Letter V Classical Radio this week

University of Richmond students will be on Thanksgiving break, so the show expands to three hours. In honor (sic) of Brown Thursday, the jumping of the gun on Black Friday pre-Christmas sales, we’ll sample the season’s bounty of new and recent classical recordings for gift-givers and -getters.

Nov. 27
noon-3 p.m. EST
1700-2000 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
www.wdce.org

Tchaikovsky: “Nutcracker” Suite
Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Claudio Abbado (Sony Classical)

Barber: Violin Concerto
Anne Aikiko Meyers, violin
London Symphony Orchestra/Leonard Slatkin (eOne)

Anna Thorvaldsdottir: “Tactility”
Duo Harpverk
(Deutsche Grammophon)

Gaspar Cassadó: Suite
for solo cello
Alisa Weilerstein, cello (Decca)

Beethoven: Quartet in E minor, Op. 59, No. 2 (“Razumovsky”)
Cypress String Quartet (Avie)

Chopin: Prelude in D flat major (“Raindrop”)
Alain Lefèvre, piano (Analekta)

J.S. Bach: Concerto in
C minor, BWV 1060R
Gonzalo X. Ruiz, oboe; Monica Huggett, violin & director
Portland Baroque Orchestra (Avie)

Brahms: Clarinet Quintet
in B minor, Op. 115
Anthony McGill, clarinet; Pacifica Quartet (Cedille)

traditional: “Ding Dong Merrily on High”
traditional: “Good King Wenceslas”
Depue Brothers Band
(Beat the Drum Entertainment)

Symphony acquiring 'big tent'

The Richmond Symphony has received a $500,000 challenge grant for the acquisition and operation of a mobile performance space that will enable the orchestra to stage large-scale outdoor concerts.

The new structure, which will be used for classical and pops concerts, advances the symphony’s strategic plan “to expand our footprint . . . to serve new audiences,” says David Fisk, the orchestra’s executive director. “It is a ‘big-tent’ approach to music-making in every sense.”

The grant, from the Mary Morton Parsons Foundation, will finance the purchase of a Warner Shelter Systems Limited SA-80 Arabesque tent, large enough to accommodate the full 70-member complement of Richmond Symphony musicians, the 150 singers of the Symphony Chorus and guest soloists. It will be one of the largest mobile concert structures in the eastern U.S.

Matching funds from the grant, which must be raised by November 2015, will finance operation of the unit for its first five years.

The symphony is exploring partnerships with local governments, other non-profit organizations and civic groups to stage concerts using the mobile stage, potentially as soon as September 2015.

Review: 'H.M.S. Pinafore'

Virginia Opera
Adam Turner conducting
Nov. 21, Richmond CenterStage

Virginia Opera’s current production of the Gilbert & Sullivan operetta “H.M.S. Pinafore,” in the first of two Richmond performances, proved rather slow in achieving lift-off.

That’s partly the fault of its creators, who devote much of the first act to introduction of lovelorn and otherwise
put-upon characters. “Pinafore” doesn’t really get going until the arrival of Sir Joseph Porter, the buffoonish First Lord of the Admiralty (“ruler of the Queen’s Navee”), accompanied by his sisters, his cousins and his aunts, who helpfully flesh out what had been an all-male chorus.

Jake Gardner makes a hearty meal of the role of Porter, relishing the character’s pomposity and cluelessness, and injecting the first real jabs of satire into a show that pokes merciless fun at Victorian Britain’s class consciousness, jingoism and the presumption that figures of authority never – well, hardly ever – get things wrong.

On the lovelorn front: Cullen Gandy, as Ralph (pronounced “Rafe”) Rackstraw, the young sailor smitten with the captain’s daughter, and Shannon Jennings, as the daughter, Josephine, who is just as smitten with Ralph but can’t bring herself to commit to someone so low-born, even though the alternative is marriage to the preposterous Porter, complement each other nicely, both in earnestness of character (garnished with a bit of slyness on Josephine’s part) and purity of vocal tone.

Christopher Burchett, as Captain Corcoran, and Margaret Gawrysiak, as the peddler woman Little Buttercup, carry on their clandestine mutual affection more indirectly, yet bumptiously. Burchett seems a bit too intent on playing the straight man; Gawrysiak is less shy about bringing out the comic aspects of Buttercup.

The show’s putative heavy, Dick Deadeye, gets earnestly grumpy treatment from Matthew Scollin. He should be having more fun with this role.

The men of the Virginia Opera Chorus acquit themselves credibly, if not especially lustily, as the “Pinafore” crew. The female choristers (sisters, cousins and aunts) bring a welcome liveliness to the show’s later choruses.

Stage director Nicola Bowie crafts an unfussy staging that has the right look and makes the right moves, but somehow seems too dutiful to rollick.

Adam Turner, the company’s resident conductor, keeps the show moving, although at a more moderate than ideal pace, and obtains fine playing from the pit orchestra.

Virginia Opera’s “H.M.S. Pinafore” repeats at 3 p.m. Nov. 23 at the Carpenter Theatre of Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets. Tickets: $20.33-$105.93. Details: (800) 514-3849 (ETIX). The show concludes its run with performances at 8 p.m. Dec. 5 and 2:30 p.m. Dec. 6 at George Mason University’s Center for the Arts in Fairfax. Tickets: $44-$98. Details: (888) 945-2468 (Tickets.com). More information: www.vaopera.org

'Shenandoah' via Ligeti?

In a comment appended to Norman Lebrecht’s post on the death of James Erb, Steven Edwards recalls a conversation he had with the University of Richmond chorusmaster about his famous “Shenandoah” arrangement (scroll down to fourth comment):

http://slippedisc.com/2014/11/an-american-chorus-composer-has-died-aged-88/

In the various conversations I had with Erb about “Shenandoah” over the years, he never disclosed that his arrangement was inspired in part by György Ligeti’s “Lux Aeterna,” the rarified, at the time avant-garde, choral work made famous by its use, as a master-of-creation motif, in the soundtrack of Stanley Kubrick’s film “2001: a Space Odyssey.”

“Shenandoah” seems to be light years (so to speak) from “Lux Aeterna;” but such leaps of musical imagination would have been entirely in character for Jim Erb.

Gender gap in U.S. orchestras

Composer and music blogger Suby Raman surveys gender representation in the 20 largest U.S. symphony orchestras, finding that women form a minority of less than 40 percent in 15 of the ensembles. Only one of the 20, the St. Louis Symphony, has a majority of female musicians:

http://subyraman.tumblr.com/post/102965074088/graphing-gender-in-americas-top-orchestras

The Richmond Symphony (not in Raman’s survey) has 29 women on its 2014-15 roster of 65 musicians (not counting those on leave of absence), or about 45 percent. Among the majors, only the orchestras of St. Louis (53 percent) and Indianapolis (46 percent) have larger shares of female players. Women account for 44 percent of the rosters of the New York Philharmonic and San Diego Symphony and 40 percent of the Baltimore Symphony’s.

Raman also drills down to female representation in orchestral sections, with unsurprising findings that women are more highly represented among violinists and violists than cellists and double-bassists, dominate the ranks of flutists and harpists, and are sparsely represented among brass instruments other than French horns.

Other old news: Few female conductors work with big orchestras in this country. Marin Alsop of the Baltimore Symphony is the only music director of a top-20 orchestra. JoAnn Falletta, music director of the lower-ranked Buffalo Philharmonic and Virginia Symphony, has guest-conducted a number of larger ensembles, and so presumably figures in Raman’s tabulation.

It would be interesting – and revealing? – to see comparative numbers for major orchestras elsewhere in the Western Hemisphere and in Europe and Asia.

Letter V Classical Radio this week

A special program: The first hour features interviews with soprano Erin Vidlak, flutist Marie Fernandez, violinist Leslie Kinnas and cellist Kevin Westergaard, winners of the 2014 University of Richmond Student Concerto Competition, who will be performing with the University Orchestra, Alexander Kordzaia conducting, on Dec. 3 at UR’s Modlin Arts Center. To go with the interviews, recordings of the works the young artists will play in the concert.

