilani’ di Verdi"
Arthur Weisberg: Duo for bassoon and viola
David Diamond: "Concert Piece" for horn and string trio
Judith Shatin: "Clave"
Schubert: Piano Quintet in A major ("Trout")
$20
(434) 924-3984
http://artsandsciences.virginia.edu/music/performance/events/index.html

Feb. 5 (7 p.m.)
Feb. 6 (8 p.m.)
Feb. 7 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Iván Fischer conducting
Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra
Dvořák: Symphony No. 7
$20-$80
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Feb. 6 (8 p.m.)
Bon Air Baptist Church, Forest Hill Avenue at Buford Road, Richmond
Feb. 8 (3 p.m.)
Blackwell Auditorium, Randolph-Macon College, 205 Henry St., Ashland
Richmond Symphony
Dorian Wilson conducting
Michael Haydn: "Andromeda and Perseus" Overture
Joseph Haydn: Symphony No. 43 ("Mercury")
Mozart: Symphony No. 41 ("Jupiter")
$20-$38
(804) 788-1212
www.richmondsymphony.com

Feb. 6 (8 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
John Gilbert, violin
Dmitri Shteinberg, piano
Works by Bach, Brahms, Yasÿe, Honegger
Free
(804) 828-6776
www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html

Feb. 6 (8 p.m.)
Center for the Arts, George Mason University, Fairfax
Dublin Philharmonic
Derek Gleeson conducting
Brahms: "Academic Festival" Overture
Songs and arias by Mozart, Mahler, Gounod, Dvořák, Catalani
Celine Byrne, soprano
Beethoven: Symphony No. 7
$25-$50
(703) 993-2787
http://www.gmu.edu/cfa/calendar/allmusic/

Feb. 6 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue S.E., Washington
Cypress String Quartet
Mendelssohn: Quartet in A minor, Op. 13
Kevin Puts: work TBA (premiere)
Beethoven: Quartet in F major, Op. 135
Free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert/0809-schedule.html

Feb. 7 (7:30 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
The 5 Browns, pianos
Program TBA
$38
(804) 289-8980
www.modlin.richmond.edu

Feb. 7 (8 p.m.)
Ferguson Arts Center, Christopher Newport University, Newport News
Dublin Philharmonic
Derek Gleeson conducting
Irish classical and folk music
$52-$67
(804) 262-8100 (Ticketmaster)
http://fergusoncenter.cnu.edu/artists/index.html

Feb. 7 (8 p.m.)
Chrysler Hall, 201 E. Bremelton Ave., Norfolk
Virginia Symphony Pops
Conductor TBA
Lerner & Loewe: "Camelot" (concert version)
Cast TBA
$26-$86
(757) 892-6366
www.virginiasymphony.org

Feb. 7 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Simone Dinnerstein, piano
Schubert: impromptus, D. 899 (Op. 90)
Bach: French Suite No. 5 in G major, BWV 816
Lasser: "Twelve Variations on a Chorale by Bach"
Beethoven: Sonata in C minor, Op. 111
$38
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
www.wpas.org

Feb. 7 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue S.E., Washington
Keller Quartet
György & Márta Kurtág, piano duo
Kurtág: "Játékok" (excerpts)
Kurtág: "Hommage à Bartók" (premiere)
Kurtág: "Six Moments musicaux"
Bartók: Quartet No. 5
Free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert/0809-schedule.html

Feb. 8 (6:30 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Commonwealth Singers Alumni Chorus
John Guthmiller directing
Program TBA
$10
(804) 828-6776
www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html

Feb. 8 (4 p.m.)
Bon Air Presbyterian Church, 9201 W. Huguenot Road, Richmond
Second Sundays South of the James:
Jeff Prillaman, tenor
Charles Hulin, piano
Works by Rossini, Puccini, Romberg, others
Donation requested
(804) 272-7514

Feb. 8 (3 p.m.)
Feb. 9 (8 p.m.)
Shaftman Performance Hall, Jefferson Center, 541 Luck Ave., Roanoke
Roanoke Symphony
David Stewart Wiley conducting
Mozart: "Eine kleine Nachtmusik"
Tchaikovsky: Serenade for strings
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, K. 488
Jon Nakamatsu, piano
$19-$47
(540) 343-9127
www.rso.com

Feb. 8 (2 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Wonny Song, piano
Bach: Partita No. 1 in B flat major, BWV 825
Andrew Norman: work TBA (premiere)
Schubert: "The Wanderer" Fantasy, D. 760
Schumann: "Fantasiestücke"
Debussy: "L’Isle Joyeuse"
$30
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Feb. 9 (8 p.m.)
Paramount Theater, 215 E. Main St., Charlottesville
Dublin Philharmonic
Derek Gleeson conducting
Irish classical and folk program
$33.50-$44.50
(434) 979-1333
www.theparamount.net

