Virginia Opera
Gerald Steichen conducting
March 30, Richmond CenterStage
Could “The Mikado” be any campier or more physically animated than it is in the production that Virginia Opera has been
staging this month? Hard to imagine.
Stage director Dorothy Danner puts her cast through double-time paces that rarely slow to a jog, let alone a walk; and her direction maxes out the show’s comic lines and gestures. This is Gilbert & Sullivan that dances along the fine line between exhilaration and exhaustion. And it exacts a musical price.
In the first of two Richmond performances that conclude the production’s run, many of the singers sounded to be expending more energy in sprinting and gesticulating than in projecting their voices. Diction got lost in the rush, and not just in the speedy patter numbers. (Fortunately, the caption operator’s reflexes were quick enough.) Remarkably, voices rarely sounded strained; but too often they were underpowered. The pointed satire of W.S. Gilbert’s plot line and text rarely came across.
Ko-Ko, the Lord High Executioner who can barely wield his axe, is the comic hinge of the show, and Kevin Burdette proved to be a gifted comedian. In scrolling out Ko-Ko’s “little list” of those who “would not be missed” – updated and localized, per now-usual practice – and in other key comic scenes, Burdette’s gestures and timing were spot-on. His voice strengthened as the evening progressed.
Aaron St. Clair Nicholson, as the sneering aristocrat Poo-Bah, and Dorothy Byrne, as Katisha, the imperiously hideous “daughter-in-law elect” of the Mikado, were suitably over-the-top, playing up their characterizations to Monty Pythonesque excess and wearing their elaborate costumes like second skins.
Matthew Plenk and Katherine Jolly, as the young lovers Nanki-Poo and Yum-Yum, flirted with excess just as effectively, if differently. Plenk milked the earnest naïveté of Nanki-Poo, and vocalized to match – on more than one occasion, he seemed about to break into “Nessun dorma” or some other staple of impassioned tenor vocalization. Jolly played Yum-Yum as a Muffie, a self-absorbed preppy prom queen; her voice veered between Lucia and Betty Boop.
Jeffrey Tucker, as the Mikado (emperor of Japan), was gleefully bloodthirsty and vocally commanding.
The company’s male chorus, the “gentlemen of Japan,” were in fine collective voice and reveled in their elaborately choreographed production numbers. The female chorus made less of an impression.
Conductor Gerald Steichen obtained an efficient, but somehow under-animated, performance from the orchestra, drawn from the Richmond Symphony.
Virginia Opera’s production of “The Mikado” concludes its run at 2:30 p.m. April 1 in the Carpenter Theatre of Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets. Tickets: $31-$111. Details: (866) 673-7282; http://www.vaopera.org/
How many composers wrote enough music to fill eight full days of radio airtime? How many wrote enough that’s worth hearing for that long to 
the exclusion of all other composers’ music?
Franz Schubert is one of very few. And the beginning of spring may be the perfect time for the epic Schubertiade that BBC3, the BBC’s classical music station, will air from March 23-31. The Guardian’s Tom Service observes that radio “is a peculiarly Schubertian medium, the most intimate way of connecting a composer and listener.”
The BBC3 audio stream can be accessed here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/bbc_radio_three
The Roanoke Times’ Ralph Berrier Jr. profiles Kinney Rorrer, a banjo player (who counts among his 
ancestors the old-time banjo star Charlie Poole) and broadcaster whose Danville home is full of antique phonographs and more than 3,000 wax cylinders and
78-rpm records that are played on the machines. “My granddaughter is probably one of the few 6-year-olds in the state of Virginia who knows what a Victrola is,” the collector says. Rorrer also notes that his record players work just fine during power outages:
http://www.roanoke.com/extra/wb/306274
March 14, University of Richmond
“Less Is More,” the program that eighth blackbird presented in the final concert of its eighth season of residency at the University of Richmond, could 
just as easily, and perhaps more accurately, have been called “more or less.”
The six selections ranged from an
ultra-minimal composition, built from a single note, to a piece crammed with about as many sounds as six musicians can produce; and the musical energy levels ranged from the frenetic to the near-static.
The sextet – pianist Lisa Kaplan, percussionist Matthew Duval, violinist-violist Yvonne Lam, cellist Nicholas Photinos, flutist Tim Munro and clarinetist Michael J. Maccaferri – opened the program maximally, in Kurt Rohde’s “this bag is not a toy” (2011).
In Rohde’s “concerto without orchestra,” the musicians, most playing multiple instruments – among which are a water bowl, a plastic tub, clapping hands, harmonicas (with and without accordion attachments) and a paper bag – dive into a first movement that’s a hyper-energetic blizzard of colliding and overlapping tones. This gives way to a comparatively languid central movement, which is followed by a jittery finale that trails off into what the composer terms a “ghostly echo” of figures and thematic fragments from the first movement.
The program’s other large-scale offerings were a reprise of David Lang’s “these broken wings” (2007), which eighth blackbird introduced at UR in the 2008 concert that also featured the premiere of Steve Reich’s Double Sextet (which subsequently was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for music); and sextet arrangements of two of György Ligeti’s piano études (1985-94), “Fanfares” and “Automne à Varsovie (Autumn in Warsaw),” the former (by Kaplan) amplifying the prismatic tonal qualities of the original, the latter (by Munro) fleshing out the piece’s moodiness and bittersweet qualities.
