'Dear Leader' music?

It has become commonplace to protest the formality of classical music performance, especially refraining from applause until the end of multi-movement works – which, as The New Yorker’s Alex Ross and others have pointed out, is a 20th-century practice, unknown to musicians and audiences of earlier times.

Few, though, have protested as outspokenly as Richard Dare, CEO and managing director of the Brooklyn Philharmonic, who writes for The Huffington Post that highbrow etiquette prevents him from “authentically enjoy[ing] the performance going on inside that hall as I might spontaneously appreciate any other cultural pursuit like a movie or a dance or a hip-hop concert – if I could clap when clapping felt needed, laugh when it was funny, shout when I couldn’t contain the joy building up inside myself.”

Instead, Dare writes, classical performance is a realm resembling “a musical North Korea. . . . Rise to your feet and applaud. The Dear Leader is coming on stage to conduct. He will guide us, ever so worshipfully through the necrocracy of composers we are obliged to forever adore” . . .

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-dare/classical-music-concerts_b_1525896.html

Dare and others who’ve written similar pieces neglect to note that etiquette afflicts other kinds of musical performance. Go to just about any jazz concert and you’ll hear applause after every solo, whether or not it warrants applause. At most pop-music arena shows, audience response is as carefully stage-managed as at a Soviet May Day parade. Spontaneous response to performers is rare in any genre of music – or any other performing art, for that matter.

“Classical music belongs to the audience – to its listeners, not the critics, to the citizens, not the snobs,” Dare writes. Yes, but: Classical music differs from other kinds because the focus of the performance is not the artist, however stellar, or the audience, however enthusiastic. It’s about the music.

What enhances the enjoyment and appreciation of the music is good, what distracts from it is not. Clapping between movements does not break the spell; clapping whenever you feel like it, shouting when you can’t “contain the joy,” disrupts the musical experience of others.

“Stuffy” is one way to describe classical concert etiquette. “Considerate” is another.

Operas target 'tsar' Putin

Protest against the regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin now extends to the country’s leading opera houses, as productions of Mussorgsky’s “Boris Godunov” at St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theatre and Rimsky-Korsakov’s “The Golden Cockrell” at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre are updated with scenes of riot police and missiles on parade.

The operas’ stories of strife in tsarist times are easily updated: “You can take any epoch in Russia and bring it to modern times and it will be the same thing. That’s what happens in Russia – it’s the same thing, over and over again,” Kirill Serebrennikov, director of the Bolshoi production, tells The Guardian’s Miriam Elder:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/31/protests-vladimir-putin-boris-godunov-opera

Review: Virginia Symphony

with soloists & chorus
JoAnn Falletta conducting
May 26, William and Mary Hall, Williamsburg

The late newspaper columnist Guy Fridell once wrote that you should always go to the circus when it’s in town, because you never know when you’ll get to see an elephant again. About the same can be said of Gustav Mahler’s Eighth Symphony, in both timing and taxonomy. Mahler 8 is a great rarity; I suspect it would be even if it weren’t also elephantine in scale.

“The Symphony of a Thousand,” as an impresario dubbed it, is in fact a symphony of 500 or so – 400 voices, 100-piece orchestra – in this weekend’s Virginia Arts Festival performances by the Virginia Symphony and guests, including members of the Richmond Symphony Chorus and (if my eyes didn’t deceive) several instrumentalists from Richmond as well.

The first of two performances was staged in William and Mary Hall, a basketball arena on a somewhat more intimate scale, with somewhat less cavernous acoustics, than most such places. The stage was erected on one of the broad sides of the hall, positioning performers closer to the audience than in the usual arena setup. The Virginia Symphony is recording the weekend’s performances for a subsequent disc; but it sounded as if the many microphones onstage were also linked to a sound system.

Balancing voices with the orchestra is a challenge in much of Mahler – and much more so in the Eighth Symphony. Eight solo singers have to carry over a busy orchestration; the orchestra, in turn, has to hold its own with hundreds of choristers, often in full cry.

Conductor JoAnn Falletta managed the balancing acts remarkably well – especially considering that the orchestra, big as it is, is still relatively under-strength in the string sections. Falletta set a brisk pace in Part 1, a fantasy on the hymn “Veni, creator spiritus.” Her pace was more measured, appropriately almost conversational, in the lengthy Part 2, a setting of the final, redemption scene from Goethe’s “Faust;” and her buildup of expressive intensity through the closing sections was almost operatic. (Making the two parts sound like they belong in the same work is a feat of a different kind.)

The eight vocal soloists – sopranos Jennifer Check, Rebecca Nash and Jennifer Welch-Babidge; mezzo-sopranos Ann McMahon Quintero and Robynne Redmon; tenor Gregory Carroll; baritone Lester Lynch; and bass Jason Grant – all summoned tones of Germanic late-romantic heft, some (Quintero, Lynch, Nash) more consistently than others.

The Virginia Symphony and Richmond Symphony choruses, the Christopher Newport University Chamber Choir, the Old Dominion University Concert Choir and the Virginia Children’s Chorus produced plenty of volume when it was called for; but past a certain point in amplitude, the ear heard mass more than tone.

None of the soloists or the chorus had much success at projecting the texts. The arena acoustic soundly beat the performers on that score. Many finer details of orchestration also were lost in this space. These issues presumably won't arise in Norfolk’s Chrysler Hall, the smaller venue being used for the second performance.