Nov. 20
noon-2 p.m. EST
1700-1900 UTC/GMT 
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
www.wdce.org

“Mr. Newman:” Sonata III in D major
Alexander Reinagle: “ ‘Lee Rigg,’ a Scots Tune with Three Variations and a Gigg” in A major
Olivier Baumont, harpsichord (Erato)

Handel: “Messiah” – “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion”
Lynne Dawson, soprano
Brandenburg Consort/
Stephen Cleobury (Argo)

Cécile Chaminade: Concertino, Op. 107
André-Gilles Duchemin, flute; Mario Duchemin, piano (CBC)

Saint-Saëns: “The Muse and the Poet”
Patrice Fontanarosa, violin; Gary Hoffman, cello
Orchestral Ensemble de Paris/Jean-Jacques Kantorow (EMI Classics)

Past Masters:
Bizet: “Carmen” Suite
London Philharmonic/
Thomas Beecham
(Dutton Laboratories)
(recorded 1939)

Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K. 467
Fazil Say, piano
Zürich Chamber Orchestra/Howard Griffiths (Naïve)

Mason Bates: “String Band”
Claremont Trio (Tria)

Review: St. Lawrence Quartet

Nov. 15, Virginia Commonwealth University

If I were to hear a recording of the St. Lawrence String Quartet’s performances of Haydn and Beethoven from this Rennolds Concerts program, I would probably say, “Holy moly, that’s raw!”

Violinists Geoff Nuttall and Mark Fewer, violist Lesley Robertson and cellist Christopher Costanza italicized just about every tonal, technical and expressive gesture in Haydn’s “Emperor” (Op. 76, No. 3) and Beethoven’s third “Razumovsky” (Op. 59, No. 3) quartets. Slashing accents; brisk, going on headlong, tempos; high-relief voicings of individual string parts; turbulent phrasing; flourishes and climaxes almost spinning out of control – anything and everything, it seemed, to convey passion, excitement and immersion in the music.

Nuttall conveyed that engagement physically, as well, writhing and dancing at the edge of his seat through much of the concert. The lanky violinist’s movements and facial expressions at times looked like Lyle Lovett channeling Jim Carrey. That, plus the tone of his onstage comments, plus the hipster silver shoes, made it clear that Nuttall is determined to blow away the stuffy stereotypes of chamber music. Mission accomplished.

This wasn’t a recording, but a concert performance, and in such a one-off experience most of the St. Lawrence’s excesses proved persuasive, even captivating.

More so in the Beethoven than in the Haydn: The former is full of high tension, stormy outbursts and unsettled calms, concluding in a famously frenzied fugue; the latter expresses its passions with less overt volatility, and with soulful nobility in the “Emperor’s Hymn” variations of its slow movement.

Those qualities, missing in the “Emperor,” came out gratifyingly in the concert’s encore, the slow movement from Haydn’s Quartet in E flat major, Op. 20, No. 1.

The ensemble settled down, physically and expressively, in Osvaldo Golijov’s “Qohelet,” which the Argentine-born composer wrote for the St. Lawrence Quartet in 2011.

According to Golijov, this two-movement work was “inspired by some of the teachings and poetic images in Ecclesiastes.” The piece is largely meditative, built of layered, repetitive figures; like most such music, it either insinuates itself into the listener’s consciousness or seems to meander uneventfully toward an innocuous destination. The quartet performed with intense concentration and commanding quiet.

If this evening was representative of the way the St. Lawrence presents itself and makes music, then the group has joined the ranks of classical performers whose artistry is unparalleled but often untidy. Distinguished company, to be sure – the likes of Cortot, Mengelberg, Elman, Casals, Furtwängler, Callas and Bernstein; but you don’t really get what they’re about unless you see and hear them live.

Review: Richmond Symphony

Steven Smith conducting
with Tom Schneider, bassoon
Nov. 13, Richmond CenterStage

Tom Schneider, who joined the Richmond Symphony as its principal bassoonist in 2012, is making his debut as a concerto soloist this weekend, and he’s starting on a high note – a bunch of high notes, in fact.

Schneider is playing the Bassoon Concerto (1999) by Peter Schickele, whose comic persona, P.D.Q. Bach, overshadows his compositional career. Schickele the comedian pokes fun at classical music, its conventions and pretensions. Schickele the composer has fun with classical music, using its forms to frame a style that draws liberally from folk and popular idioms, and often to spring surprises and to concoct sophisticated musical jokes. He’s America’s Haydn.

The Bassoon Concerto is prime Schickele, written for the instrument he played as a young performer (in the pit band for “Oh! Calcutta!” among other settings), filtering Americana from blues to balladry to be-bop through a form closely related to the suites and early concertos of the 18th century.

The bassoon, whose role in orchestrations is generally supportive and coloristic, here becomes a lead singer, with a surprisingly smooth and melodic, and perhaps even more surprisingly high-register, voice. Through much of the piece, it could be mistaken for an alto saxophone.

In the first of two performances, in the symphony’s Rush Hour series of mini-concerts in Richmond CenterStage’s Gottwald Playhouse, Schneider audibly relished the lyrical opportunities that the composer gives the bassoon – notably in the opening “Blues” and fourth-movement “Song” – as well as the concerto’s technical twists and turns.

Conductor Steven Smith and the orchestra, paced by percussionist Clifton Hardison and pianist Russell Wilson, supported Schneider admirably and rendered Schickele’s animated, cheerful orchestration in high relief.

Schneider is only the second bassoonist to play the Schickele concerto in concert. (Schneider’s teacher, George Sakakeeny, premiered the piece and performed it on six other occasions.) Considering the sparsity of bassoon-and-orchestra repertory, and the abundant delights of this music, its neglect is baffling.

Good cheer resonated through the rest of this program, in excerpts from David Diamond’s “Rounds” (1944) for string orchestra and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 in D major.

Smith led the symphony strings, the violinists and violists performing while standing, in a merrily percolating reading of the richly layered yet sonically transparent first movement of “Rounds.” The strings were sonorous lead voices in the larghetto of the Beethoven, one of this composer’s most lyrical symphony movements, while the full orchestra played up the high spirits of the symphony’s finale.

The program will be presented in full at 3 p.m. Nov. 16 in Blackwell Auditorium, Randolph-Macon College, 205 Henry St. in Ashland. Tickets: $20. Details: (800) 514-3849 (ETIX); www.richmondsymphony.com

James Erb (1926-2014)

James Erb, longtime music professor and choral director at the University of Richmond and founding director of the Richmond Symphony Chorus, has died at the age of 88.

Erb came to the University of Richmond in 1954 and led its choirs until his retirement from the UR faculty in 1994. He was a three-time recipient of the university's Distinguished Educator Award.

Several generations of alumni of his college choruses are active as singers, teachers and church musicians throughout the region.

“James Erb’s pervasive influence on Richmond’s musical scene cannot be exaggerated,” writes John McKay, a student of Erb’s at UR. “[H]e was a consummate musician whose mastery of choral techniques enabled him to inspire, cajole, and demand excellence from all of his singers.”

A scholar of Renaissance music and participant in a project to publish the works of the 16th-century Flemish composer Roland de Lassus (also known as Orlando di Lasso), Erb edited Lassus’ 110 magnificats.

He probably will be remembered less widely for that work, however, than for an arrangement of the folk song “Shenandoah” that he prepared for a 1971 European tour by the UR Choir. It has become a staple of the choral repertory in this country and abroad, has been recorded by many ensembles, including the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Chanticleer, and often has been used in films and other media.

(Erb liked to joke that royalties from “Shenandoah” financed many family vacations and “a certain amount of bourbon.”)

James Bryan Erb was born in La Junta, CO, to a family of educators descended from German Mennonite émigrés. He began singing in childhood, performing for a time as a boy chorister at the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John’s in Denver. As a teen-ager he was a student of the pioneering female conductor Antonia Brico. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Colorado College, continued his studies at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien (Vienna), earned master’s degrees from Indiana and Harvard universities, and a doctorate from Harvard.

In 1948, he sang in the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, performing Beethoven’s “Missa solemnis” under Robert Shaw’s direction. “It was a Pentecostal experience,” Erb recalled in a 2007 Style Weekly interview. “I knew this was what I had to do with my life.”

While he was organizing the Richmond Symphony Chorus, he prevailed upon the orchestra to engage Shaw to conduct Beethoven’s epic Mass setting in the chorus’ debut, which took place in December 1971.

