Oct. 26, University of Richmond
Simone Dinnerstein is one of the leading Bach pianists of our time. Perhaps the main reason for that is her combination of digital dexterity – few pianists can beat her for speed and accuracy – and bright tone.
Thanks to those attributes, Dinnerstein doesn’t have to compromise on tempos and phrasing and can render Bach’s often dense elaboration and ornamentation with almost as much clarity on a Steinway as harpsichordists produce on their instruments.
What’s good for Bach, however, is not necessarily good for composers of the romantic era.
Those were the upsides and downsides, respectively, of Dinnerstein’s program at the University of Richmond’s Modlin Arts Center. The same technique and sensibility that made her performances of Bach’s partitas Nos. 1 in B flat major, BWV 825, and No. 2 in C minor, BWV 826, so satisfying made her rendition of Chopin’s Nocturne in D flat major, Op. 27, No. 2, sound uncharacteristically hard-edged.
The pianist brought a softer touch and more subtle tone-coloring to Schumann’s “Kinderszenen,” and a fine balance of classical clarity and romantic lyricism to Brahms’ Intermezzo in A major, Op. 118, No. 2.
Her Bach, idiomatic as it was, still showed the limitations of the modern grand piano in this music. The tone of the instrument tended toward the congested in fast, loud and/or heavily ornamented sections of the two partitas, such as the rondeau of the C minor and the menuets and gigue of the B flat major. Dinnerstein made more of slower movements, notably the allemande and sarabande of the C minor, playing with more songful phrasing and conveying a pronounced sense of introspection.
In Daniel Felsenfeld’s “Cohen Variations,” a fantasia-cum-pianistic showpiece using the tune of Leonard Cohen’s “Suzanne,” Dinnerstein (for whom the piece was written) reconciled virtuosity with moodiness, and stayed true to the piece’s stylistic shifts, from romantically lyrical to expressionistic and neoclassical.
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Monday, October 22, 2012
Symphony's 'Come and Play'
The Richmond Symphony’s annual “Come and Play” concert, in which symphony musicians play alongside instrumentalists from the community, will be staged on Nov. 18 at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Siegel Center, Broad and Harrison streets.
Erin R. Freeman, the symphony’s associate conductor, will lead a rehearsal from 2:30-5 p.m., and the concert beginning at 6 p.m.
Registration fees are $10 for adults (23 and older), $5 for those 22 and younger. The registration deadline is Oct. 26. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Symphony @ School program, which supports music education in Richmond area schools.
To register for “Come and Play,” visit www.richmondsymphony.com
Erin R. Freeman, the symphony’s associate conductor, will lead a rehearsal from 2:30-5 p.m., and the concert beginning at 6 p.m.
Registration fees are $10 for adults (23 and older), $5 for those 22 and younger. The registration deadline is Oct. 26. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Symphony @ School program, which supports music education in Richmond area schools.
To register for “Come and Play,” visit www.richmondsymphony.com
Dinnerstein appetizer
Simone Dinnerstein plays Bach's Partita No. 1 in B flat major in the studio at NPR:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2012/10/18/163096165/simone-dinnersteins-bach-between-the-notes
The pianist is due to play this, as well as Bach's Partita No. 2 in C minor and works by Chopin, Schumann, Brahms and Daniel Felsenfeld, at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 26 at the Modlin Arts Center at the University of Richmond. (See October calendar for details.)
http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2012/10/18/163096165/simone-dinnersteins-bach-between-the-notes
The pianist is due to play this, as well as Bach's Partita No. 2 in C minor and works by Chopin, Schumann, Brahms and Daniel Felsenfeld, at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 26 at the Modlin Arts Center at the University of Richmond. (See October calendar for details.)
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Review: 'The Pearl Fishers'
Virginia Opera
Anne Manson conducting
Oct. 19, Richmond CenterStage
Considering the popularity of “Carmen,” you’d think that Georges Bizet’s other major opera, “The Pearl Fishers,” would be at least vaguely familiar. Not really. Many longtime operagoers in this country have never heard, let alone seen, a production. Others know the opera only from this or that excerpt, notably the Act 1 “Pearl Fishers duet” for tenor and baritone.
The opera’s story hinges on our old pal, the love triangle. Zurga, the newly elected chief of a Ceylonese village of pearl divers, and his old friend, Nadir, in their youth were smitten by the same woman. She now reappears as Léïla, a veiled priestess brought in a for a village ceremony. Léïla and Nadir soon fall into each other’s arms, risking execution for impiety. Zurga must man up to ethical and romantic dilemmas and decide whether to condemn the lovers or help them escape. That basic story line is dressed up with the exoticism of the Asian locale and several ceremonial dance and/or choral numbers.
Narratively, “The Pearl Fishers” is clunky, at times almost grinding to a halt. The score by the 25-year-old Bizet is richly orchestrated and positively fecund with melody, if a bit cross-culturally wacky (South Asian fisher-folk doing Provençal dances?). Bizet provides show-stopper arias for all three principals, as well as the (semi-)familiar male duet (recurring as a leitmotif through the score) and the memorable Act 2 lovers’ duet “Dieu puissant, le voilà!”
Virginia Opera introduces “The Pearl Fishers” to its repertory in a production that’s visually arresting and generally well-sung, but musically and choreographically under-energized.
Conductor Anne Manson’s measured tempos give the opera’s three principal voices plenty of room for expression, phrasing and coloristic nuance, but also take away the rollicking quality of the show’s production numbers. Dance sequences are pretty earthbound – tight confines and a steeply raked set likely narrowed choreographer Matt Ferraro’s options; a larger-than-usual chorus is largely static during its numbers.
Heather Buck, the soprano who sang the role of La Princesse in last season’s Virginia Opera production of Philip Glass’ “Orphée,” returns as Léïla, displaying a bright and flexible coloratura and deftly reconciling the character’s stylized priestess persona with the passionate woman within.
Tenor Chad Johnson takes on the punishing tenor role of Nadir gamely, riding the high-register roller-coaster aboard which Bizet straps the tenor with solid technique, if not ringing volume. That is supplied, in plenty, by baritone David Pearshall as Zurga; Pearshall nicely reins in his voice to complement Johnson’s in their duet, and similarly aims to blend in other ensembles. Bass Nathan Stark is a looming, ominous presence as the priest Nourabad.
The chorus is, or should be, a prominent and vivid character in “The Pearl Fishers.” This production’s 36-voice chorus, prepared by Adam Turner, sounded rather shaky early in the first of two Richmond performances. The ensemble came together and gained some heft as the show progressed.
Stage director Tazewell Thompson, like choreographer Ferraro, appears to have addressed the problem of a crowded and raked stage with caution. The crowd doesn’t move much, and when it does so it’s in tight formation. Thompson’s treatment of more intimate scenes is unfussily genuine.
Donald Eastman’s set, a construct of blond wood fronting stylized rigging and fishing lines, has a raked and cobbled floor, suggestive of waves – a clean, uncluttered look, refreshingly devoid of “tropical” kitsch, but angled steeply enough to inhibit movement. Costume designer Merrily Murray-Walsh outfits all the non-priestly characters in South Asian garb that appears well-weathered by water, sun and sand; in this company, Léïla’s red priestess vestments flash almost like neon.
Conductor Manson obtained a warm-blooded and sonorous performance from the Virginia Symphony players in the pit. Flutist Debra Wendells Cross, oboists Sherie Lake-Aguirre and George Corbett and cellist Michael Daniels contributed fine solos.
Virginia Opera’s “The Pearl Fishers” receives its final performance at 2:30 p.m. Oct. 21 in the Carpenter Theatre of Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets. Tickets: $20-$119. Details: (866) 673-7282; www.vaopera.org
Anne Manson conducting
Oct. 19, Richmond CenterStage
Considering the popularity of “Carmen,” you’d think that Georges Bizet’s other major opera, “The Pearl Fishers,” would be at least vaguely familiar. Not really. Many longtime operagoers in this country have never heard, let alone seen, a production. Others know the opera only from this or that excerpt, notably the Act 1 “Pearl Fishers duet” for tenor and baritone.
The opera’s story hinges on our old pal, the love triangle. Zurga, the newly elected chief of a Ceylonese village of pearl divers, and his old friend, Nadir, in their youth were smitten by the same woman. She now reappears as Léïla, a veiled priestess brought in a for a village ceremony. Léïla and Nadir soon fall into each other’s arms, risking execution for impiety. Zurga must man up to ethical and romantic dilemmas and decide whether to condemn the lovers or help them escape. That basic story line is dressed up with the exoticism of the Asian locale and several ceremonial dance and/or choral numbers.
Narratively, “The Pearl Fishers” is clunky, at times almost grinding to a halt. The score by the 25-year-old Bizet is richly orchestrated and positively fecund with melody, if a bit cross-culturally wacky (South Asian fisher-folk doing Provençal dances?). Bizet provides show-stopper arias for all three principals, as well as the (semi-)familiar male duet (recurring as a leitmotif through the score) and the memorable Act 2 lovers’ duet “Dieu puissant, le voilà!”
Virginia Opera introduces “The Pearl Fishers” to its repertory in a production that’s visually arresting and generally well-sung, but musically and choreographically under-energized.
Conductor Anne Manson’s measured tempos give the opera’s three principal voices plenty of room for expression, phrasing and coloristic nuance, but also take away the rollicking quality of the show’s production numbers. Dance sequences are pretty earthbound – tight confines and a steeply raked set likely narrowed choreographer Matt Ferraro’s options; a larger-than-usual chorus is largely static during its numbers.
Heather Buck, the soprano who sang the role of La Princesse in last season’s Virginia Opera production of Philip Glass’ “Orphée,” returns as Léïla, displaying a bright and flexible coloratura and deftly reconciling the character’s stylized priestess persona with the passionate woman within.
Tenor Chad Johnson takes on the punishing tenor role of Nadir gamely, riding the high-register roller-coaster aboard which Bizet straps the tenor with solid technique, if not ringing volume. That is supplied, in plenty, by baritone David Pearshall as Zurga; Pearshall nicely reins in his voice to complement Johnson’s in their duet, and similarly aims to blend in other ensembles. Bass Nathan Stark is a looming, ominous presence as the priest Nourabad.
The chorus is, or should be, a prominent and vivid character in “The Pearl Fishers.” This production’s 36-voice chorus, prepared by Adam Turner, sounded rather shaky early in the first of two Richmond performances. The ensemble came together and gained some heft as the show progressed.
Stage director Tazewell Thompson, like choreographer Ferraro, appears to have addressed the problem of a crowded and raked stage with caution. The crowd doesn’t move much, and when it does so it’s in tight formation. Thompson’s treatment of more intimate scenes is unfussily genuine.
Donald Eastman’s set, a construct of blond wood fronting stylized rigging and fishing lines, has a raked and cobbled floor, suggestive of waves – a clean, uncluttered look, refreshingly devoid of “tropical” kitsch, but angled steeply enough to inhibit movement. Costume designer Merrily Murray-Walsh outfits all the non-priestly characters in South Asian garb that appears well-weathered by water, sun and sand; in this company, Léïla’s red priestess vestments flash almost like neon.
Conductor Manson obtained a warm-blooded and sonorous performance from the Virginia Symphony players in the pit. Flutist Debra Wendells Cross, oboists Sherie Lake-Aguirre and George Corbett and cellist Michael Daniels contributed fine solos.
