Unhitching wagons from stars

Facing recession-driven budgetary strains, the Minnesota Orchestra, North Carolina Symphony and other orchestras are economizing by canceling the appearances of costly guest stars. Hampton Roads' financially troubled Virginia Symphony is increasingly turning to its principal players as concerto soloists; other ensembles, including some major orchestras, look to be doing the same.

The Richmond Symphony anticipated this trend some 20 years ago after it found that paying high fees to guest soloists didn't boost concert attendance. Now the orchestra is dipping its toes back into the stellar talent pool, bringing in pianists Jeremy Denk and Jon Nakamatsu, violinist Gil Shaham and jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval this season. Chalk that up to its return to the Carpenter Theatre, where it can accommodate piano soloists and play to large crowds for the first time in five seasons, and to increases in its ticket prices and the potential challenge of drawing suburbanites to a downtown concert hall.

The best-known classical instrumentalists and singers have routinely commanded fees in the high five figures, even nudging into six figures, for a one-night stand playing a concerto or singing some arias. A few, such as Emanuel Ax, have reduced or forgone their fees when performing with cash-strapped orchestras. But international-grade soloists continue to be paid generously, even lavishly (at least by classical standards), thanks in large part to the willingness of state-subsidized orchestras and music festivals in Europe and East Asia and their well-heeled clienteles to pay big money for big names.

This is about celebrity, not artistry. There are dozens of cellists who can play Dvořák or Elgar as well as Yo-Yo Ma, dozens of sopranos who can sing Richard Strauss as well as Renée Fleming, probably hundreds of pianists who can play Tchaikovsky or Rachmaninoff as well as Evgeny Kissin or Lang Lang. Truly singular artistry – András Schiff playing the Beethoven piano sonatas, for example – is quite rare, and often doesn't correspond with the size of the artist's paycheck.

Many of Ma's high-profile engagements in recent years have been devoted to appearing with his Silk Road Ensemble, playing music from Asian cultures previously unknown to Western listeners, and to introducing works that he commissioned. If resistance to high-dollar solo engagements outlasts the economic downturn, might we see more big names not replaying the warhorses but presenting new or neglected music that they uniquely perform?

Sound check

With the Carpenter Theatre, the main venue of the Richmond CenterStage performing-arts complex, set to open in two weeks, the project’s acoustical consultants and a revolving cast of local musicians have spent this week conducting sound checks in the renovated theater. I sat in on two of these sessions, as members of the Richmond Symphony, the Richmond Symphony Youth Orchestra, the Richmond Philharmonic and the Richmond Symphony Chorus performed excerpts of Beethoven’s First Symphony and Handel’s "Messiah."

The sound was, to my ears, more brightly resonant, more transparent in musical texture and more consistent from one seating area to another than the sound heard in this hall prior to its acoustical upgrading.

Important qualifiers: I was listening in a nearly empty auditorium, without the sound-cushioning effect of bodies filling seats; the orchestral forces were minimal (just three violinists showed up for the run-through of the Beethoven); and, in any event, these test pieces are not thickly textured music.

Several wind players remarked that the sound onstage was "hot," or quite loud, although Rolla Durham, the symphony’s principal trumpeter, said he heard more warmth than in the past. In both the Beethoven and Handel, most of the instrumentalists were playing on the section of the stage that thrusts into the auditorium. (This section is lowered for theatrical productions to form the orchestra pit.) The back line of winds played directly under the proscenium arch. The chorus sang behind the proscenium, within a new orchestra shell that is narrower and deeper than the old shell.

A set of "clouds" – acoustical panels suspended overhead, at roughly the same level as the top of the proscenium – reflect sound back to the stage and outward into the auditorium. Other sound reflectors are built into the walls of the theater, notably in the formerly dead-sounding space under the balcony. The floor under orchestra-level seats has been adjusted to reduce the height difference between the stage and seats in the front rows and to create more space (or at least the sensation of more space) between the overhanging balcony and the seats underneath.

The acousticians have installed an extensive amplification system. Some of it is to be used only for amplified pop-music events, but other components can be employed to enhance and regularize volume of unamplified music as it reaches more distant seats in the upper balconies.