The Lang piece, the most easily detachable and musically durable part of “singing in the dead of night,” a collaborative work with composers Julia Wolfe and Michael Gordon and choreographer Susan Marshall, was this program’s most “classical” work in terms of form and instrumental interchange.
On first hearing four years ago, “these broken wings” struck me as a modern homage to the baroque concerto grosso; I’ll stick with that characterization, and welcome this abstract music’s liberation from the theatrical company it initially kept. The ’birds sounded to be more comfortable with the percolating syncopations of its first section and the rolling groove of its finale.
On the “less” side of this program, there were Alvin Lucier’s “Fidelio Trio” (1987), a piece in which the pianist repeatedly plays an A while the cellist and violist ever so gradually slide out of and ultimately back into that pitch, and “Durations 1” (1960), one of the shorter (10 minutes) examples of Morton Feldman’s abstract-expressionist style, in which flutist, violinist, cellist and pianist quietly play the scored notes at lengths of their choosing, producing a soundscape of subtlety and ambivalence. Both works could be called “what is music?” music, not so much musical essays as invitations for the listener to contemplate the quality and character of musical tone.
Had the ’birds polled the audience for its favorite among this program’s wildly varied selections, the winner quite likely would have been “The Body of Your Dreams” (2003) by Jacob Ter Veldhuis, a Dutch
“avant-pop” composer also known as JacobTV. In this piece, piano accompanies and expressively amplifies a manipulated tape recording of voices from a late-night television commercial for a belt that supposedly “will vibrate fat away” by jiggling tummy flab with electronic jolts. It’s hilarious both in principle and practice, and pianist Kaplan made a thoroughly merry exercise of it.
Will Liverman, a 23-year-old baritone from Virginia Beach, has been named one of nine finalists in the Metropolitan Opera’s 2012 National Council Auditions. After winning in Eastern regional auditions, he will compete in the finalists’ concert on March 18 at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York.
Liverman, who is studying for a master’s degree at the Juilliard School, currently is in his first season with the Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center for young singers at Lyric Opera of Chicago. He also won a 2012 George London Foundation Encouragement Award.
He sang roles in Puccini’s “Tosca” and Copland’s “The Tender Land” last summer at Glimmerglass Opera.
UPDATE 1 (MARCH 17): A profile of the singer, by Teresa Annas of The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk):
http://hamptonroads.com/2012/03/va-beach-baritone-finals-metropolitan-opera
UPDATE 2 (MARCH 19): Liverman was not one of the winners. He and three others passed over by the finals judges each will receive $5,000.
The Richmond Symphony’s Masterworks, its mainstage classical series at the Carpenter Theatre of Richmond CenterStage, will be pared down in the coming season. Seven Masterworks programs are scheduled, 
down from eight in the current season; and three of next season’s programs will be staged only on Saturday nights.
“When we moved back to the Carpenter Theatre, we hoped to build an audience on Sunday afternoon. There is an audience, but that audience is not growing as we had hoped,” says E. Frazier Millner, the symphony’s director of advancement and patron communications. The decision was made “to repeat the ‘blockbuster’ programs that we expect to play to larger audiences.”
Cutting some Masterworks dates “gives us more flexibility in scheduling and programming . . . enabling us to offer different programs at other venues and other times,” Millner says, adding that the symphony expects to announce other 2012-13 performances at later dates.
As with this season, next season’s Symphony Pops and Metro Collections series each will feature four concerts and the LolliPops family series, three concerts. Pops and LolliPops performances will be at the Carpenter Theatre, Metro Collection concerts at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland.
Major orchestral works in the coming Masterworks season include Mahler’s First Symphony, Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Scheherazade,” the fifth symphonies of Tchaikovsky and Beethoven and the “Jupiter” 
Symphony (No. 41) of Mozart, all conducted by the orchestra’s music director, Steven Smith. Beethoven’s “Pastoral” Symphony (No. 6), led by Erin R. Freeman, the symphony’s associate conductor, is slated for the season’s final Metro Collection program.
Continuing Smith’s practice of programming contemporary works alongside standards, the programs for next season will feature four 21st-century compositions, all being heard here for the first time: Derek Bermel’s orchestral work “A Shout, a Whisper, and a Trace” (2009); John B Hedges’ “Prayers of Rain and 
Wind” (2008) for double-bass and orchestra, with Joseph Conyers, the bass soloist for whom the piece was written; and “Gran Danzón (The Bel Air Concerto)” for flute and orchestra by the noted jazz saxophonist-clarinetist Paquito D’Rivera, featuring Marina Puccinini, the flutist who premiered the piece in 2002. All those will be on Masterworks programs. Steven Hartke’s “A Brandenburg Autumn” (2006) will be performed alongside Bach’s “Brandenburg” Concerto No. 1 in a Metro Collection program.
One of Steven Smith’s own compositions, “La Chasse” (1993), also is slated for performance in a Masterworks program.
Guest artists making their debuts with the symphony next season, in addition to Puccinini and Conyers, are Orion Weiss, a widely praised young pianist who studied with Emanuel Ax at the Juilliard School, playing 
Bartók’s Piano Concerto No. 3, and Mischa Santora, the Dutch-born music director of the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, guest-conducting the program with the Bermel and Bartók works, as well as music of Brahms and Johann Strauss II.