Virginia Opera’s “The Pearl Fishers” receives its final performance at 2:30 p.m. Oct. 21 in the Carpenter Theatre of Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets. Tickets: $20-$119. Details: (866) 673-7282; www.vaopera.org
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Review: Jennifer Koh
with Shai Wosner, piano
Oct. 13, Virginia Commonwealth University
Violinist Jennifer Koh is one of the best of a growing number of young and youngish artists who come at the classical repertory through the looking glass, so to speak – presenting familiar works in unfamiliar company, shuffling chronology and style, veering from the sensual to the brainy and back (sometimes within the same piece), and making the presentation work through a combination of technical precision and palpable passion for the music at hand.
Koh’s program for her VCU recital with pianist Shai Wosner was characteristically venturesome: a first half of sonatas by Leoš Janáček and Béla Bartók, a second half with György Kurtág’s “Tre Pezzi” miniatures serving as a prelude to . . . Brahms’ Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor. For many in the audience, it was a harrowing journey that finally ended in a warm, safe place.
The chief harrow was Bartók’s Sonata in C sharp minor for violin and piano. The two instruments play markedly different material quite independently of each other; if the performers are mutually attentive and sensitive, occasional, and rather shaky, reconciliation of their parts is possible. Koh and Wosner assumed their respective characters (songful but intense and vigorously rhythmic, respectively) and maintained a certain respectful distance. They played up all available tension and surprise in the sonata’s long central adagio but couldn’t make it sound like a coherent whole.
Janáček’s Violin Sonata (1914-21) is, as its dates suggest, music echoing to the upheaval and radical transformation of Central Europe during and after World War I. As a Czech, eager to throw off Austro-Hungarian rule, the composer looked to Russia, both as a liberator and pan-Slavic cultural beacon. The sonata, a kind of mind’s ear soundtrack to Janáček’s thinking and feelings about the world changing around him, employs many of the same expressive devices that Janáček used in his operas, making this piece sound like a wordless chamber drama.
Koh was a vivid protagonist, playing at an expressive pitch one might expect to hear in Tchaikovsky or even Mussorgsky. Wosner was a richly evocative musical presence throughout the piece.
Kurtág’s “Tre Pezzi” are three short nonlinear pieces about sound and tone color. The tones, especially those of the violin, are quiet and tonally rarified, usually resonating into silence. The set was a surprisingly effective ear-cleanser for the Brahms.
The duo’s performance of the Brahms was straightforward. Koh and Wosner played with breadth and expression, but seemed intent on not over-interpreting this staple sonata. One sensed that Wosner wanted a bit more flexibility in phrasing.
Oct. 13, Virginia Commonwealth University
Violinist Jennifer Koh is one of the best of a growing number of young and youngish artists who come at the classical repertory through the looking glass, so to speak – presenting familiar works in unfamiliar company, shuffling chronology and style, veering from the sensual to the brainy and back (sometimes within the same piece), and making the presentation work through a combination of technical precision and palpable passion for the music at hand.
Koh’s program for her VCU recital with pianist Shai Wosner was characteristically venturesome: a first half of sonatas by Leoš Janáček and Béla Bartók, a second half with György Kurtág’s “Tre Pezzi” miniatures serving as a prelude to . . . Brahms’ Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor. For many in the audience, it was a harrowing journey that finally ended in a warm, safe place.
The chief harrow was Bartók’s Sonata in C sharp minor for violin and piano. The two instruments play markedly different material quite independently of each other; if the performers are mutually attentive and sensitive, occasional, and rather shaky, reconciliation of their parts is possible. Koh and Wosner assumed their respective characters (songful but intense and vigorously rhythmic, respectively) and maintained a certain respectful distance. They played up all available tension and surprise in the sonata’s long central adagio but couldn’t make it sound like a coherent whole.
Janáček’s Violin Sonata (1914-21) is, as its dates suggest, music echoing to the upheaval and radical transformation of Central Europe during and after World War I. As a Czech, eager to throw off Austro-Hungarian rule, the composer looked to Russia, both as a liberator and pan-Slavic cultural beacon. The sonata, a kind of mind’s ear soundtrack to Janáček’s thinking and feelings about the world changing around him, employs many of the same expressive devices that Janáček used in his operas, making this piece sound like a wordless chamber drama.
Koh was a vivid protagonist, playing at an expressive pitch one might expect to hear in Tchaikovsky or even Mussorgsky. Wosner was a richly evocative musical presence throughout the piece.
Kurtág’s “Tre Pezzi” are three short nonlinear pieces about sound and tone color. The tones, especially those of the violin, are quiet and tonally rarified, usually resonating into silence. The set was a surprisingly effective ear-cleanser for the Brahms.
The duo’s performance of the Brahms was straightforward. Koh and Wosner played with breadth and expression, but seemed intent on not over-interpreting this staple sonata. One sensed that Wosner wanted a bit more flexibility in phrasing.
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Review: Philip Glass Festival
Philip Glass, composer & piano
Tim Fain, violin
Oct. 5, University of Richmond
Philip Glass, who turned 75 in January, is being fêted all over the place during this anniversary year. The University of Richmond’s Modlin Arts Center has staged a Philip Glass Festival this fall; its climax came with the composer appearing for a talk and a concert with violinist Tim Fain.
The concert program, sampling more than 30 years of Glass’ output, centered on the Chaconne from the “Partita for Solo Violin in Seven Movements.” Glass modeled his partita after those of Bach, giving the violinist many opportunities for technical display and high-strung expressiveness, as well as a complex structure to negotiate. “I was looking for a structure that was both expansive and tightly knit,” the composer writes, and he achieves that combination expertly and memorably.
Fain, for whom the partita was written, proved to be both fluent and communicative in the two-part chaconne at the heart of the piece. He was downright frisky in an encore of an excerpt from Glass’ opera “Einstein on the Beach.”
Glass played several solo-piano works from various eras. The Chopinesque “Metamorphoses” Nos. 4, 3 and 2, vintage 1989, contrasted refreshingly with “Mad Rush,” a 1979 piece, originally for organ, whose insistent ostinato and liberal application of arpeggios are characteristic of his early minimalist or “steady state” style.
In “Wichita Vortex Sutra,” a 1990 setting of Alan Ginsburg’s Vietnam War-era poem, the poet’s exuberantly delivered recording of the poem overshadowed the piano accompaniment, despite the busyness of the piano line and its rather loud amplification in this performance.
Glass and Fain played two duets, including three excerpts from the composer’s 1989 music for the Jean Genet play “The Screens” and “Pendulum,” a 2010 work written for an American Civil Liberties Union anniversary celebration.
Like much of Glass’ later music, scored for instruments other than electronic keyboards, these pieces sound more expressive, atmospheric and/or playful – cinematic, if you will – and less rhythmically relentless.
The composer, dressed for a casual Friday and introducing the selections as if he were conversing in someone’s living room, did not give off Grand Old Man vibes.
Maybe when he turns 80, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
Tim Fain, violin
Oct. 5, University of Richmond
Philip Glass, who turned 75 in January, is being fêted all over the place during this anniversary year. The University of Richmond’s Modlin Arts Center has staged a Philip Glass Festival this fall; its climax came with the composer appearing for a talk and a concert with violinist Tim Fain.
The concert program, sampling more than 30 years of Glass’ output, centered on the Chaconne from the “Partita for Solo Violin in Seven Movements.” Glass modeled his partita after those of Bach, giving the violinist many opportunities for technical display and high-strung expressiveness, as well as a complex structure to negotiate. “I was looking for a structure that was both expansive and tightly knit,” the composer writes, and he achieves that combination expertly and memorably.
Fain, for whom the partita was written, proved to be both fluent and communicative in the two-part chaconne at the heart of the piece. He was downright frisky in an encore of an excerpt from Glass’ opera “Einstein on the Beach.”
Glass played several solo-piano works from various eras. The Chopinesque “Metamorphoses” Nos. 4, 3 and 2, vintage 1989, contrasted refreshingly with “Mad Rush,” a 1979 piece, originally for organ, whose insistent ostinato and liberal application of arpeggios are characteristic of his early minimalist or “steady state” style.
In “Wichita Vortex Sutra,” a 1990 setting of Alan Ginsburg’s Vietnam War-era poem, the poet’s exuberantly delivered recording of the poem overshadowed the piano accompaniment, despite the busyness of the piano line and its rather loud amplification in this performance.
Glass and Fain played two duets, including three excerpts from the composer’s 1989 music for the Jean Genet play “The Screens” and “Pendulum,” a 2010 work written for an American Civil Liberties Union anniversary celebration.
Like much of Glass’ later music, scored for instruments other than electronic keyboards, these pieces sound more expressive, atmospheric and/or playful – cinematic, if you will – and less rhythmically relentless.
The composer, dressed for a casual Friday and introducing the selections as if he were conversing in someone’s living room, did not give off Grand Old Man vibes.
Maybe when he turns 80, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
Friday, October 5, 2012
Review: Symphony 'Rush Hour'
Steven Smith conducting
Oct. 4, Richmond CenterStage
The Richmond Symphony’s new casual-concert series got off to a splendid start musically, a fair-to-middling start logistically. “Rush Hour” concerts – another is scheduled for Feb. 21 – are short programs (an hour or so) of music with talk about it. A free beverage comes with a ticket. The event was staged in Richmond CenterStage’s Gottwald Playhouse, a “black box” theater (only earth-toned) seating about 200.
Steven Smith, the symphony’s music director, did most of the talking, in much the same way that he conducts pre-concert lectures for the Masterworks series. Smith was engaging, informed and cogent in introducing the program’s three selections; before the longest, Britten’s Serenade for tenor, horn and strings, he invited the featured soloists to have their say.
Joseph Evans, a Houston-based tenor and university teacher, and James Ferree, who joined the symphony as principal horn player in January, gave smoothly delivered talks, Evans focusing on the text of the Britten (complete with translations from 15th century English), Ferree demonstrating the natural horn, the valveless predecessor to the modern French horn, which Britten uses to haunting effect in the prologue and epilogue of the serenade.
Evans has a near-ideal voice for Britten’s settings of Tennyson, Blake, Keats, two other English poets and the 15th-century “Lyke Wake Dirge.” The composer wrote the vocal part of the serenade for tenor Peter Pears, whose rather steely head voice could penetrate complex and unquiet orchestrations. Evans added just enough metal to be heard clearly alongside robust, sonorous playing by Ferree and the symphony strings.
The program opened with Zoltan Kodály’s “Summer Evening,” a late-romantic/impressionistic tone poem liberally garnished with the harmonies and rhythmic inflections of Hungarian folk song and dance. The piece, which sounds like a Hungarian analogue to music of the English pastoral school (Vaughan Williams, Holst, Butterworth, etc.), was a surprisingly suitable companion to the Britten.
Smith and the orchestra concluded the mini-concert with the first movement of Haydn’s Symphony No. 102 in B flat major, one of the 12 “London” symphonies that the composer wrote for two tours of England in the 1790s. This was a semi-“big band” reading of Haydn, with moderate tempos and blunt accents.
If conversation and audience interaction are to be part of these events, the Gottwald Playhouse is not the ideal venue. The space is intimate, with surprisingly lively acoustics; but the formal-concert "wall" between performers and listeners still stands in this largely fixed-seat space.
