Alexander Paley reviewed

My review for the Richmond Times-Dispatch of pianist Alexander Paley, playing Chopin and Rachmaninoff at St. Luke Lutheran Church:

http://www.richmond.com/entertainment/music/article_a63442eb-2c98-5173-86dd-ff61ce75cb39.html

Radio special

I’ll be sitting in for Jack Archie on Upbeat, his Sunday night classical show on WDCE-FM at the University of Richmond. American music in the first hour, French music in the second.

Jan. 31
7-9 p.m. EST
2400-0200 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
www.wdce.org

Bernstein: “Candide” Overture
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra/David Zinman (London)

Adams: “Grand Pianola Music”
John Alley & Shelagh Sutherland, pianos
London Sinfonietta/John Adams (Nonesuch)

Bryce Dessner: “Murder Ballades”
eighth blackbird (Cedille)

Blind Willie Johnson: “Dark Was the Night,
Cold Was the Ground”
(arranged by Stephen Prutsman)
Kronos Quartet (Nonesuch)

Berlioz: “Lélio” –
“Fantasia on Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’ ”
San Francisco Symphony Orchestra & Chorus/
Michael Tilson Thomas (SFS Media)

Saint-Saëns: Symphony
No. 3 in C minor (“Organ”)
Daniel Roth, organ
Orchestre les Siècles/François-Xaver Roth
(Actes Sud)

Ravel: “La Valse”
London Symphony Orchestra/Pierre Monteux (Philips)

'Music Unites' concert

Symphony Musicians of Richmond, members of the Richmond Symphony and Local 123, American Federation of Musicians, will present their annual “Music Unites” concert at 7 p.m. Feb. 1 at St. Michael Catholic Church, 4491 Springfield Road.

Victor Yampolsky, director of orchestras at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music and guest conductor of the Richmond Symphony’s Feb. 5-6 Casual Fridays and Masterworks programs, will conduct the Music Unites concert.

The program includes Brahms’ “Academic Festival” Overture, Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, “Nimrod” from Elgar’s “Enigma Variations” and the “Ode to Joy” from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, in which the audience is invited to sing along (in German).

A reception follows the program.

Donations will benefit United Way of Greater Richmond and Petersburg.

For more information, call (804) 527-1037.

eighth blackbird reviewed

My review for the Richmond Times-Dispatch of eighth blackbird, performing in the musical-theatrical production “Hand Eye,” staged on Jan. 27 at the University of Richmond’s Modlin Arts Center:

http://www.richmond.com/entertainment/music/article_f1884066-4ede-5c27-9ce5-475fdae4a70b.html

New York taps Jaap van Zweden

Jaap van Zweden, the 55-year-old Dutch conductor currently leading the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Hong Kong Philharmonic, has been named the next music director of the New York Philharmonic, succeeding Alan Gilbert.

Appointed concertmaster of Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra at the age of 19, turning to conducting in his mid-30s, Zweden will serve as music director-designate of the New York Philharmonic in the 2017-18 season, taking over the position full-time in 2018-19 after being released from his Dallas Symphony contract. His initial contract in New York runs through 2023.

He will lead the philharmonic through several years of itinerant concertizing while its home venue, David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center, is closed for renovations.

Credited with energizing and improving the performing standards of the Dallas Symphony, Zweden also was criticized for what The Dallas Morning News characterized as an “abrasive” relationship with the orchestra’s musicians, The New York Times’ Michael Cooper reports:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/28/arts/music/new-york-philharmonic-taps-jaap-van-zweden-as-its-next-maestro.html

The Times’ Anthony Tommasini, one of the most vocal advocates of recruiting the Finnish composer-conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen as the New York Philharmonic’s music director, rates Zweden as “too predictable a choice — a solid, disciplined, middle-aged European maestro — to follow Mr. Gilbert, a youthful native New Yorker who has brought the orchestra vision and innovation.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/28/arts/jaap-van-zweden-and-the-future-of-the-new-york-philharmonic.html

Letter V Classical Radio this week

Jan. 28
10 a.m.-1 p.m. EST
1500-1800 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
www.wdce.org

Ravel: “Alborada del gracioso”
London Symphony Orchestra/
Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos
(IMP Classics)