Mezzo-soprano Kathryn Leemhuis will return to sing Berlioz’s song cycle “Les nuits d’été,” and pianist Norman Krieger will return to play Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat major in the Masterworks season-opener.
Diana Cohen, who joined the Richmond Symphony as its concertmaster this season after holding the same post with the Kalamazoo (MI) and Charleston (SC) symphonies and Iris Orchestra of Memphis, will perform as a soloist for the first time in a Masterworks 
program, playing Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto.
Three more symphony musicians will be featured in Metro Collection programs: principal French horn player James B. Ferree, performing with tenor Joseph Evans in Benjamin Britten’s “Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings;” principal second violinist Ellen Cockerham, playing Henri Vieuxtemps’ Violin Concerto No. 5; and principal violist Molly Sharp, featured in Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “Flos Campi.”
Freeman, who doubles as the symphony’s associate conductor and director of the Richmond Symphony Chorus, will lead a Masterworks program highlighted 
by the Mozart Requiem. The chorus also will perform Aaron Copland’s “Old American Songs” in the Masterworks season-opener and Handel’s “Messiah” in the Christmas season, and a chamber contingent of the chorus will sing in “Flos Campi” and folk-song settings by Vaughan Williams in the Metro Collection finale.
Highlighting the pops series are “The Long and Winding Road” starring singer Maureen McGovern and a concert featuring the Cuban jazz band Tiempo Libre. Other pops programs are “Bernstein on Broadway,” narrated by Leonard Bernstein’s daughter, Jamie; and the “Let It Snow!” program of holiday music with the Symphony Chorus.
LolliPops programs include Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf,” narrated by Michael Boudewyns; “Scheherazade,” with storyteller Charlotte Blake Alston; and “Come Dance With Us,” a program ranging from waltz to swing.
Ticket subscriptions, including a “Compose Your Own” package of three concerts or more from any series, are now available to existing subscribers and will go on sale to others on April 30. Single-ticket sales will begin in August.
To obtain a season brochure or more information, call the Richmond Symphony box office at (804) 788-1212, or visit http://www.richmondsymphony.com/
The 2012-13 program schedule:
MASTERWORKS
8 p.m. Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays at Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage
Saturday subscriptions (seven concerts): $161-$434 (adults); $84-$434 (18 and younger) or free with paid adult; $35 (college students)
Sunday subscriptions (four concerts): $92-$248 (adults); $48-$248 (18 and younger) or free with paid adult; $20 (college students)
Sept. 22-23 – Steven Smith conducting. Copland: “Old American Songs” (Richmond Symphony Chorus); Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat major (Norman Krieger, piano); Mahler: Symphony No. 1 in D major.
Nov. 17 – Mischa Santora conducting. Derek Bermel: “A Shout, a Whisper, and a Trace” (2009); Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 3 (Orion Weiss, piano); Johann Strauss II: “The Gypsy Baron” Overture; Brahms: Hungarian dances TBA.
Jan. 26-27 – Steven Smith conducting. Steven Smith: “La Chasse” (1993); Paquito D’Rivera: “Gran Danzón (The Bel Air Concerto)” (2002) (Marina Piccinini, flute); Rimsky-Korsakov: “Scheherazade.”
Feb. 16-17 – Erin R. Freeman conducting. Mozart: “The Magic Flute” Overture; John B Hedges: “Prayers of Rain and Wind” (2008) (Joseph Conyers, double-bass); Mozart: Requiem (soloists TBA, Richmond Symphony Chorus).
March 16 – Steven Smith conducting. Mendelssohn: “Hebrides” Overture; Barber: Violin Concerto (Diana Cohen, violin); Mozart: Symphony No. 41 in C major (“Jupiter”).
April 20 – Steven Smith conducting. Berlioz: “Béatrice et Bénédict” Overture; Berlioz: “Les nuits d’été” (Kathryn Leemhuis, mezzo-soprano); Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 in E minor.
May 11-12 – Steven Smith conducting. Monteverdi: Toccata and Ritornelli from “Orfeo;” Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C minor; Stravinsky: “Le sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring).”
METRO COLLECTION
3 p.m. Sundays at Blackwell Auditorium, Randolph-Macon College, Ashland
subscriptions (general-admission seating): $68 (adults); $40 (18 and younger); $20 (college students)
Oct. 7 – Steven Smith conducting. Kodály: “Summer Evening;” Britten: Serenade for tenor, horn and strings (Joseph Evans, tenor; James Ferree, French horn); Haydn: Symphony No. 102 in B flat major.
Nov. 4 – Steven Smith conducting. Gounod: “Petite Symphonie;” Lutoslawski: Preludes and fugue for 13 solo strings; Schubert: Symphony No. 6 in C major.
Feb. 24 – Steven Smith conducting. Bach: “Brandenburg” Concerto No. 1; Steven Hartke: “A Brandenburg Autumn” (2006); Vieuxtemps: Violin Concerto No. 5 (Ellen Cockerham, violin); Respighi: “Ancient Airs and Dances” Suite No. 1.
May 5 – Erin R. Freeman conducting. Vaughan Williams: folk-song settings (Richmond Symphony Chamber Chorus); Vaughan Williams: “Flos Campi” (Molly Sharp, viola; Richmond Symphony Chamber Chorus); Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 in F major (“Pastoral”).
