Reconciliation at the opera

Peter Mark, the Lyric Opera Virginia maestro who was artistic director of Virginia Opera until his dismissal in November 2010, has been named artistic director emeritus of his former company.

The honor is a sign of reconciliation between Mark and the institution he helped found and led for 36 years. “The [Virginia Opera] board and Peter decided that it was time to come to a resolution of differences, and that’s what happened,” the company’s CEO, Russell P. Allen, tells Teresa Annas of The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk):

http://hamptonroads.com/2012/04/virginia-opera-gives-title-director-it-fired-2010


UPDATE: The Virginia Opera appointment is “part of an amicable resolution,” Mark writes in an April 28 letter to patrons of Lyric Opera Virginia. He also reaffirms his commitment to his new company, paraphrasing Gershwin: “Our LOV is here to stay."

Why 'old believers' believe in vinyl

Norman Lebrecht, writing for Standpoint magazine, goes after “old believers” nostalgic for music on vinyl discs:

http://www.standpointmag.co.uk/node/4433/full

Piling negatives on the 33-rpm record – “scratchy, inaccurate, superannuated, inconvenient, short-lasting” – Lebrecht veers off target on that last one. LPs don’t contain as much music as Compact Discs and downloads, but physically they last a long time. The vinyl-record market is dominated by used discs, among which the newest were manufactured more than 30 years ago. Their imperfections don’t prevent them from being playable. Minor defects silence CDs and sound files.

Whatever their shortcomings, vinyl discs remain the most durable medium for preserving sound.

Tokyo calls it quits

The Tokyo String Quartet, a mainstay of chamber music since the 1970s, will disband at the end of next season. The last two charter members, violinist Kikuei Ikeda and violist Kazuhide Isomura, planned to retire in June 2013; faced with replacing them, the remaining members, violinist Martin Beaver and cellist Clive Greensmith, decided to disband the ensemble, Anastasia Tsioulcas reports on NPR’s Deceptive Cadence blog:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2012/04/20/151063275/the-tokyo-string-quartet-bids-farewell

Cincinnati taps Langrée

The French conductor Louis Langrée will fill one of the major conducting vacancies in the American orchestra scene, succeeding Paavo Järvi as music director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Langrée, currently music director of Camerata Salzburg and New York’s Mostly Mozart Festival, will take over in Cincinnati in the 2013-14 season.

Langrée, a 51-year-old native of Alsace, has signed a four-year contract with the orchestra, the Cincinnati Enquirer’s Janelle Gelfand reports:

http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artikkel?NoCache=1&Dato=20120424&Kategori=ENT03&Lopenr=304240090&Ref=AR

Castleton Festival 2012

The Castleton Festival, the month-long series of opera performances and concerts staged on the grounds of the Rappahannock County estate of conductor Lorin Maazel and his wife, Dietlinde Turban Maazel, returns for its fourth season, running from June 22 to July 22.

This summer’s highlights are productions of Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville,” Bizet’s “Carmen” and Stephen Sondheim’s “A Little Night Music,” as well as concerts featuring violinist Jennifer Koh and mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves and Castleton Festival Orchestra performances of Beethoven’s Ninth and Mahler’s First symphonies and the premiere of a Cello Concerto by the Washington-based composer Máximo Flügelman.

The Seldom Scene, the famed bluegrass band, will perform on July 3 in an open-air concert with fireworks.

Most performances will be staged in the 130-seat Theater House and the Festival Theatre on the Castleton grounds.

Two concerts will be presented at Merchants Hall of the Hylton Performing Arts Center in Manassas: “Gershwin and Company: an All-American Evening,” with pianist Kevin Cole, on June 18; and a concert version of Puccini’s “La Bohème,” reprised from last summer’s production, on July 7. For information on those events, visit http://www.hyltoncenter.org/

Maazel, the former music direrctor of the New York Philharmonic, founded the Castleton Festival as a professional training venture for young singers, instrumentalists and stage technicians. More than 200 will live on the estate, rehearse and perform during the 2012 festival. This summer, Rutgers University and Castleton will offer fellowships and course credits to dozens of festival participants.

The production of “A Little Night Music” is designed especially for a new troupe, the Castleton Artists Training Seminar (C.A.T.S.), directed by Levi Hammer.

Tickets for most performances range from $20 to $120, and subscription packages are available for three or six performances. For details, call the Castleton concierge at (866) 974-0767 or visit http://www.castletonfestival.org/

The 2012 Castleton schedule:

June 22 (7:30 p.m.) – Opening concert: “An Italian Extravaganza,” with mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves.

June 23 (7 p.m.) – Rossini: “The Barber of Seville.”

June 24 (2 p.m.) – Castleton Festival Orchestra, Lorin Maazel conducting. Mahler: Symphony No. 1; Máximo Flügelman: Cello Concerto (premiere) (Inbal Segev, cello).

June 28 (8 p.m., Hylton Performing Arts Center, Manassas) – Castleton Festival Orchestra, Lorin Maazel conducting, with pianist Kevin Cole. “Gershwin and Company: an All-American Evening.”

June 29 (7:30 p.m.) – “The Barber of Seville.”

June 30 (2 p.m.) – “Stars of the Future.”

June 30 (7 p.m.) – Bizet: “Carmen.”

July 1 (2 p.m.) – “The Barber of Seville.”

July 3 (7 p.m.) – The Seldom Scene, concert with fireworks.

July 6 (7:30 p.m.) – “Carmen.”

July 7 (2 p.m.) – Castleton Festival Orchestra & Chorus, Lorin Maazel conducting. Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 (“Choral”) (soloists TBA).

July 7 (8 p.m., Hylton Performing Arts Center, Manassas) – Lorin Maazel conducting. Puccini: “La Bohème.”

July 8 (2 p.m.) – “Carmen.”

July 13 (7:30 p.m.) – Sondheim: “A Little Night Music” (C.A.T.S. performers).

July 14 (2 and 7 p.m.) – “A Little Night Music” (C.A.T.S. performers).

July 15 (2 p.m.) – “A Little Night Music” (C.A.T.S. performers).

July 20 (7:30 p.m.) – Song recital (C.A.T.S. performers).

July 21 (3 p.m.) – Song recital (C.A.T.S. performers).