Dvořák:
Symphonic Variations
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra/Marin Alsop (Naxos)

Rimsky-Korsakov: “Fantasia on Russian Themes”
Lydia Mordkovitch, violin
Scottish National Orchestra/Neeme Järvi (Chandos)

Past Masters:
J.S. Bach: Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 538 (“Dorian”)
Michel Chapuis, organ (United Archives)
(recorded 1967)

Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K. 491
Alfred Brendel, piano
Scottish Chamber Orchestra/
Charles Mackerras
(Philips)

Vaughan Williams:
“The Lark Ascending”
Hilary Hahn, violin
London Symphony Orchestra/Colin Davis (Deutsche Grammophon)

Webern: Passacaglia
Cleveland Orchestra/Christoph von Dohnányi (London)

Brahms: Sextet No. 2
in G major, Op. 36
Isabelle Faust & Christian Tetzlaff, violins
Stefan Fehlandt &
Hanna Weinmesiter, violas
Gustav Rivinius &
Julian Steckel, cellos
(Avi-Music)

Dan Visconti: “Black Bend”
Scharoun Ensemble Berlin (Bridge)

Thanks, but no thanks

Esa-Pekka Salonen, the Finnish composer-conductor and former Los Angeles Philharmonic maestro touted as a likely successor to Alan Gilbert as the next music director of the New York Philharmonic – Salonen is currently the orchestra’s composer-in-residence – tells The New York Times’ Michael Cooper that “a new conducting position would not be logistically possible with the demands of my composing schedule.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/23/arts/music/esa-pekka-salonen-says-being-new-york-philharmonics-maestro-still-isnt-a-goal.html

Meanwhile, Norman Lebrecht, on his Slipped Disc blog, directs readers to an interview with Manfred Honeck, music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and another presumed New York Phil front-runner, in which Honeck tells Finnish journalist Vesa Siren that “I feel an obligation to stay in Pittsburgh” and that “I think Esa-Pekka would be the right person” for New York:

http://slippedisc.com/2016/01/exclusive-manfred-honeck-says-esa-pekkas-best-for-the-new-york-philharmonic/

Castleton calls off 2016 season

The Castleton Festival, organized in 2009 by the late conductor Lorin Maazel and his wife, Dietlinde Turban Maazel, at their estate in Rappahannock County, VA, has canceled its 2016 season to reorganize and raise funds.

Mrs. Maazel, who took over direction of the summer festival after her husband’s death in 2014, said the festival’s “huge” 2015 season depleted its resources. A hiatus this year will enable Castleton “to build a solid financial foundation . . . for continued growth in future years,” she tells The Washington Post’s Anne Midgette:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/castleton-festival-announces-hiatus-in-2016/2016/01/20/adea871c-befa-11e5-83d4-42e3bceea902_story.html

A statement issued on the festival website:

http://www.castletonfestival.org/castleton-festival-announces-temporary-hiatus-for-summer-2016/

Symphony 'Video Games' postponed

The Richmond Symphony’s “Video Games Live” concert, scheduled for Jan. 23, has been postponed in anticipation of the weekend’s snowstorm.

The rescheduled concert will begin at 8 p.m. Feb. 20 at the Altria Theater, Main and Laurel streets. Tickets issued for the original date will be honored on the new date.

More information: www.richmondsymphony.com

Letter V Classical Radio this week

In the final hour, remembering Pierre Boulez, who died earlier this month. We’ll hear Boulez’s work as an authoritative conductor of modern music, with the three US orchestras with which he was most closely associated – the Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony and New York Philharmonic – along with a brief sample of his elusive yet vivid compositional style.