This straightforward but highly expressive reading is the last chapter in a Mahler symphony cycle that Falletta has been presenting with the Virginia Symphony over the past two decades. The cycle closes with a work that is at times rousing, at times weirdly arousing, and one that calls on all of the conductor’s skill in directing a large cast through a complex score.

The Virginia Symphony Mahler Eighth repeats at 3 p.m. May 27 at Chrysler Hall in Norfolk. Tickets: $20-$85. Details: (757) 282-2822 (Virginia Arts Festival box office); www.virginiaartsfest.com 

Roanoke Symphony seeks $250,000

The Roanoke Symphony has launched a campaign to retire $250,000 in debt. The orchestra has received an anonymous grant of $100,000 to launch its Crescendo Campaign, and hopes to raise the additional $150,000 in contributions and ticket sales by Oct. 1.

“The success of the Crescendo Campaign will place the organization in the black for [fiscal year] 2012 and provide reserves to manage cash flow throughout the coming year,” according to a statement issued by the orchestra. The Roanoke Symphony’s current operating budget is $1.7 million.

More on the Crescendo Campaign from the orchestra’s web site:

http://www.rso.com/news/index.html

$4.3 million for tchotchkes

An auction of mementos from his long career has netted $4.3 million for Van Cliburn, the pianist and maestro of the leading U.S. piano competition. Cliburn says he will give the money to the Juilliard School in New York and to the Moscow Conservatory, Jamie Wetherbe reports on the Los Angeles Times’ Culture Monster arts blog:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-pianist-van-cliburns-collection-fetches-43-million-at-auction-20120517,0,3371800.story

Review: 'Carmen'

Lyric Opera Virginia
Peter Mark conducting
May 19, The Steward School

“Jewel box” opera, about which Lyric Opera Virginia maestro Peter Mark has been doing a lot of explaining lately, turned out – in Bizet’s “Carmen,” anyway – to be not just truncation of a long show into 90 minutes, but also general downsizing of the production: small chorus and troupe of dancers and supernumeraries, one big scenic element manipulated to serve as several locations, and, most noticeably, a small pit orchestra.

In this production, Bizet’s not insubstantial orchestral score is played by clarinet, bassoon, French horn, trumpet, bass trombone, percussion and string quintet. The ensemble sounded to be amplified, and not very pleasantly so. Wiry, at times harsh, string sound, at a volume rivaling that of full-throated operatic vocalizing, detracted from what otherwise was a well-crafted abridgement with a fine cast of singers.

Magdalena Wór is in voice and appearance a very persuasive Carmen. Stage director Lillian Groag emphasizes the gypsy’s independence laced with nihilism, which Wór conveys with forcefully expressive singing and a physical and emotional stance that combines playfulness with sullenness. (Alex Apointe, the young super cast a street urchin, spends much of the show miming Carmen’s worldview and lifestyle.)

Jonathan Burton, portraying Don José, the young soldier who loses all for the elusive love of Carmen, started out this performance in a single dimension of expression but became more nuanced as the evening went on. Christopher Job give the role of the bullfighter Escamillo to a hale-fellow, smooth-tongued celebrity treatment – most effective in this context.

Suzanne Vinnik, as Micaëla, Don José’s old flame from back home, was suitably earnest and innocent in character and quite splendid vocally. Her solo arias are this production’s real show-stoppers.

The miniature choruses of soldiers and cigarette girls/gypsy wenches were in good voice and even better character. Their high jinks, and Apointe’s, provide more amusing distraction and atmospherics than one might expect in a production on this small scale.

Lyric Opera Virginia’s “Carmen” repeats at 7:30 p.m. May 20 in the Cramer Arts Center of The Steward School, 11600 Gayton Road in Richmond. The production concludes its run with performances at 7:30 p.m. May 23-24 at the Sandler Arts Center in Virginia Beach. Tickets: $20-$85. Details: (757) 446-6666; http://www.lyricoperavirginia.org/ 

Review: Chamber Music Society

May 18, First Unitarian Universalist Church

Chamber music is rarely heard today in chambers, the large-parlor- or small-ballroom-sized spaces in which chamber works from the 18th and 19th centuries were heard. Even more rarely is chamber music heard these days in “parlor” proximity, with musicians playing on the same level as, and just a few feet away from, their audience.

That was the physical musical encounter set up by the Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia for the performance of Schubert’s “Trout” Quintet that concluded the first concert of a weekend series. The four string players came down from the platform altar of First Unitarian Universalist Church and positioned themselves around the piano in a snug grouping; they were separated by about two paces from front-row listeners, and performed within 15 feet of most of the audience.

This “Trout” inhabited a different stream, with stronger currents and more sizeable splashes than one would hear in a typically mellow and cheerful performance of this work, at typical concert distance. Punchy accents and enveloping sound were a product of close proximity. A curious by-product, at least from my third-row vantage, was the inside-out sensation of hearing with vivid clarity string figures that are usually covered by piano sound.

Pianist Carsten Schmidt gave an energetic account of the piano part, without neglecting the shades of tonality and timbre that Schubert entrusts to the instrument. Violinist Diane Pascal, violist Max Mandel, cellist James Wilson and double-bassist Jason Phillips produced a collective sound that was both bright and full-bodied. They took a while to find Schubert’s rhythmic wavelength – only the final movement boasted true Viennese lilt; but the impact and clarity of the performance more than compensated for its small imperfections.

Preceding the Schubert were three stretches of water music from different eras and fairly radical changes of musical perspective from one to another.