In nearly four decades as director of the Symphony Chorus, Erb prepared the ensemble in most of the standard choral-orchestral repertory, as well as then-rarities such as Mozart’s arrangement of Handel’s “Messiah.” He also conducted the orchestra and chorus a number of times; his last such engagement was in 2003, conducting Bach’s Mass in B minor.

He retired as the chorus’ director in 2007, but sang among the tenors when the ensemble marked its 40th anniversary three years ago in “Missa solemnis,” conducted by his successor, Erin R. Freeman, who holds what is now called the James Erb Choral Chair.

Barbara Baker, the Symphony Chorus’ manager, recalls that at first rehearsals Erb “occasionally asked for a show of hands from those who had never sung [the work] before. ‘How I envy you!’ he would say; they would have the experience of discovering a wonderful new piece of music. His enthusiasm and passion were infectious, and his rehearsals could be unexpectedly thrilling when the sound met his expectation of what the music required.”

“[T]hose of us who toured Europe with the University of Richmond Choir had the rare opportunity to witness Erb’s genius in a very personal way,” John McKay recalls. “We were the singers for whom Erb created his captivating arrangement of ‘Shenandoah.’ Throughout the weeks of preparation, we were there as Erb rewrote, refined and polished his creation at each rehearsal. During this process, a very special bond developed that has kept teacher and students close for over four decades.” 

By the time Erb founded the Symphony Chorus, he already was directing a non-collegiate choral group singing major repertory. In 1966, he led a reunion Chorus of Alumni and Friends of the University of Richmond. Opting to continue performing, adopting the acronym CAFUR, the group became a fixture on the Richmond concert scene for 28 years. Among other works, CAFUR performed the Bach passions (with its audience following the tradition of singing along in chorales), as well as infrequently heard pieces such as the Vespers of Rachmaninoff, the work the ensemble sang in its 1994 farewell performance.

Erb was the patriarch of one of Richmond’s most musically active families. His widow, Ruth Urbancic Erb, was a violist in the symphony for more than 40 years; his son, Martin G. Erb, is an active choral singer; and his daughter-in-law, Hope Armstrong Erb, is a pianist and director of the Greater Richmond Children’s Choir.

A memorial service for James Erb will be scheduled later. Memorial donations may be made to the Richmond Symphony Chorus, the Greater Richmond Children’s Choir or the charity of your choice.

David Fisk, the symphony’s executive director, recalls “meeting Jim Erb soon after I became executive director and was immediately taken by his fierce passion and consummate musicianship. . . . [H]e was, above all else, a musician, whose good opinion one wanted to earn and to keep. We will miss him very much, but his legacy in Richmond and his reputation in the field of American choral music will live on forever.”

Fisk says the orchestra will plan a memorial concert for Erb next season, featuring “a piece that he particularly loved.”

An especially fine performance of Erb’s “Shenandoah” arrangement, sung by the Choir of New College, Oxford:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19OZnyl-POg

Erb relates “part of the story of my life” in this excerpt from a documentary made by John Moon of LifeJourney Films:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_ycLhvaldo

* * * 

UPDATE (Nov. 12): More tributes to James Erb from his successor and past and present music directors of the Richmond Symphony:

– Erin R. Freeman (director, Richmond Symphony Chorus): “One of the final pieces [Erb] prepared with the Richmond Symphony Chorus was the Brahms Requiem.  I distinctly remember sitting in the audience, poised to take over the legacy that he created, in awe and fear of the task at hand.  Since then, however, I have learned that Jim, through his attention to detail, determination, and musical integrity, set up his legacy in such a way that, as the final movement of the Brahms’ says: he may now rest from his labors, as his work will follow after him.”

– Steven Smith (Richmond Symphony music director): “[Erb’s] love for the collegiality of the chorus, his wealth of experience and sincere and deep commitment to every moment of the music was truly inspiring.  His legacy, not just here in Richmond but in the wider world of music will always be remembered with profound love and respect.”

– Jacques Houtmann (symphony music director, 1971-86): “What a great man, a great musician [Erb] was. . . . I will never forget how he was able to generate such an energy in order to convince the [chorus] to give the best in the vast repertoire he was involved in.”

– George Manahan (symphony music director, 1987-98): “The Richmond Symphony was blessed to have the charismatic leadership of my friend and colleague Jim Erb for so many years.  We performed some of the most challenging choral masterpieces in the repertory, including Bernstein, Walton, Messiaen, Brahms, and Verdi among others.  Never did I think there was a work too tough for the symphony chorus with Jim at the helm.”

– Mark Russell Smith (symphony music director, 1999-2009): “I count the many collaborations with Jim and the incredible chorus he created among my most cherished artistic memories of my tenure in Richmond.  He was a man of great passion and integrity, and brought every ounce of his being to bringing music to life for both his chorus and his audience.  We are all richer musicians and human beings for having had the privilege of working with Jim.”

Letter V Classical Radio this week

Nov. 13
noon-2 p.m. EST
1700-1900 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
www.wdce.org

Johann Strauss II: “Wine, Women and Song”
(arrangement by Alban Berg)
Boston Symphony Chamber Players
(Deutsche Grammophon)

Past Masters:
Beethoven: Cello Sonata
in A major, Op. 69
Emanuel Feuermann, cello; Myra Hess, piano
(EMI Classics)
(recorded 1937)

Ligeti: “Concert Românesc”
Berlin Philharmonic/
Jonathan Nott (Teldec)

Lassus: “Missa pro defunctis” – Agnus Dei
Hilliard Ensemble (ECM)

trad.: “Shenandoah”
(arrangement by James Erb)
Susquehanna Chorale/Linda L. Tedford
(John Mark Records)

Lassus: “Missa pro defunctis” –
Antiphona: “In paradisum”
Hilliard Ensemble (ECM) 

Ravel: Introduction and Allegro
Ensemble Wien-Berlin
(Sony Classical)

Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto in D major
Philippe Quint, violin
Sofia Philharmonic/
Martin Panteleev
(Avanti Classic)

Gonzalo Grau: “Five-Legged Cat”
Brooklyn Rider (Mercury)

Settlement in Atlanta

Musicians of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra have reached a settlement with the orchestra and its corporate parent, the Woodruff Arts Center, ending a lockout of the musicians that began 2½ months ago.

The new four-year contract, negotiated with the participation of federal mediators, calls for a 77-member orchestra in the first year, with a “goal” of 81 players in year two, and “commitments” to complements of 84 musicians in year three and 88 “by the end of year four,” according to a statement released by the Atlanta Symphony.

Musicians’ salaries will increase by 6 percent over the four years. They agreed to pay higher premiums for their healthcare plan.

“Over the last several difficult weeks of negotiations, both sides recognized that we all share the same goals and aspirations,” Virginia A. Hepner, chairman and CEO of the Woodruff Center, said in the statement. “[W]e all want a world class orchestra that the musicians and city are proud of and one that has long-term financial stability. We believe this new agreement is one that will allow us to achieve those goals.”

“This agreement brings the restoration of a harmonious relationship within everyone’s grasp based on work we must do together to restore missing positions in the Orchestra while stabilizing and advancing the financial position of the Woodruff Arts Center and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra,” said Paul Murphy, the orchestra’s associate principal violist and president of the musicians’ negotiating team.

The symphony’s board has committed to “additional, extraordinary financial support [that] gave us important flexibility as we finalized the new agreement,” Hepner said. The orchestra, which has operated in the red for 12 years running, ran a $2 million deficit on an operating budget of $37 million in its 2014 fiscal year, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The Atlanta Symphony will launch its 70th anniversary season on Nov. 13 and 15, with Robert Spano, its music director, conducting Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with soloists and the Atlanta Symphony Chorus and Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 in A major, K. 219, with concertmaster David Coucheron as soloist.

Review: Richmond Symphony

Steven Smith conducting
with Richard King, French horn
Nov. 8, Richmond CenterStage

Interpreting romantic music is very subjective business, for the performer and listener alike.

How subjective? Well, consider this: Of the 29 movements in Tchaikovsky’s seven symphonies (Nos. 1-6 plus “Manfred”), only two carry an unmodified tempo indication. In all the others, the composer engages in the Italianate music-speak equivalent of “yes, but:” from the relatively straightforward allegro non troppo (fast but not too fast) to the likes of andantino marziale, quasi moderato (a bit slower than a walking pace and martial, sort of moderate).

In Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony, highlight of the Richmond Symphony’s latest Masterworks program, conductor Steven Smith, faced with a succession of composer entreaties to modify tempos in the first two movements, settled on the old-time romantic formula of “speed up when loud, slow down when soft.”

This resulted in some felicities – resolutely brassy fanfares, lusciously upholstered waltzes, highly lyrical solos – but at high cost. The music meandered, with bursts of energy followed by interludes of quiet that threatened to dip into lassitude. The fabric of the orchestration frayed; melodies dulled; accompanying figures in the woodwinds leaped into undue prominence; tension dissipated.

These shortcomings extended into the scherzo, one of those aforementioned two movements with a straight tempo indication: allegro. Here, moderately paced string pizzicato lacked brightness (dare I say “pluck?”) while wind interjections sounded terse rather than playful.

The finale salvaged this performance. Tchaikovsky marked it allegro con fuoco – fast and fiery – and Smith and the orchestra delivered accordingly and brilliantly. So much so that at least one listener let loose an exclamation during the performance. A roaring ovation erupted after it was over.

Richard King, principal French horn player of the Cleveland Orchestra, was the evening’s guest soloist, playing Richard Strauss’ Horn Concerto No. 1 in E flat major. This is very early Strauss – he was 18 when he wrote it – and it sounds more like Schumann or “Flying Dutchman”-vintage Wagner than like the tone poems that Strauss produced later.

King seemed to have that more mature (and to an orchestral musician, more familiar) Strauss in mind as he played with a bright sonority and a rather declamatory tone. It was a gratifying display of solo horn playing (a few flubs and smeared phrases notwithstanding), but King’s performance lacked the warmth and shaded color needed in music of German high-romantic style.

The program opened with “Lumen” (2007) by the Polish-born, Chicago-based composer and percussionist Marta Ptaszynska. The piece, audibly influenced by Ptaszynska’s mentor, Witold Lutoslawski, as well as by Bartók, is described by the composer as a musical realization of the properties of “gradually unfolding light, such as a beam of light traveling through a crystal prism.”

Surprisingly, perhaps, much of the orchestration is darkly colored and ominously heavy – perhaps a sonic backdrop for the “luminous and radiant sounds . . . full of luminous colors” that Ptaszynska seeks to represent. The motto that she gave the work, via Dylan Thomas – “Light breaks where no sun shines” – accurately describes what the listener senses in this piece.

Smith, who conducted the premiere of “Lumen” with the Cleveland Chamber Symphony in 2008, showed complete command of its busy orchestration and kaleidoscopic welter of tone colors.

The Richmond Symphony, notably its string players, percussionists, pianist Russell Wilson and harpist Lynnette Wardle, treated Ptaszynska’s score to a performance of edge-of-the-seat concentration.

If only some of the warm, hefty lower-string tone lavished on “Lumen” had returned in the Tchaikovsky.

* * * 

UPDATE (Nov. 18) – During his appearance with the Richmond Symphony, Richard King told Zachary Lewis of The Plain Dealer that he is relinquishing his position as principal horn of the Cleveland Orchestra after 17 years. “I’m getting pretty tired,” King said:

http://www.cleveland.com/musicdance/index.ssf/2014/11/cleveland_orchestras_richard_k_1.html

King will continue playing with the orchestra. 

A chamber manifesto

James Wilson, the cellist who serves as artistic director of the Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia, counters the doomsayers on the future of classical music, at least on the small scale of chamber music: “[A] quick glance around Richmond proves . . . that chamber music is thriving — besides CMSCVA you can find Classical Revolution RVA, Richmond Chamber Players, the Oberon Quartet and the Atlantic Chamber Ensemble.”

Their audiences are attracted by “the intensity of the music, and the thrill of sitting close to musicians tearing into it,” Wilson writes in the Richmond Times-Dispatch:

http://www.timesdispatch.com/opinion/their-opinion/james-wilson-getting-real-with-chamber-music/article_fc364a6f-df09-5c98-8b3d-5b077eaeff4d.html

Forget me (not)

Squabbles between performers and their critics have entertained onlookers for as long as performers have been critiqued.

Whole books have been written on the subject: Nicolas Slonimsky’s “Lexicon of Musical Invective,” sampling denunciations of acknowledged masterpieces, is probably the best-known. My favorite is a much less widely circulated title, “The Music Monster,” Charles Reid’s biography of the mid-19th-century London music critic James William Davison, who found fault with most every significant composer of his time except Mendelssohn.

The next such book presumably will mention Dejan Lazić, a Croatian-born pianist whose 2010 recital at the Kennedy Center was the subject of a largely negative review by The Washington Post’s Anne Midgette:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/05/AR2010120503272.html

In September, Lazić wrote to The Post, asking that the review be removed from its online archives. The review, which the pianist described as “simply over the top in sheer negativity and toxicity” and “in my opinion defamatory,” is one of the top entries shown after a Google search of his name, Lazić wrote:

http://www.dejanlazic.com/

Midgette’s response:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/style/wp/2014/11/04/laffaire-lazic-a-pianist-and-reviewer-face-off/

Especially striking is the pianist’s justification of his request by citing the “right to be forgotten” law enacted last year in the European Union countries. This may the first case of a professional performer asserting this right. (Be careful what you wish for.)

Lazić doesn’t bolster his case by citing the infamous review of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto by the Viennese critic Eduard Hanslick, excoriating the piece as music that “stinks to the ear.” Pungent as Hanslick’s assessment was, the Tchaikovsky concerto survived and continues to thrive.

Google search results for “Dejan Lazić,” as of this date: (1) “Pianist Dejan Lazić Defends His Takedown Request By Pointing Out That The WaPo Reviewer Is Really Mean” (www.techdirt.com) and other “in the news” citations; (2) Lazić’s website, whose home page leads with his letter to The Post; (3) Midgette’s 2010 review.

In a search of “Dejan Lazić” on the Bing search engine, the Midgette review is not on the first page. One of the top results, though, is an article by Jay Gabler on the Minnesota Public Radio website titled “Why does pianist Dejan Lazić want to be forgotten?”
(http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2014/11/04/dejan-lazic-right-forgotten?refid=0)

Letter V Classical Radio this week

Nov. 6
noon-2 p.m. EST
1700-1900 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
www.wdce.org

Richard Strauss: “Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks”
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra/
Manfred Honeck (Reference Recordings)

Mozart: Symphony No. 29 in A major, K. 201
Scottish Chamber Orchestra/Charles Mackerras (Linn)

Dvořák: Dumka in
D minor, Op. 35
Lada Valešová, piano (Avie)

Milhaud: “Suite provençale”
Lille National Orchestra/Jean-Claude Casadesus (Naxos)

Past Masters:
Gershwin: Piano Concerto
in F major
Earl Wild, piano
Boston Pops/Arthur Fiedler
(RCA Victor)
(recorded 1961)

George I. Gurdjieff: “Sayyid chant and dance” No. 3/
Hymn No. 7
Komitas Vardapet: “Chinar es”
Anja Lechner, cello; François Couturier, piano (ECM)

Live from Carnegie Hall

Mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, accompaniel by pianist David Zobel, will “Journey through Venice” in a recital at 8 p.m. EST (1000 UTC/GMT) Nov. 4 at New York’s Carnegie Hall. The performance can be heard on a free live webcast from medici.tv:

http://www.medici.tv/#!/joyce-di-donato-david-zobel-a-journey-through-venice-carnegie-hall

DiDonato’s program includes arias by Vivaldi and Rossini, Venice-inspired songs by Fauré and Hahn and British composer Michael Head’s “Three Songs of Venice.”

The recital is the first of four Carnegie Hall programs to be webcast and streamed this fall. Those concerts, all at 8 p.m. EST (1000 UTC/GMT):

Nov. 18 – Violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and her Mutter Virtuosi ensemble, playing Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” and the U.S. premiere of André Previn’s Violin Concerto No. 2.

Nov. 22 – Violinist Leonidas Kavakos and pianist Yuja Wang, playing Schumann Violin Sonata No. 2 in D minor, Op. 121; Brahms’ Violin Sonata No. 2 in A major, Op. 100; Ravel’s Violin Sonata No. 1 in A minor; and Respighi’s Violin Sonata in B minor.