July 21 (7 p.m.) – Jennifer Koh, violin.

July 22 (2 p.m.) – “Spectacular Opera Scenes” (C.A.T.S. performers).

Review: Australian Chamber Orchestra

with Dawn Upshaw, soprano
April 17, Richmond CenterStage

The main offering of the program that the Australian Chamber Orchestra and soprano Dawn Upshaw are presenting on a current U.S. tour is “Winter Morning Walks,” a song cycle by Maria Schneider. This is the second piece written for Upshaw by Schneider, best known as the director of a widely acclaimed jazz orchestra. (Their first collaboration, “Carlos Drummond de Andrade Stories,” dates from 2008.)

Schneider’s grounding as a modern-jazz composer and orchestrator is only obliquely evident in “Winter Morning Walks,” a setting of poems by Ted Kooser that evokes “Midwest winter landscapes, moving from the winter solstice to the vernal equinox,” as the composer puts it in a program note.

The set of nine songs is couched in a style that recalls the late 1970s/early 1980s morphing of West Coast jazz into New Age music by the likes of Paul Winter. Schneider’s orchestration, for strings with piano, double-bass and clarinet, is impressionistic and gives off a sense of wide-open space; the vocal lines typically evolve from renditions of text to extended, long-breathed vocalise.

In this performance, printed texts were not provided, and Kooser’s words were only intermittently audible; so I can’t assess Schneider’s settings or Upshaw’s treatment of them. A tone of vaguely nostalgic reverie, set in the first couple of songs, prevailed throughout the cycle; I found myself tuning out by the sixth or seventh number.

“Winter Morning Walks” does not sound to pose much technical or interpretive challenge to Upshaw. She summoned only a few of the colors and inflections that her voice is capable of producing – and that she subsequently produced, with progressing depth of expression, in a post-intermission set of three romantic art-songs, Robert Schumann’s “Mondnacht” and Franz Schubert’s “Geheimes” and “Der Tod und das Mädchen” (“Death and the Maiden”).

The string orchestra, led by Richard Tognetti, made its strongest impression at the outset and in miniature, in the early (1925) Octet for strings of Dmitri Shostakovich, in which a lyrically sober, not quite bleak, first movement gives way to a pre-echo of the kind of intense danse macabre that gave so many of Shostakovich’s later works an ominous or tormented edge.

The full, 21-piece Australian Chamber Orchestra concluded the program with Tognetti’s orchestration of Edvard Grieg’s String Quartet in G minor. As enlarged for orchestra, this rather episodic piece, whose four movements all contrast slow introductions with uptempo, agitato sections, comes across as a suite of Norwegian dances – at least until the final one, which is based on the Italian saltarello.

Review: Richmond Symphony

Steven Smith conducting
April 15, Richmond CenterStage

Brendon Elliott, a 17-year-old violinist from Newport News, is the first Richmond Symphony Concerto Competition winner in memory to be invited to perform with the orchestra in its mainstage Masterworks series.
Elliott fully lived up to that distinction in the second of two performances of
Saint-Saëns’ Violin Concerto No. 3 in B minor given over the weekend.

This is one of the great virtuoso violin concertos of the late 19th century; but unlike some from that time, the Saint-Saëns requires more than advanced, flashy technique. Much of this music, especially the main theme of the central andantino, needs to be sung as much as played, by an instrumental voice as lyrical and rich as that of a great operatic voice. And the lyricism of the violin part extends well below coloratura range – even the double-stopped “chest” voice is full of melody.

In Elliott’s hands, the fiddle sang and breathed naturally, unconstrained but never excessive. His grasp of the musical line and expressive flow was unerring – even his occasional slide into a note sounded like the right thing to do at the time. Conductor Steven Smith and the orchestra provided robust and songful support throughout the piece.

The orchestral showpiece in this program was Charles Ives’ “Three Places in New England,” which Smith rightly rates as Ives at his best. The opening and closing tone poems, “The Saint-Gaudens in Boston Common (Col. Shaw and His Colored Regiment)” and “From the Housatonic at Stockbridge,” are complex, both atmospherically and expressively; the central “Putnam’s Camp, Redding, Connecticut,” provides a vivid contrast in its evocation of a raucous, brassy Fourth of July celebration, but in its different way is just as challenging in its complexity.

Smith obtained subtly impressionistic, mistily colorful playing from the symphony’s strings in “The Saint-Gaudens,” and almost palpably liquid sounds – enhanced by the “current” of Russell Wilson’s celesta – in “Housatonic.” The orchestra sounded suitably exuberant, but never quite over the top, in “Putnam’s Camp.”

The program closed with an account of Brahms’ Symphony No. 4 in E minor that was sensibly paced, richly sonorous in low strings and winds, but uneven in sustaining tension. The andante, oddly, sounded more concentrated and expressively taut than the opening allegro; the great passacaglia of the finale sounded heartfelt but not like an epically tragic culmination.

The performance was technically assured – none of the common loose threads of execution unraveled – and the solo voices, notably that of flutist Mary Boodell, were in fine form. But there’s more depth to this piece than was plumbed in this reading.

Review: Trio Solisti

April 14, Virginia Commonwealth University

For the second time this season, an ensemble booked for Virginia Commonwealth University’s Rennolds Chamber Concerts showed up with a substitute player. The first time, that proved to be bad news. This time, Edward Arron, the substitute engaged by Trio Solisti when its regular cellist, Alexis Pia Gerlach, bowed out because of a family emergency, provided some of the highlights of the concert.

Arron, joining pianist Jon Klibonoff and violinist Maria Bachmann in this concert, is a cellist with a big tone who “sings” unindulgently and phrases and terraces dynamics expertly. A regular at major chamber-music festivals (artistic director of several) and a teacher at New York University, Arron is not a star; but he certainly has stellar technique and musicianship.

Good thing, too, because the cello plays prominent roles in all three of the pieces in the trio’s VCU program – Schumann’s “Fantasiestücke,” Op. 88; Dvořák’s Trio in E minor, Op. 90 (“Dumky”); and Brahms’ Trio in B major, Op. 8 – as well as frequently playing in tight ensemble with the violin, and having to make its voice heard clearly alongside a decidedly unreticent piano in the Dvořák and Brahms.