The program will be repeated, with a full performance of the Haydn symphony, in the opening of the orchestra’s Metro Collection series, at 3 p.m. Oct. 7 at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland. Tickets: $20. Details: (800) 514-3849 (ETIX); www.richmondsymphony.com
Oct. 4, Richmond CenterStage
The Richmond Symphony’s new casual-concert series got off to a splendid start musically, a fair-to-middling start logistically. “Rush Hour” concerts – another is scheduled for Feb. 21 – are short programs (an hour or so) of music with talk about it. A free beverage comes with a ticket. The event was staged in Richmond CenterStage’s Gottwald Playhouse, a “black box” theater (only earth-toned) seating about 200.
Steven Smith, the symphony’s music director, did most of the talking, in much the same way that he conducts pre-concert lectures for the Masterworks series. Smith was engaging, informed and cogent in introducing the program’s three selections; before the longest, Britten’s Serenade for tenor, horn and strings, he invited the featured soloists to have their say.
Joseph Evans, a Houston-based tenor and university teacher, and James Ferree, who joined the symphony as principal horn player in January, gave smoothly delivered talks, Evans focusing on the text of the Britten (complete with translations from 15th century English), Ferree demonstrating the natural horn, the valveless predecessor to the modern French horn, which Britten uses to haunting effect in the prologue and epilogue of the serenade.
Evans has a near-ideal voice for Britten’s settings of Tennyson, Blake, Keats, two other English poets and the 15th-century “Lyke Wake Dirge.” The composer wrote the vocal part of the serenade for tenor Peter Pears, whose rather steely head voice could penetrate complex and unquiet orchestrations. Evans added just enough metal to be heard clearly alongside robust, sonorous playing by Ferree and the symphony strings.
The program opened with Zoltan Kodály’s “Summer Evening,” a late-romantic/impressionistic tone poem liberally garnished with the harmonies and rhythmic inflections of Hungarian folk song and dance. The piece, which sounds like a Hungarian analogue to music of the English pastoral school (Vaughan Williams, Holst, Butterworth, etc.), was a surprisingly suitable companion to the Britten.
Smith and the orchestra concluded the mini-concert with the first movement of Haydn’s Symphony No. 102 in B flat major, one of the 12 “London” symphonies that the composer wrote for two tours of England in the 1790s. This was a semi-“big band” reading of Haydn, with moderate tempos and blunt accents.
If conversation and audience interaction are to be part of these events, the Gottwald Playhouse is not the ideal venue. The space is intimate, with surprisingly lively acoustics; but the formal-concert "wall" between performers and listeners still stands in this largely fixed-seat space.
The program will be repeated, with a full performance of the Haydn symphony, in the opening of the orchestra’s Metro Collection series, at 3 p.m. Oct. 7 at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland. Tickets: $20. Details: (800) 514-3849 (ETIX); www.richmondsymphony.com
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Soft impasse at the symphony
The Richmond Symphony’s musicians say they cannot afford to accept a new contract that sharply reduces pay and benefits. The board and management say the symphony cannot afford to make a better offer, and will implement the new terms despite their rejection by the players.
The orchestra has no plans to lock out the musicians by canceling rehearsals and performances, and the musicians have no plans to strike. The rhetorical tone has been measured, almost courtly, on both sides.
This soft impasse could continue for months, maybe through the 2012-13 season.
Richmond is one among a number of U.S. cities whose symphony orchestras are weathering an Indian summer of discontent. Musicians’ contracts have reached or passed expiration dates, and negotiations between players and management have stalled in many places. Chicago Symphony players staged a brief strike before accepting a new three-year pact. The Atlanta Symphony locked out its musicians until the players accepted a concessionary contract. A lockout continues at the Indianapolis Symphony, and another has begun at the Minnesota Orchestra. Other ensembles are reducing the length of their seasons and demanding substantial concessions from musicians.
After its contract with musicians expired at the end of August, the Richmond Symphony’s board made a final offer that “reduces a [full-time] section musician’s annual wage from $32,785 to $28,886, including a two-week reduction in season length [from 38 to 36 weeks], and slashes nearly every benefit the musicians receive,” according to a statement from George Tuckwiller, president of Local 123 of the American Federation of Musicians, the union representing the symphony players. The offer also reduces pay for part-time (“per-service”) musicians.
The symphony has 36 full-time and 32 part-time players on its regular roster.
The management proposal effectively cuts pay by 12 percent for full-timers and 14 percent for part-timers, says Molly Sharp, the symphony’s principal violist and one of the musicians’ lead negotiators in contract talks. Orchestra players entered this year’s contract talks after “years of [pay] freezes” during the recession, she notes.
The current wage offer “would enable a married musician with two children to be eligible for SNAP,” the federal Supplemental Nutrition Allowance Program long known as food stamps, Tuckwiller observes. “We are not interested in handouts. We want to be able to afford our own food and put it on the table for our family.”
Management has implemented the new contract provisions despite the musicians’ rejection of the offer on Sept. 30. “We asked the union to agree to a significant number of financial belt-tightening measures that are necessary for us to achieve a balanced budget in fiscal year 2012-13,” the orchestra’s board chair, John W. Braymer, and executive director, David Fisk, write in a letter to symphony patrons. “We are asking this of our musicians only after first taking all other reasonable measures to reduce expenses.”
The symphony’s public accounting of its finances can be found on its website, www.richmondsymphony.com Click on “About Us;” from the drop-down menu select “Leadership,” then go to “Richmond Symphony’s Organizational Profile” at the bottom of the page. There you’ll find links to the orchestra’s audited financial statement for the 2010-11 season, and a copy of its Form 990, the accounting of revenues and expenses that nonprofit groups are required to file with the Internal Revenue Service. The most recent 990 covers the 2009-10 season.
According to the 2010-11 statement, the most recent that the symphony has released, the orchestra’s operating revenue was $4,412,335. Total expenses were $4,760,951, resulting in a shortfall of $348,616. The orchestra’s accumulated debt is more than $1,289,000. Just over half of 2010-11 expenses, $2,462,880, were for artistic personnel, which includes conductors and guest soloists as well as the orchestra’s musicians. The symphony says the “vast majority” of artistic personnel costs are for orchestra players’ pay and benefits, but has not disclosed the exact percentage.
The orchestra’s board feels impelled to “balance the budget over the next few years,” says José Luis Murillo, past chair of the board and one its lead contract negotiators. The symphony has initiated “extraordinary fund-raising to eliminate the debt,” and is engaged in “very significant belt-tightening in every respect,” Murillo says.
Perhaps the most visible sign of that economizing is reduction of the orchestra’s performance schedule. Its mainstage classical concert series, Masterworks, went from eight programs last season to seven this season, three of them without Sunday repeats – the first time in nearly 30 years that Masterworks programs have been staged for only one concert. The Metro Collection chamber-orchestra series already had eliminated Friday night performances, leaving only four Sunday matinees in Ashland. A new Rush-Hour Concerts series at Richmond CenterStage will launch this week, but with just two concerts this season. The four Symphony Pops and three LolliPops programs (all single concerts, except for a pair of “Let It Snow!” holiday pops concerts) and the annual Christmas-season “Messiah” remain unchanged from past seasons.
Performance revenue – primarily ticket sales – in the 2010-11 season was $1,270,709. With the elimination of five mainstage concerts, ticket revenue could decline this season.
Other dampeners on revenues:
– A decline in the annual “draw” (payout) from the symphony’s endowment fund. That fund has grown by $5.6 million, following a five-year campaign the concluded last July, and is expected to total about $12 million this year. But, as anyone with a 401(k) or IRA can testify, returns on investments are not what they used to be.
– Funding from state and local governments has been waning, partly because of recessionary drops in tax revenues, partly because government arts subsidies have been targeted by conservative interest groups and cut by politicians responsive to those interests.
– Fewer bookings in recent years for “runout” concerts, mostly staged outside the Richmond area.
The other principal source of symphony revenue, donated funds (“contributions and grants”), amounted to $2,237,028 in 2010-11, a slight decline from the $2,270,130 raised in 2009-10.
The primary source of donations has been shifting from corporations and foundations to individual donors.
Corporate giving to the arts has fallen since the 2007-08 economic crash. (A notable local casualty of the crash was the Arts Fund, a United Way-like venture for corporate matches of employee giving.) Over the past 15 years, a number of Richmond-based companies prominent in corporate philanthropy have gone out of business or have been absorbed by larger firms based elsewhere. Those losses were only partially offset by the relocation of Altria to Richmond and its emergence as a major local corporate donor to the arts.
For 10 years, the Richmond Symphony received six-figure budgetary boosts each year via grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s Program for Symphony Orchestras; but that ended in 2009. Major fund-raising campaigns for the development of Richmond CenterStage and the expansion of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, as well as the symphony’s endowment-fund campaign, quite likely cut into year-to-year giving for operations of the orchestra and other arts groups.
Overall “giving over the last few years has been pretty strong,” Murillo says, but much of it has come from “a fairly limited group” of donors. Growth in gifts from individuals and family foundations has not made up for drops in corporate donations and government grants.
All this has left the symphony more healthily endowed but “cash-poor on operations,” Sharp says. “We have a revenue problem that needs to be addressed, and we hope to work together [with management] to solve it.”
“As many public offerings as possible” – i.e., more concerts – could not only boost revenue but also reinforce the perception that “the community has a stake in the symphony,” she suggests.
Murillo says the board and management have “the greatest admiration for [the musicians’] dedication and professionalism” and want to maintain a stable roster of resident musicians. Turning the symphony into a “pickup” orchestra of per-service players is, he says, “something we would like not to do.”
This season the orchestra is giving players longer notice of the dates on which they will be needed, potentially making it easier for them to find work outside the symphony.
“We will do our best to raise as much money and [increase] audience attendance as much as possible,” Murillo says. “As soon as we can secure our financial stituation, we’ll be only too happy to put money back into musicians’ salaries. We hope that by the end of the season we will have a contract that everybody can accept.”
The orchestra has no plans to lock out the musicians by canceling rehearsals and performances, and the musicians have no plans to strike. The rhetorical tone has been measured, almost courtly, on both sides.
This soft impasse could continue for months, maybe through the 2012-13 season.
Richmond is one among a number of U.S. cities whose symphony orchestras are weathering an Indian summer of discontent. Musicians’ contracts have reached or passed expiration dates, and negotiations between players and management have stalled in many places. Chicago Symphony players staged a brief strike before accepting a new three-year pact. The Atlanta Symphony locked out its musicians until the players accepted a concessionary contract. A lockout continues at the Indianapolis Symphony, and another has begun at the Minnesota Orchestra. Other ensembles are reducing the length of their seasons and demanding substantial concessions from musicians.
After its contract with musicians expired at the end of August, the Richmond Symphony’s board made a final offer that “reduces a [full-time] section musician’s annual wage from $32,785 to $28,886, including a two-week reduction in season length [from 38 to 36 weeks], and slashes nearly every benefit the musicians receive,” according to a statement from George Tuckwiller, president of Local 123 of the American Federation of Musicians, the union representing the symphony players. The offer also reduces pay for part-time (“per-service”) musicians.
The symphony has 36 full-time and 32 part-time players on its regular roster.
The management proposal effectively cuts pay by 12 percent for full-timers and 14 percent for part-timers, says Molly Sharp, the symphony’s principal violist and one of the musicians’ lead negotiators in contract talks. Orchestra players entered this year’s contract talks after “years of [pay] freezes” during the recession, she notes.
The current wage offer “would enable a married musician with two children to be eligible for SNAP,” the federal Supplemental Nutrition Allowance Program long known as food stamps, Tuckwiller observes. “We are not interested in handouts. We want to be able to afford our own food and put it on the table for our family.”