Dec. 9 – Pianist Daniil Trifonov, playing works by Beethoven and Liszt and Liszt arrangements of Bach.

All four concerts, in addition to being webcast live, will be available as streams for 90 days after the events.

Review: Biss & Fried

Jonathan Biss, piano
Miriam Fried, violin
Nov. 2, University of Richmond

Family chamber ensembles are common in classical music, at home if not in public. Violin-and-piano duos of kin have had special prominence in concert history. Violinist Yehudi Menuhin performed and recorded with his pianist son, Jeremy. More recently, pianist Claude Frank played in a duo with his violinist daughter, Pamela; and the Shaham siblings, violinist Gil and pianist Orli, have performed together while pursuing solo careers.

The mother-and-son duo of violinist Miriam Fried and pianist Jonathan Biss – he, as the more stellar artist of late, taking top billing – surveyed three eras of music for their instrumental combination before a sparse but appreciative audience in the Camp Concert Hall of the University of Richmond’s Modlin Arts Center.

Their finest collaboration came in the second half of the program, devoted to Beethoven’s Sonata in G major, Op. 96. This work, written at the same time as the epic “Archduke” Trio, is among Beethoven’s most lyrical and least portentous mature chamber works; it frequently anticipates the tuneful, gemütlich chamber music of Schubert.

Fried was especially attuned to its Schubertian qualities, her fiddle singing the sonata’s extended melodies like an accomplished Lieder vocalist. Biss also accentuated lyricism and color, and showed a deft hand in the folk-dance references that crop up repeatedly in the piece, although his tone at times overbalanced the violin’s.

That tendency was even more pronounced in Mozart’s Sonata in E flat major, K. 302. Although this is one of the earliest sonatas to give the violin real parity with the piano, the piano of Mozart’s time (known in our time as the fortepiano) produced a smaller, drier tone than the modern concert grand. Biss’ best efforts at reining in the UR Steinway’s volume to match that of Fried’s Stradivarius were not quite successful.

The two musicians’ sound and style were in near-perfect accord in Brahms’ Sonata in A major, Op. 100, and the Violin Sonata of the Czech early modernist Leoš Janáček.

Biss and Fried gave a warm, mellow account of the Brahms, but without excessively slowing tempos or wallowing in the music’s lyricism, the treatment to which this composer’s music is so often subjected.

In the Janáček, they achieved a nice balance between starkness, the customary tone of voice of this composer’s thematic pronouncements, and the late-romantic lyricism that resonates as he develops his musical material.

November calendar

Classical performances in and around Richmond, with selected events elsewhere in Virginia and the Washington area. Program information, provided by presenters, is updated as details become available. Adult single-ticket prices are listed; senior, student/youth, group and other discounts may be offered.

SCOUTING REPORT

* In and around Richmond: Pianist Jonathan Biss and violinist Miriam Fried play sonatas of Mozart, Janáček, Brahms and Beethoven, Nov. 2 at the University of Richmond’s Modlin Arts Center. . . . The new-music sextet eighth blackbird and composers Joo Won Park and Annie Gosfield headline this year’s Third Practice Electroacoustic Music Festival, Nov. 7-8 at UR’s Modlin Center. . . . Richard King, principal French horn player of the Cleveland Orchestra, joins Steven Smith and the Richmond Symphony in Richard Strauss’ Horn Concerto No. 1, on a program also featuring Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony, Nov. 8 at Richmond CenterStage, while Tom Schneider, the symphony’s principal bassoonist, performs Peter Schickele’s Bassoon Concerto alongside works of Beethoven and David Diamond, Nov. 13 at Richmond CenterStage and Nov. 16 at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland. . . . The St. Lawrence String Quartet performs in the next Rennolds Chamber Concerts program, Nov. 15 at the Singleton Arts Center of Virginia Commonwealth University. . . . Daniel Stipe opens this season’s Repertoire Recital Series of the Richmond chapter, American Guild of Organists, Nov. 18 at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church. . . . Virginia Opera’s production of the Gilbert & Sullivan operetta “H.M.S. Pinafore” comes to Richmond CenterStage on Nov. 21 and 23, following three performances – Nov. 7, 9 and 11 – at Norfolk’s Harrison Opera House.

* Noteworthy elsewhere: Violinist Midori joins Washington’s National Symphony for the Schumann Violin Concerto, performed with symphonies of Mendelssohn and Mozart, Nov. 1 at the Kennedy Center in Washington and Nov. 2 at the Ferguson Arts Center of Christopher Newport University in Newport News. . . . Washington National Opera stages Puccini’s “La Bohème” in 13 performances between Nov. 1 and 15 at the Kennedy Center Opera House. . . . The Brentano String Quartet plays Mozart, Bartók and Schubert, Nov. 2 at Virginia Tech’s Moss Arts Center in Blacksburg. . . . Pianist Yuja Wang plays Ravel with the China National Centre for the Performing Arts Orchestra, Nov. 3 at the Kennedy Center. . . . Riccardo Chailly conducts the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig, with guest violinist Nikolaj Znaider, in a program of Mendelssohn and Bruckner, Nov. 5 at the Kennedy Center. . . . Pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard plays Bach, Beethoven and Brahms, Nov. 7 at the Library of Congress in Washington. . . . Richard Egarr leads Britain’s Academy of Ancient Music in the four orchestral suites of Bach, Nov. 8 at Strathmore in the Maryland suburbs of DC. . . . Jeff Midkiff introduces his Double Concerto for mandolin, violin and orchestra with the Roanoke Symphony, Nov. 9-10 at the Jefferson Center and Nov. 11 at Virginia Tech’s Moss Arts Center. . . . The Prazak Quartet plays an all-Czech program, Nov. 11 at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. . . . Pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet joins Jiří Bělohlávek and the Czech Philharmonic for a program of Janáček, Liszt and Dvořák, Nov. 14 at George Mason University’s Center for the Arts in Fairfax. . . . Pianist Garrick Ohlsson plays the rarely heard Piano Concerto of Ferrucio Busoni with Rossen Milanov and the National Symphony, Nov. 20-22 at the Kennedy Center. . . . Opera Roanoke stages Mozart’s “The Abduction from the Seraglio,” Nov. 22 at the Jefferson Center. . . . Violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and her Mutter Virtuosi play Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” and more, Nov. 23 at the Kennedy Center.


Nov. 1 (2 p.m.)
Gellman Room, Richmond Public Library, First and Franklin streets
Mauro Correa, guitar
Susan Davis, flute
Sheri Oyan, saxophones 
Ivy Haga, bassoon
Roland Karnatz, clarinet
arrangements of works by Villa-Lobos, Tom Jobim, Pixinguinha, Luis Gonzaga, others
free
(804) 646-7223
www.richmondpubliclibrary.org

Nov. 1 (7 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
University Singers
UVa Chamber Singers 
Michael Slon directing 
Virginia Glee Club 
Frank Albinder directing 
Virginia Women’s Chorus 
KaeRenae Mitchell directing
works TBA by Eric Whitacre, Franz Biebl, others
$10
(434) 924-3376
www.music.virginia.edu

Nov. 1 (7 p.m.)
Nov. 2 (2 p.m.)
Nov. 4 (7:30 p.m.)
Nov. 5 (7:30 p.m.)
Nov. 7 (7:30 p.m.)
Nov. 8 (7 p.m.)
Nov. 9 (2 p.m.)
Nov. 10 (7 p.m.)
Nov. 12 (7:30 p.m.) 
Nov. 13 (7:30 p.m.)
Nov. 14 (7:30 p.m.)
Nov. 15 (1:30 and 7 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Opera House, Washington
Washington National Opera
Philippe Auguin conducting
Puccini: “La Bohème”
Saimir Pirgu/Alexey Dolgov (Rodolfo)
Corrine Winters/Tatiana Monogarova (Mimi)
John Chest/Trevor Scheunemann (Marcello)
Alyson Cambridge/Leah Partridge (Musetta)
Joshua Bloom/Musa Ngqungwana (Colline)
Steven LaBrie/Christian Bowers (Schaunard)
Donato DiStefano (Benoit/Alcindoro)
Jo Davies, stage director
in Italian, English captions
$25-$310
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Nov. 1 (7:30 p.m.)
Episcopal Church of the Epiphany, 1317 G St. NW, Washington
Windsbach Boys Choir
works TBA by Bach, Mendelssohn, Bruckner, Schütz, others
$20-$30
(202) 347-2635
www.epiphanydc.org