POPS
8 p.m. Saturdays at Carpenter Theatre, unless listed otherwise
subscriptions: $99-$258 (adults); $48 (18 and younger); $20 (college students)
Sept. 29 – Erin R. Freeman conducting. “Bernstein on Broadway,” narrated by Jamie Bernstein.
Dec. 1, Dec. 2 (3 p.m.) – Erin R. Freeman conducting. “Let It Snow!” (Richmond Symphony Chorus).
Jan. 19 – Erin R. Freeman conducting. “The Long and Winding Road,” with singer Maureen McGovern.
March 2 – Steven Smith conducting. Tiempo Libre, guest stars.
LOLLIPOPS
11 a.m. Saturdays at Carpenter Theatre
subscriptions: $45 (adults); $36 (18 and younger) or free with paid adult; $15 (college students)
Oct. 27 – Erin R. Freeman conducting. “Peter and the Wolf,” with actor Michael Boudewyns.
Feb. 2 – Erin R. Freeman conducting. “Scheherazade,” with storyteller Charlotte Blake Alston.
March 23 – Erin R. Freeman conducting. “Come Dance With Us.”
SPECIAL EVENT
at Carpenter Theatre
tickets: $20-$45 (adults); $12-$45 (18 and younger)
Dec. 8 (7 p.m.) – Steven Smith conducting. Handel: “Messiah” (soloists TBA, Richmond Symphony Chorus).
A new kind of violin string has been crafted from the silk that spiders produce for their webs. Shigeyoshi Osaki, a researcher at Nara Medical University in Japan, made the strings by weaving thousands of strands of the “dragline silk” from which spiders dangle.
“The violin strings are a novel practical use for spider silk as a kind of high value-added product, and offer a distinctive type of timbre for both violin players and music lovers worldwide,” Osaki writes.
More, including a sample of music made on spider-web strings, from BBC News:
news:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17232058
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 is spending most of March on pit-orchestra duty for Virginia Opera’s production of Gilbert & Sullivan’s “The Mikado” (opening at Richmond CenterStage on March 30 after runs in Norfolk and Fairfax); the symphony’s only other date is a LolliPops family program of Britten’s “The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra,” March 3 at CenterStage. . . . It’s 
also an off month for Virginia Commonwealth University’s Rennolds Chamber Concerts; and the only classical presentation in the University of Richmond’s Modlin Arts series is UR resident ensemble eighth blackbird’s “Less Is More,” a program of contemporary music by David Lang, Morton Feldman, György Ligeti and others, March 14 at the Modlin Arts Center. . . . Daniel Myssyk conducts the VCU Symphony in a program of Debussy, Ravel and Vaughan Williams, March 8 at the 
Singleton Arts Center. . . . Molly Sharp, the Richmond Symphony’s principal violist, joins the Richmond Philharmonic for Berlioz’s “Harold in Italy,” sharing the program with Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 in G Minor, March 11 at VCU. . . . Boyd Jones of Stetson University performs March 16 on the Beckerath in UR’s Cannon Memorial Chapel in the final program of this season’s Organ Repertoire Recital Series presented by the Richmond chapter of the American Guild of Organists. . . . Leslie Tung offers a rare local encounter with the fortepiano, the late-18th/early 19th-century ancestor of the modern piano, in a program of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, March 22 in UR’s Perkinson Recital Hall. . . . VCU stages a three-day Flamenco Festival, March 23-25. . . . And the Richmond Choral Society is joined by the City Singers Children’s Chorus in “Through the Eyes of a Child,” March 25 at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church.
* Noteworthy Elsewhere: Michael Daniels joins JoAnn Falletta and the Virginia Symphony in Elgar’s Cello Concerto, sharing the program with Mozart’s “Coronation” Mass, March 1 at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg and March 3 at Regent University Theater in Virginia Beach. . . . Yefim Bronfman plays Haydn, Brahms and Prokofiev, March 2 at Strathmore in Washington’s Maryland suburbs. . . . The Washington National Opera continues its Jonathan Miller-directed production of Mozart’s “Cosí fan tutte,” March 2-15 at the Kennedy Center. . . . On March 3 at the Kennedy Center, Benjamin Grosvenor, the 18-year-old piano virtuoso, plays Bach, Chopin, Scriabin, Rachmaninoff and Ravel in the afternoon; 
that night, Washington National Opera sponsors a concert starring soprano Angela Gheorghiu. . . . The National Symphony Orchestra and visiting ensembles, including the Takács Quartet and Prague Philharmonia, survey classics from Vienna, Prague and Budapest throughout the month at the Kennedy Center. . . . Pianist Murray Perahia plays Bach, Beethoven, Chopin and more, March 18 at Strathmore. . . . Violinist Vadim Gluzman plays a Tuesday Evening Concerts program of Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Wieniawski and more, March 20 at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. . . . Pianist Jonathan Biss joins the Elias Quartet in music of Suk, Janáček and Dvořák, March 28 at the Library of Congress in Washington.
CANCELLATION: Soprano Deborah Voigt’s March 17 concert at Washington’s Kennedy Center has been canceled.
March 1 (8 p.m.)
Phi Beta Kappa Hall, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg
March 3 (8 p.m.)
