Maurice André, the great French trumpeter who introduced generations of listeners to the repertory for the instrument through his many recordings, has died at 78.
An obituary and appreciation by Tom Huizenga, plus a video of André at work, on NPR’s classical-music blog, Deceptive Cadence:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2012/02/27/147497910/virtuoso-trumpeter-maurice-andr-dies-at-78
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Review: Richmond Symphony
with soloists & Richmond Symphony Chorus
Steven Smith conducting
Feb. 25, Richmond CenterStage
The 19th-century romantic literature has been plumbed deeply and systematically by classical musicians. It takes some digging to find a work
both obscure and deserving enough to be called a “neglected masterpiece,” as Richmond Symphony Music Director Steven Smith terms Felix Mendelssohn’s “Die erste Walpurgisnacht” (“The First Walpurgis Night”).
This cantata, introduced in 1832 by the 23-year-old Mendelssohn, setting a text by Goethe for orchestra, chorus and (in these performances) three solo voices, deserves Smith’s encomium. Well-crafted, brilliantly orchestrated for both instruments and massed voices, boasting several memorable tunes, the piece is as atmospheric as the “Hebrides” Overture, written around the same time; both stylistically and structurally, it pre-echoes the “Scottish” Symphony (No. 3), finished a decade after the cantata.
After a few tries in teen-age, Mendelssohn never composed an opera. Had he done so in maturity, it likely would have sounded like “Die erste Walpurgisnacht.”
Goethe’s poem begs for scenery and lighting: a witches’ sabbath under what sounds to be a threatening sky, an epic confrontation of forces (Druids vs. Christians), a warmly radiant outcome in a “Hymn of Light.” (Imagine a Germanic version of Mussorgsky’s “Night on Bald Mountain,” stirring if a bit earnest.) Goethe aimed high philosophically: The poem, he said, is about the “old, established, tested and reassuring [being] probed, harrassed and oppressed by the emergence of new ideas, and if not destroyed . . . at least entirely hemmed in and immobilized.” Mendelssohn pulled out most all of the stops in crafting a piece lofty and dramatic enough to do Goethe’s work justice.
The solo vocal parts are borderline-Wagnerian (Wagner would cringe – let him) in their tonal character and declamatory quality. The trio singing in these performances – bass-baritone Seth Mease Carico, tenor Jorge Prego and mezzo-soprano Kathryn Leemhuis – did not sound very comfortable with the work in the first of two weekend performances. I don’t know whether “Die erste Walpurgisnacht” is new to them; that wouldn’t be surprising, given its obscurity.
It’s certainly new to the Richmond Symphony Chorus, and the choristers, prepared by Erin R. Freeman, went at it with gusto and theatricality. I’ve never heard these singers sound as much like a good opera chorus as they did here.
The Mendelssohn is bracketed in this program by two apotheoses of the dance. That was how Wagner characterized Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony. The characterization applies just as well, in a later, differently motivated century, to John Adams’ “The Chairman Dances.”
Adams’ “foxtrot for orchestra,” an outtake from his opera “Nixon in China” reworked as a symphonic poem, strikes the listener as pretty steadily pulsing, but in fact the piece is a thicket of shifting time signatures, syncopations within syncopations, and its musical figures are often repeated at length, challenging players to remember where they are. “You can go crazy counting in Adams,” a young musician (coming to listen, not perform) remarked on her way to the Carpenter Theatre.
Smith and the symphony musicians, in this second go at an Adams score in the new year (they played his even trickier “Chamber Symphony” in January), quickly got into the groove of “The Chairman Dances,” rode its jittery energy securely and subtly played up its “oriental” touches.
Their Beethoven Seventh was a straightforward reading, rhythmically crisp, with solid bass lines and distinguished work from the woodwinds (paced by oboist Gustav Highstein and flutist Mary Boodell) and French horns. Smith’s tempos were brisk: The allegretto was not an andante in disguise, so not as funereal as it often sounds; the whirlwind finale was not so fast as to smear string figures, but speedy enough to rob the movement of some of its tension and dynamism.
The concert opened with a tribute to Jonathan Friedman, retiring after 38 years as the symphony’s principal bassoonist, and as one of the musicians’ most articulate spokesmen.
The program repeats at 3 p.m. Feb. 26 at the Carpenter Theatre of Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets. Tickets: $9-36.50. Details: (800) 514-3849 (ETIX); http://www.richmondsymphony.com/
UPDATE (MARCH 7): It turns out that this was not the first time the Richmond Symphony has performed “Die erste Walpurgisnacht.” Jacques Houtmann, the orchestra’s second music director (1971-86), obtained the score “just to read it, and I was so surprised that I decided to [program] it,” the conductor e-mails from his home in France. Houtmann led the symphony and Richmond Choral Society in the Mendelssohn cantata in April 1973.
Steven Smith conducting
Feb. 25, Richmond CenterStage
The 19th-century romantic literature has been plumbed deeply and systematically by classical musicians. It takes some digging to find a work
both obscure and deserving enough to be called a “neglected masterpiece,” as Richmond Symphony Music Director Steven Smith terms Felix Mendelssohn’s “Die erste Walpurgisnacht” (“The First Walpurgis Night”).This cantata, introduced in 1832 by the 23-year-old Mendelssohn, setting a text by Goethe for orchestra, chorus and (in these performances) three solo voices, deserves Smith’s encomium. Well-crafted, brilliantly orchestrated for both instruments and massed voices, boasting several memorable tunes, the piece is as atmospheric as the “Hebrides” Overture, written around the same time; both stylistically and structurally, it pre-echoes the “Scottish” Symphony (No. 3), finished a decade after the cantata.
After a few tries in teen-age, Mendelssohn never composed an opera. Had he done so in maturity, it likely would have sounded like “Die erste Walpurgisnacht.”
Goethe’s poem begs for scenery and lighting: a witches’ sabbath under what sounds to be a threatening sky, an epic confrontation of forces (Druids vs. Christians), a warmly radiant outcome in a “Hymn of Light.” (Imagine a Germanic version of Mussorgsky’s “Night on Bald Mountain,” stirring if a bit earnest.) Goethe aimed high philosophically: The poem, he said, is about the “old, established, tested and reassuring [being] probed, harrassed and oppressed by the emergence of new ideas, and if not destroyed . . . at least entirely hemmed in and immobilized.” Mendelssohn pulled out most all of the stops in crafting a piece lofty and dramatic enough to do Goethe’s work justice.
The solo vocal parts are borderline-Wagnerian (Wagner would cringe – let him) in their tonal character and declamatory quality. The trio singing in these performances – bass-baritone Seth Mease Carico, tenor Jorge Prego and mezzo-soprano Kathryn Leemhuis – did not sound very comfortable with the work in the first of two weekend performances. I don’t know whether “Die erste Walpurgisnacht” is new to them; that wouldn’t be surprising, given its obscurity.
It’s certainly new to the Richmond Symphony Chorus, and the choristers, prepared by Erin R. Freeman, went at it with gusto and theatricality. I’ve never heard these singers sound as much like a good opera chorus as they did here.
The Mendelssohn is bracketed in this program by two apotheoses of the dance. That was how Wagner characterized Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony. The characterization applies just as well, in a later, differently motivated century, to John Adams’ “The Chairman Dances.”
Adams’ “foxtrot for orchestra,” an outtake from his opera “Nixon in China” reworked as a symphonic poem, strikes the listener as pretty steadily pulsing, but in fact the piece is a thicket of shifting time signatures, syncopations within syncopations, and its musical figures are often repeated at length, challenging players to remember where they are. “You can go crazy counting in Adams,” a young musician (coming to listen, not perform) remarked on her way to the Carpenter Theatre.
Smith and the symphony musicians, in this second go at an Adams score in the new year (they played his even trickier “Chamber Symphony” in January), quickly got into the groove of “The Chairman Dances,” rode its jittery energy securely and subtly played up its “oriental” touches.
Their Beethoven Seventh was a straightforward reading, rhythmically crisp, with solid bass lines and distinguished work from the woodwinds (paced by oboist Gustav Highstein and flutist Mary Boodell) and French horns. Smith’s tempos were brisk: The allegretto was not an andante in disguise, so not as funereal as it often sounds; the whirlwind finale was not so fast as to smear string figures, but speedy enough to rob the movement of some of its tension and dynamism.
The concert opened with a tribute to Jonathan Friedman, retiring after 38 years as the symphony’s principal bassoonist, and as one of the musicians’ most articulate spokesmen.
The program repeats at 3 p.m. Feb. 26 at the Carpenter Theatre of Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets. Tickets: $9-36.50. Details: (800) 514-3849 (ETIX); http://www.richmondsymphony.com/
UPDATE (MARCH 7): It turns out that this was not the first time the Richmond Symphony has performed “Die erste Walpurgisnacht.” Jacques Houtmann, the orchestra’s second music director (1971-86), obtained the score “just to read it, and I was so surprised that I decided to [program] it,” the conductor e-mails from his home in France. Houtmann led the symphony and Richmond Choral Society in the Mendelssohn cantata in April 1973.