The three musicians found their collective sweet spot in the Brahms, producing a rich and well-blended, virtually orchestral, texture while projecting their instruments’ individual characters and carrying their solo lines with warmth and clarity. The highlights of the performance, for me, were the expressive differentiation the ensemble delivered in the first-movement repeat and the combination of lyricism and deep quiet that the threesome brought to the adagio.

Their Dvořák was as songful and energetic as required, but not as tonally refined as the Brahms, and unidiomatic in string sound. Czech fiddlers produce a combination of lean tone and lyrical sweetness that few others approximate, let alone match; Bachmann and Arron played with the standard American mixture of warmth and muscularity. At the piano, Klibonoff also was “pumping iron,” as a fellow concertgoer put it. At their loudest, the three pushed against the boundary of agreeability in the acoustic of VCU’s Vlahcevic Concert Hall.

Klibonoff, Bachmann and Arron were a bit slow to warm to the Schumann – the opening Romanze was rather dry; but once they did warm to it (or perhaps to the sound of the hall, or both), they gave a winning account of the piece. Their treatment of the Humoreske was especially impressive in its dynamism and pointed rhythms.

GRCC traces the triangle

The Greater Richmond Children’s Choir will trace the “triangle” of the 17th-to-19th-century slave trade in June performances in Great Britain and Ghana, with a preview of the concert tour on April 28 at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Boulevard at Grove Avenue.

The choir, led by Hope Armstrong Erb, will perform songs of praise from Ghana in the Twi and Ewe languages, Anglican choral music from England and folk songs and hymns of American Indians, Latino Americans, African-Americans and Anglo-Americans in the museum concert, beginning at 2 p.m. April 28. Tours of the museum’s African art collection will precede and follow the concert.

Tickets for the museum performance are $5. For more information, call (804) 201-1894.

The June tour will take the chorus to Liverpool, the English home port for many slave traders, and to Ghana, the West African coastal nation where enslaved Africans were gathered for their journeys to the Americas.

Before embarking on the tour, GRCC’s various ensembles will celebrate the choir’s 15th anniversary in a free concert at 4 p.m. May 19 at Grace & Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, 8 N. Laurel St. (next to the Landmark Theater).

Art for music

PleinAir Richmond, an event scheduled for June 18-22, will bring about 50 artists to Richmond to paint views of the city. The works produced will be sold on June 22 at Brazier Gallery, 1616 W. Main St., with a reception following at Try-me Gallery, 1623 W. Main St.

The juror for submissions is M. Stephen Doherty, editor of the print and online editions of Plein Air magazine. The awards judge by will be the noted portrait painter Everett Raymond Kinstler.

“Plein air” derives from the French term en plein air, or “in the open air,” referring to paintings produced outdoors rather than in a studio.

PleinAir Richmond will conclude with “Fast and Fresh,” a June 23 event in which local artists are invited to join or watch the visiting artists as they paint along Monument Avenue. The resulting “wet” paintings will be available for purchase.

Proceeds from the event will partially benefit the Richmond Symphony.

For information on tickets to the Friday gallery events and other activities during the week, call the symphony at (804) 788-4717, ext. 112, or visit http://www.pleinairrichmond.com/

'Moral agony'

I’m conflicted about this from The Moscow News:
A disgruntled patron’s lawsuit against the Bolshoi Theater, asking compensation for “moral agony” after enduring a non-traditional production of Glinka’s opera “Russlan and Ludmilla,” has been thrown out of court:

http://themoscownews.com/local/20120410/189613885.html

On one hand, 1 million rubles (about $33,700) is a preposterous claim for a bad night at the opera. On the other hand, a few hefty judgments against the producers of Eurotrash Regieoper could bring opera companies, and not just European ones, to their senses.

And moral agony is a concept that any music lover who’s suffered through a misbegotten performance can heartily embrace.

Puberty hits the boychoirs

The St. Thomas Boys Choir of Leipzig and other European ensembles of boy choristers increasingly are challenged by the earlier onset of puberty and resulting voice changes among their members. When Johann Sebastian Bach led the St. Thomas choir in the early 18th century, boys’ voices typically broke around the age of 17; now, it’s happening around age 13.

Some researchers speculate that the change is due to improved health and nutrition, The Washington Post’s Michael Birnbaum reports:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/leipzigs-st-thomas-boys-choir-deals-with-change/2012/04/07/gIQAYaXC2S_story.html

POSTSCRIPT (APRIL 13): Hope Armstrong Erb, artistic director of the Greater Richmond Children’s Choir, says she and other American youth-choir directors have been dealing with the puberty issue for years.

Erb notes that research, going back some three decades, has found that youngsters in Southern states experience puberty earlier than those in the North. She also speculates that steroids and other chemicals fed to livestock, when passed along the food chain to children, may bring about an earlier onset of puberty.

Review: Atlantic Chamber Ensemble

April 7, Gallery 5, Richmond

For the finale of its first season, the Atlantic Chamber Ensemble (ACE for short) dipped into one of the more curious subcultures of the past few decades: “Steampunk,” a genre of speculative fiction that imagines a cast-iron rococo future, powered by Victorian-style technology – steam engines, dirigibles, flywheels and clockworks – with fashion and furnishings of (sort of) similar vintage.

This gave ACE the opportunity to perform chamber music in fancy dress (river-boat gambler waistcoats, top hats, pseudo-antique frocks and wigs) and, more to the point musically, to contrast the old with the new.

The group, playing to a sold-out house, couldn’t have asked for a more fitting venue than Gallery 5, a 19th-century firehouse converted to a gallery and performance space, although the musicians probably craved a quieter ventilation system.

“Steampunk,” an octet for strings and winds written in 2010 by the Anglo-American composer David Bruce, provided the program with both an aesthetic summation and a big finish. Bruce employs almost the same instrumentation that Franz Schubert used in his Octet (substituting an oboe for Schubert’s second violin), and uses modern and contemporary sound effects and rhetorical gestures to ornament a musical framework that composers of the classical and romantic eras would have recognized.

The five-movement piece, as played by violinist Susanna Klein, violist Kimberly Sparr, cellist Jason McComb, double-bassist Fred Dole, oboist Shawn Welk, clarinetist Ralph Skiano, bassoonist Martin Gordon and French horn player Debra Fialek, came across as neoclassicism liberally garnished with whimsical modernism and romantic expressive warmth.