Feb. 10 (8 p.m.)
Williamsburg Library Theatre, 515 Scotland St.
Chamber Music Society of Williamsburg:
Cypress String Quartet
Program TBA
$15 (waiting list)
(757) 229-2901
www.chambermusicwilliamsburg.org

Feb. 10 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue S.E., Washington
Mira Trio
Works by Mendelssohn and Fanny Mendelssohn-Henselt
Free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert/0809-schedule.html

Feb. 12 (7 p.m.)
Feb. 13 (8 p.m.)
Feb. 14 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Pops
Michael Preddy conducting
The Smothers Brothers
$20-$85
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/

Feb. 12 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
The Hilliard Ensemble
Lassus: Requiem Mass
Palestrina: motets, antiphons
$42
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Feb. 13 (8 p.m.)
Feb. 15 (2 p.m.)
Center for the Arts, George Mason University, Fairfax
Virginia Opera
Peter Mark conducting
Puccini: "Tosca"
Mary Elizabeth Williams (Tosca)
Michael Hayes (Cavaradossi)
Stephen Kechulius (Scarpia)
Marc Astafan, stage direction
in Italian, English captions
$44-$86
(703) 218-6500 (Tickets.com)
www.vaopera.org

Feb. 13 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue S.E., Washington
Atrium Quartet
Mendelssohn: Quartet in F minor, Op. 80
Shostakovich: Quartet No. 5
Borodin: Quartet No. 2
Free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert/0809-schedule.html

Feb. 14 (4 p.m.)
Grace and Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, 8 N. Laurel St., Richmond
Anne O’Byrne, soprano
Tracey Welborn, tenor
The Grace Notes
Hope Armstrong Erb & George Pugh, pianos
"In Love with Music," works by Puccini, Bizet, Donizetti, Bernstein, Rodgers & Hammerstein, others
Free
(804) 359-5628, Ext. 18
www.ghtc.org

Feb. 14 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Feb. 15 (3:30 p.m.)
Monticello High School, 1400 Independence Way, Charlottesville
Charlottesville and University Symphony Orchestra
Kate Tamarkin conducting
Veronica Mitina, soprano
Layna Chianakis, mezzo-soprano
Jonathan Carle, baritone
University Singers
"Evening at the Opera," works by Rossini, Bizet, Saint-Saëns, others
$10-$35
(434) 924-3984
www.cvillesymphony.org

Feb. 15 (2 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Kennedy Center Chamber Players:
David Hardy, cello
Lambert Orkis, piano
Beethoven: "Twelve Variations on ‘See the conqu’ring hero comes’ from Handel’s ‘Judas Maccabaeus’ "
Beethoven: Cello Sonata in F major Op. 5, No. 1
Beethoven: "Seven Variations on ‘Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen’ from Mozart’s ‘Die Zauberflöte’ "
Beethoven: Cello Sonata in A major, Op. 69
$35
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Feb. 15 (4:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Kennedy Center Chamber Players:
David Hardy, cello
Lambert Orkis, piano
Beethoven: "Twelve Variations on ‘Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen’ from Mozart’s ‘Die Zauberflöte’ "
Beethoven: Cello Sonata in G minor, Op. 5, No. 2
Beethoven: Cello Sonata in C Major, Op. 102, No. 1
Beethoven: Cello Sonata in D Major, Op. 102, No. 2
$35
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Feb. 16 (7:30 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Jennifer Larmore, mezzo-soprano
Antoine Pollac, piano
"The Art of Love," program TBA
$32
(804) 289-8980
www.modlin.richmond.edu

Feb. 16 (2 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Choral Festival
Gary Schwartzhoff directing
McLean Youth Orchestra
Pauline Anderson conducting
Program celebrating Lincoln’s 200th birthday, works by Copland, Randall Thompson, others
$10
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Feb. 17 (8 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Tabatha Easley, flute
Tracy Cowden, piano
Works by Bartók, Pierre Sancan, Joseph Schwantner
Free
(804) 828-6776
www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html

Feb. 18 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue S.E., Washington
Trio con Brio, Copenhagen
James Dunham, viola
Mendelssohn: Piano Quartet in B minor, Op. 3
Mendelssohn: "Songs Without Words" (excerpt)
Beethoven: Piano Trio in B flat major, Op. 97 ("Archduke")
Free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert/0809-schedule.html