I was moving around the hall, not looking over the technicians’ shoulders, during these sound checks, so I can’t say which components were turned on or off at which times. I can say that whatever sound enhancement was in use wasn’t obvious and didn’t sound artificial.

Some of the sonic difference can be traced to visual perception: The stage floor, which was painted black, is now blond wood, and the stage lighting is brighter. The walls are freshly painted, and 20 years’ worth of dust and grime have been cleaned away. "You’d be amazed how much the absence of dirt affects sound," observed Mark Holden of JaffeHolden, the project’s acoustical consultant.

Physical comfort plays a role, too – more leg room in balcony seats and more aisle space reduce the claustrophobic sensation that affected the listening experience in much of the old hall.

The bright sound that came off the stage in these sound checks at times bordered on the chilly or brittle, especially when the winds played loudly or the chorus sang at full volume. Holden didn’t seem too worried by that. "If things sound ideal in an empty hall, I would be worried," he said. (During these sessions, he was especially attentive to the sound of cellos and double-basses.)

The acousticians will continue to check their systems during performances for much of the theater’s opening season. The true sound of the space probably won’t be known until midwinter, when patrons turn up with sound-deadening overcoats.

Digital music, c. 1500

A sequence of O's, I's and II's, which could be a musical score, has been found on a 16th-century wood medallion at Stirling Castle in Scotland. A harpist is at work trying to decipher the tune, the BBC reports:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/tayside_and_central/8222727.stm

Review: Richmond Chamber Players

Aug. 23, Bon Air Presbyterian Church

In the finale of the Richmond Chamber Players’ Interlude 2009 series, George Manahan, the former music director of the Richmond Symphony, now music director of the New York City Opera, returned to town to join John Walter, the troupe’s artistic director, in Bela Bartók’s Sonata (1937) for two pianos and percussion. They played to a very full house, likely the largest crowd the Chamber Players have drawn in three summers at Bon Air Presbyterian Church.

Bartók may not be a doorbuster in Richmond, but Manahan performing Bartók has been, to judge from the turnouts here and when he conducted the symphony in the composer’s Concerto for Orchestra last year.

This was possibly the tardiest makeup date in Richmond’s musical history. Manahan and Walter played the Bartók sonata in February 1996 symphony concerts at Virginia Commonwealth University. Hardly anyone heard them, as the dates coincided with a "wintry mix" that frosted local roads with ice. I remember thinking at the time that this music was perfectly suited to an ice storm, both in its chilly sonorities and reinforcement of hazardous-driving anxiety.

The pianists, with percussionists James Jacobson (also an alumnus of the 1996 gig) and Montgomery Hatch of the City Opera Orchestra, didn’t really dispel Bartók’s chill – the piece’s body temperature is set by bright, often blunt, piano lines and high-frequency percussion instruments such as xylophone and cymbals; but their performance displayed the work’s wide range of cool colors in vivid detail. Played in this intimate space, with the percussion elevated, the sonata sounded huge and muscular. The frost melted nicely in the final movement, a rhythmically complex mosaic evoking Hungarian and other Balkan dances.

Flutist Mary Boodell, violinist Catherine Cary and violist Stephen Schmidt opened the program in Beethoven’s Serenade in D major (1801), a breezily Haydnesque piece with a few hints of the Beethoven to come in slow or lyrical passages (including an andante one of whose variations more than vaguely pre-echoes the "Pathétique" Sonata). The musicians, who played standing, brought a light touch and gratifying technique to the serenade’s fast figures; Boodell was especially soulful in the flute-led variation of the andante.

Mendelssohn, whose 200th anniversary the group has been marking in these concerts, was represented here in the String Quartet in F minor, Op. 80, written while the composer was mourning his sister, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, and finished a few months before his own death in 1847. That back story and the F minor key signature suggest a work of passion and gravity – and so it is, although its musical content rarely lives up to its mood and atmospherics.

Violinists Susy Yim and Catherine Cary, violist Schmidt and cellist Neal Cary played the Mendelssohn as big, serious music, but without much polish and with snatches of iffy intonation.