Regent University Theater, Virginia Beach
Virginia Symphony
JoAnn Falletta conducting
Vaughan Williams: “The Wasps” Overture
Elgar: Cello Concerto
Michael Daniels, cello
William Alwyn: “Lyra Angelica”
Barbara Chapman, harp
Mozart: “Coronation” Mass
Billye Brown Youmans, soprano
Sarah Williams, mezzo-soprano
Jon-Michael Ball, tenor
Ryan Speedo Green, bass-baritone
Virginia Symphony Chorus
$16-$60
(757) 892-6366
http://www.virginiasymphony.org/
March 2 (8 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Julia Heinen, clarinet
Dmitry Rachmanov, piano
Brahms: Sonata in E flat major
works by Reed, Widor, Françaix, Gustavino
$5
(804) 828-6776
http://www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html
March 2 (8 p.m.)
The Barns at Wolf Trap, Trap Road, Vienna
Jerusalem String Quartet
Beethoven: Quartet in G major, Op. 18, No. 2
Debussy: Quartet in G major
Shostakovich: Quartet No. 9 in E flat major
$35
(877) 965-3872 (Tickets.com)
http://www.wolftrap.org/
March 2 (7:30 p.m.)
March 4 (2 p.m.)
March 7 (7:30 p.m.)
March 9 (7:30 p.m.)
March 10 (7 p.m.)
March 11 (2 p.m.)
March 12 (7 p.m.)
March 15 (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/
March 2 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Yefim Bronfman, piano
Haydn: Sonata in C major
Brahms: Sonata No. 3 in F minor, Op. 5
Prokofiev: Sonata No. 8 in B flat major
$23-$85
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
http://www.wpas.org/
March 3 (11 a.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Richmond Centerstage, Sixth and Grace streets
Richmond Symphony LolliPops
Erin R. Freeman conducting
Sara Valentine & Michael Boudewyns, guest stars
Britten: “The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra”
$12-$17
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
http://www.richmondsymphony.com/
March 3 (2 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Deb Saidel, flute & speaker
lecture-recital, “Letting a Long Story Be Long”
works by Isabella Leonarda, Lili Boulanger, Melanie Bonis, Amy Beach
free
(804) 828-6776
http://www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html
March 3 (2 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Benjamin Grosvenor, piano
Bach: Partita No. 4 in A major
Chopin: Sonata No. 3 in B minor
Rachmaninoff: “Etude-Tableau,” Op. 39, No. 5 (“Lilacs”)
Scriabin: Sonata No. 2 in G sharp minor
Ravel: “Gaspard de la Nuit”
$40
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
http://www.wpas.org/
March 3 (7 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Opera House, Washington
Angela Gheorghiu, soprano
Washington National Opera Orchestra
Eugene Kohn conducting
works by Mozart, Massenet, Dvořák, Catalani, Puccini, others
$50-$190
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/
March 4 (3:30 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Virginia Consort
Judith Gary conducting
Beethoven: “Choral Fantasy”
pianist TBA
Brahms: “Liebeslieder Waltzes” (excerpts)
Bach: Sanctus from Mass in B minor
$30
(434) 244-8444
http://www.virginiaconsort.org/
March 4 (8 p.m.)
Center for the Arts, George Mason University, Fairfax
Northwest German Philharmonic
Eugene Tzigane conducting
Grieg: “Peer Gynt” Suite No. 1
Victor Herbert: Cello Concerto No. 2 in E minor
Amit Peled, cello
Brahms: Symphony No. 1 in C minor
$25-$50
(888) 945-2468 (Tickets.com)
http://cfa.gmu.edu/calendar/month/2012/3/
March 4 (6 p.m.)
Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, Washington
Rob Kapilow, narrator
Zuill Bailey, cello
Yuliya Gorenman, piano
“What Makes It Great?”
Beethoven: Sonata No. 3 for cello and piano
$18
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
http://www.wpas.org/
March 5 (8 p.m.)
Roanoke Performing Arts Theatre, Orange Avenue at Williamson Road
Roanoke Symphony
David Stewart Wiley conducting
Roanoke Symphony Chorus
Liberty University Concert Choir
Southern Virginia University Concert Chorale
Roanoke College Children’s Choir
Robin Reed, narrator
“American Voices”
Gould: “American Salute”
Bernstein: “Chichester Psalms”
Copland: “A Lincoln Portrait”
Barber: Adagio for strings
Bernstein: “Make Your Garden Grow” from “Candide”
Jerome Margolis: “Death of a Civil War Soldier” from “Millcreek” Suite
Thompson: “Virginia’s My Home”
“Armed Forces Salute”
$21-$41
(540) 343-9127
http://www.rso.com/
March 8 (8 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
VCU Symphony Orchestra
Daniel Myssyk conducting
works by Debussy, Vaughan Williams, Ravel
$5
(804) 828-6776
http://www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html
March 8 (7 p.m.)