Management has implemented the new contract provisions despite the musicians’ rejection of the offer on Sept. 30. “We asked the union to agree to a significant number of financial belt-tightening measures that are necessary for us to achieve a balanced budget in fiscal year 2012-13,” the orchestra’s board chair, John W. Braymer, and executive director, David Fisk, write in a letter to symphony patrons. “We are asking this of our musicians only after first taking all other reasonable measures to reduce expenses.”
The symphony’s public accounting of its finances can be found on its website, www.richmondsymphony.com Click on “About Us;” from the drop-down menu select “Leadership,” then go to “Richmond Symphony’s Organizational Profile” at the bottom of the page. There you’ll find links to the orchestra’s audited financial statement for the 2010-11 season, and a copy of its Form 990, the accounting of revenues and expenses that nonprofit groups are required to file with the Internal Revenue Service. The most recent 990 covers the 2009-10 season.
According to the 2010-11 statement, the most recent that the symphony has released, the orchestra’s operating revenue was $4,412,335. Total expenses were $4,760,951, resulting in a shortfall of $348,616. The orchestra’s accumulated debt is more than $1,289,000. Just over half of 2010-11 expenses, $2,462,880, were for artistic personnel, which includes conductors and guest soloists as well as the orchestra’s musicians. The symphony says the “vast majority” of artistic personnel costs are for orchestra players’ pay and benefits, but has not disclosed the exact percentage.
The orchestra’s board feels impelled to “balance the budget over the next few years,” says José Luis Murillo, past chair of the board and one its lead contract negotiators. The symphony has initiated “extraordinary fund-raising to eliminate the debt,” and is engaged in “very significant belt-tightening in every respect,” Murillo says.
Perhaps the most visible sign of that economizing is reduction of the orchestra’s performance schedule. Its mainstage classical concert series, Masterworks, went from eight programs last season to seven this season, three of them without Sunday repeats – the first time in nearly 30 years that Masterworks programs have been staged for only one concert. The Metro Collection chamber-orchestra series already had eliminated Friday night performances, leaving only four Sunday matinees in Ashland. A new Rush-Hour Concerts series at Richmond CenterStage will launch this week, but with just two concerts this season. The four Symphony Pops and three LolliPops programs (all single concerts, except for a pair of “Let It Snow!” holiday pops concerts) and the annual Christmas-season “Messiah” remain unchanged from past seasons.
Performance revenue – primarily ticket sales – in the 2010-11 season was $1,270,709. With the elimination of five mainstage concerts, ticket revenue could decline this season.
Other dampeners on revenues:
– A decline in the annual “draw” (payout) from the symphony’s endowment fund. That fund has grown by $5.6 million, following a five-year campaign the concluded last July, and is expected to total about $12 million this year. But, as anyone with a 401(k) or IRA can testify, returns on investments are not what they used to be.
– Funding from state and local governments has been waning, partly because of recessionary drops in tax revenues, partly because government arts subsidies have been targeted by conservative interest groups and cut by politicians responsive to those interests.
– Fewer bookings in recent years for “runout” concerts, mostly staged outside the Richmond area.
The other principal source of symphony revenue, donated funds (“contributions and grants”), amounted to $2,237,028 in 2010-11, a slight decline from the $2,270,130 raised in 2009-10.
The primary source of donations has been shifting from corporations and foundations to individual donors.
Corporate giving to the arts has fallen since the 2007-08 economic crash. (A notable local casualty of the crash was the Arts Fund, a United Way-like venture for corporate matches of employee giving.) Over the past 15 years, a number of Richmond-based companies prominent in corporate philanthropy have gone out of business or have been absorbed by larger firms based elsewhere. Those losses were only partially offset by the relocation of Altria to Richmond and its emergence as a major local corporate donor to the arts.
For 10 years, the Richmond Symphony received six-figure budgetary boosts each year via grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s Program for Symphony Orchestras; but that ended in 2009. Major fund-raising campaigns for the development of Richmond CenterStage and the expansion of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, as well as the symphony’s endowment-fund campaign, quite likely cut into year-to-year giving for operations of the orchestra and other arts groups.
Overall “giving over the last few years has been pretty strong,” Murillo says, but much of it has come from “a fairly limited group” of donors. Growth in gifts from individuals and family foundations has not made up for drops in corporate donations and government grants.
All this has left the symphony more healthily endowed but “cash-poor on operations,” Sharp says. “We have a revenue problem that needs to be addressed, and we hope to work together [with management] to solve it.”
“As many public offerings as possible” – i.e., more concerts – could not only boost revenue but also reinforce the perception that “the community has a stake in the symphony,” she suggests.
Murillo says the board and management have “the greatest admiration for [the musicians’] dedication and professionalism” and want to maintain a stable roster of resident musicians. Turning the symphony into a “pickup” orchestra of per-service players is, he says, “something we would like not to do.”
This season the orchestra is giving players longer notice of the dates on which they will be needed, potentially making it easier for them to find work outside the symphony.
“We will do our best to raise as much money and [increase] audience attendance as much as possible,” Murillo says. “As soon as we can secure our financial stituation, we’ll be only too happy to put money back into musicians’ salaries. We hope that by the end of the season we will have a contract that everybody can accept.”
Lyric Opera's unpaid bills
Financial problems at Lyric Opera Virginia, which led to postponement of its 2012-13 season-opener, also can be seen in a string of unpaid bills from venues and vendors. The company’s administrative chief, Joseph Walsh, and artistic director, Peter Mark, say LOV’s money woes are common in a start-up company, Teresa Annas of The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk) reports:
http://hamptonroads.com/2012/10/lyric-opera-puts-season-hold-until-bills-are-paid
http://hamptonroads.com/2012/10/lyric-opera-puts-season-hold-until-bills-are-paid
Monday, October 1, 2012
Symphony musicians reject contract
Musicians of the Richmond Symphony have voted against accepting a management offer of a new contract that would reduce the season from 38 to 36 weeks and cut players’ pay, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports:
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/entertainment/2012/sep/30/1/richmond-symphony-musicians-reject-final-contract-ar-2246964/
Under what the musicians have described as management’s “final offer,” the annual salary of a full-time section musician would fall from $32,785 to $28,886. Local 123 of the American Federation of Musicians, the symphony players’ union, recommended rejection of the offer.
The musicians have continued performing without a contract.
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/entertainment/2012/sep/30/1/richmond-symphony-musicians-reject-final-contract-ar-2246964/
Under what the musicians have described as management’s “final offer,” the annual salary of a full-time section musician would fall from $32,785 to $28,886. Local 123 of the American Federation of Musicians, the symphony players’ union, recommended rejection of the offer.
The musicians have continued performing without a contract.
October 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.
NOTE: HURRICANE SANDY MAY CAUSE CANCELLATION OF MANY LATE OCTOBER EVENTS, ESPECIALLY IN NORTHERN AND EASTERN VIRGINIA. CHECK WITH PRESENTERS FOR UPDATED SCHEDULE INFORMATION.
SCOUTING REPORT
* In and around Richmond: The Philip Glass Festival at the University of Richmond’s Modlin Arts Center culminates in a talk by the composer on Oct. 4 and a concert by Glass and violinist Tim Fain on Oct. 5. . . . The Richmond Symphony launches its new Rush-Hour Concerts series on Oct. 4; the program of Kodály, Britten and Haydn with tenor Joseph Evans and French horn player James Ferree is a one-hour condensation of the Metro Collection season-opener, Oct. 7 at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland. . . . Violinist Susanna Klein joins Daniel Myssyk and the VCU Symphony in Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5, Oct. 9 at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Singleton Arts Center. . . . Violinist Jennifer Koh, accompanied by pianist Shai Wosner, performs on Oct. 13 in VCU’s Rennolds Chamber Concerts series. . . . Virginia Opera opens its new season with Bizet’s “The Pearl Fishers,” Oct. 19 and 21 at Richmond CenterStage (with earlier dates at Norfolk’s Harrison Opera House and George Mason University’s Center for the Arts in Fairfax). . . . The Atlantic Chamber Ensemble launches its second season with performances on Oct. 20 at Good Shepherd Episcopal Church and Oct. 21 at St. Matthias Episcopal Church. . . . Pianist Simone Dinnerstein plays Bach, Chopin, Brahms and more, Oct. 26 at UR’s Modlin Center. . . . The Richmond Philharmonic welcomes the first of its music director candidates, David Searle, and pianist José Ramos Santana, for a program of Debussy, Rachmaninoff and Mussorgsky, Oct. 28 at VCU’s Singleton Center.
* Noteworthy elsewhere: Violinist Pamela Frank and friends play Dvořák, Schoenberg and Brahms, Oct. 10 at the Library of Congress in Washington. . . . Pianist Richard Goode plays the last three sonatas of Beethoven, Oct. 11 at the Kennedy Center in DC. . . . Cellist Colin Carr performs on Oct. 19 at the American Theater in Hampton. . . . Double-bass virtuoso Edgar Meyer joins JoAnn Falletta and the Virginia Symphony, Oct. 26-28 at venues in Newport News, Norfolk and Virginia Beach. . . . Concerto Köln, the eminent German period-instruments orchestra, plays Handel, Telemann, Vivaldi and dall’Abaco, Oct. 30 at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. . . . Pianist András Schiff plays Book 2 of Bach’s “The Well-Tempered Clavier,” Oct. 30 at Strathmore in the Maryland suburbs of DC.
Oct. 1 (7 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Philip Glass Festival:
Film, Jean Cocteau’s “La Belle et la Bête” (“Beauty and the Beast”)
$5
(804) 289-8980
www.modlin.richmond.edu
Oct. 1 (8 p.m.)
Roanoke Performing Arts Theatre, Orange Avenue at Williamson Road
Roanoke Symphony
David Stewart Wiley conducting
Beethoven: Symphony No. 1
Vaughan Williams: Tuba Concerto
Brian Kiser, tuba
Sibelius: “Finlandia”
Dvořák: Slavonic Dance No. 7
Tchaikovsky: “1812 Overture”
$22-$52
(540) 343-9127
www.rso.com
Oct. 1 (7 p.m.)
Oct. 4 (7:30 p.m.)
Oct. 7 (2 p.m.)
Oct. 9 (7:30 p.m.)
Oct. 13 (7 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Opera House, Washington
Washington National Opera
Philippe Auguin conducting
Mozart: “Don Giovanni”
Ildar Abdrazokov/Paulo Szot (Don Giovanni)
Andrew Foster-Williams (Leporello)
Meagan Miller (Donna Anna)
Barbara Fritolli (Donna Elvira)
Juan Francisco Gatell (Don Ottavio)
Veronica Cangemi (Zerlina)
Aleksey Bogdanov (Masetto)
Solomon Howard (Commendatore)
John Pascoe, stage director
in Italian, English captions
$25-$300
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org
Oct. 3 (7:30 p.m.)
Oct. 5 (8 p.m.)
Oct. 7 (2:30 p.m.)
Harrison Opera House, 160 E. Virginia Beach Boulevard, Norfolk
Virginia Opera
Anne Manson conducting
Bizet: “The Pearl Fishers”
Heather Buck (Leila)
Chad Johnson (Nadir)
David Pershall (Zurga)
Nathan Stark (Nourabad)
Tazewell Thompson, stage director
in French, English captions
$25-$114
(757) 623-1223
www.vaopera.org
Oct. 3 (7:30 p.m.)