Friday, February 17, 2012
Review: 'Orphée'
Virginia Opera
Steven Jarvi conducting
Feb. 17, Richmond CenterStage
People who dislike the music of Philip Glass (as I have, consistently, since the 1970s) should know three things about Glass’ “Orphée,”
currently being staged by Virginia Opera:
(1) Unlike Glass’ best-known operas, “Einstein on the Beach” and “Satyagraha,” “Orphée” is not especially long. It clocks in at a fast-paced two hours.
(2) It is scored for traditional orchestral strings and winds, rather than Glass’ once-usual ensemble of electronic keyboards. The composer’s “repetitive structures” are passed unrepetitively among instruments with different tonal characteristics and timbres and more varied dynamics and articulation; and the score is liberally spiced with moody or atmospheric qualities. (Plus, in Act 1, a vivid orchestral echo of Gluck’s “Orfeo ed Euridice.”)
(3) It is sung by traditionally operatic voices; and while it has no free-standing arias, its vocal lines are no more angularly modernistic, let alone avant-garde, than those that one might encounter in Debussy or Poulenc.
Those aren’t random comparisons. “Orphée,” based on Jean Cocteau’s 1949 film adaptation of the mythological tale of Orpheus and Eurydice, is sung in French, and in a vocal style that’s modeled on post-romantic French art-song and opera.
This production uses the scenery (by Andrew Lieberman) and costumes (by Kay Voyce) designed in 2007 for Glimmerglass Opera, and employs the stage director of the Glimmerglass production, Sam Helfrich. The set is sleek 1960s modern, with costumes of roughly similar vintage.
Stage movements are often a stylized “glide,” not unlike that of the ceremonial guards at Arlington National Cemetery – an overworked choreographic technique in modern and post-modern opera, but effective and appropriate here, as much of the story, whether set in this world or the underworld, unfolds in dream, or dreamily surreal, scenes.
The cast, from the principals – Matthew Worth (Orpheus), Sara Jakubiak (Eurydice), Heather Buck (the Princess) and Jeffrey Lentz (Heurtebise, the princess’ chauffeur) – to those singing the briefest supporting roles, is uniformly strong and gratifyingly nuanced in both voice and character.
Worth, the University of Richmond alumnus last seen and heard here in the title role of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni,” proves to be as commanding a presence and as idiomatic a voice in this very different work. Jakubiak and Buck are just as riveting, as both singers and actors.
Conductor Steven Jarvi draws colorful and dramatically charged playing from the orchestra, drawn from Hampton Roads’ Virginia Symphony.
In sum, this production is a winner. You can take that from one who’s usually Glass-averse.
The final performance of Virginia Opera’s “Orphée” begins at 2:30 p.m. Feb. 19 at the Carpenter Theatre of Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets. Tickets: $29-$111. Details: (866) 673-7282; http://www.vaopera.org/
Steven Jarvi conducting
Feb. 17, Richmond CenterStage
People who dislike the music of Philip Glass (as I have, consistently, since the 1970s) should know three things about Glass’ “Orphée,”
currently being staged by Virginia Opera:(1) Unlike Glass’ best-known operas, “Einstein on the Beach” and “Satyagraha,” “Orphée” is not especially long. It clocks in at a fast-paced two hours.
(2) It is scored for traditional orchestral strings and winds, rather than Glass’ once-usual ensemble of electronic keyboards. The composer’s “repetitive structures” are passed unrepetitively among instruments with different tonal characteristics and timbres and more varied dynamics and articulation; and the score is liberally spiced with moody or atmospheric qualities. (Plus, in Act 1, a vivid orchestral echo of Gluck’s “Orfeo ed Euridice.”)
(3) It is sung by traditionally operatic voices; and while it has no free-standing arias, its vocal lines are no more angularly modernistic, let alone avant-garde, than those that one might encounter in Debussy or Poulenc.
Those aren’t random comparisons. “Orphée,” based on Jean Cocteau’s 1949 film adaptation of the mythological tale of Orpheus and Eurydice, is sung in French, and in a vocal style that’s modeled on post-romantic French art-song and opera.
This production uses the scenery (by Andrew Lieberman) and costumes (by Kay Voyce) designed in 2007 for Glimmerglass Opera, and employs the stage director of the Glimmerglass production, Sam Helfrich. The set is sleek 1960s modern, with costumes of roughly similar vintage.
Stage movements are often a stylized “glide,” not unlike that of the ceremonial guards at Arlington National Cemetery – an overworked choreographic technique in modern and post-modern opera, but effective and appropriate here, as much of the story, whether set in this world or the underworld, unfolds in dream, or dreamily surreal, scenes.
The cast, from the principals – Matthew Worth (Orpheus), Sara Jakubiak (Eurydice), Heather Buck (the Princess) and Jeffrey Lentz (Heurtebise, the princess’ chauffeur) – to those singing the briefest supporting roles, is uniformly strong and gratifyingly nuanced in both voice and character.
Worth, the University of Richmond alumnus last seen and heard here in the title role of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni,” proves to be as commanding a presence and as idiomatic a voice in this very different work. Jakubiak and Buck are just as riveting, as both singers and actors.
Conductor Steven Jarvi draws colorful and dramatically charged playing from the orchestra, drawn from Hampton Roads’ Virginia Symphony.
In sum, this production is a winner. You can take that from one who’s usually Glass-averse.
The final performance of Virginia Opera’s “Orphée” begins at 2:30 p.m. Feb. 19 at the Carpenter Theatre of Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets. Tickets: $29-$111. Details: (866) 673-7282; http://www.vaopera.org/
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Review: Shanghai Quartet
with Stephen Prutsman, piano & composer
Feb. 15, University of Richmond
Some chamber groups perform certain pieces so often and so well that they’re thought to “own” them. That’s the case with the Shanghai Quartet and Brahms’ Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34. The Shanghai has played the Brahms with a number of pianists – most memorably, the late Ruth Laredo – and has consistently given performances of high intensity and expressiveness.
With their latest collaborator, pianist Stephen Prutsman, the foursome lived up to their reputation in this music, and in at least one way improved upon past renditions. I cannot recall a live performance of the Brahms by this ensemble – or, for that matter, any other – that brought out its inner voices with as much clarity, yet without any loss of the music’s passion or forward momentum.
The Brahms was the highlight of a program whose centerpiece was music composed and arranged by Prutsman, who is at least as active creatively as he is re-creatively.
The Piano Quintet by Prutsman that was to be premiered in this concert turned out to be two movements from “Sweet Suite,” a kind of homage to the dance-inspired suites of Bach and other baroque composers. “Sara’s Band,” a sarabande (what else?), is a pleasantly meandering lyrical miniature, while “Her Pet Chatterbox (A Gigue)” stutters merrily through a succession of rhythmic permutations.
Prutsman and the Shanghai also played his “Three Jazz Standards for piano and string quartet,” treatments of Dizzy Gillespie’s “A Night in Tunisia,” John Coltrane’s “Naima” and Joe Zawinal’s “Birdland” – none from the canon of piano jazz, which may be a surprise considering that the arranger is a pianist. Prutsman’s arrangements are eventful, especially harmonically, and generally faithful to the originals. The dynamism of “Birdland” makes it a real crowd-pleaser.
The program opened with the Shanghai playing Mozart’s Quartet in B flat major, K. 458, known as the “Hunt” Quartet. The four musicians – violinists Weigang Li and Yi-Wen Jiang, violist Honggang Li and cellist Nicholas Tzavaras – produced a full-bodied, almost plummy, sonority rather at odds with the lean, low-vibrato string sound lately favored for Mozart. This paid dividends in a richly expressive adagio, at the cost of some aural congestion in louder passages of the opening and closing allegros.
Feb. 15, University of Richmond
Some chamber groups perform certain pieces so often and so well that they’re thought to “own” them. That’s the case with the Shanghai Quartet and Brahms’ Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34. The Shanghai has played the Brahms with a number of pianists – most memorably, the late Ruth Laredo – and has consistently given performances of high intensity and expressiveness.
With their latest collaborator, pianist Stephen Prutsman, the foursome lived up to their reputation in this music, and in at least one way improved upon past renditions. I cannot recall a live performance of the Brahms by this ensemble – or, for that matter, any other – that brought out its inner voices with as much clarity, yet without any loss of the music’s passion or forward momentum.
The Brahms was the highlight of a program whose centerpiece was music composed and arranged by Prutsman, who is at least as active creatively as he is re-creatively.
The Piano Quintet by Prutsman that was to be premiered in this concert turned out to be two movements from “Sweet Suite,” a kind of homage to the dance-inspired suites of Bach and other baroque composers. “Sara’s Band,” a sarabande (what else?), is a pleasantly meandering lyrical miniature, while “Her Pet Chatterbox (A Gigue)” stutters merrily through a succession of rhythmic permutations.
Prutsman and the Shanghai also played his “Three Jazz Standards for piano and string quartet,” treatments of Dizzy Gillespie’s “A Night in Tunisia,” John Coltrane’s “Naima” and Joe Zawinal’s “Birdland” – none from the canon of piano jazz, which may be a surprise considering that the arranger is a pianist. Prutsman’s arrangements are eventful, especially harmonically, and generally faithful to the originals. The dynamism of “Birdland” makes it a real crowd-pleaser.