Feb. 19 (7 p.m.)
Feb. 20 (8 p.m.)
Feb. 21 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Charles Dutoit conducting
Ravel: "Le Tombeau de Couperin"
Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 2
Yuja Wang, piano
Stravinsky: "The Firebird"
$20-$80
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Feb. 19 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Marin Alsop conducting
Ives: "The Unanswered Question"
Mozart: Symphony No. 29
Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3 ("Organ")
$30-$85
(877) 376-1444
www.strathmore.org

Feb. 20 (8 p.m.)
Second Baptist Church, River and Gaskins roads, Richmond
Feb. 21 (8 p.m.)
First Baptist Church, Monument Avenue at Boulevard, Richmond
Feb. 22 (8 p.m.)
St. Michael Catholic Church, 4491 Springfield Road, Glen Allen
Richmond Symphony
Arthur Post conducting
Beethoven: Symphony No. 1
Boccherini: Cello Concerto in B flat major
Neal Cary, cello
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 1
$20-$50
(804) 788-1212
www.richmondsymphony.com

Feb. 20 (8 p.m.)
Feb. 22 (2:30 p.m.)
Landmark Theater, Main and Laurel streets, Richmond
Virginia Opera
Peter Mark conducting
Puccini: "Tosca"
Mary Elizabeth Williams (Tosca)
Michael Hayes (Cavaradossi)
Stephen Kechulius (Scarpia)
Marc Astafan, stage direction
in Italian, English captions
$22.50-$92.50
(804) 262-8003 (Ticketmaster)
www.vaopera.org

Feb. 20 (7:30 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Doris Wylee-Becker, piano
Works by Bach, Rachmaninoff, others
Free
(804) 289-8980
www.modlin.richmond.edu

Feb. 20 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Ahn Trio
Program TBA
$18-$45
(301) 581-5100
www.strathmore.org

Feb. 21 (1 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Bonnie Hampton, cello
Program TBA
$10
(804) 828-6776
www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html

Feb. 21 (7:30 p.m.)
The Lyceum, 201 S. Washington St., Alexandria
Virginia Virtuosi
Works by Milhaud, Bach, Gershwin, Piston
$15
(703) 838-4994
http://virginiavirtuosi.com

Feb. 22 (7:30 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Shanghai Quartet
Mozart: Quartet in D minor, K. 421
Debussy: Quartet
Krzysztof Penderecki: Quartet No. 3
$32
(804) 289-8980
www.modlin.richmond.edu

Feb. 22 (4 p.m.)
Petersburg High School auditorium, 3101 Johnson Road
Petersburg Symphony
Ulysses Kirksey & Emmanuel Barks conducting
Emmanuel Barks: "Black Friday"
Copland: "Our Town" Suite
Ravel: "Le Tombeau de Couperin"
Sibelius: "Karelia" Suite
Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 3 ("Scottish")
$15
(804) 732-0999

Feb. 22 (3 p.m.)
Sandler Arts Center, 201 Market St., Virginia Beach
Symphonicity
David Kunkel conducting
Weinberger: Polka and Fugue from "Schwanda the Bagpiper"
Liszt: "Hunenschlacht"
Duruflé: Requiem
Lisa Coston, mezzo-soprano
Symphonicity Chorus
$19-$29
(757) 385-2787 (Sandler Center)
www.symphonicity.org

Feb. 22 (7:30 p.m.)
The Mansion at Strathmore, 10701 Rockville Pike, North Bethesda, MD
Virginia Virtuosi
Works by Milhaud, Bach, Gershwin, Piston
$15
(301) 581-5100
http://virginiavirtuosi.com/

Feb. 23 (7:30 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Paul Hanson & Joanne Kong, pianos
Matt Albert, violin
Nicholas Photinos, cello
Tim Munro, flute
Michael Maccaferri, clarinet
Matthew Duvall, percussion
Elliott Carter: "Night Fantasies"
Elliott Carter: "Con Leggerezza Pensosa"
Eliott Carter: "Enchanted Preludes"
Elliott Carter: "Esprit Rude/Esprit Doux" I & II
Olivier Messiaen: "Visions de l'Amen"
Free
(804) 289-8980
http://www.modlin.richmond.edu/

Feb. 23 (7:30 p.m.)
Nothminster Baptist Church, Westwood and Moss Side avenues, Richmond
American Guild of Organists:
Charles Tompkins, organ
"Modes, Birds, and Colors: An Introduction to the Organ Music of Olivier Messiaen," selected works discussed and performed
Free
(804) 740-7083