More Vivaldi

In The New York Times, Matthew Gurewitsch recalls the old quip that Antonio Vivaldi didn't write hundreds of concertos, but the same concerto hundreds of times – apparently coined by Luigi Dallapiccola and subsequently repeated by Igor Stravinsky.

Exploration of the archives at the Biblioteca Nazionale Universitaria di Torino in Turin, Italy, suggests that there are many more works by Vivaldi awaiting rediscovery:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/23/arts/music/23gure.html?ref=music

Only in England (let's hope)

The "Ode to Joy" from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is played on 1,000 ukuleles at the Royal Albert Hall, Jack Malvern reports in The Times of London:

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/proms/article6802537.ece

Staph killed Mozart?

Stephen Adams of Britain's Telegraph reports on the latest theory on the cause of Mozart's death on Dec. 5, 1791. Dutch researchers note that his symptoms conform to those of MRSA – more commonly known as Staphylococcus aureus – a bacterial infection widespread in Vienna at the time:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/6042515/Mozart-was-killed-by-superbug-like-MRSA.html

Berlin Phil on the Web

The Berlin Philharmonic will make 33 concerts from its coming season available as webcasts in its Digital Concert Hall, beginning Aug. 28.

Simon Rattle, the orchestra's chief conductor, will lead 12 of the concerts, with others conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, Claudio Abbado, Bernard Haitink, Christoph von Dohnányi, Seiji Ozawa, Zubin Mehta, Donald Runnicles, David Robertson and Asher Fisch. Guest artists include pianists Daniel Barenboim, Mitsuko Uchida, András Schiff and Hélène Grimaud; violinists Janine Jansen and Frank Peter Zimmermann; cellist Alisa Weilerstein; and baritone Thomas Quasthoff.

Fees for hearing the webcasts are 149 Euros (about $209) for the full series, 39 Euros (about $55) for a 30-day subscription, and 3 Euros (about $4.30) per concert.

For details, visit www.berliner-philharmoniker.de/dch

Mike Seeger (1933-2009)

Mike Seeger, the folklorist, singer and multi-instrumentalist, died of cancer on Aug. 7, eight days shy of his 76th birthday. Stepbrother of Pete Seeger and a founder of the New Lost City Ramblers, one of the most influential groups in the folk revival of the 1950s and ’60s, Seeger in recent decades had lived in Lexington in the Virginia highlands.

His obituary in The New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/10/arts/music/10seeger.html?hpw

Culture warrior

Rocco Landesman, the theatrical producer now taking over as chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, opts out of the defensive strategy of recent NEA chiefs. In an interview with Robin Pogrebin in The New York Times, Landesman calls the endowment's $155 million share of a multitrillion-dollar federal budget "pathetic," advocates recognition of artistic quality instead of maintaining geographical balance in grant-making, and calls for reversing the ban on grants to individual artists.

In a comment that should ring some bells in Virginia cities, Landesman cites "the critical role of art in urban revitalization."

He also remarks that right-wing attacks on the NEA and public subsidy of the arts exploit perceptions that art is "elitist, left wing, maybe even a little gay":

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/08/arts/08rocco.html?_r=1

I haven't surveyed the right-wing blogosphere for reaction (I'm not paid for this gig, and I'm not a masochist); but the right's culture warriors are sure to have Landesman in their sights. This target, though, shoots back.

Are we soothed yet?

British radio listeners are increasingly attracted to the "soothing properties of classical music" as they try to cope with the economic downturn and other troubles, Ian Burrell reports in The Independent:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/news/stressedout-listeners-turn-to-classical-1768510.html

Meanwhile, in the hereafter, Beethoven, Berlioz, Liszt, Mussorgsky and Prokofiev are laughing uncontrollably at the notion of their music being soothing.

Too much inspiration?