Nov. 1 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Christoph Eschenbach conducting
Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 5 in D major (“Reformation”)
Schumann: Violin Concerto in D minor
Midori, violin
Mozart: Symphony No. 41 in C major, K. 551 (“Jupiter”)
$10-$85
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Nov. 1 (8 p.m.)
Nov. 2 (3 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
National Philharmonic & Chorale
Stan Engebretson conducting 
Mozart: “Ave verum corpus” 
Mozart: “Exsultate, jubilate”
Mozart: Requiem 
Danielle Talamantes, soprano
Magdalena Wór, mezzo-soprano
Robert Baker, tenor
Chistopheren Nomura, baritone
$28-$84
(301) 581-5800
www.strathmore.org

Nov. 2 (4 p.m.)
Hershey Arts Center, Collegiate School, 103 N. Mooreland Road, Richmond
Richmond Philharmonic
Peter Wilson, violin & conducting
Vivaldi: “The Four Seasons”
Grofé: “Grand Canyon” Suite
$8 in advance, $10 at door (individual)
$16 in advance, $20 at door (family)
(804) 673-7400
www.richmondphilharmonic.org

Nov. 2 (7:30 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Jonathan Biss, piano
Miriam Fried, violin
Brahms: Sonata in A major, Op. 100
Mozart: Sonata in E flat major, K. 302
Janáček: Violin Sonata
Beethoven: Sonata in G major, Op. 96
$36
(804) 289-8980
www.modlin.richmond.edu

Nov. 2 (7 p.m.) 
Ferguson Arts Center, Christopher Newport University, Newport News
National Symphony Orchestra
Christoph Eschenbach conducting
Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 5 in D major (“Reformation”)
Schumann: Violin Concerto in D minor
Midori, violin
Mozart: Symphony No. 41 in C major, K. 551 (“Jupiter”)
$27-$87
(757) 594-8752 
www.fergusoncenter.org

Nov. 2 (2 p.m.)
Fife Theatre, Moss Arts Center, Virginia Tech, 190 Alumni Mall, Blacksburg
Brentano String Quartet
Mozart: Quartet in B flat major, K. 458 (“Hunt”)
Bartók: Quartet No. 3
Schubert: Quartet in D minor, D. 810 (“Death and the Maiden”)
$20-$45
(540) 231-5300 
www.artscenter.vt.edu

Nov. 3 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Albemarle Ensemble
Debussy: “Petite Suite”
Robert Paterson: Wind Quintet
Lutoslawski: Trio for oboe, clarinet and bassoon
Poulenc: Sonata for horn, trumpet and trombone 
Lowell Liebermann: “Fantasy on a Fugue by J.S. Bach,” Op. 27
$15
(434) 924-3376
www.music.virginia.edu

Nov. 2 (4 p.m.) 
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
Choral Arts Society of Washington
Scott Tucker directing
J.S. Bach: Mass in B minor
$15-$75
(800) 444-1324 
www.kennedy-center.org

Nov. 3 (7:30 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
China National Centre for the Performing Arts Orchestra
Lü Jia conducting
Qigang: “Wu Xing” (“The Five Elements”) 
Ravel: Piano Concerto in G major
Yuja Wang, piano
Dvořák: Symphony No. 8 in G major
$19-$75
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Nov. 4 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Quicksilver
“Early Moderns: 17th Century Italy and Germany”
works TBA by Neri, Bertali, Castello, Fontana, Weckmann, others
$15 
free master class at 3 p.m., Old Cabell Hall
(434) 924-3376
www.music.virginia.edu

Nov. 5 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Avanti Orchestra of Friday Morning Music Club
Pablo Saelzer conducting
Schubert: “Overture in the Italian Style”
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major
Somang Jeagal, piano
Beethoven: Symphony No. 1 in C major
free; tickets distributed before concert
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Nov. 5 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
Gewandhaus Orchestra, Leipzig
Riccardo Chailly conducting
Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor
Nikolaj Znaider, violin
Bruckner: Symphony No. 7
$38-$105
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
www.wpas.org

Nov. 6 (8 p.m.)
live-streamed from open grounds, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
TechnoSonics XV: Found Sound:
Joo Won Park, digital composer
other performers TBA 
works TBA 
(434) 924-3376
www.music.virginia.edu

Nov. 6 (7 p.m.)
Nov. 7 (8 p.m.)
Nov. 8 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Christoph Eschenbach conducting
Haydn: Symphony No. 49 in F minor (“La passione”)
Prokofiev: Sinfonia concertante, Op. 125
Claudio Bohórquez, cello
Brahms: Symphony No. 4 in E minor
$10-$85 
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Nov. 6 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Vocal Arts DC:
Pretty Yende, soprano
pianist TBA 
songs and arias by Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, Debussy, Liszt, Meyerbeer, Giménez
$50
(800) 444-1324 
www.kennedy-center.org

Nov. 7 (2:30 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Third Practice Electroacoustic Music Festival:
eighth blackbird
Jane Rigler, Joo Won Park, Matt Grey, composer-performers
“Those We Hold Dear”
Matthew McCabe: work TBA
Heather Stebbins: “minim”
Joo Won Park: “Receding Hairline”
Andrew Smith: “Sustaining the Silence”
Cory Kaspryzk: work TBA 
Eric Lyon: “Spaced Images with Noise and Lines” 
Benjamin Broening: “Twilight Shift”
free
(804) 289-8980 
www.thirdpractice.org

Nov. 7 (7:30 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Third Practice Electroacoustic Music Festival:
eighth blackbird 
Jane Rigler, flute
Christopher Chandler: “Smoke and Mirrors”
Jacob TV: “Tatata”
Joo Won Park: “Receding Hairline”
Maurice Wright: “Soliloquies; echoes”
Eve Beglarian: “Well-Spent” 
Jane Rigler: “two seaming” 
Kyong Mee Choi: “Tender Spirit I”
free
(804) 289-8980
www.thirdpractice.org

Nov. 7 (8 p.m.)
Ferguson Arts Center, Christopher Newport University, Newport News
Nov. 8 (8 p.m.)
Chrysler Hall, 215 St. Paul’s Boulevard, Norfolk 
Nov. 9 (2:30 p.m.)
Sandler Arts Center, 201 S. Market St., Virginia Beach
Virginia Symphony 
JoAnn Falletta conducting 
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major
Prisca Benoit, piano
Mahler: Symphony No. 1 in D major
$25-$107 
(757) 892-6366
www.virginiasymphony.org

Nov. 7 (8 p.m.)
Nov. 9 (2:30 p.m.) 
Nov. 11 (7:30 p.m.)
Harrison Opera House, 160 E. Virginia Beach Boulevard, Norfolk
Virginia Opera
Adam Turner conducting
Gilbert & Sullivan: “H.M.S. Pinafore”
Jake Gardner (Sir Joseph Porter)
Christopher Burchett (Captain Corcoran)
Cullen Gandy (Ralph Rackstraw) 
Matthew Scollin (Dick Deadeye)
Brian Mextorf (Bill Bobstay)
Keith Brown (Bob Becket) 
Shannon Jennings (Josephine)
Courtney Miller (Cousine Hebe)
Margaret Gawrysiak (Little Buttercup)
Nicola Bowie, stage director
in English, English captions
$19-$99
(866) 673-7282
www.vaopera.org

Nov. 7 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
TechnoSonics XV: Found Sound:
Annie Gosfield, piano & electronica 
Kojiro Umezaki, shakuchai
Garrett Mendelow, percussion
other performers TBA 
works TBA by Gosfield, Umezaki, Ted Coffey, Matthew Burtner, others
free
(434) 924-3376
www.music.virginia.edu

