Letter V Classical Radio this week

Another holiday special at a special time: We ring out the old year and anticipate the new with our annual Habsburg Sock-Hop, a more expansive take on the traditional Viennese New Year waltz program, with dances from the many lands along the Danube in central and eastern Europe and the Balkans, once ruled by the Habsburg dynasty in its sprawling, multicultural Austro-Hungarian Empire.

We’ll hear waltzes, Ländler, polkas, mazurkas, furiants and other dances, as heard at their folk roots and through their varied classical branches.

Dec. 31
1-5 p.m. EST
1800-2200 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
www.wdce.org

Past Masters:
Haydn: Symphony No. 36 in C major – I: Vivace
Philharmonia Hungarica/
Antál Doráti (Decca)
(recorded 1970)

Johann Strauss II: “Emperor” Waltz
London Philharmonic/
Franz Welser-Möst
(EMI Seraphim)

Past Masters:
Rossini: “The Thieving Magpie” Overture
Royal Philharmonic/
Colin Davis (EMI Classics)
(recorded 1961)

Josef Lanner: “Styrian Dances”
Josef Lanner: “New Viennese Ländler”
Johann Strauss I: “Court-Ball Dances”
trad.-Franz Gruber: “Dances of Old Vienna”
Willi Boskovsky Ensemble (Alto)

Liszt: “Mephisto” Waltz No. 1
Evgeny Kissin, piano (RCA Victor)

Suk: “Fantastické scherzo”
Buffalo Philharmonic/
JoAnn Falletta (Naxos)

trad. Czech:
“Wallachian Lament”
Apollo Chamber Players (Navona)

Dvořák: Piano Trio in E minor, Op. 90 (“Dumky”)
Eroica Trio (EMI Classics)

Smetana: “The Bartered Bride” – Polka, Furiant
Cleveland Orchestra/Christoph von Dohnányi (London)

Gorécki: “Little Requiem for a Polka”
Schönberg Ensemble/Reinbert de Leeuw
(Newton Classics)

Chopin: Polonaise in A flat major, Op. 53 (“Heroic”)
Maurizio Pollini, piano (Deutsche Grammophon)

Past Masters:
Szymanowski: Mazurkas,
Op. 50, Nos. 1, 2, 3, 6
Arthur Rubinstein, piano (RCA Victor)
(recorded 1961)

Luka Sorkočević:
Symphony No. 3 in D major
Salzburger Hofmusik/
Wolfgang Brunner (cpo)

Brahms: Piano Quartet in G minor, Op. 25 –
IV: “Rondo alla zingarese”
(orchestration by Arnold Schoenberg)
Houston Symphony Orchestra/
Christoph Eschenbach (RCA Victor)

trad. Hungarian: “Maramaros dances”
Márta Sebestyén, vocalist
Muzsikás (Hannibal)

Bartók: “Dance Suite”
Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Pierre Boulez (Deutsche Grammophon)

trad. Roma: Suite – Doina, Purtata, Hora “ka ka kaval”
Hesperion XXI/
Jordi Savall (AliaVox)

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

Kodály: “Dances of Galanta”
Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Neeme Järvi (Chandos)

John Duffy (1926-2015)

John Duffy, a prolific composer who in 1982 organized the Meet the Composer program that places composers in residencies with US orchestras and more recently ran the John Duffy Composers Institute of the Virginia Arts Festival, has died at 89.

Duffy, a New York native who settled in Norfolk, wrote more than 300 works for the concert hall, theater, television and film, among them the opera “Muhammad Ali” and Emmy Award-winning scores for “A Talent for Life: Jews of the Italian Renaissance,” telecast by NBC, and the PBS series “Heritage: Civilization and the Jews.”

Ed Harsh, CEO of New Music USA, the organization formed after the merger of Meet the Composer and the American Music Center, recalls Duffy’s “healthy disregard for conventional hierarchies” of music.