Bruce’s “Steampunk” was paired with Tristan Perich’s “1-Bit Symphony,” a cheerfully burbling little piece that is performed – or, more accurately, executed – by a programmed chip on a computer. A bit of decorative circuitry (the chip itself would be barely visible) was presented as the performer; it even took a bow as the audience applauded. For visual accompaniment, there was a screening of a printout reporting the computer functions.

Two other pairings more explicitly contrasted old and new: The first movement of Mozart’s Divertimento in E flat major, K. 563, with Michael Daugherty’s Mozart-inspired “Diamond in the Rough;” and Vivaldi’s Concerto in C major for piccolo, strings and continuo with Daugherty’s “Dead Elvis” for bassoon and chamber ensemble.

In “Dead Elvis,” bassoonist Gordon performed in the obligatory Elvis-in-Vegas sequined white jumpsuit, although without the semi-obligatory (and inauthentic) 1950s duck-tail hairdo. For the Vivaldi, piccolo soloist Ann Choomack opted for a Dresden-figurine look of gold gown and white wig – also inauthentic, but undoubtedly sightlier than the outfit worn by a pre-teen girl in a Venetian convent school, for whom Vivaldi would have written the concerto. Looks aside, both delivered fine accounts of their note-heavy solos.

In the Mozart-Daugherty pairing, the Mozart proved to be rougher than Daugherty’s “Diamond,” not surprising in that the former is much harder to play.

ACE opened the program with two 21st-century musical settings of William Blake’s poem “The Garden of Love.” Rodney Money’s version gives the text to a chamber chorus (here, four women from the Richmond Symphony Chorus), with the voices, cello (McComb) and piano (Maria Yefimova) performing a tune that more than vaguely recalls the pop-folk genre. The setting by the Dutch composer Jacob Ter Veldhius (aka JacobTV), in which a manipulated recording of an English reader forms a duet with oboe (Welk) while a surrealistically impressionistic film (by Amber Boardman) is screened, is a more interesting and pointed treatment of Blake’s theme of sensuality out of reach.

Short videos by JacobTV, Daugherty, Perich and Bruce were helpful introductions to their compositions. While identifying the medieval Dies irae and “O Solo Mio”/“It’s Now or Never” as main themes of “Dead Elvis,” Daughtery might have added nods for rhythmic inspiration to Lalo Schifrin's “Mission Impossible” theme and James Brown’s “Night Train.” 

The art (sic) of classical LP covers

Back in the days of vinyl LPs, 12-x-12 album covers were an art form. (Really – they showed up in coffee-table art books.) At least, sometimes they qualified as an art form. At other times, they were exercises in the misconceived or the deliberately wacky.

Especially, it seems, if the albums were of classical music and released on budget labels. Perhaps the producers assumed that their potential buyers were unsophisticated, or needed some extra stimulus or inside jokery (as above) to make the purchase.

Some covers made it pretty obvious that the designers were clueless about the music within:



* * *

Whatever the reason, weird and outrageous LP covers have become semi-cult items in the classical blogosphere. Norman Lebrecht, the English highbrow provocateur, occasionally celebrates them, as in this post:

http://www.artsjournal.com/slippeddisc/2012/04/classical-covers-to-cry-for-2-2.html

Also this one:

http://www.artsjournal.com/slippeddisc/2011/11/classical-covers-to-cry-for.html

And from Lebrecht’s site, we’re guided to more:

http://blog.allmusic.com/2008/07/24/the-golden-age-of-wacky-classical-lp-covers-westminster-gold/

And still more:

http://www.kusc.org/Blog/kusc/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10312566

* * *

None of these reproduce my favorites from the era: the cartoon covers for Crossroads, the Columbia budget label that licensed recordings from Supraphon. In addition to their being among the best buys of the late 1960s, especially for Dvořák, Smetana and other Czech music, their cover art, by Sandy Hoffman, was memorably loony and whimsical. Note also the label’s handlebar-mustached stereo-receiving guy, which anticipated smiley faces and computer emoticons by several decades.

Here are some Crossroads classics, via The Groove Is in the Art, a blog from Seattle’s Jive Time Records (http://www.grooveisintheart.com/):

The Met 'machine'

In an interview with The New York Times’ Anthony Tommasini, Peter Gelb, general manager of the Metropolitan Opera, wonders aloud whether “the machine,” Robert Lepage’s 45-ton mechanized set built for Wagner’s “Ring” cycle, which proved to be noisy and operationally fitful when the company staged individual installments, will function properly now that three full cycles of the four music dramas are to be presented at the house, beginning on April 7:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/04/arts/music/peter-gelb-on-wagners-ring-cycle-at-met-opera.html?_r=1&hpw

The issue is of interest far beyond New York, as the Met has scheduled telecasts of the Lepage “Ring” cycle from May 5-12 in movie theaters worldwide.

An overlooked birthday boy

“What happened to Debussy?” wonders The Guardian’s Tom Service, who observes that the institutions of classical music, which ordinarily make big deals of round-numbered anniversaries of well-known composers (Mozart in 1991 and 2006, Chopin and Schumann in 2010, Mahler in 2010-11, Liszt in 2011, etc.), seem not to have noticed that 2012 is the 150th anniversary of the birth of Claude Debussy, one of the most distinctive and widely influential voices in modern music:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/tomserviceblog/2012/mar/29/celebrating-debussys-real-legacy

The omission is especially hard to fathom in today’s compositional climate, as so many composers focus so much creative energy on explorations of tone color.

There’s time to make amends. The year is still young, and Debussy’s 150th birthday is Aug. 22.

* * *

While we’re on the subject of anniversaries, this year marks the 100th birthday of John Cage (Sept. 5) and the 150th of Frederick Delius (Jan. 29). It’s also the 300th anniversary of the death of Giovanni Gabrieli, the 100th of the deaths of Jules Massenet and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, and the 50th of the death of Jacques Ibert.