Nov. 7 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Ébène Quartet
Haydn: Quartet in F minor, Op. 20, No. 5
Mendelssohn: Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 13
jazz selections TBA 
$32
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Nov. 7 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue N.E., Washington
Pierre-Laurent Aimard, piano 
J.S. Bach: “The Well-Tempered Clavier,” Book 1 (selections)
Beethoven: Sonata in A flat major, Op. 110 
Brahms: “Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Handel,” Op. 24
free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
www.loc.gov/concerts

Nov. 8 (2 p.m.)
Gellman Room, Richmond Public Library, First and Franklin streets
members of Sigma Alpha Iota
vocal, instrumental works TBA
free
(804) 646-7223
www.richmondpubliclibrary.org

Nov. 8 (2:30 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Third Practice Electroacoustic Music Festival:
Duo Klang
Sarah Plum, violin
Adam Vidiksis, Christopher Trapani, Mark Snyder, composer-performers
other performers TBA
Tom Flaherty: “Airdancing”
Jeff Herriot: “after time: a resolution”
Adam Vidiksis: “Mitochondrial Dreams”
Thomas Cuifo: “Ujjayi”
Mark Snyder: “The Invalid’s Sonnet and Nostalgia”
Christopher Trapani: “ Really Coming Down”
free
(804) 289-8980
www.thirdpractice.org

Nov. 8 (7:30 p.m.) 
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond 
Third Practice Electroacoustic Music Festival: 
Duo Klang
Sarah Plum, violin
Adam Vidiksis, Christopher Trapani, Mark Snyder, composer-performers
other performers TBA
Nina Young: “Kolokol”
Mikel Kuehn: “Rite of Passage”
Charles Nichols: “Il Preto Rosso”
Jane Rigler: “The Calling”
Elizabeth Hoffman: “frôTH”
Eric Moe: “The Sun Beats the Mountain Like a Drum”
free
(804) 289-8980
www.thirdpractice.org

Nov. 8 (8 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Richmond Symphony
Steven Smith conducting
Marta Ptaszynska: “Lumen”
Richard Strauss: Horn Concerto No. 1 in E flat major
Richard King, French horn
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 in F minor
$10-$78
pre-concert talk at 7 p.m.
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX) 
www.richmondsymphony.com

Nov. 8 (8 p.m.)
Center for the Arts, George Mason University, Fairfax
Fairfax Symphony Orchestra
Luke Frazier conducting
“I’ll Be Seeing You: a World War II Love Story”
works by Gershwin, Kern, Carmichael, Ellington, others, with readings of Frazier family letters written during World War II
$25-$60
(888) 945-2468 (Tickets.com) 
www.fairfaxsymphony.org

Nov. 8 (2 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington 
Beatrice Rana, piano
J.S. Bach: Partita No. 1 in B flat major, BWV 825
Chopin: Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor, Op. 35
Scriabin: Sonata No. 2 in G sharp minor, Op. 19
Prokofiev: Sonata No. 6 in A major, Op. 82
$38
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
www.wpas.org

Nov. 8 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD 
Academy of Ancient Music
Richard Egarr, harpsichord & director
J.S. Bach: Suites Nos. 1-4, BWV 1066-69 
$25-$55
(301) 581-5800
www.strathmore.org

Nov. 9 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
UVa Chamber Singers
Michael Slon directing
program TBA 
free
(434) 924-3376
www.music.virginia.edu

Nov. 9 (4 p.m.)
St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, 125 N. Augusta St., Staunton
Staunton Music Festival:
Carsten Schmidt, harpsichord
J.S. Bach: 24 preludes and fugues
pre-concert talk at 3 p.m.
$22
(540) 569-0267
www.stauntonmusicfestival.org

Nov. 9 (3 p.m.)
Nov. 10 (7:30 p.m.)
Jefferson Center, 541 Luck Ave. SW, Roanoke
Roanoke Symphony
David Stewart Wiley conducting
Bizet: “L’Arlesienne” – Farandole
Jeff Midkiff: Double Concerto for mandolin, violin and orchestra (premiere)
Jeff Midkiff, mandolin
Akemi Takayama, violin
Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 in F major (“Pastoral”)
$32-$52
(540) 343-9127
www.rso.com

Nov. 9 (7 p.m.)
Center for the Arts, George Mason University, Fairfax
Jeffrey Siegel, piano
“Keyboard Conversations: Three Great Bs – Bach, Beethoven and Bartók”
J.S. Bach: chorale prelude TBA 
Beethoven: Sonata in F sharp minor, Op. 78
Bartók: “Romanian Folk Dances”
other works TBA
$24-$40
(888) 945-2468 (Tickets.com)
www.cfa.gmu.edu

Nov. 11 (7 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Richmond Symphony
Richmond Symphony Youth Orchestra
Steven Smith conducting
“Side by Side”
De Falla: “The Three-Cornered Hat” Suite No. 2 
Stravinsky: “The Firebird” Suite
free
(804) 788-4717
www.richmondsymphony.com

Nov. 11 (7:30 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Tuesday Evening Concerts:
Prazak Quartet
Jakub Jan Ryba: Quartet No. 2 in D minor
Janáček: Quartet No. 2 (“Intimate Letters”)
Smetana: Quartet No. 1 in E minor (“From My Life”)
$12-$33
(434) 924-3376
www.tecs.org

Nov. 11 (7:30 p.m.)
Fife Theatre, Street and Davis Hall, Moss Arts Center, Virginia Tech, 190 Alumni Mall, Blacksburg
Roanoke Symphony
David Stewart Wiley conducting
Bizet: “L’Arlesienne” – Farandole
Jeff Midkiff: Double Concerto for mandolin, violin and orchestra (premiere)
Jeff Midkiff, mandolin
Akemi Takayama, violin
Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 in F major (“Pastoral”)
$35-$55
(540) 231-5300
https://artscenter.vt.edu

Nov. 11 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Orion Weiss, piano
Salzburg Marionettes
Schumann: “Papillons”
Schumann: “Blumenstück,” Op. 19
Schumann: Novelette, Op. 21, No. 8 
Debussy: “La boîte à joujoux” 
$45
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
www.wpas.org

Nov. 12 (7 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
VCU Symphonic Wind Ensemble
University Band
Terry Austin directing
program TBA
free
(804) 828-6776
www.vcu.edu/music

Nov. 13 (6:30 p.m.)
Gottwald Playhouse, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Nov. 16 (3 p.m.)
Blackwell Auditorium, Randolph-Macon College, 205 Henry St., Ashland
Richmond Symphony 
Steven Smith conducting
David Diamond: “Rounds”
Peter Schickele: Bassoon Concerto
Tom Schneider, bassoon
Beethoven: Symphony No. 2 in D major
$20
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
www.richmondsymphony.com

Nov. 13 (7:30 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
UR Wind Ensemble
David Niethamer directing
program TBA 
free
(804) 289-8980
www.modlin.richmond.edu

Nov. 13 (8 p.m.)
Crosswalk Community Church, 7575 Richmond Road, Williamsburg
Nov. 15 (8 p.m.)
Regent University Theater, 1000 Regent University Drive, Virginia Beach
Virginia Symphony 
JoAnn Falletta conducting
Milhaud: “Le boeuf sur le toit”
Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor
Sara Buechner, piano
Beethoven: Symphony No. 1 in C major
$23-$63
(757) 892-6366
www.virginiasymphony.org

Nov. 13 (7 p.m.)
Nov. 15 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Christoph Eschenbach conducting
Lera Auerbach: “Eterniday – Homage to W.A. Mozart” 
Mozart: Flute Concerto No. 2 in D major, K. 314
Aaron Goldman, flute
Stravinsky: “Le Sacre du printemps” (“The Rite of Spring”)
$10-$85
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Nov. 13 (7:30 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Christina & Michelle Naughton, piano duo
Brahms: “Variations on a Theme by Haydn”
Debussy: “En blanc et noir”
Lutoslawski: “Variations on a Theme of Paganini”
Stravinsky: “Le Sacre du printemps” (“The Rite of Spring”)
$32 
(800) 444-1324 
www.kennedy-center.org

Nov. 14 (8 p.m.)
Center for the Arts, George Mason University, Fairfax
Czech Philharmonic
Jiří Bělohlávek conducting
Janáček: “Taras Bulba”
Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 2 in A Major
Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano
Dvořák: Symphony No. 9 in E minor (“From the New World”)
$42-$70
(888) 945-2468 (Tickets.com)
www.cfa.gmu.edu