The program opened with the Shanghai playing Mozart’s Quartet in B flat major, K. 458, known as the “Hunt” Quartet. The four musicians – violinists Weigang Li and Yi-Wen Jiang, violist Honggang Li and cellist Nicholas Tzavaras – produced a full-bodied, almost plummy, sonority rather at odds with the lean, low-vibrato string sound lately favored for Mozart. This paid dividends in a richly expressive adagio, at the cost of some aural congestion in louder passages of the opening and closing allegros.
Monday, February 13, 2012
eighth blackbird wins Grammy
The contemporary music sextet eighth blackbird, ensemble-in-residence at the University 
of Richmond, has won its second Grammy Award for “Lonely Motel – Music from Slide” (Cedille Records), recorded with composer-guitarist Steven Mackey and librettist, singer and actor Rinde Eckert. The disc won in the best small ensemble performance category.
Mackey, Eckert and eighth blackbird premiered “Slide” at the 2009 Ojai Music Festival in California, and presented the piece in March 2010 in Richmond.
The ’birds won their first Grammy in 2008 for their Cedille album “Strange Imaginary Animals,” a collection of short pieces by Mackey, Jennifer Higdon, Gordon Fitzell, David M. Gordon and Dennis DeSantis.
The next Richmond program by eighth blackbird is “Less Is More,” including works by David Lang, Alvin Lucier, Philippe Hurel, Morton Feldman, Matthias Pintscher and György Ligeti, at 7:30 p.m. March 14 at UR’s Modlin Arts Center. Tickets are $20. Details: (804) 289-8980; http://www.modlin.richmond.edu/
of Richmond, has won its second Grammy Award for “Lonely Motel – Music from Slide” (Cedille Records), recorded with composer-guitarist Steven Mackey and librettist, singer and actor Rinde Eckert. The disc won in the best small ensemble performance category.Mackey, Eckert and eighth blackbird premiered “Slide” at the 2009 Ojai Music Festival in California, and presented the piece in March 2010 in Richmond.
The ’birds won their first Grammy in 2008 for their Cedille album “Strange Imaginary Animals,” a collection of short pieces by Mackey, Jennifer Higdon, Gordon Fitzell, David M. Gordon and Dennis DeSantis.
The next Richmond program by eighth blackbird is “Less Is More,” including works by David Lang, Alvin Lucier, Philippe Hurel, Morton Feldman, Matthias Pintscher and György Ligeti, at 7:30 p.m. March 14 at UR’s Modlin Arts Center. Tickets are $20. Details: (804) 289-8980; http://www.modlin.richmond.edu/
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
ACE tapped for NY festival
The Atlantic Chamber Ensemble, organized last year by members of the Richmond Symphony and other performers and teachers in Central Virginia and Hampton Roads, has been named ensemble-in-residence 
for this summer’s Lake George Music Festival in the Adirondacks of New York.
ACE, whose members include violinists Susanna Klein and Ross Monroe Winter, violist Kimberly Sparr, cellist Jason McComb, double-bassist Fred Dole, flutist Ann Choomack, oboist Shawn Welk, clarinetist Ralph Skiano, bassoonist Martin Gordon, French horn player Deb Fialek and pianist Maria Yefimova, will stage its own concerts and mentor and perform with students, who come to the festival from some of the leading American conservatories. Alexander Lombard, the festival’s executive director, said the ensemble’s “talent, ambition, and innovation” made the coming residency “exactly the association we were looking for.”
The group next performs locally with Amaranth Arts Dance and guest violinist Jeanine Wynton at 4 p.m. Feb. 19 at First Unitarian Universalist Church, 1000 Blanton Ave. at the Carillon. Tickets are $15. For more information, call (917) 414-3112 or visit http://www.acensemble.org/
for this summer’s Lake George Music Festival in the Adirondacks of New York.ACE, whose members include violinists Susanna Klein and Ross Monroe Winter, violist Kimberly Sparr, cellist Jason McComb, double-bassist Fred Dole, flutist Ann Choomack, oboist Shawn Welk, clarinetist Ralph Skiano, bassoonist Martin Gordon, French horn player Deb Fialek and pianist Maria Yefimova, will stage its own concerts and mentor and perform with students, who come to the festival from some of the leading American conservatories. Alexander Lombard, the festival’s executive director, said the ensemble’s “talent, ambition, and innovation” made the coming residency “exactly the association we were looking for.”
The group next performs locally with Amaranth Arts Dance and guest violinist Jeanine Wynton at 4 p.m. Feb. 19 at First Unitarian Universalist Church, 1000 Blanton Ave. at the Carillon. Tickets are $15. For more information, call (917) 414-3112 or visit http://www.acensemble.org/
Symphony Chorus auditions
The Richmond Symphony Chorus will hold auditions for sopranos, tenors and basses on Feb. 25 at Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets.
The chorus, directed by Erin R. Freeman, is seeking singers able to participate in rehearsals and performances for Memorial Day weekend performances of Gustav Mahler’s Eighth Symphony, the “Symphony of a Thousand,” by the Virginia and Richmond symphonies, their choruses and other vocal ensembles, conducted by JoAnn Falletta. Some 400 choristers are expected to participate in the concerts, May 26 at William and Mary Hall in Williamsburg and May 27 at Chrysler Hall in Norfolk.
Those interested in auditioning should visit http://www.richmondsymphony.com/ and click “Meet the Chorus” to learn about the audition process.
The chorus’ manager, Barbara Baker, should be contacted at bbaker@richmondsymphony.com by Feb. 20.
The chorus, directed by Erin R. Freeman, is seeking singers able to participate in rehearsals and performances for Memorial Day weekend performances of Gustav Mahler’s Eighth Symphony, the “Symphony of a Thousand,” by the Virginia and Richmond symphonies, their choruses and other vocal ensembles, conducted by JoAnn Falletta. Some 400 choristers are expected to participate in the concerts, May 26 at William and Mary Hall in Williamsburg and May 27 at Chrysler Hall in Norfolk.
Those interested in auditioning should visit http://www.richmondsymphony.com/ and click “Meet the Chorus” to learn about the audition process.
The chorus’ manager, Barbara Baker, should be contacted at bbaker@richmondsymphony.com by Feb. 20.
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Review: Richmond Symphony
Danail Rachev conducting
with Katherine Chi, piano
Feb. 4, Richmond CenterStage
In Harold Schonberg’s “The Great Conductors,” we learn that Igor Stravinsky once belittled Eugene
Ormandy by calling him the ideal conductor of Johann Strauss. The cut didn't draw blood. A conductor who can draw from an orchestra the fluid yet precise rhythm, the breathing phrases, the brilliance with no loss of warmth, needed in a Strauss waltz, is a maestro indeed, one who probably can get anything else he wants out of a symphony orchestra.
It’s with that in mind that I salute Danail Rachev as an ideal conductor of Strauss waltzes. (Dvořák, too, I’ll bet.) The man makes an orchestra dance, and that’s a rare gift.
In the first of two weekend dates with the Richmond Symphony, Rachev, the Bulgarian-born music director of Oregon’s Eugene Symphony, set the rhythmic tone for this program in “Anitra’s Dance” from Grieg’s “Peer Gynt” music. The tempo was precise, but with a hint of the langorous, seeming to roll or sway when played by massed strings.
Good for Grieg, of course; and, it turned out, good for Rachmaninoff’s “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini” and Sibelius’ Fifth Symphony, too. Both of these grander opuses are grounded in folk-dance rhythms, although that often goes unnoticed amid pianistic and orchestral brilliance and busyness. Rachev’s rhythmic sensibility ensured that it was noticeable in these performances.
The Canadian pianist Katherine Chi played the solo of the Rachmaninoff rhapsody with the bright tone, energy, precision and clarity that one expects to hear in Mozart or Ravel. That sound might not do justice to one of Rachmaninoff’s big concertos, but it suits the lighter-textured rhapsody very nicely. Chi didn’t hold back in the score’s more thunderous episodes, but her exchanges with and accompaniment of the symphony’s winds in the more colorful variations made a more lasting impression.
This was one of the first performances since the acoustical refit of the Carpenter Theatre in which the piano and orchestra sounded in proper balance.
With the exception of the Violin Concerto, long-form Sibelius often strikes me as anxiety-dream music – a laborious, frustrating exercise in trying to reach for something that you never quite get hold of. After a great deal of fevered brooding, expressed in jittery string figures, and episodic forays into lyrical and dance themes, the Fifth Symphony finally grasps its desired object, a chorale tune not too far evolved from a chant, made monumental by Sibelius’ orchestration and pacing.
On the way to that climax, Rachev obtained characterful and colorful playing from the orchestra. Martin Gordon’s bassoon solo in the first movement had both lyricism and gravitas. The strings’ pizzicato in the central movement, and their urgently whispering tone in the buildup to the finale, were finely drawn.
But, while intense and focused, this performance didn’t realize the full measure of tension in the piece.
The program repeats at 3 p.m. Feb. 5 in the Carpenter Theatre of Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets. Tickets: $9-$36.50. Details: (800) 514-3849 (ETIX); http://www.richmondsymphony.com/
with Katherine Chi, piano
Feb. 4, Richmond CenterStage
In Harold Schonberg’s “The Great Conductors,” we learn that Igor Stravinsky once belittled Eugene
Ormandy by calling him the ideal conductor of Johann Strauss. The cut didn't draw blood. A conductor who can draw from an orchestra the fluid yet precise rhythm, the breathing phrases, the brilliance with no loss of warmth, needed in a Strauss waltz, is a maestro indeed, one who probably can get anything else he wants out of a symphony orchestra.It’s with that in mind that I salute Danail Rachev as an ideal conductor of Strauss waltzes. (Dvořák, too, I’ll bet.) The man makes an orchestra dance, and that’s a rare gift.