“For John, the idea that a ‘classical’ symphonic work was, by nature, automatically worthy of higher status than the work of, say, Ornette Coleman or Burt Bacharach – to use two of his favorite examples – was simply bunk. . . . The exploding variety of creativity we’re blessed with in 2015, which blows through genre categories like so much thin air, may obscure for us now the uncommon character of his views,” Harsh writes in a remembrance of Duffy for New Music USA’s web magazine New Music Box:

http://www.newmusicbox.org/articles/remembering-composer-and-mtc-founder-john-duffy-1926/

An obituary by William Grimes for The New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/29/arts/music/john-duffy-composer-who-aided-his-contemporaries-dies-at-89.html

Letter V Classical Radio this week

A Christmas Eve special, at a special time.

Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Christmas Oratorio” is the main attraction. We’ll hear it in its entirety, but not all three hours of it uninterrupted. Bach composed the oratorio as a sequence of six cantatas, each meant to be performed on a church feast day from Christmas Day to Epiphany.

We’ll exploit that portioning by placing among the cantatas complementary works of other composers: Mozart’s “Coronation” Mass and Christmas works by Respighi, Corelli, Claude Benigne Balbastre and Charles Theodore Pachelbel (Johann Pachelbel’s son, who lived and worked in Boston in the late 1700s.)

Dec. 24
1-5 p.m. EST
1800-2200 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
www.wdce.org

J.S. Bach: “Christmas Oratorio”
Dorothea Röschmann, soprano
Andreas Scholl, alto
Werner Güra, tenor
Klaus Häger, bass
RIAS Chamber Choir
Akademie für alte Musik Berlin/
René Jacobs
(Harmonia Mundi)

Corelli: Concerto Grosso in G minor, Op. 6, No. 8 (“Christmas Concerto”)
London Baroque/
Charles Medlam
(Bis)

Claude Benigne Balbastre:
Noël, “Ah ma voisine es-tu fàchée”
René Saorgin, organ
(Harmonia Mundi)

Mozart: Mass in C major, K. 317 (“Coronation”)
Emma Kirkby, soprano
Catherine Robbin, contralto
John Mark Ainsley, tenor
Michael George, bass
Winchester Cathedral Choir
Winchester College Quiristers
Academy of Ancient Music/
Christopher Hogwood
(L’Oiseau Lyre)

Charles Theodore Pachelbel: “Magnificat anima mea Dominum”
The Columbus Consort (Channel Classics)

Respighi: “Lauda per
la Nativtà del Signore”
Yeree Suh, soprano (Angel)
Kristine Larissa Funkhauser,
mezzo-soprano (Mary)
Krystian Adam, baritone (Shepherd)
Berlin Radio Choir
Polyphonia Ensemble Berlin/Märis Sirmais
(Carus)

Exit interview with a veteran player

Michele Zukovsky, who just retired from the Los Angeles Philharmonic after 54 years, most of them as its principal clarinetist, talks with blogger CK Dexter Haven about the changes that orchestras have gone through in her career.

Symphonic performance has become more generic, she finds:

“I used to have a vast collection of [recordings of] Beethoven symphonies, and I put together my ideal Beethoven 9th, movement by movement. It was like Mengelberg, Furtwängler, and two others that were perfect.

“That tradition has been diluted through the years. You’re not looking necessarily at the way Brahms did it when he was alive, we’re not going to hear or feel the way Brahms did it in the 1890s. It’s not being passed down very much longer.

“Now, you’ve got these great young performers doing Vivaldi violin concertos where they’re making it a whole new thing. It’s like alive and they’re improvising. It doesn’t have to be the way Vivaldi did it, and they’re phenomenal and I can feel it. That’s the way we’re going now.

“Music can be very boring now when you’re just trying to repeat the same old thing over and over instead of making it your own. Now, even with the period instrument orchestras, they’re starting to all sound the same. I used to listen to [recordings] and could tell within the first three downbeats who the conductor was and where the orchestra was from. Now, not so much.”