Feb. 24 (7:30 p.m.)
Turner Hall Chapel, St. Catherine's School, Grove Avenue at Three Chopt Road, Richmond
Oberon Quartet
Russell Peck: "Don't Tread on Me or My String Quartet"
Karl Jenkins: String Quartet No. 2
Dvořák: Quartet in E flat major, Op. 51
Free
(804) 288-2804

Feb. 24 (7:30 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Opera House, Washington
Qatar Philharmonic
Lorin Maazel conducting
Marcel Khalifé: "Arabian" Concerto
Marcel Khalifé: "Salute"
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5
$10-$35
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Feb. 24 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
Britten: "Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge"
Bach: Violin Concerto in A minor
Bach: Violin Concerto in E minor
Julia Fischer, violin
Walton: Sonata for strings
$38-$78
(301) 581-5100
www.strathmore.org

Feb. 25 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
Denyce Graves, mezzo-soprano
Lee Musiker, piano
Duke Ellington Show Choir
"Sophisticated Lady," classical, jazz, popular works, spirituals
$60-$75
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Feb. 25 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Yuri Bashmet, violin
Igor Butman, saxophone
Igor Raykhelson, piano
Moscow Soloists Chamber Orchestra
Igor Butman’s Big Band
Works by Bach, Dowland, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, Raykhelson; jazz arrangements of Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov
$30-$80
(301) 581-5100
www.strathmore.org

Feb. 26 (7 p.m.)
Feb. 27 (8 p.m.)
Feb. 28 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Hannu Lintu conducting
Thomas Adès: Overture, Waltz and Finale from "Powder Her Face"
Stravinsky: Violin Concerto
Gil Shaham, violin
Weill: Suite from "The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny"
Stravinsky: Divertimento from "The Fairy’s Kiss"
$20-$80
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Feb. 26 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
London Philharmonic
Vladimir Jurowski conducting
Mahler: Adagio from Symphony No. 10
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, K. 488
Leon Fleisher, piano
Ligeti: "Atmosphères"
Richard Strauss: "Also sprach Zarathustra"
$47-$117
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
www.wpas.org

Feb. 27 (8 p.m.)
Ferguson Arts Center, Christopher Newport University, Newport News
Feb. 28 (8 p.m.)
Chrysler Hall, 201 E. Bremelton Ave., Norfolk
Virginia Symphony
JoAnn Falletta conducting
Verdi: Requiem
Jonita Lattimore, soprano
Charlotte Paulsen, mezzo-soprano
Fernando del Valle, tenor
Kevin Deas, bass
Virginia Symphony Chorus
Robert Shoup directing
$23-$83
(757) 892-6366
www.virginiasymphony.org

Feb. 27 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue S.E., Washington
Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh
Betsy Burleigh directing
Mendelssohn: "Heilig" from "Die Deutsche Liturgie"
Mendelssohn: "Sechs Sprüche," Op. 79
Mendelssohn: "Sechs Lieder (Im Freien zu singen)"
Andrew Rindfleisch: work TBA
Haydn: partsongs (excerpts)
Handel: Cantata XVI, "No, di voi non vo’ fidarmi"
Handel: "Messiah" (excerpts)
Free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert/0809-schedule.html

Feb. 28 (2 p.m.)
Gellman Room, Richmond Public Library, First and Franklin streets
Carol Wyncoop & Lisa Edwards-Burrs, sopranos
Jeff Prillaman, tenor
James Lynn, bass-baritone
Daphne Gerling, viola
Pamela McClain, piano
Rachmaninoff: songs
Shostakovich: Viola Sonata
Rachmaninoff: Cavatina from "Aleko"
Tchaikovsky-Taneyev: "Romeo and Juliet," duet for soprano and tenor
Free
(804) 646-7223
www.richmondpubliclibrary.org

Feb. 28 (8 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Rennolds Chamber Concerts:
Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio:
Joseph Kalichstein, piano
Jaime Laredo, violin
Sharon Robinson, cello
Beethoven: Piano Trio in D major, Op. 70 ("Ghost")
Shostakovich: Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor, Op. 67
Arensky: Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 32
$32
(804) 828-6776
www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html

Feb. 28 (8 p.m.)
Landmark Theater, Main and Laurel streets, Richmond
Richmond Symphony Pops
Arthur Post conducting
Karen Johnson, violin
Ralph Skiano, clarinet
"Hollywood Nights," music from movies
$35-$60
(804) 788-1212
www.richmondsymphony.com

Feb. 28 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
National Philharmonic
Piotr Gajewski conducting
Prokofiev: Symphony No. 1 ("Classical")
Rodrigo: "Concierto de Aranjuez"
Manuel Barrueco, guitar
Ravel: "Mother Goose" Suite
$29-$79
(301) 581-5100
www.strathmore.org