Oct. 6 (7 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Opera House, Washington
Washington National Opera
Antonello Allemandi conducting
Donizetti: “Anna Bolena”
Sondra Radvanovsky (Anna Bolena)
Shalva Mukeria (Riccardo)
Sonia Ganassi (Jane)
Oren Gradus (Henry VIII)
Stephen Lawless, stage director
in Italian, English captions
$25-$300
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org
Oct. 4 (6:30 p.m.)
Gottwald Playhouse, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Rush-Hour Concert:
Richmond Symphony
Steven Smith conducting
Joseph Evans, tenor
James Ferree, French horn
works by Britten, Kodály, Haydn
$20
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
www.richmondsymphony.com
Oct. 4 (7:30 p.m.)
Jepson Theatre, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Philip Glass Festival:
Philip Glass, speaker
“Collaboration and the Creative Process”
$34
(804) 289-8980
www.modlin.richmond.edu
Oct. 4 (8 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Orchid Ensemble
Chinese and Western music TBA
$7 in advance, $10 day of event
(804) 828-6776
www.vcumusic.org
Oct. 4 (7 p.m.)
Oct. 5 (8 p.m.)
Oct. 6 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Christoph Eschenbach conducting
Wagner: Prelude and “Liebestod” from “Tristan und Isolde”
Lieberson: “Neruda Songs”
Kelley O’Connor, mezzo-soprano
Tchaikovsky: “Romeo and Juliet” Fantasy-Overture
Tchaikovsky: “Francesca da Rimini”
$10-$85
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org
Oct. 4 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Markus Stenz conducting
Rebel: “Chaos” from “The Elements”
Schumann: Violin Concerto
Kolja Blacher, violin
Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 (“Eroica”)
$30-$90
(877) 276-1444 (Baltimore Symphony box office)
www.strathmore.org
Oct. 5 (7:30 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Philip Glass Festival:
Philip Glass, composer & keyboards
Tim Fain, violin
works by Glass TBA
$38
(804) 289-8980
www.modlin.richmond.edu
Oct. 5 (7 p.m.)
Christ Episcopal Church, 120 W. High St., Charlottesville
Bruce Stevens, organ
Franck: Chorale in E major
Klaas Bolt: “Variations on a Melody in a Setting by John Dowland, ‘Now, o now, I needs must pass’ ”
J.S. Bach: Trio on “Alein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr,” BWV 664
J.S. Bach: Prelude and Fugue in E minor, BWV 548 (“The Wedge”)
Schumann: Sketch in D flat major, Op. 58, No. 4
Schumann: “Piece in Canonic Form,” Op. 56, No. 4
Rheinberger: Sonata No. 7 in F minor, Op. 127
free
(434) 293-2347
www.christchurchcville.org
Oct. 6 (12:15 p.m.)
Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, Lakeside Avenue at Hilliard Road, Richmond
“Rose Fest”
Virginia Opera artists TBA
arias, duets by Bizet, Johann Strauss II, Mozart, Puccini
free with garden admission
(804) 262-9887
www.lewisginter.org
Oct. 6 (8 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
James Taylor, tenor
Josh Marzan, piano
Beethoven: “An die ferne Geliebte”
Richard Strauss: Lieder TBA
Schubert: “Schwanegesang” (excerpts)
Wagner: “Die Walküre” (excerpts)
$7 in advance, $10 day of event
(804) 828-6776
www.vcumusic.org
Oct. 6 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue S.E., Washington
Moscow Sretensky Monastery Choir
program TBA
free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert/1213-schedule.html
Oct. 7 (3 p.m.)
Blackwell Auditorium, Randolph-Macon College, 205 Henry St., Ashland
Richmond Symphony
Steven Smith conducting
Kodály: “Summer Evening”
Britten: Serenade for tenor, horn and strings
Joseph Evans, tenor
James Ferree, French horn
Haydn: Symphony No. 102 in B flat major
$20
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
www.richmondsymphony.com
Oct. 7 (4 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
VCU Guitar Series:
Torcuato Zamora, flamenco guitar
program TBA
$15
(804) 828-6776
www.vcumusic.org
Oct. 8 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Moscow Sretensky Monastery Choir
program TBA
$30-$50
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org
Oct. 9 (7:30 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
VCU Symphony Orchestra
Daniel Myssyk conducting
Brahms: “Academic Festival” Overture
Dvořák: Slavonic Dance, Op. 46, No. 1
Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 5 (“Turkish”)
Susanna Klein, violin
Liszt: “Hungarian Rhapsody” No. 2
$7 in advance, $10 day of event
(804) 828-6776
www.vcumusic.org
Oct. 9 (7:30 p.m.)
American Theater, 125 E. Mellen St., Hampton
Rampart Winds from U.S. Air Force Academy Band
program TBA
free; tickets required
(757) 722-2787
www.hamptonarts.net
Oct. 9 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Tuesday Evening Concerts:
Ryu Goto, violin
Eri Kang, piano
works by Prokofiev, Paganini, Beethoven, Ravel
$12-$33
(434) 924-3376
www.tecs.org
Oct. 10 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
The Sphinx Virtuosi
Catalyst Quartet
Elena Urioste, violin
Piazzolla: “The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires”
Golijov: “Tenebrae” (first movement)
Montgomery: “Strum”
Perkinson: Molto perpetuo from “Lamentations” for solo cello
Villa-Lobos: Suite for strings
Ginastera: Concerto for strings
$32
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org
Oct. 10 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue S.E., Washington
Pamela Frank & Alexander Simeonescu, violins
Nobuko Imai & Nokuthula Ngwenyama, violas
Peter Wiley & Edward Arron, cellos
Dvořák: Miniatures for two violins and viola, Op. 75a
Schoenberg: “Verklärte Nacht” (“Transfigured Night”)
Brahms: Sextet in B flat major, Op. 18
free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert/1213-schedule.html
Oct. 11 (7 p.m.)
Oct. 12 (8 p.m.)
Oct. 13 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Christoph Eschenbach conducting
Wagner-Henze: “Wesendonck Lieder”
Nathalie Stutzmann, contralto
Bruckner: Symphony No. 7
$10-$85
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org
Oct. 11 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Richard Goode, piano
Beethoven: Sonata in E major, Op. 109
Beethoven: Sonata in A flat major, Op. 110
Beethoven: Sonata in C minor, Op. 111
$65 (waiting list)
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
www.wpas.org
Oct. 12 (8 p.m.)
Oct. 14 (2 p.m.)
Center for the Arts, George Mason University, Fairfax
Virginia Opera
Anne Manson conducting
Bizet: “The Pearl Fishers”
Heather Buck (Leila)
Chad Johnson (Nadir)
David Pershall (Zurga)
Nathan Stark (Nourabad)
Tazewell Thompson, stage director
in French, English captions
$44-$98
(888) 945-2468 (Tickets.com)
www.vaopera.org
Oct. 12 (8 p.m.)
The Barns at Wolf Trap, Trap Road, Vienna
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
Bruch: “Eight Pieces for Clarinet, Viola and Piano,” Op. 83 (excerpts)
Brahms: Horn Trio in E flat major, Op. 40
Dohnányi: Sextet in C major, Op. 37
$40
(877) 965-3872 (Tickets.com)
www.wolftrap.org
Oct. 12 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue S.E., Washington
Daniel Hope, violin
Jeffrey Kahane, piano
Ravel: Violin Sonata in A minor
Brahms: Violin Sonata in G major, Op. 78
Nico Muhly: “Compare Notes” (premiere)
Mendelssohn: Violin Sonata in F major
free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert/1213-schedule.html
Oct. 13 (2 p.m.)
Gellman Room, Richmond Public Library, First and Franklin streets
Matthew Singer, baritone
Leanne Gonzalez-Singer, mezzo-soprano
Cathy Venable, piano
art-songs by Ravel, Schumann, Chopin, Brahms, others
free
(804) 646-4867
www.richmondpubliclibrary.org
Oct. 13 (8 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Rennolds Chamber Concerts:
Jennifer Koh, violin
Shai Wosner, piano
Janáček: Sonata for violin and piano
Bartók: Sonata No. 1 for violin and piano
Janáček: Romance for violin and piano
Brahms: Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor
$34
(804) 828-6776
www.vcumusic.org
Oct. 13 (8 p.m.)
Merchant Hall, Hylton Arts Center, George Mason University, Manassas
American Festival Pops Orchestra
Anthony Maiello conducting
Chris Vadala, saxophone
Darden Purcell, jazz vocalist
Peter Wilson, violin
program TBA
$30-$46
(888) 945-2468 (Tickets.com)
www.hyltoncenter.org
Oct. 13 (2 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Inon Barnatan, piano
Debussy: “Suite Bergamasque”
Thomas Adès: “Darkness Visible”
Ravel: “Gaspard de la Nuit”
Britten-Stevenson: “ ‘Peter Grimes’ Fantasy”
Schubert: Sonata in A major, D. 959
$38
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
www.wpas.org
Oct. 13 (8 p.m.)
Oct. 14 (3 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
National Philharmonic
Piotr Gajewski conducting
Beethoven: “Leonore” Overture No. 3
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor
Orli Shaham, piano
Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 (“Eroica”)
$28-$84
(301) 581-5100
www.strathmore.org
Oct. 14 (4 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Sonia Vlahcevic, piano
program TBA
$7 in advance, $10 day of event
(804) 828-6776
www.vcumusic.org
Oct. 14 (4 p.m.)
Bon Air Presbyterian Church 9201 W. Huguenot Road, Richmond
Second Sunday South of the James:
Gianna Barone, soprano
Drew Seigla, tenor
Charles Lindsey, piano
art-songs, opera arias, music-theater songs TBA
donation requested
(804) 272-7514
Oct. 14 (3 p.m.)
Sandler Arts Center, 201 S. Market St., Virginia Beach
Symphonicity
David S. Kunkel conducting
Steven Reinecke: “Celebration Fanfare”
Grieg: Piano Concerto in A minor
Anna Petrova, piano
Brahms: Symphony No. 4
$19-$40
(888) 326-9849
www.symphonicity.org
Oct. 14 (2 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Kennedy Center Chamber Players
Mendelssohn: Piano Trio in D minor, Op. 49
sonatas TBA by Bach, Mendelssohn
$35
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org
Oct. 15 (8 p.m.)
St. Patrick Catholic Church, 1000 Bolling Ave., Norfolk
Feldman Chamber Music Society:
Manhattan Piano Trio
Beethoven: Piano Trio in C minor, Op. 1, No. 3
Josef Suk: Piano Trio in C minor, Op. 2
Mendelssohn: Piano Trio in C minor, Op. 66
$25
(757) 552-1630
www.feldmanchambermusic.org
Oct. 16 (8 p.m.)
Williamsburg Library Theater, 515 Scotland St.
Chamber Music Society of Williamsburg:
Manhattan Piano Trio
Beethoven: Piano Trio in C minor, Op. 1, No. 3
Josef Suk: Piano Trio in C minor, Op. 2
Mendelssohn: Piano Trio in C minor, Op. 66
$15 (waiting list)
(757) 258-4814
www.chambermusicwilliamsburg.org
Oct. 19 (8 p.m.)
Oct. 21 (2:30 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Virginia Opera
Anne Manson conducting
Bizet: “The Pearl Fishers”
Heather Buck (Leila)
Chad Johnson (Nadir)
David Pershall (Zurga)
Nathan Stark (Nourabad)
Tazewell Thompson, stage director
in French, English captions
$20-$119
(866) 673-7282
www.vaopera.org
Oct. 19 (8 p.m.)