Nov. 14 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Christoph Eschenbach conducting & speaking
“Beyond the Score: Stravinsky’s ‘Le Sacre du printemps’ – Savage or Sacred?”
$10-$50
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Nov. 14 (8:15 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD 
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Marin Alsop conducting
“Off the Cuff: Shostakovich 5 – Notes for Stalin”
Didi Balle, playwright
Jared McLenigan, Richard Poe & Tony Tsendeas, actors
$32-$95
(877) 276-1444 (Baltimore Symphony box office)
www.strathmore.org

Nov. 15 (8 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Rennolds Chamber Concerts:
St. Lawrence String Quartet
program TBA
$34
(804) 828-6776
www.vcu.edu/music

Nov. 15 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Nov. 16 (3:30 p.m.)
Martin Luther King Jr. Performing Arts Center, Charlottesville High School, 1400 Melbourne Road
Charlottesville Symphony at the University of Virginia
Kate Tamarkin conducting
Mozart: Symphony No. 35 in D major, K. 385 (“Haffner”)
Tchaikovsky: Suite No. 4 in G major (“Mozartiana”)
Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor
Gleb Ivanov, piano
$10-$45
(434) 924-3376 
www.music.virginia.edu

Nov. 15 (8 p.m.)
Center for the Arts, George Mason University, Fairfax
American Festival Pops Orchestra
Anthony Maiello conducting
Norma Douglas Zimdahl, vocalist
“Lights, Camera, Action!”
works TBA from film, television, musical theater
$29-$48
(888) 945-2468 (Tickets.com)
www.cfa.gmu.edu

Nov. 16 (2 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington 
Kennedy Center Chamber Players
Esther Oh, soprano
Spohr: “Six German Songs”
Schubert: “The Shepherd on the Rock”
Schubert: “Die Forelle” (“The Trout”)
Schubert: Piano Quintet in A major, D. 667 (“Trout”)
$36
(800) 444-1324 
www.kennedy-center.org

Nov. 16 (5 p.m.) 
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington 
The Washington Chorus & orchestra
Julian Wachner conducting
Beethoven: “Missa solemnis”
Julia Sophie Wagner, soprano
Daniela Mack, mezzo-soprano
Vale Rideout, tenor
Morris Robinson, bass 
$15-$70 
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Nov. 16 (3 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD 
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Marin Alsop conducting
Tchaikovsky: “Marche slave”
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 1 in F sharp minor
Boris Gitburg, piano
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5
$40-$99
(877) 276-1444 (Baltimore Symphony box office)
www.strathmore.org

Nov. 18 (7:30 p.m.)
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Grove Avenue at Three Chopt Road, Richmond
American Guild of Organists Repertoire Recital Series:
Daniel Stipe, organ
J.S. Bach: Sinfonia from Cantata 29
Vierne: Organ Symphony No. 3 in F sharp minor – cantilène and intermezzo
Healey Willan: Introduction, Passacaglia and Fugue
Brahms-Stipe: Symphony No. 4 in E minor – scherzo and passacaglia
Dupré: “Variations on a Noël”
donation requested
(804) 288-2867
www.richmondago.org

Nov. 20 (7 p.m.)
Nov. 21 (8 p.m.) 
Nov. 22 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington 
National Symphony Orchestra
Rossen Milanov conducting
Stravinsky: “The Firebird” Suite
Busoni: Piano Concerto
Garrick Ohlsson, piano
Washington Men’s Camerata
$10-$85
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Nov. 21 (7 p.m.)
Nov. 22 (7 p.m.)
Cultural Arts Center at Glen Allen, 2880 Mountain Road
Richmond Symphony
conductor TBA
Robbin Thompson, Susan Greenbaum & Donna Meade, vocalists
“Richmond’s Finest”
program TBA
$35
(804) 261-2787
www.artsglenallen.com

Nov. 21 (8 p.m.)
Nov. 23 (2:30 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Virginia Opera
Adam Turner conducting
Gilbert & Sullivan: “H.M.S. Pinafore”
Jake Gardner (Sir Joseph Porter)
Christopher Burchett (Captain Corcoran)
Cullen Gandy (Ralph Rackstraw) 
Matthew Scollin (Dick Deadeye)
Brian Mextorf (Bill Bobstay)
Keith Brown (Bob Becket)
Shannon Jennings (Josephine)
Courtney Miller (Cousine Hebe)
Margaret Gawrysiak (Little Buttercup)
Nicola Bowie, stage director 
in English, English captions
$20.33-$105.93 
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
www.vaopera.org

Nov. 21 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
University Singers
Michael Slon directing
program TBA 
$15
(434) 924-3376 
www.music.virginia.edu

Nov. 21 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue N.E., Washington
Ensemble Caprice
Matthias Maute & Sophie Larivière directing
“New World Baroque: Music from Latin America and Iberia” 
works TBA by De Murcia, Falconieri, Fernandes, Ortíz, De Araujo, Martín y Coll, DeSalazar, De Bailly, Zipoli 
free; tickets required 
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster) 
www.loc.gov/concerts

Nov. 22 (7:30 p.m.)
Nov. 23 (4 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
VCU Opera
conductor TBA
casts TBA
“Opera Scenes”
Mozart: “Cosí fan tutte,” “Don Giovanni”
Bizet: “Carmen”
Kurt Weill: “Street Scene”
Marc Blitzstein: “Regina”
Johann Strauss II: “Die Fledermaus”
Gilbert & Sullivan: “The Mikado”
free
(804) 828-6776
www.vcu.edu/music

Nov. 22 (7:30 p.m.)
Jefferson Center, 541 Luck Ave., Roanoke
Opera Roanoke
Scott Williamson conducting
Mozart: “The Abduction from the Seraglio”
Adelaide Muir Trombetta (Konstanze)
Brian Downen (Belmonte)
Zachary James (Osmin)
Anna Sterrett (Blonde)
Kelly Burns (Pedrillo)
David Johnson (Kelim Pasha)
in English
$25-$100
(540) 345-2550
www.operaroanoke.org

Nov. 22 (7:30 p.m.)
Fife Theatre, Street and Davis Hall, Moss Arts Center, Virginia Tech, 190 Alumni Mall, Blacksburg
Cantus
Theatre Latté Da
Peter Rothstein, Erick Lithke & Timothy C. Takach: “All Is Calm: the Christmas Truce of 1914”
$20-$45
(540) 231-5300
https://artscenter.vt.edu

Nov. 22 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD 
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Marin Alsop conducting
Bernstein: “Chichester Psalms”
Jennifer Johnson Cano, mezzo-soprano
Cathedral Choral Society
Bernstein: Symphony No. 1 (“Jeremiah”)
Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 in A major
$40-$100
(877) 276-1444 (Baltimore Symphony box office)
www.strathmore.org

Nov. 23 (6 p.m.) 
Siegel Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Broad and Harrison streets, Richmond
Richmond Symphony
community musicians
Keitaro Harada conducting
“Come and Play”
Grieg: “Peer Gynt” Suite No. 1 – “In the Hall of the Mountain King”
Johann Strauss II: “Thunder and Lightning Polka”
Vignieri: “An American Hymn”
Piazzolla-Harada: “Libertango”
Brahms-Parlow: Hungarian Dance No. 5 in G minor
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D minor (“Choral”) – finale
Anderson: “Sleigh Ride”
free; $10 registration fee for performers
(804) 788-4717
www.richmondsymphony.com

Nov. 23 (3:30 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
UVa Baroque Orchestra
David Sariti, violin & director 
program TBA 
$10
(434) 924-3376
www.music.virginia.edu

Nov. 23 (7 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin & director 
Mutter Virtuosi
Sebastian Currier: “Ringtone Variations”
Mendelssohn: Octet
Vivaldi: “The Four Seasons”
$35-$100
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts Society)
www.wpas.org

Nov. 28 (8 p.m.)
Nov. 29 (8 p.m.) 
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra Pops
Steven Reineke conducting
Sutton Foster, guest star
$20-$88
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Nov. 29 (8 p.m.)
Center for the Arts, George Mason University, Fairfax
Seraphic Fire
“Christmas Carols by Candlelight”
$30-$50
(888) 945-2468 (Tickets.com)
www.cfa.gmu.edu