This year is the centenary of Debussy’s “Jeux” and “Syrinx,” Schoenberg’s “Pierrot Lunaire,” Richard Strauss’ “Ariadne auf Naxos,” Ravel’s “Daphnis et Chloé” and Delius’ “On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring.” (Music was headed in all sorts of directions in 1912, wasn’t it?)

It’s also the 150th anniversary of Verdi’s “La forza de destino” and Berlioz’s “Beatrice at Bénédict,” the 200th of Beethoven’s Seventh and Eighth symphonies, the 250th of Gluck’s “Orfeo ed Eurydice,” and the (approximate) 300th of Vivaldi’s concerto collections “L’Estro harmonico” and “La stravaganza.”

My source for all these data is “The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music,” compiled by Eric Gilder and June G. Port (Paddington Press, 1978).

April 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: In one of those weird coincidences of timing and repertory, it turns out to be Menotti month in Richmond, with three of Gian-Carlo Menotti’s music-theater works on the boards. Joseph Flummerfelt, choral director of the New York Philharmonic, leads the University of Richmond’s choruses and dancers in “The Unicorn, the Gorgon and the Manticore” on April 6 at UR’s Modlin Arts Center; and VCU Opera stages “The Old Maid and the Thief” and “Amelia Goes to the Ball,” April 27 and 29 at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Singleton Arts Center. . . . The Atlantic Chamber Ensemble and guests go “steampunk” in a program of mostly contemporary music, April 7 at Gallery 5. . . . Brendon Elliott, winner of the 2011 Richmond Symphony Orchestra League Student Concerto Competition, plays Saint-Saëns’ Violin Concerto No. 3 in B minor, on a symphony Masterworks program also featuring Brahms’ Fourth Symphony and Ives’ “Three Places in New England,” April 14-15 at Richmond CenterStage.
. . . Trio Solisti performs in a Rennolds Chamber Concerts program, April 14 at VCU. . . . Soprano Dawn Upshaw returns to town, performing with the Australian Chamber Orchestra in a UR Modlin Arts-sponsored program on April 17 at Richmond CenterStage. . . . The James River Singers perform classical and folk music of Spain and Latin America, April 21 at River Road Church, Baptist, and April 22 at St. Benedict Catholic Church. . . . The Richmond Ballet joins the Richmond Symphony for a pops program of dance music evoking the American West, April 27 at Richmond CenterStage.

* Noteworthy elsewhere: The Virginia Arts Festival gets another season under way in Hampton Roads; this month’s highlight is a recital by soprano Renée Fleming, April 16 at Norfolk’s Harrison Opera House. Other classical attractions include contemporary vocal and instrumental music from the Calmus Ensemble and Quartet New Generation, April 25 at Norfolk Academy, and a wide-ranging program by organist Ken Cowan, April 27 at Christ & St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Norfolk. . . . Pianist Marc-André Hamelin plays Alkan and Chopin, April 2 at Washington’s Kennedy Center. . . . eighth blackbird, resident ensemble at the University of Richmond, reprises its staging of Schoenberg’s “Pierrot Lunaire,” with soprano Lucy Shelton and dancer Elyssa Dole, April 3 at the Kennedy Center. . . . The Tallis Scholars, the eminent British vocal ensemble, present their program “The Field of the Cloth of Gold,” April 3 at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. . . . Thomas Wilkins, the Richmond Symphony alumnus who now leads the Omaha Symphony, guest-conducts Washington’s National Symphony in a program of mostly African-American music featuring the vocal group Sweet Honey in the Rock, April 13-14 at the Kennedy Center. . . . Pianist Stephen Hough plays Rachmaninoff’s First Concerto with Andrew Litton and the National Symphony, April 19-21 at the Kennedy Center. . . . Concerto Köln, the noted German period-instruments orchestra, is joined by cellist Jan Freiheit, April 20 at the Library of Congress in DC. . . . “The two Jons,” clarinetist Jon Manasse and pianist Jon Nakamatsu, perform on April 24 at UVa in Charlottesville. . . . Cellist Mischa Maisky joins the Moscow Soloists chamber orchestra, April 27 at Strathmore in the Maryland suburbs of DC. . . . The Washington National Opera opens its run of Verdi’s “Nabucco” on April 28 at the Kennedy Center (with seven more performances in May).


April 1 (2:30 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/

April 1 (3 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison, Richmond
Ryan Murray, flute
program TBA
free
(804) 828-6776
http://www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html

April 1 (2:30 p.m.)
Sandler Arts Center, 201 S. Market St., Virginia Beach
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/

April 1 (2 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Kennedy Center Chamber Players
Martinů: “La Revue de Cuisine”
Sinding: Serenade in A major, Op. 92, for two violins and piano
Stravinsky: Septet
Saint-Saëns: Septet for trumpet, string quartet and piano
$35
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/

April 2 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Pro Musica Hebraica:
Marc-André Hamelin, piano
Alkan: “Trois Morceaux dans le genre pathétique” (“Souvenirs,” Op. 15, No. 1)
Chopin: Sonata No. 3 in B minor, Op. 58
Chopin: Nocturne in D flat major, Op. 27, No. 2
Chopin: Barcarolle in F sharp major, Op. 60
Alkan: “Douze études dans tous les tons mineurs,” Op. 39, Nos. 4-7
$38
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/

April 3 (7:30 p.m.)
American Theatre, 125 E. Mellen St., Hampton
Milos Karadaglic, classical guitar
program TBA
$25-$30
(757) 722-2787
http://www.hamptonarts.net/american-theatre/purchase-tickets

April 3 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Tuesday Evening Concerts:
The Tallis Scholars
Peter Phillips directing
“The Field of the Cloth of Gold”
works by Mouton, Cornysh, Browne
$12-$30
free master class at 3:30 p.m. April 2, Old Cabell Hall
(434) 924-3376
http://www.tecs.org/

April 3 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
eighth blackbird
Weill-Brecht: cabaret songs
Lucy Shelton, soprano
Berg: Adagio from Chamber Concerto
George Perle: “Critical Moments”
Schoenberg: “Pierrot Lunaire”
Lucy Shelton, soprano
Elyssa Dole, dancer
$32
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/

April 4 (7:30 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
UR Wind Ensemble
David Niethamer directing
Craig Thomas Naylor: “Enduring Honor”
other works TBA
free
(804) 289-8980
http://www.modlin.richmond.edu/