Wilson, artistic director of the group, provided an arrangement of Smetana’s “Vltava” (“The Moldau”) for two pianos, flute and string quintet. Except in its subtlest string effects – nicely handled by Pascal, Mandel and Wilson – this orchestral tone poem does not downsize well. In this performance, the two pianos, played by Schmidt and Rieko Aizawa, seriously overbalanced the strings and took on a hard, harsh quality when impersonating Smetana’s brass writing.

Pianist Aizawa securely negotiated the manual demands of Ravel’s “Jeux d’eau” (“Fountains”), but with more edge than sparkle and with less rhythmic fluidity than this piece needs.

A set of four dances from Handel’s “Water Music” wisely steered clear of the big, brassy movements in these suites. In the rather intimate sarabande, rigaudon and menuet, the ensemble of flute/piccolo (played by Mary Boodell), violin, viola, cello, double-bass and harpsichord (played by Schmidt) had just the right degree of heft and deft animation. They sounded a bit pushed in the closing gigue.

The Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia continues its “Water Music” series with concerts at 7:30 p.m. May 19 and 21 at First Unitarian Universalist Church, 1000 Blanton Ave. at the Carillon. Tickets: $25. The society also will present a free concert at noon May 19 in the Gellman Room of the Richmond Public Library, First and Franklin streets. (Seating is limited at the library.) Details:
(804) 519-2098; http://www.cmscva.org/ 

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (1925-2012)

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, the German baritone considered by many to be the finest art-song interpreter of the past century, has died at 86.

Best-known for his interpretations of Lieder by Schubert, Wolf and other Austro-German composers, Fischer-Dieskau also was active as an opera and oratorio singer and, from the 1960s onward, as a conductor.

An obituary by Daniel Lewis for The New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/19/arts/music/dietrich-fischer-dieskau-german-baritone-dies-at-86.html?_r=1&hp&pagewanted=all

The Times’ Anthony Tommasini recalls Fischer-Dieskau’s role in his musical coming-of-age:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/19/arts/music/dietrich-fischer-dieskaus-incomparable-voice.html?_r=1&ref=music

Virginia Opera adds 'Carousel'

Virginia Opera has added a fifth production, of the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical “Carousel,” to its 2012-13 season. Eight performances will be staged, from May 10-19, 2013, at the Harrison Opera House in Norfolk.

Matthew Worth, the University of Richmond alumnus who starred in company productions of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” in 2010 and Philip Glass’ “Orphée” earlier this season, will return as Billy Bigelow, the male lead of “Carousel.”

The show will be directed by Greg Ganakas and conducted by Adam Turner, Virginia Opera’s resident conductor and chorusmaster.

Tickets for the production, being sold separately from the season’s other four offerings, are $35-$100. “Carousel” tickets will be available beginning on Aug. 6, when single tickets for all 2012-13 productions go on sale.

For more information, call Virginia Opera’s Norfolk box office at (757) 623-1223 or visit www.vaopera.org

Review: Richmond Symphony

Steven Smith conducting
May 12, Richmond Center Stage

The finale to this season’s Richmond Symphony Masterworks series is an invitation to the dance, with the twist that all of this program’s dances, except the waltz, are of Slavic origin.

Conductor Steven Smith starts out with the familiar – a set of three of the second set of Antonín Dvořák’s Slavonic dances, centering on the eloquently sighing E minor (Op. 72, No. 2) – but soon moves into less frequently programmed, and content-rich, dance suites of the early 20th century by the Czech Leoš Janáček and the Russian-American Sergei Rachmaninoff.

Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances (1940), the composer’s last major work, tempers the lush Russian romanticism of his earlier, better-known music with impressionistic tone coloring (Rachmaninoff audibly knew his Ravel) and a rhythmic sensibility that figuratively stretches from the Urals to the Hollywood hills.

Earlier this season, Smith brought out the impressionistic color and character of another late Rachmaninoff work, the “Paganini Rhapsody;” this reading of the Symphonic Dances is similarly almost French-accented.

The orchestra’s concertmaster, Diana Cohen, and its wind section, joined by alto saxophonist Roland Dowdy, are showcased in numerous solos and small ensembles; their animated and/or soulful contributions were one of the main attractions of the first of two weekend performances of the Rachmaninoff.

The symphony has mustered a larger than usual complement of strings for this program. They’re needed to maintain balance with enhanced wind and brass forces and extensive percussion in both the Rachmaninoff and Janáček’s “Taras Bulba.”

The violins sounded just right in the rarified upper registers of the Janáček and the Dvořák dances; and the lower strings played with craggy solidity and power in “Taras Bulba.” The brasses and percussion packed the requisite wallop without overpowering the strings.

Naggingly missing in this otherwise well-played, characterful program was the edge – partly rhythmic, partly expressive – that’s essential in Slavic dance music. The orchestra sounded idiomatic in waltz time, but often turned flabby when accents became sharper and rhythms more angular.

The program repeats at 3 p.m. May 13 in the Carpenter Theatre of Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets. Tickets: $18-$73.
Details: (800) 514-3849 (ETIX); http://www.richmondsymphony.com/

Tuesday Evening Concerts 2012-13

Pianist Piotr Anderszewski, the Pavel Haas and Ebene quartets and the early music orchestra Concerto Köln are among the artists engaged for the 2012-13 season of the Tuesday Evening Concerts in Charlottesville.

The concerts are staged at
8 p.m. Tuesdays in Old Cabell Hall at the University of Virginia.