Zukovsky’s full interview, in two parts:

Part 1: http://allisyar.com/2015/12/19/a-chat-with-michele-zukovsky-part-1-of-2-the-la-phils-outgoing-principal-clarinet-reflects-on-how-her-54-year-tenure-began-the-audition-process-and-more/

Part 2: http://allisyar.com/2015/12/20/a-chat-with-michele-zukovsky-part-2-of-2-on-german-clarinets-german-conductors-life-after-the-la-phil-and-more/

P.D.Q. Bach's golden year

The American composer and musical comedian Peter Schickele, who turned 80 this year, celebrates the 50th anniversary of his (in)famous P.D.Q. Bach concerts in New York with concerts on Dec. 28-29 at Town Hall.

“[S]o beloved is Mr. Schickele among musicians,” The New York Times’ James R. Oestreich reports, that to recruit his New York Pick-Up Ensemble of 35 players, “he needed to make only 36 phone calls.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/20/arts/music/peter-schickele-brings-pdq-bach-back-to-the-stage.html

Schickele’s comic alter ego continues to produce unheard(-of) works, including a concerto for pianist Jeffrey Biegel, Oestreich writes. “[A]s Mr. Schickele pointed out, P. D. Q. is the only dead composer who still accepts commissions.”

Kurt Masur (1927-2015)

Kurt Masur, the most prominent German conductor of his generation, who as music director of the New York Philharmonic (1991-2002) was credited with refining the artistry of the orchestra and taming the egos of its musicians, has died at 88.

During his long tenure as chief conductor of the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig (1970-96), Masur maintained the stature of that venerable ensemble under the East German regime, and was one of the public figures instrumental in peacefully ending communist rule in 1989.

At the Gewandhaus, Masur made a practice of advocating composers, German and foreign-born, who had worked or studied in Leipzig.

In 1986, during a US tour with the Leipzigers, the conductor prolonged a visit to Richmond to hear Frederick Delius’ “Appalachia: Variations on an Old Slave Song with Final Chorus,” performed by the Richmond Symphony and Symphony Chorus, Peter Bay conducting. Taking the chance to fill a gap in his experience, Masur said – he had never heard “Appalachia,” and the English-born Delius was a prominent alumnus of the Leipzig Conservatory.

An obituary by The New York Times’ Margalit Fox:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/20/arts/music/kurt-masur-new-york-philharmonic-conductor-dies.html

ADDENDUM (Dec. 21): The British author and critic Norman Lebrecht, who knew Masur for more than 30 years, recalls “a Kapellmeister of the old school” who also was a moral force. Link to a BBC interview via:

http://slippedisc.com/2015/12/what-kurt-masur-said-when-they-asked-him-to-become-german-president/

Letter V Classical Radio this week

Music for Advent and Hanukkah: a reconstruction of a 17th-century Lutheran Advent service with pieces by Michael Praetorius and Handel’s oratorio “Judas Maccabaeus.” 

Dec. 10
10 a.m.-1 p.m. EST
1500-1800 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
www.wdce.org

Michel Corrette: “Symphonie de Noël” No. 4
La Fantasia/Rien Viskuilen
(Brilliant Classics)

“Awaiting the Messiah: a Lutheran Advent Service”
Michael Praetorius:
“Polyhymnia caduceatrix,”
“Musica Sionae,
“Puericinium” &
“Terpsichore” (selections)
Apollo’s Singers
Apollo’s Musettes
Apollo’s Fire/Jeannette Sorrell (Avie)

Giovanni Gabrieli: Canzon X
Academy of Ancient Music/Paul Goodwin (Harmonia Mundi)

Handel: “Judas Maccabaeus”
Jamie McDougall, tenor
Emma Kirkby, soprano
Catherine Denley,
mezzo-soprano
Michael George &
Simon Birchall, basses
James Bowman, countertenor
Choir of New College, Oxford/
Edward Higginbottom
The King’s Consort/Robert King (Hyperion)