Alex Ross, in The New Yorker, surveys the "near-infinity" of music, live and recorded, audio and video, archival and recent, accessible on the web and storable on one's computer. Ross wonders whether this burgeoning wealth of music on demand "too easily generates anxiety in place of fulfillment, an addictive cycle of craving and malaise. No sooner has one experience begun than the thought of what else is out there intrudes":

http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/musical/2009/08/10/090810crmu_music_ross?currentPage=1

Children's choir auditions

The Greater Richmond Children's Choir, directed by Hope Armstrong Erb, will hold auditions for the 2009-10 season on Aug. 10 at Grace and Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, 8 N. Laurel St., next to Richmond's Landmark Theater.

The choir, which has ensembles at several skill levels, is open to boys and girls ages 8-18.

To make an appointment for an audition, call (804) 201-1894. For more information on the choir, visit www.grcchoir.org

Review: Richmond Chamber Players

Aug. 2, Bon Air Presbyterian Church

Music of Felix Mendelssohn, whose bicentennial is being celebrated this year, runs through this year’s Interlude concerts by the Richmond Chamber Players. Mendelssohn, however, was the 19th-century outlier of the series’ opening program, otherwise devoted to 20th-century works by Central European Jewish composers.

Two of those represented, the Czech-German Erwin Schulhoff and the Dutchman Leo Smit, were victims of the Holocaust. A third, the Hungarian György Ligeti, endured forced labor under the pro-Nazi Hungarian regime during World War II and lost most of his family in the death camps; fleeing his country after the communists crushed the Hungarian revolt of 1956, he became one of the leading voices of the mid-century European avant-garde.

Ligeti’s “Six Bagatelles” (1953) for wind quintet only hints at the direction his later works would take, in a few bits of chromatic harmony that might be likened to clouds of tone. Otherwise, this set of contrasting short pieces are characteristic of the neoclassical style that prevailed at the time. The performers – flutist Mary Boodell, oboist Sandra Lisicky, clarinetist David Niethamer, bassoonist Jonathan Friedman and French horn player Paul LaFollette – delivered an animated, nicely balanced account that peaked in the frenetic opening and closing pieces and a lyrical Rubato lamentoso.

Schulhoff’s Concertino (1925) for the uncommon ensemble of flute alternating with piccolo (Boodell), viola (Molly Sharp) and double-bass (Fred Dole) is often cited as an example of the composer’s jazz-influenced work; but in fact its heart beats to the rhythms of Czech folk melody and dance. The ensemble played up that lineage, most explicitly in the rustic Furiant movement.

Smit’s “Sextour” (1928) for wind quintet with piano (played by John Walter, the group’s artistic director) is, as its title suggests, an example of the urbane modernist style developed by French composers between the world wars, with a central slow movement whose main theme echoes the Gershwin of “An American in Paris.” This performance was more American than Parisian, though, with assertive wind-playing that at its loudest made Smit’s sound textures sound congested.

The program opened with Mendelssohn’s Sonata in F major for violin and piano, a piece from 1838-39 that went unperformed until Yehudi Menuhin unearthed it in the early 1950s. The sonata’s late-classical structure and tunefulness are clearly Mendelssohnian, as is the skittish energy of its finale; but its real attraction is the way it seamlessly blends echoes of Beethoven and pre-echoes of Brahms. Violinist Susy Yim and pianist Walter gave it a straightforward, rather lean-sounding reading.

The Richmond Chamber Players’ Interlude series continues with concerts at 3 p.m. Aug. 9, 16 and 23 at Bon Air Presbyterian Church, 9201 W. Huguenot Road. Tickets: $16. Details: (804) 340-1405 (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts event desk); http://www.vmfa.museum/concerts.html

August 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 Richmond: The Richmond Chamber Players’ Interlude 2009 series features music marking the 200th anniversary of Mendelssohn’s birth in programs on Aug. 2, 9, 16 and 23 at Bon Air Presbyterian Church, with former Richmond Symphony music director George Manahan joining the ensemble’s artistic director, John Walter, in Bartók’s Sonata for two pianos and percussion, in the series’ finale. . . . Grant Hellmers marks his retirement after more than 30 years as organist-choirmaster of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church with a concert and reception on Aug. 9.