American Theater, 125 E. Mellen St., Hampton
Colin Carr, cello
Thomas Sauer, piano
works by Schubert, Britten, Rachmaninoff, Harold Meltzer
$25-$30
(757) 722-2787
www.hamptonarts.net
Oct. 20 (5 p.m.)
Black Music Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Grove Avenue at Harrison Street
Kenneth Wood, tenor
program TBA
free
(804) 828-6776
www.vcumusic.org
Oct. 20 (7 p.m.)
Good Shepherd Episcopal Church, Forest Hill Avenue at 43rd Street, Richmond
Atlantic Chamber Ensemble
“Concert Decision 2012”
audience-interactive program TBA
free
(804) 223-2112
www.acensemble.org
Oct. 20 (2 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue S.E., Washington
Joel Frederiksen, baritone
other artists TBA
“Rose of Sharon: 100 Years of American Music, 1770-1870”
free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert/1213-schedule.html
Oct. 20 (2 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain
program TBA
$18-$48
(301) 581-5100
www.strathmore.org
Oct. 20 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Juanjo Mena conducting
Dvořák: Slavonic dances TBA
Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 3
Benedetto Lupo, piano
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4
$30-$90
(877) 276-1444 (Baltimore Symphony box office)
www.strathmore.org
Oct. 21 (4 p.m.)
St. Matthias Episcopal Church, 11300 W. Huguenot Road, Richmond
Atlantic Chamber Ensemble
Todd Matthews, composer-performer
works by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Matthews, David Bruce, Michael Daugherty, Paul Schoenfield
$5 donation requested
(804) 223-2112
www.acensemble.org
Oct. 22 (7 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Tabatha Easley, flute
program TBA
$7 in advance, $10 day of event
(804) 828-6776
www.vcumusic.org
Oct. 23 (7:30 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Russell Wilson, piano
program TBA
$7 in advance, $10 day of event
(804) 828-6776
www.vcumusic.org
Oct. 25 (8 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
VCU Faculty Wind Quintet
program TBA
$7 in advance, $10 day of event
(804) 828-6776
www.vcumusic.org
Oct. 25 (7 p.m.)
Oct. 26 (8 p.m.)
Oct. 27 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Pops
Steven Reinecke conducting
Roberta Flack, guest star
$20-$85
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org
Oct. 25 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Paul Huang, violin
Jessica Osborne, piano
Beethoven: Sonata in G major, Op. 30, No. 3
Saint-Saëns: Sonata in D minor, Op. 75
Ysaÿe: Sonata in D minor, Op. 27, No. 3 (“Ballade”)
Ravel: “Habaņera”
Debussy: “La plus que lente”
Waxman: “ ‘Carmen’ Fantasy”
$35
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
www.wpas.org
Oct. 26 (7:30 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Simone Dinnerstein, piano
Chopin: Nocturne in D flat major, Op. 27, No. 2
Felsenfeld: “The Cohen Variations”
Brahms: Intermezzo in A major, Op. 118, No. 2
Bach: Partita No. 2 in C minor, BWV 826
Schumann: “Kinderszenen”
Bach: Partita No. 1 in B flat major, BWV 825
$36
(804) 289-8980
www.modlin.richmond.edu
Oct. 26 (8 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Wildy Zumwalt, alto saxophone
program TBA
$7 in advance, $10 day of event
(804) 828-6776
www.vcumusic.org
Oct. 26 (8 p.m.)
Ferguson Arts Center, Christopher Newport University, Newport News
Oct. 27 (8 p.m.)
Chrysler Hall, 201 Brambleton Ave., Norfolk
Oct. 28 (2:30 p.m.)
Sandler Arts Center, 201 S. Market St., Virginia Beach
Virginia Symphony
JoAnn Falletta conducting
John Adams: “The Chairman Dances”
Edgar Meyer: Bass Concerto No. 3
Bottesini: Double-Bass Concerto No. 2
Edgar Meyer, double-bass
Dvořák: Symphony No. 7
$20-$100
(757) 892-6366
www.virginiasymphony.org
Oct. 26 (7:30 p.m.)
Paramount Theater, 125 E. Main St., Charlottesville
Waynesboro Symphony Orchestra
Peter Wilson conducting
“Heroes of America”
Rota: Divertimento concertante for double-bass and orchestra
Aaron Clay, double-bass
Duke Ellington & George Gershwin tributes
Patrick Sheridan, tuba
John Williams: “Hymn to the Fallen”
Tchaikovsky: “1812 Overture”
$40-$75
(434) 979-1333
www.theparamount.net
Oct. 26 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Amernet String Quartet
James Tocco, piano
Haydn: Quartet in F minor, Op. 20, No. 5
Beethoven: Quartet in F minor, Op. 95 (“Serioso”)
Franck: Piano Quintet in F minor
$38
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org
Oct. 26 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue S.E., Washington
Pieter Wispelway, cello
Lois Shapiro, piano
Beethoven: Sonata in A major, Op. 69
Ligeti: Sonata for solo cello
Stravinsky: “Suite Italienne”
Beethoven: Variations on Mozart’s “Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen”
Shostakovich: Sonata in D minor, Op. 40
free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert/1213-schedule.html
Oct. 27 (11 a.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Richmond Symphony LolliPops
Erin R. Freeman conducting
Michael Boudewyns, narrator
Prokofiev: “Peter and the Wolf”
$12-$17
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
www.richmondsymphony.com
Oct. 27 (7 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
University Singers
UVA Chamber Singers
Virginia Women’s Chorus
Virginia Glee Club
“Family Weekend Choral Showcase”
program TBA
$10
(434) 924-3376
http://artsandsciences.virginia.edu/music/concertsevents/index.html
Oct. 27 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Cornelius Meister conducting
Brahms: Double Concerto
Jonathan Carney, violin
Dariusz Skoraczewski, cello
Mozart: Symphony No. 35 (“Haffner”)
Richard Strauss: “Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks”
$30-$90
(877) 276-1444 (Baltimore Symphony box office)
www.strathmore.org
Oct. 28 (3 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
UR Schola Cantorum
UR Women’s Chorale
Jeffrey Riehl & David Pedersen directing
program TBA
free
(804) 289-8980
www.modlin.richmond.edu
Oct. 28 (4 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Richmond Philharmonic
David Searle conducting
Debussy: “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun”
Rachmaninoff: “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini”
José Ramos Santana, piano
Mussorgsky-Ravel: “Pictures at an Exhibition”
$8 in advance, $10 at door
(804) 673-7400
www.richmondphilharmonic.org
Oct. 28 (2:30 p.m.)
Ferguson Arts Center, Christopher Newport University, Newport News
Lyric Opera Virginia Discovery Recital:
Peter Mark, director & host
Ta'u Pupu'a, tenor
Shannon Jennings, soprano
Joseph Walsh, piano
program TBA
$15
(757) 446-6666
www.lyricoperavirginia.org
Oct. 30 (7:30 p.m.)
Ferguson Arts Center, Christopher Newport University, Newport News
National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba
conductor TBA
Gershwin: “Cuban” Overture
Gershwin: “Rhapsody in Blue”
Nachito Herrera, piano
Lecuona: “La Comparsa”
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5
$37-$67
(757) 594-8752
www.fergusoncenter.cnu.edu
Oct. 30 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Tuesday Evening Concerts:
Concerto Köln
Handel: Concerto grosso in G major, Op. 6, No. 1
dall’Abaco: Concerto in E minor, Op. 5, No. 3
Vivaldi: Concerto in G minor for strings and continuo, RV 156
Vivaldi: Concerto in C major for piccolo, recorder, strings and continuo, RV 443
Vivaldi: Concerto in E minor for bassoon and orchestra
dall’Abaco: Concerto in D major, Op. 5, No. 6
Telemann: Concerto in E minor for recorder, flute, strings and continuo
$12-$33
(434) 924-3376
www.tecs.org
Oct. 30 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Emmanuelle de Negri, soprano
Susan Manoff, piano
Ryan Brown, violin
Opera Lafayette Orchestra members
“L’Invitation du Voyage”
works by Sébastien le Camus, Elizabeth Jazquet de la Guerre, Clérambault, Duparc, Fauré, Debussy
$35-$50
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org
Oct. 30 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue S.E., Washington
Morton Subotnik, composer & keyboard
Joan LaBarbara, voice
Lillevan, multimedia artist
Jenny Lin, piano
Todd Reynolds, violin
Subotnik: Falling Leaves”
Subotnik: “Trembling”
Subotnik: “Lucy: Song and Dance, an Opera without Words”
free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert/1213-schedule.html
Oct. 30 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
András Schiff, piano
Bach: “The Well-Tempered Clavier,” Book 2
$23-$95
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
www.wpas.org
Oct. 31 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Vocal Arts DC:
Christine Brewer, soprano
Craig Rutenberg, piano
works by Turina, Mompou, Toldra, Obradors, Copland, Barber, Bolcom
$45
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org
NOTE: HURRICANE SANDY MAY CAUSE CANCELLATION OF MANY LATE OCTOBER EVENTS, ESPECIALLY IN NORTHERN AND EASTERN VIRGINIA. CHECK WITH PRESENTERS FOR UPDATED SCHEDULE INFORMATION.
SCOUTING REPORT
* In and around Richmond: The Philip Glass Festival at the University of Richmond’s Modlin Arts Center culminates in a talk by the composer on Oct. 4 and a concert by Glass and violinist Tim Fain on Oct. 5. . . . The Richmond Symphony launches its new Rush-Hour Concerts series on Oct. 4; the program of Kodály, Britten and Haydn with tenor Joseph Evans and French horn player James Ferree is a one-hour condensation of the Metro Collection season-opener, Oct. 7 at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland. . . . Violinist Susanna Klein joins Daniel Myssyk and the VCU Symphony in Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5, Oct. 9 at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Singleton Arts Center. . . . Violinist Jennifer Koh, accompanied by pianist Shai Wosner, performs on Oct. 13 in VCU’s Rennolds Chamber Concerts series. . . . Virginia Opera opens its new season with Bizet’s “The Pearl Fishers,” Oct. 19 and 21 at Richmond CenterStage (with earlier dates at Norfolk’s Harrison Opera House and George Mason University’s Center for the Arts in Fairfax). . . . The Atlantic Chamber Ensemble launches its second season with performances on Oct. 20 at Good Shepherd Episcopal Church and Oct. 21 at St. Matthias Episcopal Church. . . . Pianist Simone Dinnerstein plays Bach, Chopin, Brahms and more, Oct. 26 at UR’s Modlin Center. . . . The Richmond Philharmonic welcomes the first of its music director candidates, David Searle, and pianist José Ramos Santana, for a program of Debussy, Rachmaninoff and Mussorgsky, Oct. 28 at VCU’s Singleton Center.
* Noteworthy elsewhere: Violinist Pamela Frank and friends play Dvořák, Schoenberg and Brahms, Oct. 10 at the Library of Congress in Washington. . . . Pianist Richard Goode plays the last three sonatas of Beethoven, Oct. 11 at the Kennedy Center in DC. . . . Cellist Colin Carr performs on Oct. 19 at the American Theater in Hampton. . . . Double-bass virtuoso Edgar Meyer joins JoAnn Falletta and the Virginia Symphony, Oct. 26-28 at venues in Newport News, Norfolk and Virginia Beach. . . . Concerto Köln, the eminent German period-instruments orchestra, plays Handel, Telemann, Vivaldi and dall’Abaco, Oct. 30 at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. . . . Pianist András Schiff plays Book 2 of Bach’s “The Well-Tempered Clavier,” Oct. 30 at Strathmore in the Maryland suburbs of DC.