In the first of two weekend dates with the Richmond Symphony, Rachev, the Bulgarian-born music director of Oregon’s Eugene Symphony, set the rhythmic tone for this program in “Anitra’s Dance” from Grieg’s “Peer Gynt” music. The tempo was precise, but with a hint of the langorous, seeming to roll or sway when played by massed strings.
Good for Grieg, of course; and, it turned out, good for Rachmaninoff’s “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini” and Sibelius’ Fifth Symphony, too. Both of these grander opuses are grounded in folk-dance rhythms, although that often goes unnoticed amid pianistic and orchestral brilliance and busyness. Rachev’s rhythmic sensibility ensured that it was noticeable in these performances.
The Canadian pianist Katherine Chi played the solo of the Rachmaninoff rhapsody with the bright tone, energy, precision and clarity that one expects to hear in Mozart or Ravel. That sound might not do justice to one of Rachmaninoff’s big concertos, but it suits the lighter-textured rhapsody very nicely. Chi didn’t hold back in the score’s more thunderous episodes, but her exchanges with and accompaniment of the symphony’s winds in the more colorful variations made a more lasting impression.
This was one of the first performances since the acoustical refit of the Carpenter Theatre in which the piano and orchestra sounded in proper balance.
With the exception of the Violin Concerto, long-form Sibelius often strikes me as anxiety-dream music – a laborious, frustrating exercise in trying to reach for something that you never quite get hold of. After a great deal of fevered brooding, expressed in jittery string figures, and episodic forays into lyrical and dance themes, the Fifth Symphony finally grasps its desired object, a chorale tune not too far evolved from a chant, made monumental by Sibelius’ orchestration and pacing.
On the way to that climax, Rachev obtained characterful and colorful playing from the orchestra. Martin Gordon’s bassoon solo in the first movement had both lyricism and gravitas. The strings’ pizzicato in the central movement, and their urgently whispering tone in the buildup to the finale, were finely drawn.
But, while intense and focused, this performance didn’t realize the full measure of tension in the piece.
The program repeats at 3 p.m. Feb. 5 in the Carpenter Theatre of Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets. Tickets: $9-$36.50. Details: (800) 514-3849 (ETIX); http://www.richmondsymphony.com/
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Camilla Williams (1919-2012)
Camilla Williams, the Virginia-born lyric soprano who was one of the first African-American singers to perform with leading 
opera companies, has died at 92.
A native of Danville and alumna of what is now Virginia State University, Miss Williams was especially well-known for her portrayal of Cio-Cio San in Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly,” the role in which she made her debuts at the New York City Opera in 1946 and the Vienna State Opera in 1954. She also sang Bess in the first complete recording of The Gershwins’ “Porgy and Bess.”
She taught voice at the Indiana University School of Music from 1977 until 1997.
An obituary by Margalit Fox in The New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/03/arts/music/camilla-williams-opera-singer-dies-at-92.html?_r=1&hp
Camilla Williams is remembered in her hometown, from Tara Bozick of WSLS-TV in Roanoke:
http://www2.wsls.com/news/2012/jan/30/locals-recall-williams-impact-world-danville-ar-1651320/
opera companies, has died at 92.A native of Danville and alumna of what is now Virginia State University, Miss Williams was especially well-known for her portrayal of Cio-Cio San in Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly,” the role in which she made her debuts at the New York City Opera in 1946 and the Vienna State Opera in 1954. She also sang Bess in the first complete recording of The Gershwins’ “Porgy and Bess.”
She taught voice at the Indiana University School of Music from 1977 until 1997.
An obituary by Margalit Fox in The New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/03/arts/music/camilla-williams-opera-singer-dies-at-92.html?_r=1&hp
Camilla Williams is remembered in her hometown, from Tara Bozick of WSLS-TV in Roanoke:
http://www2.wsls.com/news/2012/jan/30/locals-recall-williams-impact-world-danville-ar-1651320/
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Children's choir auditions
The Greater Richmond Children’s Choir, directed by Hope Armstrong Erb, will hold auditions for the 2012-13 season on Feb. 7, beginning at 6:30 p.m., and
Feb. 18, starting at 9 a.m., at Grace & Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, 8 N. Laurel St.
The choir’s various ensembles are open to boys and girls aged 8 or older.
To schedule an audition, call (804) 201-1894. For more information on GRCC, visit its website: http://www.grcchoir.org/
Feb. 18, starting at 9 a.m., at Grace & Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, 8 N. Laurel St.
The choir’s various ensembles are open to boys and girls aged 8 or older.
To schedule an audition, call (804) 201-1894. For more information on GRCC, visit its website: http://www.grcchoir.org/
February 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/youth, group and other discounts may be offered.
SCOUTING REPORT
* In and around Richmond: The Richmond Symphony presents two Masterworks series programs: Feb. 4-5 dates featuring guest conductor Danail Rachev and pianist Katherine Chi in music of Rachmaninoff, Sibelius and Grieg; Feb. 25-26 concerts
featuring Music Director Steven Smith and the Richmond Symphony Chorus in a program of Beethoven, Mendelssohn and John Adams, all at Richmond CenterStage. (Note: All symphony tickets are half-price this month.) . . . Violinist Susanna Klein and the Atlantic Chamber Ensemble play works of Bach, Ysaÿe, Fauré and Dohnanyi, Feb. 6 at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Singleton Arts Center. . . . Bruce Stevens, Michael Simpson and Thom Robertson play the Beckerath organ in the University of Richmond’s Cannon Memorial Chapel in a Feb. 10 recital marking the instrument’s 50th anniversary. . . . The Shanghai Quartet is joined by pianist-composer Stephen Prutsman in the premiere of Prutsman’s Piano Quintet and a performance of Brahms’ Piano Quintet in F minor, Feb. 15 at 
UR’s Modlin Arts Center. . . . Virginia Opera’s production of “Orphée,” Philip Glass’ opera after the Jean Cocteau film, tours the state this month, with performances at Richmond CenterStage on Feb. 17 and 19 following runs in Norfolk and Fairfax. . . . The Atlantic Chamber Ensemble continues its multimedia presentations in a program of Prokofiev and Brahms with Amaranth Arts Dance, Feb. 19 at First Unitarian Universalist Church. . . . Oboist Shawn Welk joins the Oberon Quartet in a program of Beethoven, Gerald Finzi and Joan Tower, Feb. 21 at St. Catherine’s School.
* Noteworthy elsewhere: Minnesota’s famed St. Olaf Choir performs at Newport News’ Ferguson Arts Center on Feb. 3. . . . Susan Graham, the stellar mezzo-soprano, gives an art-song recital on Feb. 4 at Washington’s Kennedy Center. . . . Pianist Jonathan Biss plays Beethoven, Chopin and Janáček, Feb. 4 at Washington’s Sixth & I Historic Synagogue. . . . Baritone Kevin McMillan and pianist Gabriel Dobner join pianist Carsten Schmidt and cellist James Wilson in a three-day Schubertiade presented by the Staunton Music Festival, Feb. 10-12 at Trinity Episcopal Church. . . . Pianist Leif Ove Andsnes plays Chopin and Debussy, Feb. 12 at Strathmore in the Maryland suburbs
of DC. . . . The Emerson String Quartet and pianist Wu Han play Haydn, Brahms and Schumann, Feb. 15 at Strathmore. . . . Violinist Julia Fischer plays Beethoven, Ysaÿe and Saint-Saëns, Feb. 18 at Sixth & I Historic Synagogue in DC. . . . The Washington National Opera stages Jonathan Miller’s production of Mozart’s “Cosí fan tutte,” Feb. 25 and 28 (with more dates in March) at the Kennedy Center. . . . The Alexander String Quartet plays favorites by Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, Feb. 28 at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. . . . Lorin Maazel conducts the Vienna Philharmonic in Mozart, Sibelius and Richard Strauss, Feb. 29 at the Kennedy Center.
Feb. 1 (7:30 p.m.)
Feb. 3 (8 p.m.)
Feb. 5 (2:30 p.m.)
Harrison Opera House, 160 E. Virginia Beach Boulevard, Norfolk
Virginia Opera
Steven Jarvi conducting
Philip Glass: “Orphée”
Matthew Worth (Orphée)
Sara Jakubiak (Eurydice)
Heather Buck (La Princesse)
Jeffrey Lentz (Heuterbise)
Christopher Temporelli (Judge)
Matthew Burns (Poet)
Martha Wryk (Aglaonice)
Jonathan Blalock (Cégeste)
Oliver Neal Medina (Le Commissaire)
Drew Duncan (Reporter)
Patrick O’Halloran (Glazier)
Michael O’Halloran (Policeman)
Sam Helfrich, stage director
in French, English captions
$25-$114
(866) 673-7282
http://www.vaopera.org/
Feb. 2 (8 p.m.)
Phi Beta Kappa Hall, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg
Feb. 4 (8 p.m.)