* New and/or different: At the Garth Newel Music Center near Hot Springs, Los Angeles-based composer Gernot Wolfgang surveys his chamber works on Aug. 1, and members of the Garth Newel Piano Quartet and friends play "Catch" by the British composer Thomas Adès on Aug. 2. . . . The Richmond Chamber Players perform pieces by György Ligeti, Erwin Schulhoff and Leo Smit on Aug. 2 and Frank Ezra Levy on Aug. 9. . . . The Staunton Music Festival features two of the arrangements made by Arnold Schoenberg for the Society for Private Musical Performance, of Johann Strauss’ "Roses from the South" on Aug. 21, and of Mahler’s "Songs of a Wayfarer" on Aug. 26, both at Trinity Episcopal Church. . . . The Staunton festival also features showcases of music by contemporary composers Allan Blank, Chester Biscardi, Judith Shatin, George Wilson and John Yannelli, Aug. 25 at Mary Baldwin College, and a sampler of opera arias and choruses by Handel and Purcell, Aug. 29 at Blackfriar’s Playhouse.

* My picks: The Richmond Chamber Players with George Manahan, Aug. 23 at Bon Air Presbyterian Church in Richmond. . . . Staunton Music Festival programs of Mozart, Britten, Handel, Berio and Mahler-via-Schoenberg, Aug. 26 at Trinity Episcopal Church, and of Handel and Purcell, Aug. 29 at Blackfriar’s Playhouse.


Aug. 1 (8 p.m.)
Aug. 7 (8 p.m.)
The Paramount, 215 E. Main St., Charlottesville
Ash Lawn Opera
James Lowe conducting
Mozart: "The Marriage of Figaro"
Cast TBA
Cecelia Schieve, stage direction
in English
$30-$35
(434) 979-1333 (The Paramount)
www.ashlawnopera.org

Aug. 1 (5 p.m.)
Garth Newel Music Center, Route 220 near Hot Springs
Garth Newel Music Festival:
Gernot Wolfgang, composer & piano
Kathryn Votapek, violin
Heidi Hoffman, cello
Rick Faria, clarinet
Judith Farmer, bassoon
Wolfgang: "Common Ground" for bassoon and cello
Wolfgang: "Thin Air" for violin, viola and cello
Wolfgang: "Metamorphoses" for piano quartet
Martinů: “La Revue de Cuisine”
$22
(877) 558-1689
www.garthnewel.org

Aug. 1 (8 p.m.)
The Barns at Wolf Trap, Trap Road, Vienna
Wolf Trap Opera Company members
Steven Blier, piano
Songs by Massenet, Fauré, Brahms, Granados, Sondheim
$38
(877) 965-3872 (Tickets.com)
www.wolftrap.org

Aug. 1 (8:15 p.m.)
Filene Center, Wolf Trap, 1551 Trap Road, Vienna
National Symphony Orchestra
Randall Craig Fleischer conducting
Christiane Noll, Capathia Jenkins, Hugh Panaro & Rob Evan, vocalists
Glenn Donnellan, electric violin
City Choir of Washington
"Broadway ROCKS!" excerpts from "Hairspray," "Jekyll & Hyde," "Jesus Christ Superstar," "Phantom of the Opera," "Lion King," "Wicked," "Tommy," others
$20-$48
(877) 965-3872 (Tickets.com)
www.wolftrap.org

Aug. 2 (3 p.m.)
Bon Air Presbyterian Church, 9201 W. Huguenot Road, Richmond
Interlude 2009:
Richmond Chamber Players
John Walter, piano & director
Catherine Cary & Susy Yim, violins
Stephen Schmidt, viola
Neal Cary, cello
Mary Boodell, flute
David Niethamer, clarinet
Jonathan Friedman, bassoon
Mendelssohn: Sonata in F minor, Op. 4, for violin and piano
Ligeti: "Six Bagatelles" for wind quintet
Erwin Schulhoff: Concertino for flute, viola and double-bass
Leo Smit: Sextet for winds and piano
$16
(804) 340-1405 (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts event desk)
http://www.vmfa.museum/concerts.html