March 10 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Christoph Eschenbach conducting
Bartók: “The Miraculous Mandarin” Suite
Bartók: “Bluebeard’s Castle”
Matthias Goerne, bass-baritone
Michelle DeYoung, mezzo-soprano
$20-$85
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/
March 8 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue S.E., Washington
Leon Fleisher, piano & conductor
Katherine Jacobson Fleisher, piano
musicians from Peabody Institute, Johns Hopkins University
Brahms: “Liebeslieder Waltzes,” Op. 52
Dina Koston: “Messages”
György Ligeti: “”Aventures” for three voices and seven instruments
Ligeti: “Nouvelles Aventures” for three voices and seven instruments
free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert/1112-schedule.html
March 9 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Christoph Eschenbach conducting
Bartók: “Dance Suite”
Kodály: “Dances of Galánta”
Bartók: “Romanian Folk Dances”
Liszt: “Mephisto Waltz” No. 1
Bartók: “The Miraculous Mandarin” Suite
$20-$85
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/
March 9 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue S.E., Washington
Julianne Baird, soprano
Preethi de Silva, harpsichord & fortepiano
C.P.E. Bach: Fantasia in A major
C.P.E. Bach: Sonata in G minor
Handel: arias TBA
C.P.E. Bach: “Hamlet” Fantasia for voice and fortepiano
C.P.E. Bach: Sonata in A major
Haydn: Cantata, “Arianna à Naxos”
free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert/1112-schedule.html
March 10 (2 p.m.)
Gellman Room, Richmond Public Library, First and Franklin streets
Ernst Keller, cello
Brian Plante, piano
Bach: Gamba Sonata No. 2
Beethoven: Cello Sonata No. 3
Fauré: “Sicilienne”
Granados: “Spanish Dance” No. 5 (“Playera”)
free
(804) 646-7223
http://www.richmondpubliclibrary.org/
March 10 (8 p.m.)
March 14 (7:30 p.m.)
March 16 (8 p.m.)
March 18 (2:30 p.m.)
Harrison Opera House, 160 E. Virginia Beach Boulevard, Norfolk
Virginia Opera
Gerald Steichen conducting
Gilbert & Sullivan: “The Mikado”
Matthew Plenk (Nanki-Poo)
Kevin Burdette (Ko-Ko)
Katherine Jolly (Yum-Yum)
Dorothy Burne (Katisha)
Jeffrey Tucker (The Mikado)
Aaron St. Clair Nicholson (Pooh-Bah)
Dorothy Danner, stage director
in English with captions
$25-$114
(866) 673-7282
http://www.vaopera.org/
March 11 (4 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Richmond Philharmonic
Robert Mirakian conducting
Mozart: Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550
Berlioz: “Harold in Italy”
Molly Sharp, viola
$8 in advance, $10 at door
(804) 673-7400
http://www.richmondphilharmonic.org/
March 11 (4 p.m.)
Bon Air Presbyterian Church, 9201 W. Huguenot Road, Richmond
Second Sunday South of the James:
Camerata Strings of Richmond Symphony Youth Orchestra
Rebecca Wilcott conducting
program TBA
Donation requested
(804) 272-7514
March 12 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Dan Zhu, violin
Christoph Eschenbach, piano
Mozart: violin sonatas in E minor, K. 304; G major, K. 379; E flat major, K. 380; B flat major, K. 454; A major, K. 526
$50
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/
March 13 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Takács Quartet
Schubert: “Quartettsatz” in C minor
Bartók: Quartet No. 4
Beethoven: Quartet in C sharp minor, Op. 131
$32
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/
March 14 (7:30 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
eighth blackbird
“Less Is More”
David Lang: “These Broken Wings 3” for sextet
Alvin Lucier: “Fidelio Trio” for viola, cello and piano
Philippe Hurel: “. . . à mesure” for sextet
Morton Feldman: “Durations 1” for flute, violin, cello and piano
Matthias Pintscher: “Figura V/Assonanza” for solo cello
György Ligeti: Etudes for sextet
$20
(804) 289-8980
http://www.modlin.richmond.edu/
March 15 (7 p.m.)
March 17 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Christoph Eschenbach conducting
Beethoven: “Fidelio” (concert presentation)
Melanie Diener (Leonore)
Simon O’Neill (Florestan)
Eric Halfvarson (Rocco)
Jegyung Yang (Marzelline)
Tomasz Konieczny (Don Pizarro)
Choral Arts Society of Washington
$20-$85
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/
March 16 (7:30 p.m.)
Cannon Memorial Chapel, University of Richmond
American Guild of Organists Repertoire Recital Series:
Boyd Jones, organ
program TBA
donation requested
(804) 289-8980
http://www.richmondago.org/
March 16 (8 p.m.)
Museum of Contemporary Art, 2200 Parks Ave., Virginia Beach
March 18 (7 p.m.)
Ferguson Arts Center, Christopher Newport University, Newport News
Lyric Opera Virginia Discovery Recital:
Peter Mark, host and commentator
Suzanna Vinnick and Irina Kurbat, sopranos
Cody Austin & Maurizio Trejo, tenors
program TBA
$15
(757) 446-6666
www.lyricoperavirginia.org
March 16 (1:30 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Christoph Eschenbach conducting
“Music by the Strauss Family”
$20-$85
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/
March 16 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Vadim Repin, violin
pianist TBA
Janáček: Violin Sonata
Ravel: Violin Sonata No. 2 in G major
Grieg: Violin Sonata No. 2 in G major
Chausson: “Poème”
Ravel: “Tzigane”
$28-$85
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
http://www.wpas.org/
March 17 (3:30 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Nancy Ambrose King, oboe
Aaron Hill, oboe
John Mayhood, piano
program TBA
free
(434) 924-3052
http://artsandsciences.virginia.edu/music/concertsevents/index.html
March 17 (8 p.m.)
Center for the Arts, George Mason University, Fairfax
March 18 (3 p.m.)