Ticket subscriptions for the seven-concert series are $65-$195. Single-ticket prices will be $25-$30. For details, call the UVa Arts box office at (434) 924-3376, or visit http://www.tecs.org/

The 2012-13 Tuesday Evening Concerts schedule:

* Oct. 9 – Mikhail Simonyan, violin, and Alexandre Moutouzkine, piano. Works by Bach, Tartini, Beethoven, Szymanowski, Arutunian.

* Oct. 30 – Concerto Köln. Works by Handel, Vivaldi, Telemann, Dall’Abaco.

* Nov. 27 – Piotr Anderszewski, piano. Works by Bach, Schumann.

* Feb. 26 – Amit Peled, cello, and Noreen Polera, piano. Works by Beethoven, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Glazunov, Granados, Bloch, others.

* March 19 – Salzburg Chamber Soloists. Works by Mozart, Schoenberg.

* April 9 – Pavel Haas Quartet. Works by Schubert, Tchaikovsky, Haas.

* April 23 – Ebene Quartet. Works by Mozart, Schubert, Mendelssohn.

Maurice Sendak (1928-2012)

Maurice Sendak, the celebrated illustrator and author of children’s books, has died at 83 following a stroke.

Sendak’s best-known work, “Where the Wild Things Are” (1963), was made into an opera in 1980 by the author and composer Oliver Knussen, as well as a 2009 film by Spike Jonze. In 2003, Sendak and playwright Tony Kushner collaborated on a book version of “Brundibar,” the children’s opera by Hans Kraza, first produced at the Theresienstadt (Terezin) concentration camp during World War II.

Sendak also created memorable designs for several operas, notably Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” and Janáček’s “The Cunning Little Vixen,” and for Tchaikovsky’s ballet “The Nutcracker.”

An obituary by Margalit Fox in The New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/09/books/maurice-sendak-childrens-author-dies-at-83.html?_r=1&hp&pagewanted=all

Review: Emerson String Quartet

May 5, Virginia Commonwealth University

I’ve always been of two minds about the Emerson String Quartet. In sheer technical prowess, and in the way the four musicians produce a rich and refined ensemble sound out of unmistakably individual voices, no other quartet is the Emerson’s equal. Musically, however, this foursome – violinists Eugene Drucker and Philip Setzer, violist Lawrence Dutton and cellist David Finckel – can veer from intensely concentrated performance to matter-of-fact rendition, unpredictably and aggravatingly.

That happened several times during the Emerson’s visit to VCU for the last of this season’s Rennolds Chamber Concerts.

The major piece on this program was Beethoven’s Quartet in A minor, Op. 132, music freighted with autobiography (the composer’s recovery from illness) and spiritually anchored by the “Heilige Dankesang” (“holy song of Thanksgiving”), a noble but expressively elusive hymn tune. The gravity of the piece is relieved by a rather playful second movement and an increasingly dramatic, strongly accented sequence of movements following the hymn. It is music of big personality and a lot of soul.

To my ears, the Emerson’s performance was emotionally dry and strangely reticent in attack and accent – only in the finale did the music-making really catch fire. By way of compensation, the musicians brought out a wealth of dark tone color in the “Heilige Dankesang;” and I doubt I’ll frequently hear four fiddles more finely balanced than these were in the second movement.

Matter-of-factness also characterized the group’s reading of Haydn’s Quartet in F major, Op. 77, No. 2. The Emerson handled the piece’s rhythmic cross-currents with ease, and with zest, and Drucker, playing lead violin, adopted just the right tone of clarity and lyricism. But in this performance, Haydn’s jokes were told with poker faces and his surprises didn’t spring on the ear.

The Emerson has long excelled in Shostakovich, and the group’s reading of the Fifth Quartet (1951) met expectations and then some. The juxtaposition, sometimes the combination, of giddy exhilaration and mortal dread drives much of Shostakovich’s music; but those two qualities stand in especially stark relief in the quartets of the 1950s. This performance rode the music’s mood swings securely and with vivid expressivity.

Inside the 'jewel box'

Lyric Opera Virginia Artistic Director Peter Mark is sounded out by Teresa Annas of The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk) on his concept of abridged, “jewel box” opera productions, and how Bizet’s “Carmen,” which LOV is staging around the state this month, fits into a 90-minute package:

http://hamptonroads.com/2012/05/how-fit-opera-carmen-jewel-box

Rennolds Chamber Concerts 2012-13

This season’s Mary Anne Rennolds Chamber Concerts at Virginia Commonwealth University conclude on May 5 with one of the last performances by the Emerson String Quartet with its charter cellist, David Finckel. Next season’s Rennolds series opens with Finckel returning in a trio with his wife, pianist Wu Han, and his by-then former Emerson colleague, violinist Philip Setzer.

Their Sept. 15 program of piano trios by Haydn, Schubert and Mendelssohn opens a 2012-13 season that also will feature performances by violinist Jennifer Koh and pianist Shai Wosner on Oct. 13; the Brentano String Quartet with composer Bruce Adolphe on Nov. 17; the vocal quartet New York Polyphony on Feb. 23; pianist Jeremy Denk on March 23; and the Tokyo String Quartet on May 4.

The VCU date is part of a farewell tour by the Tokyo Quartet, which is disbanding at the end of next season after performing for more than 40 years.

Ticket subscriptions for the 2012-13 Rennolds series are $135 for six concerts, $90 for three concerts, with discounts for seniors and for VCU faculty and staff. Single tickets will go on sale on July 1.