April 4 (8 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison, Richmond
VCU Percussion Ensemble
Peter Martin directing
program TBA
free
(804) 828-6776
http://www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html

April 5 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
UVa New Music Ensemble
I-Jen Fang directing
John Cage: “Seven”
Cage: “Six Melodies” for violin and piano
Cornelius Cardew & Jackson Mac Low: “Solo with Accompaniment”
Tom Johnston: “Rational Melodies”
Alan Shockley: Electric Guitar Quartet
Terry Riley: “In C”
free
(434) 924-3376
http://artsandsciences.virginia.edu/music/concertsevents/index.html

April 5 (7 p.m.)
April 6 (1:30 p.m.)
April 7 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Helmuth Rilling conducting
Mendelssohn: “Elijah”
Marlis Petersen, soprano
Anke Vondung, mezzo-soprano
Bruce Sledge, tenor
Russell Braun, baritone
University of Maryland Concert Choir
$20-$85
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/

April 6 (7:30 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
UR Schola Cantorum & Women’s Chorale
Joseph Flummerfelt, Jeffrey Riehl & David Pederson directing
University Dancers
Menotti: “The Unicorn, the Gorgon and the Manticore”
other works TBA
free
(804) 289-8980
http://www.modlin.richmond.edu/

April 7 (8 p.m.)
Gallery 5, 200 W. Marshall St., Richmond
Atlantic Chamber Ensemble
Women of Richmond Symphony Chorus
Jared Davis directing
David Foster, percussion
Brian Strawley, trumpet
Scott Winger, trombone
“ACE Goes Steampunk”
Rodney Money: “Garden of Love”
Jacob Ter Veldhuis: “Garden of Love”
Mozart: Divertimento in E flat major, K. 563, for string trio
Michael Daugherty: “Diamond in the Rough”
Vivaldi: Piccolo Concerto in C major
Ann Choomack, piccolo
Daugherty: “Dead Elvis”
Martin Gordon, bassoon
David Bruce: “Steampunk”
$10
(917) 414-3112
https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/226042

April 7 (2 and 8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
National Philharmonic & Chorus members
Tommy Talarico conducting
“Video Games Live”
$25-$76
(800) 735-2258
http://www.strathmore.org/

April 10 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue S.E., Washington
Arditti String Quartet
Stephen Drury, piano
John Cage: “Two”
Beethoven: “Great Fugue,” Op. 133
Berg: String Quartet, Op. 3
Thomas Adès: “Four Quarters”
Bartók: Quartet No. 4
free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert/1112-schedule.html

April 11 (7:30 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
UR Symphony Orchestra
Alexander Kordzaia conducting
Chaminade: Flute Concertino, Op. 107
Tim Munro, flute
Holst: “The Planets”
free
(804) 289-8980
http://www.modlin.richmond.edu/

April 11 (8 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison, Richmond
VCU Symphonic Wind Ensemble
Terry Austin directing
program TBA
$5
(804) 828-6776
http://www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html

April 11 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Vocal Arts DC:
Anna Caterina Antonacci, soprano/mezzo-soprano
Donald Sulzen, piano
works by Fauré, Hahn, Tosti, Cilea, Mascagni, others
$45
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/

April 13 (8 p.m.)
Ferguson Arts Center, Christopher Newport University, Newport News
April 14 (8 p.m.)
Chrysler Hall, 201 Brambleton Ave., Norfolk
April 15 (2:30 p.m.)
Sandler Arts Center, 201 S. Market St., Virginia Beach
Virginia Symphony
JoAnn Falletta conducting
Gaubert: “Les Chants de la Mer (Chants of the Sea)”
Stravinsky: “The Fairy’s Kiss” Divertimento
Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 2
William Wolfram, piano
$20-$85
(757) 892-6366
http://www.virginiasymphony.org/

April 13 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
UVa Baroque Orchestra
David Sarti directing
Palladian Chamber Orchestra
Giovanni Gabrieli: Canzona for double string choirs
Albinoni: Sinfonia TBA
Vivaldi: Concerto in B minor for four violins, strings and continuo
soloists TBA
Haydn: Symphony No. 85
Brahms: Serenade No. 2
free
(434) 924-3376
http://artsandsciences.virginia.edu/music/concertsevents/index.html

April 13 (8 p.m.)
The Barns at Wolf Trap, Trap Road, Vienna
Rachel Barton Pine, violin
pianist TBA
Mendelssohn: Sonata in F major
Villa-Lobos: Sonata No. 3
Fairouz: Sonata for solo violin
Richard Strauss: Sonata in E flat major, Op. 18
$35
(877) 965-3872 (Tickets.com)
http://www.wolftrap.org/

April 13 (7 p.m.)
April 14 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Thomas Wilkins conducting
Bernstein: “Candide” Overture
Taylor: “Danse negre”
Hailstork: Symphony No. 1 (second movement)
Ellington: “King of the Magi” from “Three Black Kings”
Still: “Aspirations” from Symphony No. 1 (“Afro-American”)
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 (finale)
Bill Banfield: Symphony No. 10 (“Affirmations for a New World”)
Sweet Honey in the Rock, vocal ensemble
$20-$80
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/

April 13 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue S.E., Washington
Quatuor Diotima
Schubert: Quartet in D major, D. 94
Beethoven: Quartet in C sharp minor, Op. 131
Smetana: Quartet in E minor (“From My Life”)
free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert/1112-schedule.html

April 14 (2 p.m.)
Gellman Room, Richmond Public Library, First and Franklin streets
William Dameron, tenor
arias, art-songs and music-theater pieces by Mozart, Puccini, Schumann, Ravel, Sondheim
free
(804) 646-7223
http://www.richmondpubliclibrary.org/

April 14 (8 p.m.)
April 15 (3 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Richmond Symphony
Steven Smith conducting
Ives: “Three Places in New England”
Saint-Saëns: Violin Concerto No. 3 in B minor
Brendon Elliott, violin
Brahms: Symphony No. 4 in E minor
$16-$73
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
http://www.richmondsymphony.com/