Symphony 'Messiah' reviewed

My review for the Richmond Times-Dispatch of this season’s performance of Handel’s “Messiah” by the Richmond Symphony, Symphony Chorus and guest soloists:

http://www.richmond.com/entertainment/music/article_b171c301-db49-56c6-9868-12d55523e769.html

Balled up in Knoxville

Tennessee’s Knoxville Opera advises its patrons: “Our annual gala event this Saturday is ‘The Prima Donna Ball,” not ‘The Pre-Madonna Ball.’ ”

(via www.slippedisc.com)

Conductor denied entry

Rafael Payare, chief conductor of the Ulster Orchestra and principal conductor of the Castleton Festival in Virginia, was denied entry to the US by customs officials on his way to a date with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

The Venezuelan-born Payare was to have conducted a program featuring his wife, cellist Alisa Weilerstein.

The Cincinnati Enquirer’s Janelle Gelfand reports:

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2015/12/03/visa-snafu-causes-cso-guest-conductor-turned-back-us-customs/76727524/

A payoff for new music

Symphony orchestras do not perform contemporary music to make money.

Playing new works rarely boosts ticket sales; score rentals, royalty payments to composers and extra rehearsal time that may be needed for unfamiliar or complex music make it more expensive to program than a Beethoven symphony.

An orchestra’s principal motivation for presenting new music is artistic, with prestige value as a secondary factor.

The Seattle Symphony’s performance of John Luther Adams’ “Become Ocean,” subsequently released on a recording on its in-house label, seemed to be such a venture. It paid off on the prestige front when the work won this year’s Pulitzer Prize for music.

Now it could be a profit-maker, too, thanks to the pop singer Taylor Swift, who was so taken with “Become Ocean” that she has donated $50,000 to the Seattle Symphony. Her endorsement of the piece also could lead to more sales of the recording.

Swift’s gift will be used to start an educational program and to bolster the orchestra musicians’ retirement fund, The New York Times’ Michael Cooper reports:

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/12/03/taylor-swift-gives-50000-to-seattle-symphony/

Letter V Classical Radio this week

Sampling the season’s new recordings, including several Christmas discs . . . 

Dec. 3
10 a.m.-1 p.m. EST
1500-1800 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
www.wdce.org

Beethoven: “Egmont” Overture
Montreal Symphony Orchestra/Kent Nagano (Analekta)

Janáček:
“On the Overgrown Path”
Stephen Hough, piano (Hyperion)

Lyons: “Corpus Christi Carol”
anon.: “Gresley Dances”
(arrangement by William Lyons)
The Dufay Collective & Voice (Avie)

François-Joseph Gossec: Symphony in E flat major, Op. 12, No. 5
Les Agrémens/
Guy Van Wass
(Ricercar)

Schubert: Fantasia
in F minor, D. 940
Leon Fleisher &
Katherine Jacobson,
piano four-hands
(Sony Classical)

J.S. Bach: Suite No. 3
in E flat major, BWV 1010
Matt Haimovitz, cello (Pentatone/Oxingale)

Liszt: “Valses oubliée” Nos. 1-3
Olivia Sham, piano (Avie)

Mendelssohn: Quartet
in D major, Op. 44, No. 1
Cecilia String Quartet (Analekta)

trad. English: “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”
trad. Scottish: “The Traveler Benighted in Snow”
trad. Irish: “Early in the Morning”/“The Ivy Leaf”/
“Christmas Comes But Once a Year”
(arrangements by Nikolaus Newerkla)
Quadriga Consort (Deutsche Harmonia Mundi)

December 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.

* In the sprit of the season: It’s all good.