For more information on the Rennolds Chamber Concerts, call the VCU Music Department box office at (804) 828-6776 or visit www.vcumusic.org

May 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 Richmond: The Emerson String Quartet, in one of its last performances with cellist David Finckel, closes out this season’s Rennolds Chamber Concerts at Virginia Commonwealth University in a program of Haydn, Shostakovich and Beethoven, May 5 at VCU’s Singleton Arts Center. . . . The Richmond Symphony concludes its classical season with a Metro Collection program of Boccherini and Stravinsky, conducted by Erin R. Freeman, May 6 at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, and a Masterworks program of Dvořák, Janáček and Rachmaninoff, conducted by Steven Smith, May 12-13 at Richmond CenterStage. . . . The Richmond Philharmonic is joined by trumpeter Mary Bowden in a program of Rossini, Haydn and Tchaikovsky, May 6 at VCU’s Singleton Center. . . . The Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia, led by cellist James Wilson, presents three evening programs on water themes, with music by Handel, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Smetana and others, May 18, 19 and 21 at First Unitarian Universalist Church in Richmond, plus a free noontime program on May 19 at the Richmond Public Library. . . . Peter Mark’s Lyric Opera Virginia stages a “jewel box” (abridged) performance of Bizet’s “Carmen,” May 19-20 at The Steward School in Richmond (with earlier dates in May at the Ferguson Arts Center in Newport News and Paramount Theater in Charlottesville and later dates at the Sandler Arts Center in Virginia Beach). . . . The Greater Richmond Children’s Choir celebrates its 15th anniversary in a concert on May 19 at Grace & Holy Trinity Episcopal Church. . . . The Richmond Symphony presents a special concert of symphonic arrangements of music by the rock group Queen, May 19 at Richmond’s Landmark Theater.

* Noteworthy elsewhere: Hampton Roads’ Virginia Arts Festival stages some of its major classical attractions this month: A program of Beethoven, Grieg and Brahms by pianist André-Michel Schub, violinist Ani Kavafian and cellist Peter Wiley, May 10 at the Barr Education Center in Norfolk; music of Mozart, Shostakovich and Mendelssohn played by violinist Itzhak Perlman with young musicians from the Perlman Music Program, May 13 at the Sandler Arts Center in Virginia Beach; the Daedalus Quartet with pianist Schub in a program of Brahms, Mozart and Joan Tower, May 16 at Trinity Episcopal Church in Portsmouth; and a rare performance (quite likely the Virginia premiere) of Mahler’s Eighth Symphony (“Symphony of a Thousand”) in which JoAnn Falletta conducts an augmented Virginia Symphony with some 400 choristers (including members of the Richmond Symphony Chorus), May 26 at William and Mary Hall in Williamsburg, May 27 at Chrysler Hall in Norfolk. . . . Violinist James Ehnes joins Charles Dutoit and the Philadelphia Orchestra for a program of Debussy, Mendelssohn and Shostakovich, May 11 at Strathmore in the Maryland suburbs of DC. . . . Pianist André Watts joins Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony for Rachmaninoff’s Concerto No. 2, May 12 at Strathmore. . . . Itzhak Perlman plays Schubert, Brahms and Prokofiev, May 14 at the Kennedy Center in Washington. . . . Nelson Freire, the eminent Brazilian pianist, joins Andreas Delfs and the National Symphony in Brahms’ Concerto No. 2, May 17-19 at the Kennedy Center. . . . Jonathan Biss plays Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with Günther Herbig and the Baltimore Symphony, May 31 at Strathmore.


May 1 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Young Concert Artists:
Louis Schwizgebel, piano
program TBA
$24
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/

May 2 (7:30 p.m.)
May 5 (7 p.m.)
May 10 (7:30 p.m.)
May 13 (2 p.m.)
May 15 (7:30 p.m.)
May 18 (7:30 p.m.)
May 21 (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/

May 3 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Morgenstern Trio
Ravel: Piano Trio in A minor
Bernstein: Piano Trio
Brahms: Piano Trio No. 1 in B major, Op. 8
$32
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/

May 4 (8 p.m.)
May 6 (2:30 p.m.)
Ferguson Arts Center, Christopher Newport University, Newport News
Lyric Opera Virginia
Peter Mark conducting
Bizet: “Carmen” (abridged)
Magdalena Wór (Carmen)
Jonathan Burton (Don José)
Suzanne Vinnik (Micaëla)
Christopher Job (Escamillo)
Lillian Groag, stage director
in French, English captions
$20-$85
(757) 594-8752
http://www.lyricoperavirginia.org/

May 5 (8 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Rennolds Chamber Concerts:
Emerson String Quartet
Haydn: Quartet in F major, Op. 77, No. 2
Shostakovich: Quartet No. 5
Beethoven: Quartet in A minor, Op. 132
$32
violist Lawrence Dutton in free master class, 4 p.m.
(804) 828-6776
http://www.vcu.edu/arts/music/dept/events/index.html

May 5 (6 p.m.)
Military Aviation Museum, 1341 Princess Anne Road, Virginia Beach
Virginia Arts Festival:
Virginia Symphony
Benjamin Rous conducting
“Flying PROMS: Symphonic Air Show”
program TBA
with flyovers by historic aircraft
$35-$45
(757) 282-2822
http://www.virginiaartsfest.com/

May 5 (4 p.m.)
Center for the Arts, George Mason University, Fairfax
New Dominion Chorale & Orchestra
Thomas Beveridge conducting
Mendelssohn: “Elijah”
Timothy Lefebvre, bass (Elijah)
Esther Heideman, soprano
Laura Zuiderveen, mezzo-soprano
Isaachah Savage, tenor
$30
(888) 945-2468 (Tickets.com)
http://cfa.gmu.edu/calendar/month/2012/5/