April 14 (8 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison, Richmond
Rennolds Chamber Concerts:
Trio Solisti
Edward Aaron, guest cellist
Schumann: “Fantasiestücke,” Op. 88
Dvořák: Piano Trio in E minor, Op. 90 (“Dumky”)
Brahms: Piano Trio in B major, Op. 8
$32
(804) 828-6776
http://www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html

April 14 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Virginia Women’s Chorus
Katherine Mitchell directing
“Music Down in My Soul”
program TBA
$15
(434) 924-3376
http://artsandsciences.virginia.edu/music/concertsevents/index.html

April 14 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue S.E., Washington
Juilliard Baroque
Monica Huggett directing
Bach: Concerto in A minor for flute, violin and harpsichord, BWV 1044
soloists TBA
Bach: “A Musical Offering,” BWV 1079 (excerpts)
Bach: “Brandenburg” Concerto No. 5, BWV 1050
free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert/1112-schedule.html

April 14 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Lionel Bringuier conducting
Mussorgsky: “Night on Bald Mountain”
Khachaturian: Violin Concerto
Jonathan Carney, violin
Tchaikovsky: “Romeo and Juliet” Fantasy-Overture
Stravinsky: “The Firebird” Suite
$38-$98
(877) 276-1444
http://www.strathmore.org/

April 15 (4 p.m.)
Bon Air Presbyterian Church, 9201 W. Hugunot Road, Richmond
Second Sunday South of the James:
Steve Henley, organ
other artists TBA
works by Bach, Boyce, Charles Callahan, Fred Swann
donation requested
(804) 272-7514
www.bonairpc.org/

April 15 (3:30 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
UVa Chamber Singers
Michael Slon directing
Cantate Children’s and Youth Choir
Peggy Howell directing
David Norfrey, organ
Vaughan Williams: Mass in G minor (excerpts)
Vaughan Williams: “Five English Folk Songs” (excerpts)
Vaughan Williams: “Lord, Thou Hast Been Our Refuge”
free
(434) 924-3376
http://artsandsciences.virginia.edu/music/concertsevents/index.html

April 15 (3 p.m.)
April 16 (8 p.m.)
Shaftman Performance Hall, Jefferson Center, 541 Luck Ave., Roanoke
Roanoke Symphony
David Stewart Wiley conducting
Rimsky-Korsakov: “Russian Easter Overture”
Borodin: Symphony No. 2 in B minor
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor
Young-Ah Tak, piano
$22-$50
(540) 343-9127
http://www.rso.com/

April 15 (4 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
European Union Youth Orchestra
Vladimir Ashkenazy conducting
Copland: “An Outdoor Overture”
Bruch: Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor
Pinchas Zukerman, violin
Richard Strauss: “An Alpine Symphony”
$15-$75
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
http://www.wpas.org/

April 16 (7:30 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
UR chamber ensembles
program TBA
free
(804) 289-8980
http://www.modlin.richmond.edu/

April 16 (7:30 p.m.)
Harrison Opera House, 160 E. Virginia Beach Boulevard, Norfolk
Virginia Arts Festival:
Renée Fleming, soprano
pianist TBA
program TBA
$55-$125
(757) 282-2822
http://www.virginiaartsfest.com/

April 17 (7:30 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Modlin Arts series:
Australian Chamber Orchestra
Maria Schneider: “Winter Morning Walks”
Dawn Upshaw, soprano
Grieg: Quartet No. 1 (Richard Tognetti arr.)
Shostakovich: “Polka and Elegy”
other works TBA
$28-$36
(804) 289-8980 (UR Modlin Center box office)
http://www.modlin.richmond.edu/

April 18 (8 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison, Richmond
VCU Women’s Chorus
Choral Arts Society
Vocal Chamber Ensemble
directors TBA
program TBA
free
(804) 828-6776
http://www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html

April 19 (7 p.m.)
April 20 (1:30 p.m.)
April 21 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Andrew Litton conducting
Bridge: “The Sea”
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 1 in F sharp minor
Stephen Hough, piano
Elgar: Symphony No. 1 in A flat major
$20-$85
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/

April 20 ( 8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue S.E., Washington
Concerto Köln
Dall’abaco: Concerto in E minor, Op. 5, No. 3
Vivaldi: Concerto in D minor for cello, strings and basso continuo
Jan Freiheit, cello
Bach: Orchestral Suite in C Major, BWV 1066
Bach: Concerto for oboe d’amore, strings and basso continuo (reconstruction after Harpsichord Concerto), BWV 1055
Sammartini: Sinfonia in A Major
Bach: “Brandenburg” Concerto no. 2, BWV 1049
free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert/1112-schedule.html

April 21 (11 a.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Richmond Symphony LolliPops
Erin R. Freeman conducting
Grey Seal Puppets
“The Emperor’s New Clothes”
$12-$17
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
http://www.richmondsymphony.com/

April 21 (2 p.m.)
Gellman Room, Richmond Public Library, First and Franklin streets
Greater Richmond Children’s Choir Treble Choir
Hope Armstrong Erb, Pete Curry & Matt Mangioletti directing
program TBA
free
(804) 646-7223
http://www.richmondpubliclibrary.org/

April 21 (7 p.m.)
River Road Church, Baptist, 8000 River Road, Richmond
April 22 (5 p.m.)
St. Benedict Catholic Church, 300 N. Sheppard St., Richmond
James River Singers
David Pederson directing
Victoria: “O Quam Gloriosum”
Morales: “Missa Mille Regretz”
Guerrero: “Surge Propera Amica Mea”
Sumaya: “Alma Redemptoris Mater”
folk songs and poems from Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Andalucia
$15
(804) 233-9220
http://www.jamesriversingers.org/

April 21 (7 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Richmond Symphony Youth Orchestra
conductor TBA
program TBA
free
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
http://www.richmondsymphony.com/

April 21 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
April 22 (3:30 p.m.)
Monticello High School, 1400 Independence Way, Charlottesville
Charlottesville & University Symphony Orchestra
Kate Tamarkin conducting
Sibelius: “The Swan of Tuonela”
Vaughan Williams: Tuba Concerto
Seth Cook, tuba
Sibelius: Symphony No. 2
$10-$38
(434) 924-3376
http://artsandsciences.virginia.edu/music/concertsevents/index.html