Dec. 2 (7:30 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
VCU Choral Arts Society
VCU Women’s Choir
program TBA
$7 in advance, $10 at door
(804) 828-6776
www.arts.vcu.edu/music

Dec. 2 (7 and 9 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Washington National Opera American Opera Initiative
John DeMain conducting
“Three 20-Minute Operas”
Christopher Weiss & John de los Santos: “Service Provider”
David Clay Mettens & Joshua McGuire: “Alexandra”
Sarah Hutchings & Mark Sonnenblick: “Twenty Minutes or Less”
casts TBA
in English
$15
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Dec. 3 (7:30 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
UR Symphony Orchestra
Alexander Kordzaia conducting
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor – first movement
Solomon Quinn, piano
Beethoven: Symphony No. 1 in C major
free
(804) 289-8980
www.modlin.richmond.edu

Dec. 3 (8 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
VCU Symphony
Governor’s School for the Arts Orchestra
Daniel Myssyk conducting
program TBA
$7 in advance, $10 at door
(804) 828-6776
www.arts.vcu.edu/music

Dec. 3 (7 p.m.)
Dec. 5 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Sarah Hicks conducting
Adams: “The Chairman Dances”
Barber: “Toccata Festiva”
Carpenter: improvisation
Cameron Carpenter, organ
Paul Creston: “Dance Overture”
Mason Bates: “Mothership”
Copland: “Billy the Kid” Suite
$15-$89
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Dec. 4 (7 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
VCU Music Department performers
“VCU Holiday Gala”
$10; proceeds benefit The Doorways (formerly Hospital Hospitality House)
(804) 828-6776
www.arts.vcu.edu/music

Dec. 4 (7 p.m.)
Dec. 6 (4 p.m.)
Trinity Lutheran Church, 2315 N. Parham Road, Richmond
Richmond Choral Society
Markus Compton directing
City Singers Youth Choirs
Leslie Moruza Dripps directing
Christopher Martin, organ
Keith Tan, piano
instrumental ensemble
“Christmas with the Richmond Choral Society”
$15 in advance, $17.50 at door
(804) 353-9582
www.richmondchoralsociety.org

Dec. 4 (7:30 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Richmond Symphony
Erin Freeman conducting
Handel: “Messiah”
Laura Strickling, soprano
Jessica Renfro, mezzo-soprano
Theo Lebow, tenor
Sumner Thompson, baritone
Richmond Symphony Chorus
$20-$50
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
www.richmondsymphony.com

Dec. 4 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Dec. 12 (8 p.m.)
First Presbyterian Church, 500 Park St., Charlottesville
Virginia Glee Club
Frank Albinder directing
75th annual Christmas Concert
$15
(434) 924-3376
www.music.virginia.edu

Dec. 4 (8 p.m.)
Dec. 5 (4 p.m.)
University of Virginia Chapel, Charlottesville
Virginia Women’s Chorus
KaeRenae Mitchell directing
Candlelight Concerts
Ola Gjeilo: “Song of the Universal”
other seasonal works TBA
$7.50-$17.50
(434) 924-3376
www.music.virginia.edu

Dec. 4 (7:30 p.m.)
Salem Civic Center, 1001 Roanoke Boulevard
Dec. 6 (7 p.m.)
Martinsville High School auditorium, 351 Commonwealth Boulevard
Roanoke Symphony Pops
David Stewart Wiley conducting
Adrienne Danrich, soprano
Roanoke Symphony Chorus
Virginia Tech choirs
Roanoke Valley Children’s Choir
“Holiday Pops Spectacular”
$15-$63
(540) 343-9127
www.rso.com

Dec. 5 (2 p.m.)
Gellman Room, Richmond Public Library, First and Franklin streets
Finnsbury Minstrel Guild
baroque Advent and Christmas music, Hanukkah music, Swedish carols TBA
free
(804) 646-7223
www.richmondpubliclibrary.org

Dec. 5 (8 p.m.)
Dec. 6 (3 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Richmond Symphony Pops
Keitaro Harada conducting
Richmond Symphony Chorus
Erin Freeman directing
Greater Richmond Children’s Choir
Hope Armstrong Erb directing
Nicole Oberleitner, Lauren C. Bolding & Andrew Reid, dancers
Thomas Schneider & Martin Gordon, bassoons
Thomas A. Silvestri & Wesley Buskey, narrators
“Let It Snow!”
$10-$78
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
www.richmondsymphony.com