May 5 (2 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Stefan Jackiw, violin
Anna Polonsky, piano
works by Stravinsky, Brahms, Richard Strauss
$25
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
http://www.wpas.org/

May 5 (2 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue S.E., Washington
U.S. Army Band (“Pershing’s Own”)
Col. Thomas H. Palmatier directing
“American Mavericks”
Carter: Elegy
Walker: “The Anthony Gell Suite”
Rochberg: “Electrikaleidoscope”
Ives: “The Unanswered Question”
Ives: Adagio sostenuto
Cage: “Third Construction”
free
http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert/1112-schedule.html

May 5 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
National Philharmonic
Piotr Gajewski conducting
Debussy: “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun”
Debussy: Rhapsodie for clarinet and orchestra
Richard Stoltzman, clarinet
Debussy: Fantasie for piano and orchestra
Brian Ganz, piano
Debussy: “La Mer”
$28-$81
(800) 735-2258
http://www.strathmore.org/

May 6 (3 p.m.)
Blackwell Auditorium, Randolph-Macon College, 205 Henry St., Ashland
Richmond Symphony
Erin R. Freeman conducting
Boccherini: Symphony No. 6 in D minor
Stravinsky: “L’histoire du soldat” (“The Soldier’s Tale”)
cast from TheatreVCU
$20
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
http://www.richmondsymphony.com/

May 6 (4 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Richmond Philharmonic
Robert Mirakian conducting
Rossini: “Il Signor Bruschino” Overture
Haydn: Trumpet Concerto in E flat major
Mary Bowden, trumpet
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 in E minor
$8 in advance, $10 at door
(804) 673-7400
http://www.richmondphilharmonic.org/

May 8 (7:30 p.m.)
Hixon Theater, Barr Education Center, 440 Bank St., Norfolk
Virginia Arts Festival:
Bruce Brubaker, piano
Mark Mobley, narrator
Philip Glass: “Mad Dash”
John Cage: “A Room”
Cage: “Dream”
Nico Muhly: “Drones and Piano” (2010)
Glass: “Wichita Vortex Sutra”
Meredith Monk: “Railroad (Travel) Song”
Monk: “Windows in 7s”
Curran: “Hope Street Tunnel Blues II”
$30
(757) 282-2822
http://www.virginiaartsfest.com/

May 10 (7:30 p.m.)
Hixon Theater, Barr Education Center, 440 Bank St., Norfolk
Virginia Arts Festival:
André-Michel Schub, piano
Ani Kavafian, violin
Peter Wiley, cello
Beethoven: Cello Sonata in G minor, Op. 5, No. 2
Grieg: Violin Sonata No. 3 in C minor, Op. 45
Brahms: Piano Trio No. 2 in C major, Op. 87
$30
(757) 282-2822
http://www.virginiaartsfest.com/

May 10 (7 p.m.)
May 11 (8 p.m.)
May 12 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra Pops
Steven Reineke conducting
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, guest star
$20-$85
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/

May 11 (8 p.m.)
May 13 (2:30 p.m.)
Paramount Theater, 215 E. Main St., Charlottesville
Lyric Opera Virginia
Peter Mark conducting
Bizet: “Carmen” (abridged)
Magdalena Wór (Carmen)
Jonathan Burton (Don José)
Suzanne Vinnik (Micaëla)
Christopher Job (Escamillo)
Lillian Groag, stage director
in French, English captions
$20-$85
(434) 979-1333
http://www.lyricoperavirginia.org/

May 11 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Philadelphia Orchestra
Charles Dutoit conducting
Debussy: “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun”
Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor
James Ehnes, violin
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5
$40-$105
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
http://www.wpas.org/

May 12 (8 p.m.)
May 13 (3 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Richmond Symphony
Steven Smith conducting
Dvořák: Slavonic dances TBA
Janáček: “Taras Bulba”
Rachmaninoff: Symphonic Dances
$18-$73
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
http://www.richmondsymphony.com/

May 12 (7 p.m.)
First Presbyterian Church, 500 Park St., Charlottesville
Virginia Consort
Judith Gary directing
Mozart: “Ave verum corpus”
other works TBA
$20
(434) 944-8444
http://www.virginiaconsort.org/

May 12 (8 p.m.)
Center for the Arts, George Mason University, Fairfax
Fairfax Symphony
Christopher Zimmerman conducting
Purcell: “Funeral Music for Queen Mary”
Purcell: “The Gordian Knot Untied”
Debussy: “La Mer”
Ravel: Piano Concerto for the Left Hand
Adam Golka, piano
Elgar: “Enigma Variations”
$25-$55
(888) 945-2468 (Tickets.com)
http://www.fairfaxsymphony.org/

May 12 (7 p.m.)
May 14 (7 p.m.)
May 17 (7:30 p.m.)
May 19 (7 p.m.)
May 22 (7:30 p.m.)
May 25 (7:30 p.m.)
May 27 (2 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Opera House, Washington
Washington National Opera
Emmanuel Villaume conducting
Massenet: “Werther”
Francesco Meli (Werther)
Sonia Ganassi (Charlotte)
Emily Albrink (Sophie)
Andrew Foster-Williams (Albert)
Julien Robbins (Bailli)
Tim Augustin (Schmidt)
Kenneth Kellogg (Johann)
Chris Alexander, stage director
in French, English captions
$55-$280
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/

May 12 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Marin Alsop conducting
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2
André Watts, piano
Elgar: Symphony No. 1 in A flat major
$48-$108
(877) 276-1444
http://www.strathmore.org/