April 21 (8 p.m.)
Center for the Arts, George Mason University, Fairfax
American Festival Pops Orchestra
Anthony Maiello conducting
Lisa Vroman, soprano
“Broadway Lights”
program TBA
$23-$46
(888) 945-2468 (Tickets.com)
http://cfa.gmu.edu/calendar/month/2012/4/

April 22 (4 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Richmond Symphony Youth Concert Orchestra
Camerata Strings
String Sinfonietta
conductors TBA
program TBA
free
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
http://www.richmondsymphony.com/

April 22 (4 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
Choral Arts Society of Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Norman Scribner conducting
Brahms: “A German Requiem”
Twyla Robinson, soprano
Christòpheren Nomura, baritone
$29-$85
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/

April 23 (8 p.m.)
Chrysler Museum Theater, 245 W. Olney Road, Norfolk
Virginia Arts Festival:
Ana Vidovic, classical guitar
program TBA
$25
(757) 282-2822
http://www.virginiaartsfest.com/

April 24 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Tuesday Evening Concerts:
Jon Manasse, clarinet
Jon Nakamatsu, piano
Brahms: Sonata in F minor
Debussy: “Premier Rhapsodie”
Chopin: “Andante spianato and Grand Polonaise brilliante”
Bernstein: Sonata for clarinet and piano
Paquito D’Rivera: “The Cape Cod Files”
John Novacek: “Four Rags for Two Jons” (excerpts)
$25-$30
(434) 924-3376
http://www.tecs.org/

April 25 (7:30 p.m.)
Norfolk Academy, 1585 Wesleyan Drive
Virginia Arts Festival:
Calmus Ensemble
Quartet New Generation
program TBA
$35
(757) 282-2822
http://www.virginiaartsfest.com/

April 26 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Jun Märkl conducting
Weber: “Euryanthe” Overture
Beethoven: Violin Concerto
Arabella Steinbacher, violin
Schumann: Symphony No. 3 in E flat major (“Rhenish”)
$38-$98
(877) 276-1444
http://www.strathmore.org/

April 27 (7:30 p.m.)
April 29 (4 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison, Richmond
VCU Opera
Melanie Kohn Day & Kenneth Wood directing
VCU Symphony
Daniel Myssyk conducting
Menotti: “The Old Maid and the Thief”
Menotti: “Amelia Goes to the Ball”
casts TBA
$15
(804) 828-6776
http://www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html

April 27 (8 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Richmond Symphony Pops
Steven Smith conducting
Richmond Ballet
“Rodeo”
works by Copland, John Williams, others
$16-$76
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
http://www.richmondsymphony.com/

April 27 (8 p.m.)
Christ and St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 560 W. Olney Road, Norfolk
Virginia Arts Festival:
Ken Cowan, organ
Gigour: “Grand Choeur Dialogué”
Hovhaness: “The Prayer of Saint Gregory,” Op. 62b
Mendelssohn: Sonata no 4 in B flat major, Op. 65
Mendelssohn: Scherzo from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”
Mussorgsky: “The Great Gate of Kiev” from “Pictures at an Exhibition”
Dupré: “Poéme Héroïque,” Op. 33
Dupré: Prelude and Fugue in G minor, Op. 7, No. 3
Ireland: “Elegaic Romance”
Jongen: Toccata from Symphonie Concertante, Op. 81
$25
(757) 282-2822
http://www.virginiaartsfest.com/

April 27 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
University Singers & orchestra
Michael Slon conducting
Mendelssohn: “Elijah”
Christina Pier, soprano
Leslie Mutchler, mezzo-soprano
Mark Mowry, tenor
Mark Owen Davis, baritone
$15
(434) 924-3376
http://artsandsciences.virginia.edu/music/concertsevents/index.html

April 27 (8 p.m.)
April 29 (2:30 p.m.)
Shaftman Performance Hall, Jefferson Center, 541 Luck Ave., Roanoke
Opera Roanoke
Scott Williamson conducting
Bizet: “Carmen”
Carla Dirilkov (Carmen)
Philip Alongi (Don Jose)
Amy Cofield Williamson (Micaela)
Jarrett Gieseler (Escamillo)
in French, English captions
$21.10-$89.68
(540) 982-2742
http://www.operaroanoke.org/

April 27 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Moscow Soloists Chamber Orchestra
Yuri Bashmet conducting
Schubert-Mahler: “Death and the Maiden”
Haydn: Cello Concerto No. 1 in C major
Tchaikovsky: Nocturne in D minor for cello and orchestra
Mischa Maisky, cello
Brahms: Quintet in B minor for viola and strings
Yuri Bashmet, viola
$35-$95
(800) 735-2258
http://www.strathmore.org/

April 28 (2 p.m.)
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Boulevard at Grove Avenue, Richmond
Greater Richmond Children’s Choir
Hope Armstrong Erb directing
Praise songs from Ghana, Anglican choral works, folk songs and hymns from the Americas
$5
(804) 201-1894
http://www.grcchoir.org/

April 28 (noon and 3 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue S.E., Washington
Tanya Tomkins, baroque cello
Bach: six suites for solo cello
free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert/1112-schedule.html

April 28 (7 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Opera House, Washington
Washington National Opera
Philippe Auguin conducting
Verdi: “Nabucco”
Franco Vassallo (Nabucco)
Csilla Boross (Abigaile)
Burak Bilgli (Zaccaria)
Sean Panikkar (Ismaele)
Géraldine Chauvet (Fenena)
Solomon Howard (High Priest of Baal)
María Eugenia Antúnez (Anna)
Jeffrey Gwaltney (Abdallo)
Thaddeus Strassberger, stage director
in Italian, English captions
$25-$300
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/

April 28 (8 p.m.)
April 29 (3 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
National Philharmonic
Piotr Gajewski conducting
Mendelssohn: “Hebrides” Overture
Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto
Sarah Chang, violin
Brahms: Symphony No. 3 in F major
$33-$86
(800) 735-2258
http://www.strathmore.org/

April 29 (7 p.m.)
Center for the Arts, George Mason University, Fairfax
Jeffrey Siegel, piano
“Keyboard Conversations: The Power and Passion of Brahms”
program TBA
$19-$38
(888) 945-2468 (Tickets.com)
http://cfa.gmu.edu/calendar/month/2012/4/