Dec. 5 (8 p.m.)
Dec. 6 (3:30 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Charlottesville Symphony at the University of Virginia
UVa University Singers
Michael Slon conducting
“Family Holiday Concerts”
$10-$45
(434) 924-3376
www.music.virginia.edu

Dec. 6 (5 and 8 p.m.)
Cannon Memorial Chapel, University of Richmond
UR Schola Cantorum & Women’s Chorale
Jeffrey Riehl & David Pedersen directing
42nd annual Festival of Lessons and Carols
free
(804) 289-8980
www.modlin.richmond.edu

Dec. 6 (7 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Richmond Symphony Youth Orchestra Program:
Youth Concert Orchestra
Camerata Strings
String Sinfonietta
Christopher Moseley, Rebecca Jilcott & Christie-Jo Adams conducting
program TBA
free
(804) 788-4717
www.richmondsymphony.com

Dec. 7 (7 p.m.)
James Center, 901 E. Cary St., Richmond
Richmond Philharmonic
Peter Wilson conducting
Holiday pops concert
program TBA
free
(804) 673-7400
www.richmondphilharmonic.org

Dec. 7 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Philadelphia Orchestra
Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducting
Bizet: “Carmen” Suite No. 1
Vieuxtemps: Violin Concerto No. 4 in D minor
Hilary Hahn, violin
Stravinsky: “The Firebird”
$45-$120
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts)
www.wpas.org

Dec. 8 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
“Messiah” Sing-In
Donald Loach directing
$10; proceeds benefit UVa’s choral ensembles
(434) 924-3376
www.music.virginia.edu

Dec. 10 (7 p.m.)
Dec. 11 (8 p.m.)
Dec. 12 (2 and 8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra Pops
Steven Reineke conducting
The von Trapps
Stephanie J. Block, vocals
The Washington Chorus
“Family Holiday”
$20-$99
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Dec. 10 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Pops
Damon Gupton conducting
Brian Stokes Mitchell, vocalist & host
“’Tis the Season”
$35-$99
(877) 276-1444 (Baltimore Symphony box office)
www.strathmore.org

Dec. 11 (7 p.m.)
Episcopal Church of the Holy Comforter, Monument Avenue at Staples Mill Road, Richmond
Dec. 12 (7 p.m.)
Trinity Lutheran Church, 2315 N. Parham Road, Richmond
James River Singers
David Pedersen directing
“Make We Joy”
Daniel Pinkham: “Christmas Cantata”
Dominick Argento: Gloria
Z. Randall Stroope: “There Is No Rose”
Elizabethan madrigals, other works TBA
$15
www.jamesriversingers.org

Dec. 11 (8 p.m.)
Ferguson Arts Center, Christopher Newport University, Newport News
Dec. 12 (2:30 and 8 p.m.)
Harrison Opera House, 160 E. Virginia Beach Boulevard, Norfolk
Dec. 13 (7 p.m.)
Sandler Arts Center, 201 S. Market St., Virginia Beach
Virginia Symphony Pops
Virginia Symphony Chorus
Robert Shoup conducting
Adrienne Danrich, soprano
“Holiday Pops: Home for the Holidays”
$25-$76
(757) 892-6366
www.virginiasymphony.org

Dec. 11 (8 p.m.)
Hylton Arts Center, George Mason University, Manassas
Dec. 12 (8 p.m.)
Center for the Arts, George Mason University, Fairfax
American Festival Pops Orchestra
Anthony Maiello conducting
“Holiday Pops: Songs of the Season”
$32-$54
(888) 945-2468 (Tickets.com)
www.cfa.gmu.edu