Regent University Theater, 1000 Regent University Drive, Virginia Beach
Virginia Symphony
Benjamin Rous conducting
Beethoven: “Fidelio” Overture
Dvořák: Violin Concerto in A minor
Simon Lapointe, violin
Mozart: Symphony No. 39 in E flat major, K. 543
$16-$60
(757) 892-6366
http://www.virginiasymphony.org/
Feb. 2 (7 p.m.)
Feb. 3 (8 p.m.)
Feb. 4 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Christoph Eschenbach conducting
Richard Strauss: “Metamorphosen”
Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 (“Eroica”)
$20-$85
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/
Feb. 3 (8 p.m.)
Ferguson Arts Center, Christopher Newport University, Newport News
St. Olaf Choir
Anton Armstrong directing
program TBA
$22-$37
(877) 840-0457
http://www.fergusoncenter.cnu.edu/
Feb. 3 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
UVa Chamber Music Festival:
Albemarle Ensemble
works by Bach, Barber, Paul Taffanel
$20
(434) 924-3376
http://artsandsciences.virginia.edu/music/concertsevents/index.html
Feb. 3 (8 p.m.)
The Barns at Wolf Trap, Trap Road, Vienna
East Coast Chamber Orchestra
Schoenberg: Suite in G major (“In the Old Style”)
Beethoven: “Great Fugue,” Op. 133
Barber: Serenade for string orchestra, Op. 1
Tchaikovsky: Serenade for strings in C major
$35
(877) 965-3872
http://www.wolftrap.org/
Feb. 3 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue S.E., Washington
Cygnus Ensemble
Miranda Cuckson, violin
Daniel Panner, viola
Blair McMillen, piano
Fritz Kreisler: violin and piano works TBA
Harold Meltzer: “Kreisleriana” (premiere)
Meltzer: “Brion”
Kreisler: String Quartet in A minor
free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert/1112-schedule.html
Feb. 4 (8 p.m.)
Feb. 5 (3 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Richmond Symphony
Danail Rachev conducting
Grieg: “Peer Gynt” Suite No. 1
Rachmaninoff: “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini”
Katherine Chi, piano
Sibelius: Symphony No. 5
$9-$36.50
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
http://www.richmondsymphony.com/
Feb. 4 (8 p.m.)
Center for the Arts, George Mason University, Fairfax
Tchaikowski St. Petersburg State Orchestra
Roman Leontiev conducting
Ravel: “Daphnis et Chloë” Suite No. 2
Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 1
Alexander Pirozhenko, piano
Rimsky-Korsakov: “Scheherazade”
$25-$50
(888) 945-2468 (Tickets.com)
http://cfa.gmu.edu/calendar/month/2012/2/
Feb. 4 (3 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
Susan Graham, mezzo-soprano
Malcolm Martineau, piano
works by Purcell, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Schumann, Liszt, Duparc, Wolf, Horowitz, Poulenc, Sondheim
$45-$65
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
http://www.wpas.org/
Feb. 4 (8 p.m.)
Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, Washington
Jonathan Biss, piano
Beethoven: Sonata in C minor, Op. 10, No. 1
Beethoven: Sonata in E flat major, Op. 81a (“Les Adieux”)
Chopin: Nocturne in E major, Op. 62, No. 2
Chopin: Polonaise-Fantasie in A flat major, Op. 61
Janáček: Sonata No. 1 (“From the Street”)
Janáček: “In the Mists”
$35
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
http://www.wpas.org/
Feb. 5 (3 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Richard Becker, piano
program TBA
free
(804) 289-8980
http://www.modlin.richmond.edu/
Feb. 5 (3:30 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
UVa Chamber Music Festival:
David Sariti, violin
Kelly Sulick, flute
program TBA
$20
(434) 924-3376
http://artsandsciences.virginia.edu/music/concertsevents/index.html
Feb. 6 (8 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Susanna Klein, violin
Atlantic Chamber Ensemble
works by Bach, Ysaÿe, Fauré, Dohnanyi
$5
(804) 828-6776
http://www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html
Feb. 9 (7 p.m.)
Feb. 10 (8 p.m.)
Feb. 11 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Christoph Eschenbach conducting
Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No. 1
Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, violin
Bruckner: Symphony No. 9
$20-$85
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/
Feb. 10 (7:30 p.m.)
Cannon Memorial Chapel, University of Richmond
Bruce Stevens, Michael Simpson & Thom Robertson, organ
50th anniversary celebration of Beckerath organ
works by Buxtehude, Bruhns, Bach, Schumann, Rheinberger, Reger, Franck, others
free
(804) 289-8277
Feb. 10 (8 p.m.)
Ferguson Arts Center, Christopher Newport University, Newport News
Tschaikowski St. Petersburg State Orchestra
Roman Leontiev conducting
Wagner: “The Flying Dutchman” Overture
Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor
Alexander Pirozhenko, piano
Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5
$39-$69
(877) 840-0457
http://www.fergusoncenter.cnu.edu/
Feb. 10 (7 p.m.)
Trinity Episcopal Church, 214 W. Beverley St., Staunton
Staunton Music Festival:
Carsten Schmidt & Gabriel Dobner, piano
James Wilson, cello
Kevin McMillan, baritone
Jason Stell, speaker
Lecture-demonstration, “On Schubert’s Late Style”
$20
(540) 569-0267
http://www.stauntonmusicfestival.com/
Feb. 10 (8 p.m,.)
Feb. 12 (2 p.m.)
Center for the Arts, George Mason University, Fairfax
Virginia Opera
Steven Jarvi conducting
Philip Glass: “Orphée”
Matthew Worth (Orphée)
Sara Jakubiak (Eurydice)
Heather Buck (La Princesse)
Jeffrey Lentz (Heuterbise)
Christopher Temporelli (Judge)
Matthew Burns (Poet)
Martha Wryk (Aglaonice)
Jonathan Blalock (Cégeste)
Oliver Neal Medina (Le Commissaire)
Drew Duncan (Reporter)
Patrick O’Halloran (Glazier)
Michael O’Halloran (Policeman)
Sam Helfrich, stage director
in French, English captions
$44-$98
(888) 945-2468 (Tickets.com)
http://www.vaopera.org/
Feb. 11 (2 p.m.)
Gellman Room, Richmond Public Library, First and Franklin streets
Terra Voce
Elizabeth Brightbill, flute
Andrew Gobbert, cello
program TBA
free
(804) 646-7223
http://www.richmondpubliclibrary.org/
Feb. 11 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Feb. 12 (3:30 p.m.)
Monticello High School, 1400 Independence Way, Charlottesville
Charlottesville & University Symphony Orchestra
Kate Tamarkin conducting
Jennifer Lynn Waters, soprano
Gerald Powers, tenor
works by Johann Strauss II, Bizet, Tchaikovsky, Puccini, Mascagni
$10-$38
(434) 924-3376
http://artsandsciences.virginia.edu/music/concertsevents/index.html
Feb. 11 (7 p.m.)
Trinity Episcopal Church, 214 W. Beverley St., Staunton
Staunton Music Festival:
Carsten Schmidt & Gabriel Dobner, piano
James Wilson, cello
Kevin McMillan, baritone
Schubert: Lieder TBA
Schubert: Fantasie in F minor
Schubert: Piano Sonata in B flat major, D. 960
$20
(540) 569-0267
http://www.stauntonmusicfestival.com/
Feb. 11 (2 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Sol Gabetta, cello
Alessio Bax, piano
Schumann: “Fantasiestücke”
Shostakovich: Sonata in D minor
Mendelssohn: Sonata No. 2 in D major
Servais: “Fantaisie sur deux Airs Russes”
$25
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
http://www.wpas.org/
Feb. 12 (4 p.m.)
Bon Air Presbyterian Church, 9201 W. Huguenot Road, Richmond
Second Sunday South of the James:
Sonia Vlahcevic, piano
György Ligeti: “Musica Ricerata”
Chopin: works TBA
with commentary
donation requested
(804) 272-7514
Feb. 12 (4 p.m.)
Trinity Episcopal Church, 214 W. Beverley St., Staunton
Staunton Music Festival:
Carsten Schmidt & Gabriel Dobner, piano
James Wilson, cello
Kevin McMillan, baritone
Schubert: Lieder TBA
Schubert: “Arpeggione” Sonata
Schubert: Piano Sonata in A major, D. 959
$20
(540) 569-0267
http://www.stauntonmusicfestival.com/
Feb. 12 (3 p.m.)
Feb. 13 (8 p.m.)