Oct. 1 (7 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Philip Glass Festival:
Film, Jean Cocteau’s “La Belle et la Bête” (“Beauty and the Beast”)
$5
(804) 289-8980
www.modlin.richmond.edu
Oct. 1 (8 p.m.)
Roanoke Performing Arts Theatre, Orange Avenue at Williamson Road
Roanoke Symphony
David Stewart Wiley conducting
Beethoven: Symphony No. 1
Vaughan Williams: Tuba Concerto
Brian Kiser, tuba
Sibelius: “Finlandia”
Dvořák: Slavonic Dance No. 7
Tchaikovsky: “1812 Overture”
$22-$52
(540) 343-9127
www.rso.com
Oct. 1 (7 p.m.)
Oct. 4 (7:30 p.m.)
Oct. 7 (2 p.m.)
Oct. 9 (7:30 p.m.)
Oct. 13 (7 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Opera House, Washington
Washington National Opera
Philippe Auguin conducting
Mozart: “Don Giovanni”
Ildar Abdrazokov/Paulo Szot (Don Giovanni)
Andrew Foster-Williams (Leporello)
Meagan Miller (Donna Anna)
Barbara Fritolli (Donna Elvira)
Juan Francisco Gatell (Don Ottavio)
Veronica Cangemi (Zerlina)
Aleksey Bogdanov (Masetto)
Solomon Howard (Commendatore)
John Pascoe, stage director
in Italian, English captions
$25-$300
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org
Oct. 3 (7:30 p.m.)
Oct. 5 (8 p.m.)
Oct. 7 (2:30 p.m.)
Harrison Opera House, 160 E. Virginia Beach Boulevard, Norfolk
Virginia Opera
Anne Manson conducting
Bizet: “The Pearl Fishers”
Heather Buck (Leila)
Chad Johnson (Nadir)
David Pershall (Zurga)
Nathan Stark (Nourabad)
Tazewell Thompson, stage director
in French, English captions
$25-$114
(757) 623-1223
www.vaopera.org
Oct. 3 (7:30 p.m.)
Oct. 6 (7 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Opera House, Washington
Washington National Opera
Antonello Allemandi conducting
Donizetti: “Anna Bolena”
Sondra Radvanovsky (Anna Bolena)
Shalva Mukeria (Riccardo)
Sonia Ganassi (Jane)
Oren Gradus (Henry VIII)
Stephen Lawless, stage director
in Italian, English captions
$25-$300
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org
Oct. 4 (6:30 p.m.)
Gottwald Playhouse, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Rush-Hour Concert:
Richmond Symphony
Steven Smith conducting
Joseph Evans, tenor
James Ferree, French horn
works by Britten, Kodály, Haydn
$20
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
www.richmondsymphony.com
Oct. 4 (7:30 p.m.)
Jepson Theatre, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Philip Glass Festival:
Philip Glass, speaker
“Collaboration and the Creative Process”
$34
(804) 289-8980
www.modlin.richmond.edu
Oct. 4 (8 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Orchid Ensemble
Chinese and Western music TBA
$7 in advance, $10 day of event
(804) 828-6776
www.vcumusic.org
Oct. 4 (7 p.m.)
Oct. 5 (8 p.m.)
Oct. 6 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Christoph Eschenbach conducting
Wagner: Prelude and “Liebestod” from “Tristan und Isolde”
Lieberson: “Neruda Songs”
Kelley O’Connor, mezzo-soprano
Tchaikovsky: “Romeo and Juliet” Fantasy-Overture
Tchaikovsky: “Francesca da Rimini”
$10-$85
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org
Oct. 4 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Markus Stenz conducting
Rebel: “Chaos” from “The Elements”
Schumann: Violin Concerto
Kolja Blacher, violin
Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 (“Eroica”)
$30-$90
(877) 276-1444 (Baltimore Symphony box office)
www.strathmore.org
Oct. 5 (7:30 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Philip Glass Festival:
Philip Glass, composer & keyboards
Tim Fain, violin
works by Glass TBA
$38
(804) 289-8980
www.modlin.richmond.edu
Oct. 5 (7 p.m.)
Christ Episcopal Church, 120 W. High St., Charlottesville
Bruce Stevens, organ
Franck: Chorale in E major
Klaas Bolt: “Variations on a Melody in a Setting by John Dowland, ‘Now, o now, I needs must pass’ ”
J.S. Bach: Trio on “Alein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr,” BWV 664
J.S. Bach: Prelude and Fugue in E minor, BWV 548 (“The Wedge”)
Schumann: Sketch in D flat major, Op. 58, No. 4
Schumann: “Piece in Canonic Form,” Op. 56, No. 4
Rheinberger: Sonata No. 7 in F minor, Op. 127
free
(434) 293-2347
www.christchurchcville.org
Oct. 6 (12:15 p.m.)
Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, Lakeside Avenue at Hilliard Road, Richmond
“Rose Fest”
Virginia Opera artists TBA
arias, duets by Bizet, Johann Strauss II, Mozart, Puccini
free with garden admission
(804) 262-9887
www.lewisginter.org
Oct. 6 (8 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
James Taylor, tenor
Josh Marzan, piano
Beethoven: “An die ferne Geliebte”
Richard Strauss: Lieder TBA
Schubert: “Schwanegesang” (excerpts)
Wagner: “Die Walküre” (excerpts)
$7 in advance, $10 day of event
(804) 828-6776
www.vcumusic.org
Oct. 6 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue S.E., Washington
Moscow Sretensky Monastery Choir
program TBA
free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert/1213-schedule.html
Oct. 7 (3 p.m.)
Blackwell Auditorium, Randolph-Macon College, 205 Henry St., Ashland
Richmond Symphony
Steven Smith conducting
Kodály: “Summer Evening”
Britten: Serenade for tenor, horn and strings
Joseph Evans, tenor
James Ferree, French horn
Haydn: Symphony No. 102 in B flat major
$20
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
www.richmondsymphony.com
Oct. 7 (4 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
VCU Guitar Series:
Torcuato Zamora, flamenco guitar
program TBA
$15
(804) 828-6776
www.vcumusic.org
Oct. 8 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Moscow Sretensky Monastery Choir
program TBA
$30-$50
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org
Oct. 9 (7:30 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
VCU Symphony Orchestra
Daniel Myssyk conducting
Brahms: “Academic Festival” Overture
Dvořák: Slavonic Dance, Op. 46, No. 1
Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 5 (“Turkish”)
Susanna Klein, violin
Liszt: “Hungarian Rhapsody” No. 2
$7 in advance, $10 day of event
(804) 828-6776
www.vcumusic.org
Oct. 9 (7:30 p.m.)
American Theater, 125 E. Mellen St., Hampton
Rampart Winds from U.S. Air Force Academy Band
program TBA
free; tickets required
(757) 722-2787
www.hamptonarts.net
Oct. 9 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Tuesday Evening Concerts:
Ryu Goto, violin
Eri Kang, piano
works by Prokofiev, Paganini, Beethoven, Ravel
$12-$33
(434) 924-3376
www.tecs.org
Oct. 10 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
The Sphinx Virtuosi
Catalyst Quartet
Elena Urioste, violin
Piazzolla: “The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires”
Golijov: “Tenebrae” (first movement)
Montgomery: “Strum”
Perkinson: Molto perpetuo from “Lamentations” for solo cello
Villa-Lobos: Suite for strings
Ginastera: Concerto for strings
$32
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org
Oct. 10 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue S.E., Washington
Pamela Frank & Alexander Simeonescu, violins
Nobuko Imai & Nokuthula Ngwenyama, violas
Peter Wiley & Edward Arron, cellos
Dvořák: Miniatures for two violins and viola, Op. 75a
Schoenberg: “Verklärte Nacht” (“Transfigured Night”)
Brahms: Sextet in B flat major, Op. 18
free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert/1213-schedule.html
Oct. 11 (7 p.m.)
Oct. 12 (8 p.m.)
Oct. 13 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Christoph Eschenbach conducting
Wagner-Henze: “Wesendonck Lieder”
Nathalie Stutzmann, contralto
Bruckner: Symphony No. 7
$10-$85
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org
Oct. 11 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Richard Goode, piano
Beethoven: Sonata in E major, Op. 109
Beethoven: Sonata in A flat major, Op. 110
Beethoven: Sonata in C minor, Op. 111
$65 (waiting list)
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
www.wpas.org
Oct. 12 (8 p.m.)
Oct. 14 (2 p.m.)
Center for the Arts, George Mason University, Fairfax
Virginia Opera
Anne Manson conducting
Bizet: “The Pearl Fishers”
Heather Buck (Leila)
Chad Johnson (Nadir)
David Pershall (Zurga)
Nathan Stark (Nourabad)
Tazewell Thompson, stage director
in French, English captions
$44-$98
(888) 945-2468 (Tickets.com)
www.vaopera.org
Oct. 12 (8 p.m.)
The Barns at Wolf Trap, Trap Road, Vienna
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
Bruch: “Eight Pieces for Clarinet, Viola and Piano,” Op. 83 (excerpts)
Brahms: Horn Trio in E flat major, Op. 40
Dohnányi: Sextet in C major, Op. 37
$40
(877) 965-3872 (Tickets.com)
www.wolftrap.org
Oct. 12 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue S.E., Washington
Daniel Hope, violin
Jeffrey Kahane, piano
Ravel: Violin Sonata in A minor
Brahms: Violin Sonata in G major, Op. 78
Nico Muhly: “Compare Notes” (premiere)
Mendelssohn: Violin Sonata in F major
free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert/1213-schedule.html
Oct. 13 (2 p.m.)
Gellman Room, Richmond Public Library, First and Franklin streets
Matthew Singer, baritone
Leanne Gonzalez-Singer, mezzo-soprano
Cathy Venable, piano
art-songs by Ravel, Schumann, Chopin, Brahms, others
free
(804) 646-4867
www.richmondpubliclibrary.org
Oct. 13 (8 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Rennolds Chamber Concerts:
Jennifer Koh, violin
Shai Wosner, piano
Janáček: Sonata for violin and piano
Bartók: Sonata No. 1 for violin and piano
Janáček: Romance for violin and piano
Brahms: Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor
$34
(804) 828-6776
www.vcumusic.org
Oct. 13 (8 p.m.)
Merchant Hall, Hylton Arts Center, George Mason University, Manassas
American Festival Pops Orchestra
Anthony Maiello conducting
Chris Vadala, saxophone
Darden Purcell, jazz vocalist
Peter Wilson, violin
program TBA
$30-$46
(888) 945-2468 (Tickets.com)
www.hyltoncenter.org
Oct. 13 (2 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Inon Barnatan, piano
Debussy: “Suite Bergamasque”
Thomas Adès: “Darkness Visible”
Ravel: “Gaspard de la Nuit”
Britten-Stevenson: “ ‘Peter Grimes’ Fantasy”
Schubert: Sonata in A major, D. 959
$38
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
www.wpas.org
Oct. 13 (8 p.m.)