Dec. 11 (7 p.m.)
Dec. 12 (7 p.m.)
Dec. 13 (1 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Opera House, Washington
China National Traditional Orchestra
Wang Chaoge directing
“Rediscover Chinese Music”
(arrangements by Jiang Ying)
$20-$150
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Dec. 12 (2 p.m.)
Gellman Room, Richmond Public Library, First and Franklin streets
Richmond Boys Choir
holiday program TBA
free
(804) 646-7223
www.richmondpubliclibrary.org

Dec. 12 (7 p.m.)
Virginia Center Commons Food Court, Washington Highway, Glen Allen
Dec. 13 (3 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Central Virginia Wind Symphony
Mike Goldberg directing
Audra Honaker, vocals
Kate Simons, host (Dec. 12)
Greg McQuade, host (Dec. 13)
Curnow: “Fanfare for Christmas”
Swearingen: “Covington Square”
Rodgers-Bennett: “The Sound of Music” (selections)
Wilson-Reed: “The Music Man” (selections)
Gershwin: “They Can't Take That Away from Me”
Gershwin: “Someone to Watch Over Me”
Pola & Wyle: “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year”
Reisteter: “The Eighth Candle”
Williams-Lavender: “A Home Alone Christmas”
Anderson: “A Christmas Festival”
Anderson: “Sleigh Ride”
free
(804) 342-8797
www.thewindsymphony.com

Dec. 12 (2 and 4:30 p.m.)
Paramount Theater, 215 E. Main St., Charlottesville
Ash Lawn Opera
Kate Tamarkin conducting
Menotti: “Amahl and the Night Visitors”
Georgia Castleman (Amahl)
Brandy Lynn Johnson (Mother)
Kenneth Kellogg (Balthazar)
André Chiang (Melchior)
Benjamin Bunsold (Kaspar)
Gideon Dabi (Page)
dancers & chorus
Andrea Dorf McGray, stage director
in English
$27-$45
(434) 979-1333
www.theparamount.net

Dec. 12 (2 and 7 p.m.)
Dec. 13 (2 and 7 p.m.)
Dec. 18 (7 p.m.)
Dec. 19 (2 and 7 p.m.)
Dec. 20 (2 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Washington National Opera
Michael Rossi conducting
Humperdinck: “Hansel and Gretel”
(arrangement by Kathleen Kelly)
cast TBA
Sarah Meyers, stage director
in English, English captions
$59-$75
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Dec. 13 (3 p.m.)
Episcopal Church of the Holy Comforter, Monument Avenue at Staples Mill Road, Richmond
Dec. 18 (7:30 p.m.)
River Road Church, Baptist, River and Ridge roads, Richmond
Dec. 20 (3 p.m.)
Duncan Memorial United Methodist Church, 201 Henry St., Ashland
Central Virginia Masterworks Chorale
Ryan Tibbetts directing
Daniel Stipe, organ
“Christmas in the New World”
Conrad Susa: “Carols and Lullabies: Christmas in the Southwest”
carol arrangements TBA by Alice Parker, Robert Shaw, Mack Wilberg
$10 in advance, $15 at door
(800) 838-3006
www.cvamc.org

Dec. 13 (4 p.m.)
Bon Air Presbyterian Church, 9201 W. Huguenot Road, Richmond
Second Sunday South of the James:
“Messiah” sing-along
Anne Carr Regan directing
Karen Floyd Savage, soprano
Ellen Broen, mezzo-soprano
Aaron Jones, tenor
Chase Peak, bass
Stephen Henley, organ
chamber orchestra
choral scores available at door
donation requested
rehearsal at 1 p.m. Dec. 12
(804) 272-7514
www.bonairpc.org

Dec. 13 (7:30 p.m.)
Wilton House Museum, 215 S. Wilton Road, Richmond
Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia:
Tricia van Oers, recorder
Fiona Hughes, baroque violin
James Wilson, baroque cello
Carsten Schmidt, harpsichord
sonatas TBA by Handel, Telemann, Corelli
pre-concert talk at 7 p.m.
$35 (waiting list)
(804) 519-2098
www.cmscva.org