Shaftman Performance Hall, Jefferson Center, 541 Luck Ave., Roanoke
Roanoke Symphony
David Stewart Wiley conducting
Bernstein: “One Hand, One Heart” from “West Side Story”
Mahler: Adagietto from Symphony No. 5
Howard Hanson: Symphony No. 2 (“Romantic”)
$21-$41
(540) 343-9127
http://www.rso.com/
Feb. 12 (7 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Leif Ove Andsnes, piano
Chopin: Nocturne in B major, Op. 62, No. 1
Chopin: Nocturne in E major, Op. 62, No. 2
Chopin: four ballades
Debussy: “Estampes”
Debussy: “Images,” book 1
$23-$80
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
http://www.wpas.org/
Feb. 14 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio
Michael Tree, viola
Harold Robinson, double-bass
Beethoven: Piano Trio in B flat major, Op. 11
Ellen Taafe Zwilich: Quintet for piano, violin, viola, cello and bass
Schubert: Piano Quintet in A major (“Trout”)
$45
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/
Feb. 15 (7 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
VCU Symphonic Wind Ensemble
Terry Austin directing
program TBA
$5
(804) 828-6776
http://www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html
Feb. 15 (7:30 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Shanghai Quartet
Stephen Prutsman, piano
Mozart: Quartet in B flat major, K. 458 (“Hunt”)
Prutsman: Piano Quintet (premiere)
Brahms: Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34
$34
(804) 289-8980
http://www.modlin.richmond.edu/
Feb. 15 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Vocal Arts DC:
Florian Boesch, baritone
Roger Vignoles, piano
Schubert: “Schwanegesang,” other Lieder TBA
Schumann: “Liederkreis,” other Lieder TBA
$45
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/
Feb. 15 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Emerson String Quartet
Wu Han, piano
Haydn: Quartet in F major, Op. 77, No. 2
Brahms: Piano Quartet in G minor, Op. 25
Schumann: Piano Quintet in E flat major, Op. 44
$35-$85
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
http://www.wpas.org/
Feb. 16 (7 p.m.)
Feb. 18 (8 p.m.)
Feb. 19 (3 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall
National Symphony Orchestra
Herbert Blomstedt conducting
Beethoven: Symphony No. 4
Richard Strauss: “Ein Heldenleben”
$20-$85
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/
Feb. 16 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Young Concert Artists:
Benjamin Beilman, violin
Yekwon Sunyoo, piano
Mozart: Sonata in E flat major, K. 302
Richard Strauss: Sonata in E flat major, Op. 18
Rogerson: “once” for violin and piano (premiere)
Prokofiev: Sonata, Op. 115, for solo violin
Fritz Kreisler: “Viennese Rhapsodic Fantasietta”
$24
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/
Feb. 17 (8 p.m.)
Feb. 19 (2:30 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Virginia Opera
Steven Jarvi conducting
Philip Glass: “Orphée”
Matthew Worth (Orphée)
Sara Jakubiak (Eurydice)
Heather Buck (La Princesse)
Jeffrey Lentz (Heuterbise)
Christopher Temporelli (Judge)
Matthew Burns (Poet)
Martha Wryk (Aglaonice)
Jonathan Blalock (Cégeste)
Oliver Neal Medina (Le Commissaire)
Drew Duncan (Reporter)
Patrick O’Halloran (Glazier)
Michael O’Halloran (Policeman)
Sam Helfrich, stage director
in French, English captions
$29-$111
(866) 673-7282
http://www.vaopera.org/
Feb. 18 (2 p.m.)
Gellman Room, Richmond Public Library, First and Franklin streets
Bon Air Chamber Players
program TBA
free
(804) 646-7223
http://www.richmondpubliclibrary.org/
Feb. 18 (8 p.m.)
Sixth and I Historic Synagogue, Washington
Julia Fischer, violin
Milana Chernyavska, piano
Beethoven: Sonata in G major, Op. 30, No. 3
Ysaÿe: Sonata No. 1 in G minor
Saint-Saëns: Sonata No. 1 in D minor
$40
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
http://www.wpas.org/
Feb. 19 (4 p.m.)
First Unitarian Universalist Church, 1000 Blanton Ave. at the Carillon, Richmond
Atlantic Chamber Ensemble
Jeanine Wynton, violin
Amaranth Arts Dance
Prokofiev: Quintet
Brahms: Trio for piano, violin and horn
$15
http://www.acensemble.org/
Feb. 21 (7:30 p.m.)
Bannard Chapel, St. Catherine’s School, 6001 Grove Ave., Richmond
Oberon Quartet
Shawn Welk, oboe
works by Beethoven, Gerald Finzi, Joan Tower
free
(804) 288-2804
http://www.stcatherines.org/
Feb. 23 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Voxare String Quartet
program TBA
free
(434) 924-3376
http://artsandsciences.virginia.edu/music/concertsevents/index.html
Feb. 23 (7 p.m.)
Feb. 24 (8 p.m.)
Feb. 25 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra Pops
Michael Krajewski conducting
Cirque de la Symphonie, guest stars
program TBA
$20-$85
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/
Feb. 24 (8 p.m.)
Ferguson Arts Center, Christopher Newport University, Newport News
Feb. 25 (8 p.m.)
Chrysler Hall, 201 Brambleton Ave., Norfolk
Feb. 26 (2:30 p.m.)
Sandler Arts Center, 201 S. Market St., Virginia Beach
Virginia Symphony
JoAnn Falletta conducting
Nielsen: “Maskarade” Overture
Grieg: Piano Concerto in A minor
Natasha Paremski, piano
Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5
$20-$85
(757) 892-6366
http://www.virginiasymphony.org/
Feb. 25 (8 p.m.)
Feb. 26 (3 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Richmond Symphony
Steven Smith conducting
John Adams: “The Chairman Dances”
Mendelssohn: “Die erste Walpurgisnacht”
Katherine Leemhuis, mezzo-soprano
Jorge Prego, tenor
Seth Mease Carico, bass-baritone
Richmond Symphony Chorus
Beethoven: Symphony No. 7
$9-$36.50
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
http://www.richmondsymphony.com/
Feb. 25 (7 p.m.)
Feb. 28 (7:30 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Opera House, Washington
Washington National Opera
Philippe Auguin conducting
Mozart: “Cosí fan tutte”
Elizabeth Futral (Fiordiligi)
Renata Pokupic (Dorabella)
Joel Prieto (Ferrando)
Teddy Tahu Rhodes (Guglielmo)
William Shimmel (Don Alfonso)
Christine Brandes (Despina)
Jonathan Miller, stage director
in Italian, English captions
$25-$300
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/
Feb. 26 (2 p.m.)
Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, Laurel Street at Floyd Avenue, Richmond
VCU Commonwealth Singers
“A Musical Celebration of Dr. John Guthmiller”
program TBA
free
(804) 828-6776
http://www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html
Feb. 28 (8 p.m.)
Williamsburg Library Theatre, 515 Scotland St.
Chamber Music Society of Williamsburg:
Fauré Quartett
Mahler: “Klavierquartettsatz” in A minor
Fauré: Piano Quartet No. 1 in C minor, Op. 15
Brahms: Piano Quartet in G minor, Op. 25
$15 (waiting list)
(757) 258-4814
http://www.chambermusicwilliamsburg.org/
Feb. 28 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Tuesday Evening Concerts:
Alexander String Quartet
Mozart: Quartet in B flat major, K. 458 (“Hunt”)
Beethoven: Quartet in F minor, Op. 95 (“Serioso”)
Schubert: Quartet in D minor, D. 810 (“Death and the Maiden”)
$25-$30
(434) 924-3376
http://www.tecs.org/
Feb. 29 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
Vienna Philharmonic
Lorin Maazel conducting
Mozart: “The Marriage of Figaro” Overture
Mozart: Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550
Sibelius: Symphony No. 7
Richard Strauss: “Der Rosenkavalier” Suite
$65-$250
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
http://www.wpas.org/
SCOUTING REPORT
* In and around Richmond: The Richmond Symphony presents two Masterworks series programs: Feb. 4-5 dates featuring guest conductor Danail Rachev and pianist Katherine Chi in music of Rachmaninoff, Sibelius and Grieg; Feb. 25-26 concerts
featuring Music Director Steven Smith and the Richmond Symphony Chorus in a program of Beethoven, Mendelssohn and John Adams, all at Richmond CenterStage. (Note: All symphony tickets are half-price this month.) . . . Violinist Susanna Klein and the Atlantic Chamber Ensemble play works of Bach, Ysaÿe, Fauré and Dohnanyi, Feb. 6 at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Singleton Arts Center. . . . Bruce Stevens, Michael Simpson and Thom Robertson play the Beckerath organ in the University of Richmond’s Cannon Memorial Chapel in a Feb. 10 recital marking the instrument’s 50th anniversary. . . . The Shanghai Quartet is joined by pianist-composer Stephen Prutsman in the premiere of Prutsman’s Piano Quintet and a performance of Brahms’ Piano Quintet in F minor, Feb. 15 at UR’s Modlin Arts Center. . . . Virginia Opera’s production of “Orphée,” Philip Glass’ opera after the Jean Cocteau film, tours the state this month, with performances at Richmond CenterStage on Feb. 17 and 19 following runs in Norfolk and Fairfax. . . . The Atlantic Chamber Ensemble continues its multimedia presentations in a program of Prokofiev and Brahms with Amaranth Arts Dance, Feb. 19 at First Unitarian Universalist Church. . . . Oboist Shawn Welk joins the Oberon Quartet in a program of Beethoven, Gerald Finzi and Joan Tower, Feb. 21 at St. Catherine’s School.* Noteworthy elsewhere: Minnesota’s famed St. Olaf Choir performs at Newport News’ Ferguson Arts Center on Feb. 3. . . . Susan Graham, the stellar mezzo-soprano, gives an art-song recital on Feb. 4 at Washington’s Kennedy Center. . . . Pianist Jonathan Biss plays Beethoven, Chopin and Janáček, Feb. 4 at Washington’s Sixth & I Historic Synagogue. . . . Baritone Kevin McMillan and pianist Gabriel Dobner join pianist Carsten Schmidt and cellist James Wilson in a three-day Schubertiade presented by the Staunton Music Festival, Feb. 10-12 at Trinity Episcopal Church. . . . Pianist Leif Ove Andsnes plays Chopin and Debussy, Feb. 12 at Strathmore in the Maryland suburbs
of DC. . . . The Emerson String Quartet and pianist Wu Han play Haydn, Brahms and Schumann, Feb. 15 at Strathmore. . . . Violinist Julia Fischer plays Beethoven, Ysaÿe and Saint-Saëns, Feb. 18 at Sixth & I Historic Synagogue in DC. . . . The Washington National Opera stages Jonathan Miller’s production of Mozart’s “Cosí fan tutte,” Feb. 25 and 28 (with more dates in March) at the Kennedy Center. . . . The Alexander String Quartet plays favorites by Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, Feb. 28 at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. . . . Lorin Maazel conducts the Vienna Philharmonic in Mozart, Sibelius and Richard Strauss, Feb. 29 at the Kennedy Center.Feb. 1 (7:30 p.m.)