Oct. 14 (3 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
National Philharmonic
Piotr Gajewski conducting
Beethoven: “Leonore” Overture No. 3
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor
Orli Shaham, piano
Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 (“Eroica”)
$28-$84
(301) 581-5100
www.strathmore.org
Oct. 14 (4 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Sonia Vlahcevic, piano
program TBA
$7 in advance, $10 day of event
(804) 828-6776
www.vcumusic.org
Oct. 14 (4 p.m.)
Bon Air Presbyterian Church 9201 W. Huguenot Road, Richmond
Second Sunday South of the James:
Gianna Barone, soprano
Drew Seigla, tenor
Charles Lindsey, piano
art-songs, opera arias, music-theater songs TBA
donation requested
(804) 272-7514
Oct. 14 (3 p.m.)
Sandler Arts Center, 201 S. Market St., Virginia Beach
Symphonicity
David S. Kunkel conducting
Steven Reinecke: “Celebration Fanfare”
Grieg: Piano Concerto in A minor
Anna Petrova, piano
Brahms: Symphony No. 4
$19-$40
(888) 326-9849
www.symphonicity.org
Oct. 14 (2 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Kennedy Center Chamber Players
Mendelssohn: Piano Trio in D minor, Op. 49
sonatas TBA by Bach, Mendelssohn
$35
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org
Oct. 15 (8 p.m.)
St. Patrick Catholic Church, 1000 Bolling Ave., Norfolk
Feldman Chamber Music Society:
Manhattan Piano Trio
Beethoven: Piano Trio in C minor, Op. 1, No. 3
Josef Suk: Piano Trio in C minor, Op. 2
Mendelssohn: Piano Trio in C minor, Op. 66
$25
(757) 552-1630
www.feldmanchambermusic.org
Oct. 16 (8 p.m.)
Williamsburg Library Theater, 515 Scotland St.
Chamber Music Society of Williamsburg:
Manhattan Piano Trio
Beethoven: Piano Trio in C minor, Op. 1, No. 3
Josef Suk: Piano Trio in C minor, Op. 2
Mendelssohn: Piano Trio in C minor, Op. 66
$15 (waiting list)
(757) 258-4814
www.chambermusicwilliamsburg.org
Oct. 19 (8 p.m.)
Oct. 21 (2:30 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Virginia Opera
Anne Manson conducting
Bizet: “The Pearl Fishers”
Heather Buck (Leila)
Chad Johnson (Nadir)
David Pershall (Zurga)
Nathan Stark (Nourabad)
Tazewell Thompson, stage director
in French, English captions
$20-$119
(866) 673-7282
www.vaopera.org
Oct. 19 (8 p.m.)
American Theater, 125 E. Mellen St., Hampton
Colin Carr, cello
Thomas Sauer, piano
works by Schubert, Britten, Rachmaninoff, Harold Meltzer
$25-$30
(757) 722-2787
www.hamptonarts.net
Oct. 20 (5 p.m.)
Black Music Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Grove Avenue at Harrison Street
Kenneth Wood, tenor
program TBA
free
(804) 828-6776
www.vcumusic.org
Oct. 20 (7 p.m.)
Good Shepherd Episcopal Church, Forest Hill Avenue at 43rd Street, Richmond
Atlantic Chamber Ensemble
“Concert Decision 2012”
audience-interactive program TBA
free
(804) 223-2112
www.acensemble.org
Oct. 20 (2 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue S.E., Washington
Joel Frederiksen, baritone
other artists TBA
“Rose of Sharon: 100 Years of American Music, 1770-1870”
free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert/1213-schedule.html
Oct. 20 (2 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain
program TBA
$18-$48
(301) 581-5100
www.strathmore.org
Oct. 20 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Juanjo Mena conducting
Dvořák: Slavonic dances TBA
Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 3
Benedetto Lupo, piano
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4
$30-$90
(877) 276-1444 (Baltimore Symphony box office)
www.strathmore.org
Oct. 21 (4 p.m.)
St. Matthias Episcopal Church, 11300 W. Huguenot Road, Richmond
Atlantic Chamber Ensemble
Todd Matthews, composer-performer
works by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Matthews, David Bruce, Michael Daugherty, Paul Schoenfield
$5 donation requested
(804) 223-2112
www.acensemble.org
Oct. 22 (7 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Tabatha Easley, flute
program TBA
$7 in advance, $10 day of event
(804) 828-6776
www.vcumusic.org
Oct. 23 (7:30 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Russell Wilson, piano
program TBA
$7 in advance, $10 day of event
(804) 828-6776
www.vcumusic.org
Oct. 25 (8 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
VCU Faculty Wind Quintet
program TBA
$7 in advance, $10 day of event
(804) 828-6776
www.vcumusic.org
Oct. 25 (7 p.m.)
Oct. 26 (8 p.m.)
Oct. 27 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Pops
Steven Reinecke conducting
Roberta Flack, guest star
$20-$85
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org
Oct. 25 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Paul Huang, violin
Jessica Osborne, piano
Beethoven: Sonata in G major, Op. 30, No. 3
Saint-Saëns: Sonata in D minor, Op. 75
Ysaÿe: Sonata in D minor, Op. 27, No. 3 (“Ballade”)
Ravel: “Habaņera”
Debussy: “La plus que lente”
Waxman: “ ‘Carmen’ Fantasy”
$35
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
www.wpas.org
Oct. 26 (7:30 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Simone Dinnerstein, piano
Chopin: Nocturne in D flat major, Op. 27, No. 2
Felsenfeld: “The Cohen Variations”
Brahms: Intermezzo in A major, Op. 118, No. 2
Bach: Partita No. 2 in C minor, BWV 826
Schumann: “Kinderszenen”
Bach: Partita No. 1 in B flat major, BWV 825
$36
(804) 289-8980
www.modlin.richmond.edu
Oct. 26 (8 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Wildy Zumwalt, alto saxophone
program TBA
$7 in advance, $10 day of event
(804) 828-6776
www.vcumusic.org
Oct. 26 (8 p.m.)
Ferguson Arts Center, Christopher Newport University, Newport News
Oct. 27 (8 p.m.)
Chrysler Hall, 201 Brambleton Ave., Norfolk
Oct. 28 (2:30 p.m.)
Sandler Arts Center, 201 S. Market St., Virginia Beach
Virginia Symphony
JoAnn Falletta conducting
John Adams: “The Chairman Dances”
Edgar Meyer: Bass Concerto No. 3
Bottesini: Double-Bass Concerto No. 2
Edgar Meyer, double-bass
Dvořák: Symphony No. 7
$20-$100
(757) 892-6366
www.virginiasymphony.org
Oct. 26 (7:30 p.m.)
Paramount Theater, 125 E. Main St., Charlottesville
Waynesboro Symphony Orchestra
Peter Wilson conducting
“Heroes of America”
Rota: Divertimento concertante for double-bass and orchestra
Aaron Clay, double-bass
Duke Ellington & George Gershwin tributes
Patrick Sheridan, tuba
John Williams: “Hymn to the Fallen”
Tchaikovsky: “1812 Overture”
$40-$75
(434) 979-1333
www.theparamount.net
Oct. 26 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Amernet String Quartet
James Tocco, piano
Haydn: Quartet in F minor, Op. 20, No. 5
Beethoven: Quartet in F minor, Op. 95 (“Serioso”)
Franck: Piano Quintet in F minor
$38
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org
Oct. 26 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue S.E., Washington
Pieter Wispelway, cello
Lois Shapiro, piano
Beethoven: Sonata in A major, Op. 69
Ligeti: Sonata for solo cello
Stravinsky: “Suite Italienne”
Beethoven: Variations on Mozart’s “Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen”
Shostakovich: Sonata in D minor, Op. 40
free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert/1213-schedule.html
Oct. 27 (11 a.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Richmond Symphony LolliPops
Erin R. Freeman conducting
Michael Boudewyns, narrator
Prokofiev: “Peter and the Wolf”
$12-$17
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
www.richmondsymphony.com
Oct. 27 (7 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
University Singers
UVA Chamber Singers
Virginia Women’s Chorus
Virginia Glee Club
“Family Weekend Choral Showcase”
program TBA
$10
(434) 924-3376
http://artsandsciences.virginia.edu/music/concertsevents/index.html
Oct. 27 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Cornelius Meister conducting
Brahms: Double Concerto
Jonathan Carney, violin
Dariusz Skoraczewski, cello
Mozart: Symphony No. 35 (“Haffner”)
Richard Strauss: “Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks”
$30-$90
(877) 276-1444 (Baltimore Symphony box office)
www.strathmore.org
Oct. 28 (3 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
UR Schola Cantorum
UR Women’s Chorale
Jeffrey Riehl & David Pedersen directing
program TBA
free
(804) 289-8980
www.modlin.richmond.edu
Oct. 28 (4 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Richmond Philharmonic
David Searle conducting
Debussy: “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun”
Rachmaninoff: “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini”
José Ramos Santana, piano
Mussorgsky-Ravel: “Pictures at an Exhibition”
$8 in advance, $10 at door
(804) 673-7400
www.richmondphilharmonic.org
Oct. 28 (2:30 p.m.)
Ferguson Arts Center, Christopher Newport University, Newport News
Lyric Opera Virginia Discovery Recital:
Peter Mark, director & host
Ta'u Pupu'a, tenor
Shannon Jennings, soprano
Joseph Walsh, piano
program TBA
$15
(757) 446-6666
www.lyricoperavirginia.org
Oct. 30 (7:30 p.m.)
Ferguson Arts Center, Christopher Newport University, Newport News
National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba
conductor TBA
Gershwin: “Cuban” Overture
Gershwin: “Rhapsody in Blue”
Nachito Herrera, piano
Lecuona: “La Comparsa”
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5
$37-$67
(757) 594-8752
www.fergusoncenter.cnu.edu
Oct. 30 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Tuesday Evening Concerts:
Concerto Köln
Handel: Concerto grosso in G major, Op. 6, No. 1
dall’Abaco: Concerto in E minor, Op. 5, No. 3
Vivaldi: Concerto in G minor for strings and continuo, RV 156
Vivaldi: Concerto in C major for piccolo, recorder, strings and continuo, RV 443
Vivaldi: Concerto in E minor for bassoon and orchestra
dall’Abaco: Concerto in D major, Op. 5, No. 6
Telemann: Concerto in E minor for recorder, flute, strings and continuo
$12-$33
(434) 924-3376
www.tecs.org
Oct. 30 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Emmanuelle de Negri, soprano
Susan Manoff, piano
Ryan Brown, violin
Opera Lafayette Orchestra members
“L’Invitation du Voyage”
works by Sébastien le Camus, Elizabeth Jazquet de la Guerre, Clérambault, Duparc, Fauré, Debussy
$35-$50
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org
Oct. 30 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue S.E., Washington
Morton Subotnik, composer & keyboard
Joan LaBarbara, voice
Lillevan, multimedia artist
Jenny Lin, piano
Todd Reynolds, violin
Subotnik: Falling Leaves”
Subotnik: “Trembling”
Subotnik: “Lucy: Song and Dance, an Opera without Words”
free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert/1213-schedule.html
Oct. 30 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
András Schiff, piano
Bach: “The Well-Tempered Clavier,” Book 2
$23-$95
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
www.wpas.org
Oct. 31 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Vocal Arts DC:
Christine Brewer, soprano
Craig Rutenberg, piano
works by Turina, Mompou, Toldra, Obradors, Copland, Barber, Bolcom
$45
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org