May 13 (3 p.m.)
Sandler Arts Center, 201 S. Market St., Virginia Beach
Itzhak Perlman, violin
Perlman Music Program performers
Mozart: String Quintet in G minor, K. 516
Shostakovich: Two Pieces for String Octet, Op. 11
Mendelssohn: Octet in E flat major, Op. 20
$37-$77
(757) 282-2822
http://www.virginiaartsfest.com/

May 14 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
Itzhak Perlman, violin
Rohan de Silva, piano
Schubert: “Rondo brilliant” in B minor, D. 895
Brahms: Sonata No. 2 in A major, Op. 100
Brahms: Hungarian dances Nos. 9, 2, 1
Prokofiev: Sonata No. 2 in D major, Op. 94
$45-$115
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
http://www.wpas.org/

May 16 (7:30 p.m.)
Trinity Episcopal Church, Portsmouth
Virginia Arts Festival:
Daedalus Quartet
André-Michel Schub, piano
Raymond Jones, host
Mozart: Quartet in F major, K. 590
Joan Tower: new work TBA
Brahms: Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34
$30
(757) 282-2822
http://www.virginiaartsfest.com/

May 17 (7 p.m.)
May 18 (8 p.m.)
May 19 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Andreas Delfs conducting
Haydn: Symphony No. 83 in G minor (“La Poule”)
Kurt Weill: Symphony No. 2
Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat major
Nelson Freire, piano
$20-$85
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/

May 18 (7:30 p.m.)
First Unitarian Universalist Church, 1000 Blanton Ave. at the Carillon, Richmond
Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia:
Fiona Hughes & Diane Pascal, violins
Max Mandel, viola
James Wilson, cello
Mary Boodell, flute
Rieko Aizawa & Carsten Schmidt, piano
Handel: “Water Music” Suite
Smetana: “The Moldau”
Ravel: “Jeaux d'eau”
Schubert: Piano Quintet in A major (“Trout”)
$25
(804) 519-2098
http://www.cmscva.org/

May 19 (noon)
Gellman Room, Richmond Public Library, First and Franklin streets
Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia:
James Wilson, speaker
Carsten Schmidt & Rieko Aizawa, piano
“Legends”
works by Debussy, Szymanowski, Richard Strauss
free
(804) 519-2098
http://www.cmscva.org/

May 19 (4 p.m.)
Grace & Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, 8 N. Laurel St., Richmond
Greater Richmond Children’s Choir
Hope Armstrong Erb directing
15th anniversary celebration
program TBA
free
(804) 201-1894
http://www.grcchoir.org/

May 19 (7:30 p.m.)
First Unitarian Universalist Church, 1000 Blanton Ave. at the Carillon, Richmond
Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia:
Fiona Hughes & Diane Pascal, violins
Max Mandel, viola
James Wilson, cello
Mary Boodell, flute
Rieko Aizawa & Carsten Schmidt, piano
Vivaldi: “Storm at Sea”
Chopin: “Raindrop” Prelude
Dowland: “Lachrimae”
Rameau: “Platée” Suite
Beethoven: String Quintet in C minor
$25
(804) 519-2098
http://www.cmscva.org/

May 19 (8 p.m.)
May 20 (7:30 p.m.)
Cramer Arts Center, The Steward School, 11600 Gayton Road, Richmond
Lyric Opera Virginia
Peter Mark conducting
Bizet: “Carmen” (abridged)
Magdalena Wór (Carmen)
Jonathan Burton (Don José)
Suzanne Vinnik (Micaëla)
Christopher Job (Escamillo)
Lillian Groag, stage director
in French, English captions
$20-$85
(757) 446-6666
http://www.lyricoperavirginia.org/

May 19 (8 p.m.)
Landmark Theater, Main and Laurel streets, Richmond
Richmond Symphony
conductor TBA
“We Will Rock You” cast members
“The Music of Queen: a Rock & Symphonic Spectacular”
$25-$65
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
http://www.richmondsymphony.com/

May 19 (2 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue S.E., Washington
Narak Hakhnazaryan, cello
pianist TBA
program TBA
free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert/1112-schedule.html

May 19 (8 p.m.)
Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, 600 I St. NW, Washington
Jeremy Denk, piano
program TBA
$40
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
http://www.wpas.org/

May 19 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
National Philharmonic & Chorale
Stan Engebretson conducting
Debussy: “The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian”
Audrey Elizabeth Luna & Rosa Lamoureaux, sopranos
Linda Maguire, mezzo-soprano
Eliot Pfanstiehl, narrator
$32-$79
(800) 735-2258
http://www.strathmore.org/

May 20 (7:30 p.m.)
Church of the Holy Comforter (Episcopal), Monument Avenue at Staples Mill Road, Richmond
Richmond Concert Chorale
Grant Hellmers directing
Crystal Jonkman, accompanist
Pachelbel: Magnificat
Lauridsen: “Les Chansons des roses”
Howells: “A Hymn for St. Cecilia”
Parry: choral songs
Psalm settings by Sweelinck, Schütz, Schubert, Goudimel
donation requested
(804) 353-5236

May 20 (2 p.m.)
Virginia Zoo, 3500 Granby St., Norfolk
Virginia Arts Festival:
Invencia Piano Duo
Virginia Symphony members
Saint-Saëns: “Carnival of the Animals”
$15
(757) 282-2822
http://www.virginiaartsfest.com/