Feb. 3 (8 p.m.)
Feb. 5 (2:30 p.m.)
Harrison Opera House, 160 E. Virginia Beach Boulevard, Norfolk
Virginia Opera
Steven Jarvi conducting
Philip Glass: “Orphée”
Matthew Worth (Orphée)
Sara Jakubiak (Eurydice)
Heather Buck (La Princesse)
Jeffrey Lentz (Heuterbise)
Christopher Temporelli (Judge)
Matthew Burns (Poet)
Martha Wryk (Aglaonice)
Jonathan Blalock (Cégeste)
Oliver Neal Medina (Le Commissaire)
Drew Duncan (Reporter)
Patrick O’Halloran (Glazier)
Michael O’Halloran (Policeman)
Sam Helfrich, stage director
in French, English captions
$25-$114
(866) 673-7282
http://www.vaopera.org/
Feb. 2 (8 p.m.)
Phi Beta Kappa Hall, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg
Feb. 4 (8 p.m.)
Regent University Theater, 1000 Regent University Drive, Virginia Beach
Virginia Symphony
Benjamin Rous conducting
Beethoven: “Fidelio” Overture
Dvořák: Violin Concerto in A minor
Simon Lapointe, violin
Mozart: Symphony No. 39 in E flat major, K. 543
$16-$60
(757) 892-6366
http://www.virginiasymphony.org/
Feb. 2 (7 p.m.)
Feb. 3 (8 p.m.)
Feb. 4 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Christoph Eschenbach conducting
Richard Strauss: “Metamorphosen”
Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 (“Eroica”)
$20-$85
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/
Feb. 3 (8 p.m.)
Ferguson Arts Center, Christopher Newport University, Newport News
St. Olaf Choir
Anton Armstrong directing
program TBA
$22-$37
(877) 840-0457
http://www.fergusoncenter.cnu.edu/
Feb. 3 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
UVa Chamber Music Festival:
Albemarle Ensemble
works by Bach, Barber, Paul Taffanel
$20
(434) 924-3376
http://artsandsciences.virginia.edu/music/concertsevents/index.html
Feb. 3 (8 p.m.)
The Barns at Wolf Trap, Trap Road, Vienna
East Coast Chamber Orchestra
Schoenberg: Suite in G major (“In the Old Style”)
Beethoven: “Great Fugue,” Op. 133
Barber: Serenade for string orchestra, Op. 1
Tchaikovsky: Serenade for strings in C major
$35
(877) 965-3872
http://www.wolftrap.org/
Feb. 3 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue S.E., Washington
Cygnus Ensemble
Miranda Cuckson, violin
Daniel Panner, viola
Blair McMillen, piano
Fritz Kreisler: violin and piano works TBA
Harold Meltzer: “Kreisleriana” (premiere)
Meltzer: “Brion”
Kreisler: String Quartet in A minor
free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert/1112-schedule.html
Feb. 4 (8 p.m.)
Feb. 5 (3 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Richmond Symphony
Danail Rachev conducting
Grieg: “Peer Gynt” Suite No. 1
Rachmaninoff: “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini”
Katherine Chi, piano
Sibelius: Symphony No. 5
$9-$36.50
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
http://www.richmondsymphony.com/
Feb. 4 (8 p.m.)
Center for the Arts, George Mason University, Fairfax
Tchaikowski St. Petersburg State Orchestra
Roman Leontiev conducting
Ravel: “Daphnis et Chloë” Suite No. 2
Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 1
Alexander Pirozhenko, piano
Rimsky-Korsakov: “Scheherazade”
$25-$50
(888) 945-2468 (Tickets.com)
http://cfa.gmu.edu/calendar/month/2012/2/
Feb. 4 (3 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
Susan Graham, mezzo-soprano
Malcolm Martineau, piano
works by Purcell, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Schumann, Liszt, Duparc, Wolf, Horowitz, Poulenc, Sondheim
$45-$65
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
http://www.wpas.org/
Feb. 4 (8 p.m.)
Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, Washington
Jonathan Biss, piano
Beethoven: Sonata in C minor, Op. 10, No. 1
Beethoven: Sonata in E flat major, Op. 81a (“Les Adieux”)
Chopin: Nocturne in E major, Op. 62, No. 2
Chopin: Polonaise-Fantasie in A flat major, Op. 61
Janáček: Sonata No. 1 (“From the Street”)
Janáček: “In the Mists”
$35
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
http://www.wpas.org/
Feb. 5 (3 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Richard Becker, piano
program TBA
free
(804) 289-8980
http://www.modlin.richmond.edu/
Feb. 5 (3:30 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
UVa Chamber Music Festival:
David Sariti, violin
Kelly Sulick, flute
program TBA
$20
(434) 924-3376
http://artsandsciences.virginia.edu/music/concertsevents/index.html
Feb. 6 (8 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Susanna Klein, violin
Atlantic Chamber Ensemble
works by Bach, Ysaÿe, Fauré, Dohnanyi
$5
(804) 828-6776
http://www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html
Feb. 9 (7 p.m.)
Feb. 10 (8 p.m.)
Feb. 11 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Christoph Eschenbach conducting
Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No. 1
Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, violin
Bruckner: Symphony No. 9
$20-$85
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/
Feb. 10 (7:30 p.m.)
Cannon Memorial Chapel, University of Richmond
Bruce Stevens, Michael Simpson & Thom Robertson, organ
50th anniversary celebration of Beckerath organ
works by Buxtehude, Bruhns, Bach, Schumann, Rheinberger, Reger, Franck, others
free
(804) 289-8277
Feb. 10 (8 p.m.)
Ferguson Arts Center, Christopher Newport University, Newport News
Tschaikowski St. Petersburg State Orchestra
Roman Leontiev conducting
Wagner: “The Flying Dutchman” Overture
Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor
Alexander Pirozhenko, piano
Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5
$39-$69
(877) 840-0457
http://www.fergusoncenter.cnu.edu/
Feb. 10 (7 p.m.)
Trinity Episcopal Church, 214 W. Beverley St., Staunton
Staunton Music Festival:
Carsten Schmidt & Gabriel Dobner, piano
James Wilson, cello
Kevin McMillan, baritone
Jason Stell, speaker
Lecture-demonstration, “On Schubert’s Late Style”
$20
(540) 569-0267
http://www.stauntonmusicfestival.com/
Feb. 10 (8 p.m,.)
Feb. 12 (2 p.m.)
Center for the Arts, George Mason University, Fairfax
Virginia Opera
Steven Jarvi conducting
Philip Glass: “Orphée”
Matthew Worth (Orphée)
Sara Jakubiak (Eurydice)
Heather Buck (La Princesse)
Jeffrey Lentz (Heuterbise)
Christopher Temporelli (Judge)
Matthew Burns (Poet)
Martha Wryk (Aglaonice)
Jonathan Blalock (Cégeste)
Oliver Neal Medina (Le Commissaire)
Drew Duncan (Reporter)
Patrick O’Halloran (Glazier)
Michael O’Halloran (Policeman)
Sam Helfrich, stage director
in French, English captions
$44-$98
(888) 945-2468 (Tickets.com)
http://www.vaopera.org/
Feb. 11 (2 p.m.)
Gellman Room, Richmond Public Library, First and Franklin streets
Terra Voce
Elizabeth Brightbill, flute
Andrew Gobbert, cello
program TBA
free
(804) 646-7223
http://www.richmondpubliclibrary.org/
Feb. 11 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Feb. 12 (3:30 p.m.)
Monticello High School, 1400 Independence Way, Charlottesville
Charlottesville & University Symphony Orchestra
Kate Tamarkin conducting
Jennifer Lynn Waters, soprano
Gerald Powers, tenor
works by Johann Strauss II, Bizet, Tchaikovsky, Puccini, Mascagni
$10-$38
(434) 924-3376
http://artsandsciences.virginia.edu/music/concertsevents/index.html
Feb. 11 (7 p.m.)