Aug. 2 (3 p.m.)
Garth Newel Music Center, Route 220 near Hot Springs
Garth Newel Music Festival:
Rick Faria, clarinet
Judith Farmer, bassoon
Garth Newel Piano Quartet
Schumann: "Fairy Tales," Op. 132, for clarinet, viola and piano
Thomas Adès: "Catch," op. 4, for clarinet, violin and cello
Mozart: Clarinet Quintet in A major, K. 581
$22
(877) 558-1689
www.garthnewel.org

Aug. 7 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Youth Orchestra of the Americas
Benjamin Zander conducting
Bernstein: "Candide" Overture
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2
Gabriela Montero, piano
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5
$15-$45
(877) 376-1444
www.strathmore.org

Aug. 8 (8 p.m.)
Aug. 9 (2 p.m.)
The Paramount, 215 E. Main St., Charlottesville
Ash Lawn Opera
Braden Toan conducting
Lerner & Loewe: "Camelot"
Cast TBA
Patrick Hansen, stage direction
$30-$35
(434) 979-1333 (The Paramount)
www.ashlawnopera.org

Aug. 8 (5 p.m.)
Garth Newel Music Center, Route 220 near Hot Springs
Garth Newel Music Festival:
Garth Newel Piano Quartet
Other performers TBA
Handel: Concerto grosso in B minor
Haydn: Piano Trio in E flat major, Hob. XV:29
Mendelssohn: Octet
$22
(877) 558-1689
www.garthnewel.org

Aug. 9 (3 p.m.)
Bon Air Presbyterian Church, 9201 W. Huguenot Road, Richmond
Interlude 2009:
Richmond Chamber Players
John Walter, piano & director
Catherine Cary & Susy Yim, violins
Stephen Schmidt, viola
Neal Cary, cello
Mary Boodell, flute
David Niethamer, clarinet
Jonathan Friedman, bassoon
Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel: Piano Trio in D minor, Op. 11
Frank Ezra Levy: Trio No. 2 for flute, clarinet and piano
Mendelssohn: Piano Trio in D minor, Op. 49
$16
(804) 340-1405 (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts event desk)
http://www.vmfa.museum/concerts.html

Aug. 9 (4 p.m.)
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Ninth and Grace streets, Richmond
Grant Hellmers, organ
Program TBA
Reception follows
Donations accepted
(804) 643-3589
www.stpauls-episcopal.org

Aug. 9 (3 p.m.)
Garth Newel Music Center, Route 220 near Hot Springs
Garth Newel Music Festival:
Fellowship students’ concert
Program TBA
$22
(877) 558-1689
www.garthnewel.org

Aug. 15 (5 p.m.)
Garth Newel Music Center, Route 220 near Hot Springs
Garth Newel Music Festival:
Fry Street Quartet
Beethoven: Quartet in D major, Op. 18, No. 3
Beethoven: Quartet in F major, Op. 18, No. 1
Beethoven: Quartet in B flat major, Op. 18, No. 6
$22
(877) 558-1689
www.garthnewel.org

Aug. 16 (3 p.m.)
Bon Air Presbyterian Church, 9201 W. Huguenot Road, Richmond
Interlude 2009:
Richmond Chamber Players
John Walter, piano & director
Catherine Cary & Susy Yim, violins
Stephen Schmidt, viola
Neal Cary, cello
Mary Boodell, flute
David Niethamer, clarinet
Jonathan Friedman, bassoon
Lisa Edwards-Burrs, soprano
Schubert: "Shepherd on the Rock"
Brahms: Piano Sonata No. 3 in F minor, Op. 5
Brahms: Viola Quintet in G major, Op. 111
$16
(804) 340-1405 (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts event desk)
http://www.vmfa.museum/concerts.html

Aug. 16 (3 p.m.)
Garth Newel Music Center, Route 220 near Hot Springs
Garth Newel Music Festival:
Fry Street Quartet
Beethoven: Quartet in G major, Op. 18, No. 2
Beethoven: Quartet in A major, Op. 18, No. 5
Beethoven: Quartet in C minor, Op. 18, No. 4
$22
(877) 558-1689
www.garthnewel.org