May 20 (5 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
The Washington Chorus
Julian Wachner directing
Othalie Graham, soprano
Brent Stater, baritone
“The Essential Wagner”
excerpts from “Lohengrin,” “The Flying Dutchman,” “Rienzi,” “Tannhäuser,” “Die Meistersinger”
$15-$65
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/

May 20 (5 p.m.)
St. Luke Catholic Church, 7001 Georgetown Pike, McLean
City Choir of Washington
St. Luke Festival Choir
St. John Academy Boys’ and Girls’ Treble Choir
Robert Shafer directing
Paul Skevington, organ
Duruflé: Requiem
Britten: “Rejoice in the Lamb”
Robert Shafer: “Soul of My Savior”
$25
(301) 572-6865
http://www.citychoirofwashington.org/

May 21 (7:30 p.m.)
First Unitarian Universalist Church, 1000 Blanton Ave. at the Carillon, Richmond
Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia:
Fiona Hughes & Diane Pascal, violins
Max Mandel, viola
James Wilson, cello
Mary Boodell, flute
Rieko Aizawa & Carsten Schmidt, piano
Mendelssohn: “Hebrides” Overture
Gaubert: “Watercolors” (excerpts)
Brahms: Violin Sonata in G major
Donizetti: “Alina” Overture
George Crumb: “Voice of the Whale”
$25
(804) 519-2098
http://www.cmscva.org/

May 21 (7:30 p.m.)
Hixon Theater, Barr Education Center, 440 Bank St., Norfolk
Virginia Arts Festival:
Tianwa Yang, violin
pianist TBA
Raymond Jones, host
Ysaÿe: Violin Sonata, Op. 27, No. 2
Prokofiev: Violin Sonata in D major, Op. 115
Hindemith: Violin Sonata, Op. 31, No. 2 (“Es ist so schönes Wetter draussen”)
Bach: Partita No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1004
$30
(757) 282-2822
http://www.virginiaartsfest.com/

May 23 (7:30 p.m.)
May 24 (7:30 p.m.)
Sandler Arts Center, 201 S. Market St., Virginia Beach
Lyric Opera Virginia
Peter Mark conducting
Bizet: “Carmen” (abridged)
Magdalena Wór (Carmen)
Jonathan Burton (Don José)
Suzanne Vinnik (Micaëla)
Christopher Job (Escamillo)
Lillian Groag, stage director
in French, English captions
$20-$85
(757) 385-2787
http://www.lyricoperavirginia.org/

May 26 (8 p.m.)
William and Mary Hall, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg
May 27 (3 p.m.)
Chrysler Hall, 201 Brambleton Ave., Norfolk
Virginia Arts Festival:
Virginia Symphony
JoAnn Falletta conducting
Virginia Symphony Chorus
Christopher Newport University Chamber Choir
Old Dominion University Concert Choir
Richmond Symphony Chorus
Virginia Children’s Chorus
Mahler: Symphony No. 8 (“Symphony of a Thousand”)
soloists TBA
$20-$85
(757) 282-2822
http://www.virginiaartsfest.com/

May 26 (8 p.m.)
First Presbyterian Church, 500 Park St., Charlottesville
Oratorio Society of Virginia
Michael Slon directing
Fauré: Requiem
Fauré: “Cantique de Jean Racine”
Fauré: “Messe basse”
Saint-Saëns: “Ave verum corpus”
Franck: “Ave Maria”
$22
(434) 295-4385
http://www.oratoriosociety.org/

May 26 (3 p.m.)
Central United Methodist Church, 14 N. Lewis St., Staunton
Staunton Music Festival:
Carsten Schmidt, harpsichord & speaker
Jason Stell, speaker
lecture-recital: history of the toccata
$8-$20
(540) 569-0267
http://www.stauntonmusicfestival.com/

May 26 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Peter Oundjian conducting
Bruckner: Te Deum
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D minor (“Choral”)
Joyce El-Khoury, soprano
Mary Phillips, mezzo-soprano
Brandon Jovanovich, tenor
Morris Robinson, bass
Baltimore Choral Arts Society
$38-$98
(877) 276-1444
http://www.strathmore.org/

May 27 (3 p.m.)
Central United Methodist Church, 14 N. Lewis St., Staunton
Staunton Music Festival:
Carsten Schmidt, harpsichord
Bach: toccatas in D major, C minor, D minor
Bach: “French” suites in D minor, C minor, E flat major
$8-$20
(540) 569-0267
http://www.stauntonmusicfestival.com/

May 29 (7 p.m.)
Virginia Holocaust Museum, 2000 E. Cary St., Richmond
Jocelyn Adelman, violin
David Fisk, piano
Leone Sinigaglia: “Twelve Variations on a Theme by Franz Schubert”
Milhaud: Violin Sonata No. 2
Messiaen: Fantasie for violin and piano
donation requested; proceeds benefit museum and Richmond Symphony
(804) 257-5400

May 30 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Vocal Arts DC:
Gidon Saks, bass-baritone
Roger Vignoles, piano
John Musto: “Shadow of the Blues”
works by Handel, Shostakovich, Finzi, Ibert, others
$45
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/

May 31 (7 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Christoph Eschenbach conducting
Shepherd: “Blue Blazes”
Richard Strauss: “Der Rosenkavalier” Suite
Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 in A major
$20-$85
(800) 444-1324
http://www.kennedy-center.org/

May 31 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Günther Herbig conducting
Mozart: Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor
Jonathan Biss, piano
Schubert: Symphony No. 6 in C major
$28-$88
(877) 276-1444
http://www.strathmore.org/