Trinity Episcopal Church, 214 W. Beverley St., Staunton
Staunton Music Festival:
Carsten Schmidt & Gabriel Dobner, piano
James Wilson, cello
Kevin McMillan, baritone
Schubert: Lieder TBA
Schubert: Fantasie in F minor
Schubert: Piano Sonata in B flat major, D. 960
$20
(540) 569-0267
http://www.stauntonmusicfestival.com/
Feb. 11 (2 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Sol Gabetta, cello
Alessio Bax, piano
Schumann: “Fantasiestücke”
Shostakovich: Sonata in D minor
Mendelssohn: Sonata No. 2 in D major
Servais: “Fantaisie sur deux Airs Russes”
$25
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
http://www.wpas.org/
Feb. 12 (4 p.m.)
Bon Air Presbyterian Church, 9201 W. Huguenot Road, Richmond
Second Sunday South of the James:
Sonia Vlahcevic, piano
György Ligeti: “Musica Ricerata”
Chopin: works TBA
with commentary
donation requested
(804) 272-7514
Feb. 12 (4 p.m.)
Trinity Episcopal Church, 214 W. Beverley St., Staunton
Staunton Music Festival:
Carsten Schmidt & Gabriel Dobner, piano
James Wilson, cello
Kevin McMillan, baritone
Schubert: Lieder TBA
Schubert: “Arpeggione” Sonata
Schubert: Piano Sonata in A major, D. 959
$20
(540) 569-0267
http://www.stauntonmusicfestival.com/
Feb. 12 (3 p.m.)
Feb. 13 (8 p.m.)
Shaftman Performance Hall, Jefferson Center, 541 Luck Ave., Roanoke
Roanoke Symphony
David Stewart Wiley conducting
Bernstein: “One Hand, One Heart” from “West Side Story”
Mahler: Adagietto from Symphony No. 5
Howard Hanson: Symphony No. 2 (“Romantic”)
$21-$41
(540) 343-9127
http://www.rso.com/
Feb. 12 (7 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Leif Ove Andsnes, piano
Chopin: Nocturne in B major, Op. 62, No. 1
Chopin: Nocturne in E major, Op. 62, No. 2
Chopin: four ballades
Debussy: “Estampes”
Debussy: “Images,” book 1
$23-$80
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
http://www.wpas.org/
Feb. 14 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio
Michael Tree, viola
Harold Robinson, double-bass
Beethoven: Piano Trio in B flat major, Op. 11
Ellen Taafe Zwilich: Quintet for piano, violin, viola, cello and bass
Schubert: Piano Quintet in A major (“Trout”)
$45
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/
Feb. 15 (7 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
VCU Symphonic Wind Ensemble
Terry Austin directing
program TBA
$5
(804) 828-6776
http://www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html
Feb. 15 (7:30 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Shanghai Quartet
Stephen Prutsman, piano
Mozart: Quartet in B flat major, K. 458 (“Hunt”)
Prutsman: Piano Quintet (premiere)
Brahms: Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34
$34
(804) 289-8980
http://www.modlin.richmond.edu/
Feb. 15 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Vocal Arts DC:
Florian Boesch, baritone
Roger Vignoles, piano
Schubert: “Schwanegesang,” other Lieder TBA
Schumann: “Liederkreis,” other Lieder TBA
$45
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/
Feb. 15 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Emerson String Quartet
Wu Han, piano
Haydn: Quartet in F major, Op. 77, No. 2
Brahms: Piano Quartet in G minor, Op. 25
Schumann: Piano Quintet in E flat major, Op. 44
$35-$85
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
http://www.wpas.org/
Feb. 16 (7 p.m.)
Feb. 18 (8 p.m.)
Feb. 19 (3 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall
National Symphony Orchestra
Herbert Blomstedt conducting
Beethoven: Symphony No. 4
Richard Strauss: “Ein Heldenleben”
$20-$85
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/
Feb. 16 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Young Concert Artists:
Benjamin Beilman, violin
Yekwon Sunyoo, piano
Mozart: Sonata in E flat major, K. 302
Richard Strauss: Sonata in E flat major, Op. 18
Rogerson: “once” for violin and piano (premiere)
Prokofiev: Sonata, Op. 115, for solo violin
Fritz Kreisler: “Viennese Rhapsodic Fantasietta”
$24
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/
Feb. 17 (8 p.m.)
Feb. 19 (2:30 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Virginia Opera
Steven Jarvi conducting
Philip Glass: “Orphée”
Matthew Worth (Orphée)
Sara Jakubiak (Eurydice)
Heather Buck (La Princesse)
Jeffrey Lentz (Heuterbise)
Christopher Temporelli (Judge)
Matthew Burns (Poet)
Martha Wryk (Aglaonice)
Jonathan Blalock (Cégeste)
Oliver Neal Medina (Le Commissaire)
Drew Duncan (Reporter)
Patrick O’Halloran (Glazier)
Michael O’Halloran (Policeman)
Sam Helfrich, stage director
in French, English captions
$29-$111
(866) 673-7282
http://www.vaopera.org/
Feb. 18 (2 p.m.)
Gellman Room, Richmond Public Library, First and Franklin streets
Bon Air Chamber Players
program TBA
free
(804) 646-7223
http://www.richmondpubliclibrary.org/
Feb. 18 (8 p.m.)
Sixth and I Historic Synagogue, Washington
Julia Fischer, violin
Milana Chernyavska, piano
Beethoven: Sonata in G major, Op. 30, No. 3
Ysaÿe: Sonata No. 1 in G minor
Saint-Saëns: Sonata No. 1 in D minor
$40
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
http://www.wpas.org/
Feb. 19 (4 p.m.)
First Unitarian Universalist Church, 1000 Blanton Ave. at the Carillon, Richmond
Atlantic Chamber Ensemble
Jeanine Wynton, violin
Amaranth Arts Dance
Prokofiev: Quintet
Brahms: Trio for piano, violin and horn
$15
http://www.acensemble.org/
Feb. 21 (7:30 p.m.)
Bannard Chapel, St. Catherine’s School, 6001 Grove Ave., Richmond
Oberon Quartet
Shawn Welk, oboe
works by Beethoven, Gerald Finzi, Joan Tower
free
(804) 288-2804
http://www.stcatherines.org/
Feb. 23 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Voxare String Quartet
program TBA
free
(434) 924-3376
http://artsandsciences.virginia.edu/music/concertsevents/index.html
Feb. 23 (7 p.m.)
Feb. 24 (8 p.m.)
Feb. 25 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra Pops
Michael Krajewski conducting
Cirque de la Symphonie, guest stars
program TBA
$20-$85
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/
Feb. 24 (8 p.m.)
Ferguson Arts Center, Christopher Newport University, Newport News
Feb. 25 (8 p.m.)
Chrysler Hall, 201 Brambleton Ave., Norfolk
Feb. 26 (2:30 p.m.)
Sandler Arts Center, 201 S. Market St., Virginia Beach
Virginia Symphony
JoAnn Falletta conducting
Nielsen: “Maskarade” Overture
Grieg: Piano Concerto in A minor
Natasha Paremski, piano
Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5
$20-$85
(757) 892-6366
http://www.virginiasymphony.org/
Feb. 25 (8 p.m.)
Feb. 26 (3 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Richmond Symphony
Steven Smith conducting
John Adams: “The Chairman Dances”
Mendelssohn: “Die erste Walpurgisnacht”
Katherine Leemhuis, mezzo-soprano
Jorge Prego, tenor
Seth Mease Carico, bass-baritone
Richmond Symphony Chorus
Beethoven: Symphony No. 7
$9-$36.50
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
http://www.richmondsymphony.com/
Feb. 25 (7 p.m.)
Feb. 28 (7:30 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Opera House, Washington
Washington National Opera
Philippe Auguin conducting
Mozart: “Cosí fan tutte”
Elizabeth Futral (Fiordiligi)
Renata Pokupic (Dorabella)
Joel Prieto (Ferrando)
Teddy Tahu Rhodes (Guglielmo)
William Shimmel (Don Alfonso)
Christine Brandes (Despina)
Jonathan Miller, stage director
in Italian, English captions
$25-$300
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/
Feb. 26 (2 p.m.)
Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, Laurel Street at Floyd Avenue, Richmond
VCU Commonwealth Singers
“A Musical Celebration of Dr. John Guthmiller”
program TBA
free
(804) 828-6776
http://www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html
Feb. 28 (8 p.m.)
Williamsburg Library Theatre, 515 Scotland St.
Chamber Music Society of Williamsburg:
Fauré Quartett
Mahler: “Klavierquartettsatz” in A minor
Fauré: Piano Quartet No. 1 in C minor, Op. 15
Brahms: Piano Quartet in G minor, Op. 25
$15 (waiting list)
(757) 258-4814
http://www.chambermusicwilliamsburg.org/
Feb. 28 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Tuesday Evening Concerts:
Alexander String Quartet
Mozart: Quartet in B flat major, K. 458 (“Hunt”)
Beethoven: Quartet in F minor, Op. 95 (“Serioso”)
Schubert: Quartet in D minor, D. 810 (“Death and the Maiden”)
$25-$30
(434) 924-3376
http://www.tecs.org/
Feb. 29 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
Vienna Philharmonic
Lorin Maazel conducting
Mozart: “The Marriage of Figaro” Overture
Mozart: Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550
Sibelius: Symphony No. 7
Richard Strauss: “Der Rosenkavalier” Suite
$65-$250
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
http://www.wpas.org/