Dec. 13 (5 p.m.)
Dec. 19 (2 p.m.)
Dec. 21 (7 p.m.)
Dec. 22 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
The Washington Chorus
Julian Wachner directing
“A Candelight Christmas”
$18-$72
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Dec. 14 (7 p.m.)
Dec. 20 (8 p.m.)
Dec. 24 (2 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
Choral Arts Society of Washington & orchestra
Scott Tucker conducting
“A Choral Arts Christmas”
$15-$69
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Dec. 15 (7:30 p.m.)
Episcopal Church of the Holy Comforter, Monument Avenue at Staples Mill Road, Richmond
Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia:
Martin Davids, Fiona Hughes & June Huang, baroque violins
Kyle Miller, baroque viola
James Wilson, baroque cello
Mille Martin, baroque double-bass
Mary Boodell, traverse flute
Tricia van Oers, recorder
Margaret Owens, recorder and baroque oboe
Mary Elizabeth Bowden, trumpet
Carsten Schmidt, harpsichord
J.S. Bach: Suite No. 2 in B minor, BWV 1067
J.S. Bach: “Brandenburg” Concerto No. 2 in F major, BWV 1047
J.S. Bach: “Brandenburg” Concerto No. 4 in G major, BWV 1049
J.S. Bach: “Brandenburg” Concerto No. 5 in D major, BWV 1050
pre-concert talk at 7 p.m.
$25
(804) 519-2098
www.cmscva.org

Dec. 16 (7 and 9 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Renée Fleming, soprano
Patricia Barber, composer-pianist
“Higher: the Music of Patricia Barber”
$85
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Dec. 17 (8 p.m.)
Regent University Theater, Virginia Beach
Dec. 18 (8 p.m.)
First Baptist Church, 12716 Warwick Boulevard, Newport News
Dec. 19 (8 p.m.)
Harrison Opera House, 160 E. Virginia Beach Boulevard, Norfolk
Virginia Symphony
Benjamin Rous conducting
Handel: “Messiah”
Joelle Harvey, soprano
Annie Rosen, mezzo-soprano
Brian Giebler, tenor
David Kravitz, bass
Virginia Symphony Chorus
Robert Shoup directing
$25-$76
(757) 892-6366
www.virginiasymphony.org

Dec. 17 (7 p.m.)
Dec. 18 (8 p.m.)
Dec. 19 (8 p.m.)
Dec. 20 (1:30 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Nathalie Stutzmann conducting
Handel: “Messiah”
Emöke Barath, soprano
Sara Mingardo, contralto
Lawrence Wiliford, tenor
Burak Biligili, bass
University of Maryland Concert Choir
$15-$89
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Dec. 18 (8 p.m.)
Center for the Arts, George Mason University, Fairfax
Vienna Boys Choir
“Christmas in Vienna”
$32-$54
(888) 945-2468 (Tickets.com)
www.cfa.gmu.edu

Dec. 18 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
The Washington Chorus
Julian Wachner directing
“A Candelight Christmas”
$32-$72
(301) 581-5100
www.strathmore.org

Dec. 19 (2:30 and 7:30 p.m.)
Paramount Theater, 215 E. Main St., Charlottesville
Oratorio Society of Central Virginia
Charlottesville area school choirs
Michael Slon directing
“Christmas at the Paramount” 
Respighi: “Lauda per la Natività del Signore”
soloists TBA
other seasonal works TBA
$25-$49
(434) 979-1333
www.theparamount.net

Dec. 19 (8 p.m.)
Dec. 20 (3 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
National Philharmonic
Stan Engebretson conducting
Handel: “Messiah”
Danielle Talamantes, soprano
Margaret Mazzacappa, mezzo-soprano
Matthew Smith, tenor
Christopheren Nomura, baritone
National Philharmonic Chorale
$34-$94
(301) 581-5100
www.strathmore.org