Hylton Performing Arts Center, George Mason University, Manassas
Fairfax Symphony Orchestra
Christopher Zimmerman conducting
Stravinsky: “Firebird” Suite
Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 2 in A major
Rick Rowley, piano
Sibelius: Symphony No. 7
Sibelius: “Finlandia”
$25-$55
(888) 945-2468 (Tickets.com)
http://www.fairfaxsymphony.org/
March 18 (6 p.m.)
First Presbyterian Church, 820 Colonial Ave., Norfolk
Hampton Roads Chamber Players
Virginia Symphony members
Bach: “Brandenburg” concertos Nos. 1, 3, 6
$5
(757) 892-6366
http://www.virginiasymphony.org/
March 18 (3:30 p.m.)
Dickinson Theater, Piedmont Virginia Community College, Charlottesville
Oratorio Society of Virginia
Michael Slon directing
Danielle Talamantes, soprano
Carrie Stevens, mezzo-soprano
Mark Mowry, tenor
David Newman, baritone
Haydn: Mass in D minor (“Nelson”)
Mozart: “Solemn Vespers”
$10-$30
(434) 295-4385
http://www.oratoriosociety.org/
March 18 (4 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Murray Perahia, piano
Bach: “French Suite” No. 5 in G major
Beethoven: Sonata in E minor, Op. 90
Brahms: “Klavierstücke,” Op. 119
Schubert: Sonata in A major, D. 664
Chopin: Polonaise in C sharp minor, Op. 26
Chopin: Prelude in F sharp minor, Op. 28
Chopin: Mazurka in C sharp minor, Op. 30
Chopin: Scherzo in C sharp minor, Op. 39
$35-$85
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
http://www.wpas.org/
March 19 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue S.E., Washington
L’Arpeggiata
Christina Pluhar directing
Lucilla Galeazzi, vocalist
works by Galeazzi, Kircher, Kapsberger, Cazzati, Vitale, others
free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert/1112-schedule.html
March 20 (8 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Jennifer Parker Harley, flute
other artists TBA
Telemann: Fantasie in E major
Luciano Berio: “Sequenza 1”
Joseph Schwantner: “Silver Halo” for flute quartet
Caleb Burhans: “A Moment for Elliott Smith”
Ian Clarke: “Zoom Tube”
$5
(804) 828-6776
http://www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html
March 20 (8 p.m.)
Williamsburg Library Theatre, 515 Scotland St.
Chamber Music Society of Williamsburg:
Modigliani String Quartet
Schubert: Quartet in C major, D. 46
Mendelssohn: Quartet in A minor, Op. 13
Dohnányi: Quartet No. 3 in A minor
$15 (waiting list)
(757) 258-4814
http://www.chambermusicwilliamsburg.org/
March 20 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Tuesday Evening Concerts:
Vadim Gluzman, violin
Angela Yoffe, piano
Stravinsky: “Suite Italienne”
Prokofiev: Violin Sonata No. 1, Op. 80
Tchaikovsky: “Souvenir d’un lieu cher”
Shostakovich: “Jazz Suite” No. 1
Wieniawski: “Faust Fantasy”
$25-$30
(434) 924-3376
http://www.tecs.org/
March 20 (8 p.m.)
Eisenhower Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Prague Philharmonia
Jirí Belohlávek conducting
Mozart: “Don Giovanni” Overture
Janáček: Suite for strings
Vorísek: Symphony in D major
$25-$50
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/
March 22 (7:30 p.m.)
Perkinson Recital Hall, North Court, University of Richmond
Leslie Tung, fortepiano
works by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven
free
(804) 289-8980
http://www.modlin.richmond.edu/
March 22 (7 p.m.)
March 24 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Christoph Eschenbach conducting
Dvořák: “Stabat Mater”
Anne Schwanewilms, soprano
Nathalie Stutzmann, contralto
Steve Davislim, tenor
Robert Holl, bass
The Washington Chorus
$20-$85
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/
March 23 (7:30 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
VCU Flamenco Festival:
Marija Temo, guitar
Ulrika Frank, dancer
program TBA
$15
(804) 828-6776
http://www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html
March 23 (8 p.m.)
March 25 (2 p.m.)
Center for the Arts, George Mason University, Fairfax
Virginia Opera
Gerald Steichen conducting
Gilbert & Sullivan: “The Mikado”
Matthew Plenk (Nanki-Poo)
Kevin Burdette (Ko-Ko)
Katherine Jolly (Yum-Yum)
Dorothy Burne (Katisha)
Jeffrey Tucker (The Mikado)
Aaron St. Clair Nicholson (Pooh-Bah)
Dorothy Danner, stage director
in English with captions
$44-$98
(888) 945-2468 (Tickets.com)
http://www.vaopera.org/
March 23 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Christoph Eschenbach conducting
Dvořák: Serenade in D minor, Op. 44
Janáček: Concertino for piano, two violins, viola, clarinet, horn and bassoon
Janáček: Capriccio
Dvořák: Serenade in E major, Op. 22
$20-$85
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/
March 23 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue S.E., Washington
Modigliani String Quartet
Arriaga: Quartet No. 3
Beethoven: Quartet in F major, Op. 18, No. 1
Dohnányi: Quartet No. 3 in A minor
free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert/1112-schedule.html
March 24 (2 p.m.)