Aug. 21 (7 p.m.)
Trinity Episcopal Church, 214 W. Beverly St., Staunton
Staunton Music Festival:
Carsten Schmidt, harpsichord & director
David Schrader, organ
Gabriel Dobner, piano
Michael Haag, bass
Erin Keefe & Diane Pascal, violins
Vladimir Mendelssohn, viola
James Wilson, cello
Johann Strauss II-Schoenberg: "Roses from the South"
Debussy: Violin Sonata
Bach: Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C major, BWV 564
Dvořák: “Six Biblical Songs”
Dohnányi: Piano Quintet in C major, Op. 1
Pre-concert talk at 6 p.m.
$18
(540) 569-0267
www.stauntonmusicfestival.com

Aug. 22 (noon)
Emmanuel Episcopal Church, 300 W. Frederick St., Staunton
Staunton Music Festival:
Mira Vocal Ensemble
"Britten and English Medieval Music"
Program TBA
Free
(540) 569-0267
www.stauntonmusicfestival.com

Aug. 22 (7 p.m.)
President’s house, Mary Baldwin College, Staunton
Staunton Music Festival:
Gabriel Dobner & David Schrader, pianos
Michael Haag, bass
Erin Keefe & Diane Pascal, violins
Vladimir Mendelssohn, viola
James Wilson, cello
Festival gala
Schubert: three songs
Martinů: Madrigals for violin and viola
Richard Strauss: three songs
Dvořák: “Five Bagatelles,” Op. 47
$75
(540) 569-0267
www.stauntonmusicfestival.com

Aug. 22 (5 p.m.)
Garth Newel Music Center, Route 220 near Hot Springs
Garth Newel Music Festival:
String ensemble
Brahms: String Sextet in G major, Op. 36
Purcell: "The Fairy Queen" Suite
Martinů: String Sextet
$22
(877) 558-1689
www.garthnewel.org

Aug. 23 (3 p.m.)
Bon Air Presbyterian Church, 9201 W. Huguenot Road, Richmond
Interlude 2009:
Richmond Chamber Players
John Walter, piano & director
George Manahan, piano
Catherine Cary & Susy Yim, violins
Stephen Schmidt, viola
Neal Cary, cello
Mary Boodell, flute
David Niethamer, clarinet
Jonathan Friedman, bassoon
Beethoven: Serenade in D major for flute, violin and viola
Mendelssohn: String Quartet in F minor, Op. 80
Bartók: Sonata for two pianos and percussion
$16
(804) 340-1405 (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts event desk)
http://www.vmfa.museum/concerts.html

Aug. 23 (4 p.m.)
Trinity Episcopal Church, 214 W. Beverly St., Staunton
Staunton Music Festival:
Carsten Schmidt, piano & director
David Schrader, organ
Erin Keefe & Diane Pascal, violins
Vladimir Mendelssohn, viola
James Wilson, cello
Schrader: organ improvisation
Ives: Piano Trio
Brahms: Piano Quartet in A major, Op. 25
Pre-concert talk at 3 p.m.
$18
(540) 569-0267
www.stauntonmusicfestival.com

Aug. 23 (3 p.m.)
Garth Newel Music Center, Route 220 near Hot Springs
Garth Newel Music Festival:
String ensemble
Brahms: String Sextet in B flat major, Op. 18
Mendelssohn: Quartet in A major, Op. 18
$22
(877) 558-1689
www.garthnewel.org

Aug. 25 (7 p.m.)
Francis Auditorium, Mary Baldwin College, Staunton
Staunton Music Festival:
Performers TBA
"Happy New Ear," new and recent works TBA by Allan Blank, Chester Biscardi, Judith Shatin, George Wilson and John Yannelli
Free
(540) 569-0267
www.stauntonmusicfestival.com

Aug. 26 (noon)
Central United Methodist Church, 14 N. Lewis St., Staunton
Staunton Music Festival:
Performers TBA
Couperin: "Sonade l’Imperiale"
Britten: "Six Metamorphoses," Op. 49
Zelenka: Trio Sonata No. 2
Free
(540) 569-0267
www.stauntonmusicfestival.com