Gellman Room, Richmond Public Library, First and Franklin streets
Jefferson Baroque
“Living and Playing Together: Sociable Music from 17th- and 18th-century Vienna, Versailles and Virginia”
program TBA
free
(804) 646-7223
http://www.richmondpubliclibrary.org/
March 24 (7:30 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
VCU Flamenco Festival:
Michael Miguelito Prez, guitar
flamenco dance troupe
program TBA
$15
(804) 828-6776
http://www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html
March 24 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
March 25 (3:30 p.m.)
Monticello High School, 1400 Independence Way, Charlottesville
Charlottesville & University Symphony Orchestra
Kate Tamarkin conducting
Bernstein: “Three Dance Episodes” from “On the Town”
Copland: “The Red Pony” Suite
Gershwin: “Rhapsody in Blue”
Michael Mizrahi, piano
Gershwin: “An American in Paris”
$20-$38
(434) 924-3376
http://artsandsciences.virginia.edu/music/concertsevents/index.html
March 24 (8 p.m.)
Center for the Arts, George Mason University, Fairfax
Matt Haimovitz, cello
Christopher O’Riley, piano
“shuffle.play.listen”
works by Bach, Stravinsky, Piazzolla, Radiohead, others
$21-$42
(888) 945-2468 (Tickets.com)
http://cfa.gmu.edu/calendar/month/2012/3/
March 25 (3 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Richard Becker & Doris Wylee-Becker, pianos
works by Beethoven, Schubert, Debussy, Becker, others
free
(804) 289-8980
http://www.modlin.richmond.edu/
March 25 (4 p.m.)
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 520 N. Boulevard, Richmond
Richmond Choral Society
Markus Compton directing
City Singers Children’s Choir
Leslie Dripps directing
Keith Tan, piano
Matt Goves, percussion
“Through the Eyes of a Child”
program TBA
$15
(804) 353-9582
http://www.richmondchoralsociety.org/
March 25 (4 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
VCU Flamenco Festival:
Sueos Gitanos
Flamenco del Sur
program TBA
$15
(804) 828-6776
http://www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html
March 25 (3 p.m.)
Ferguson Arts Center, Christopher Newport University, Newport News
“Red Star” Red Army Chorus & Dancers
Russian folk songs, other works TBA
$29-$44
(855) 337-4849
http://www.fergusoncenter.cnu.edu/
March 25 (2:30 p.m.)
American Theatre, 125 E. Mellen St., Hampton
Matt Haimovitz, cello
pianist TBA
program TBA
$25-$30
(757) 722-2787
http://www.hamptonarts.net/american-theatre/purchase-tickets
March 28 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue S.E., Washington
Elias Quartet
Jonathan Biss, piano
Suk: “Meditation” for quartet
Janáček: “In the Mists” for piano (excerpts)
Janáček: Quartet No. 1 (“Kreutzer Sonata”)
Dvořák: Piano Quintet in A major, Op. 81
free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert/1112-schedule.html
March 29 (8 p.m.)
Recital Hall, Black Music Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Grove Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Gabriel Beavers, bassoon
program TBA
$5
(804) 828-6776
http://www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html
March 29 (7 p.m.)
March 30 (8 p.m.)
March 31 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra Pops
Steven Reineke conducting
Wayne Brady, guest star
songs of Sammy Davis Jr. and Sam Cooke
$20-$85
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/
March 29 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Eben Trio
Fiala: Trio (1980)
Smetana: Piano Trio in G minor, Op. 15
Dvořák: Piano Trio in E minor, Op. 90 (“Dumky”)
$32
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/
March 30 (8 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Virginia Opera
Gerald Steichen conducting
Gilbert & Sullivan: “The Mikado”
Matthew Plenk (Nanki-Poo)
Kevin Burdette (Ko-Ko)
Katherine Jolly (Yum-Yum)
Dorothy Burne (Katisha)
Jeffrey Tucker (The Mikado)
Aaron St. Clair Nicholson (Pooh-Bah)
Dorothy Danner, stage director
in English with captions
$29-$111
(866) 673-7282
http://www.vaopera.org/
March 30 (8 p.m.)
Ferguson Arts Center, Christopher Newport University, Newport News
March 31 (8 p.m.)
Chrysler Hall, 201 Brambleton Ave., Norfolk
Virginia Symphony
David Alan Miller conducting
Miguel del Aguila: “The Fall of Cuzco”
Daniel Binelli: “Concierto Buenos Aires”
Newman & Oltman Guitar Duo
Bizet: “Carmen” Suite
Copland: “El Salon Mexico”
$20-$85
(757) 892-6366
http://www.virginiasymphony.org/
March 30 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Harmonious Blacksmith
“Soundscapes of Jefferson’s America”
program TBA
free
(434) 924-3376
http://artsandsciences.virginia.edu/music/concertsevents/index.html
March 30 (8 p.m.)
Westminster Presbyterian Church, 190 Rugby Road, Charlottesville
Zephyrus Early Music Vocal Ensemble
“Sing for Joy: the Motet in Northern Europe”
works by Sweelinck, others TBA
free
(434) 293-3133
http://www.westminsterva.org/
March 31 (2 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Mikhail Simonyon, violin
Alexandre Moutouzkine, piano
Pärt: “Fratres”
Brahms: Sonata No. 3 in D minor
Prokofiev: Sonata No. 1 in F minor
Szymanowski: “Nocturna and Tarantella”
$25
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
http://www.wpas.org/