Aug. 26 (7 p.m.)
Trinity Episcopal Church, 214 W. Beverly St., Staunton
Staunton Music Festival:
Performers TBA
Mozart: "Ave verum corpus," K. 618
Britten: "Phantasy" Quartet, Op. 2
Handel: Organ Concerto, Op. 4, No. 4
Berio: "Sequenza III" for solo voice
Mahler-Schoenberg: "Songs of a Wayfarer"
$18
(540) 569-0267
www.stauntonmusicfestival.com

Aug. 27 (7 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Faculty and student performers TBA
"Brass Bash," program TBA
Free
(804) 828-6776
http://www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html

Aug. 27 (noon)
Central United Methodist Church, 14 N. Lewis St., Staunton
Staunton Music Festival:
Performers TBA
Caldara: "Cantata Vicino a un Rivoletto"
D’Anglebert: Suite in D major
Biber: Passacaglia
Bach: "Mein Freund ist mein," BWV 140
Free
(540) 569-0267
www.stauntonmusicfestival.com

Aug. 27 (7 p.m.)
Trinity Episcopal Church, 214 W. Beverly St., Staunton
Staunton Music Festival:
Performers TBA
Mendelssohn: "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" Overture (version for piano, four hands)
Mendelssohn: "Herr, warum hast Du mich verlassen?"
Mendelssohn: four songs
Mendelssohn: String Quintet in B flat major, Op. 87
$18
(540) 569-0267
www.stauntonmusicfestival.com

Aug. 28 (noon)
First Presbyterian Church, 100 E. Frederick St., Staunton
Staunton Music Festival:
Performers TBA
"Ermerging Composers," new and recent works by Nicco Athens and Chiayu Hsu, with conversation moderated by Chester Biacardi
Free
(540) 569-0267
www.stauntonmusicfestival.com

Aug. 28 (7 p.m.)
Trinity Episcopal Church, 214 W. Beverly St., Staunton
Staunton Music Festival:
Performers TBA
"Baroque Inside/Out," works TBA by Pachelbel, Glettle and Bach
$18
(540) 569-0267
www.stauntonmusicfestival.com

Aug. 29 (noon)
First Presbyterian Church, 100 E. Frederick St., Staunton
Staunton Music Festival:
Performers TBA
Britten: folk song arrangements
Free
(540) 569-0267
www.stauntonmusicfestival.com

Aug. 29 (7:30 p.m.)
Blackfriar’s Playhouse, 10 S. Market St., Staunton
Staunton Music Festival:
Katharine Dain, soprano
Ian Howell & Drew Minter, countertenors
Michael Haag, bass
Madison Singers
Staunton Music Festival Baroque Players
Carsten Schmidt directing
"Handel & Purcell Extravaganza"
Handel: "Orlando," "Riccardo Primo," Delirio amaroso," "Hercules," "Rinaldo," concertos (excerpts)
Purcell: "King Arthur," "The Fairy Queen" (excerpts)
$26
(540) 569-0267
www.stauntonmusicfestival.com

Aug. 29 (5 p.m.)
Garth Newel Music Center, Route 220 near Hot Springs
Garth Newel Music Festival:
Garth Newel Piano Quartet
Aaron Berofsky, violin
Carole Bean, flute
Elizabeth Blakeslee, harp
Debussy: Cello Sonata
Debussy: Sonata for flute, viola and harp
Debussy: Violin Sonata
Debussy: String Quartet
$22
(877) 558-1689
www.garthnewel.org

Aug. 30 (3 p.m.)
Garth Newel Music Center, Route 220 near Hot Springs
Garth Newel Music Festival:
Garth Newel Piano Quartet
Aaron Berofsky, violin
Carole Bean, flute
Elizabeth Blakeslee, harp
Saint-Saëns: Fantasie, Op. 124, for violin and harp
Cras: Quintet flute, harp and string trio
Fauré: Piano Quintet in D minor, Op. 89
$22
(877) 558-1689
www.garthnewel.org