Jan. 21
10 a.m.-1 p.m. EST
1500-1800 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
www.wdce.org

Wagner: “Die Meistersinger” – Prelude Act 1
MET Orchestra/James Levine
(Deutsche Grammophon)

Albéniz: Piano Concerto
in A minor
(“Concierto fantastico”)
(orchestration by
Tomás Bréton)
Aldo Ciccolini, piano
Royal Philharmonic/
Enrique Bátiz (EMI Classics)

Past Masters:
Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor
Janos Starker, cello
London Symphony Orchestra/Antal Doráti (Mercury)
(recorded 1964)

Johan Helmich Roman: Concerto in D major
Anthony Robson,
oboe d’amore
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment/
Anthony Halstead (Musica Sveciae)

Beethoven: Quartet in
E flat major, Op. 74 (“Harp”)
Artemis Quartet
(Virgin Classics)

Chopin: Barcarolle in F sharp minor, Op. 60
Ivan Moravec, piano (Supraphon)

Stravinsky: “Scherzo fantastique”
Cleveland Orchestra/
Pierre Boulez
(Deutsche Grammophon)

Boulez: “Livre pour Quatuor” IIIc (1962)
Quatour Parisii
(Deutsche Grammophon)

Bartók: Divertimento
for string orchestra
Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Pierre Boulez (Deutsche Grammophon)

Ravel: “La Valse”
New York Philharmonic/Pierre Boulez
(Sony Classical)

Ask the undead

Kirill Petrenko, general music director of the Bavarian State Opera and incoming chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, recently was asked about performing the music of living composers. As recounted by Miroslav Srnka, whose opera “South Pole” will be conducted by Petrenko later this month, the maestro’s reply:

“If the composer is dead you’d like to ask him questions, but you can’t. If the composer is alive you can ask him questions, but sometimes you’d prefer he would be already dead.”

(via http://slippedisc.com)

Richmond Symphony reviewed

My review for the Richmond Times-Dispatch of the Richmond Symphony Metro Collection concert, featuring cellist Neal Cary, at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland:

http://www.richmond.com/entertainment/music/article_560afd90-dc82-5d76-a710-1a438238437d.html

Yefim Bronfman reviewed

My review for the Richmond Times-Dispatch of pianist Yefim Bronfman playing sonatas by Prokofiev at the University of Richmond’s Modlin Arts Center:

http://www.richmond.com/entertainment/music/article_20727130-987f-503e-b6ad-833027ffdae6.html

Letter V Classical Radio this week

A program in memory of Gilbert Kaplan, the financier and journalist turned Mahler scholar, who died on New Year’s Day.

Captivated by a 1965 performance of Mahler’s epic Second Symphony (“Resurrection”) led by Leopold Stokowski, Kaplan decided that the only way he could could understand this music and his response to it was to conduct it himself. He embarked on an intensive study of conducting technique, subsequently acquired the autograph score, the composer’s baton and other artifacts, and made the Mahler Second his life’s work.

The program concludes with Kaplan’s remarkable 1987 recording with the London Symphony Orchestra. That performance is preceded by Mahler’s 1905 piano rolls of two of his songs and works by Brahms, Wagner, Schubert and Richard Strauss.

Jan. 14
10 a.m.-1 p.m. EST
1500-1800 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
www.wdce.org

Brahms: “A German Requiem” –
VI: “Denn wir haben hier keine bleibende Statt”
Thomas Quasthoff, baritone
Berlin Radio Choir
Berlin Philharmonic/Simon Rattle (EMI Classics)

Past Masters:
Richard Strauss: “Death and Transfiguration”
Philadelphia Orchestra/
Leopold Stokowski
(RCA Victor)
(recorded 1934)

Wagner: “Tristan und Isolde” – Prelude & Liebestod
Jessye Norman, soprano
London Philharmonic/
Klaus Tennstedt
(EMI Classics)

Past Masters:
Schubert: Symphony No. 8 in B minor (“Unfinished”)
Berlin Philharmonic/Wilhelm Furtwängler (Audite)
(recorded 1953)

Past Masters:
Mahler:
“Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen” – “Ging heut’ morgens aus übers Feld”
“Des Knaben Wunderhorn” – “Ich ging mit Lust durch einen grünen Wald”
Gustav Mahler, piano
(Conifer Classics)
(1905 piano roll)

Mahler: Symphony No. 2
in C minor (“Resurrection”)
Benita Valente, soprano
Maureen Forrester, contralto
London Symphony Chorus
Ardwyn Singers
BBC Welsh Chorus
Cardiff Polyphonic Choir
The Dyfed Choir
London Symphony Orchestra/Gilbert Kaplan (Conifer Classics)

Virginia Opera 2016-17

Virginia Opera will stage its first productions of “The Seven Deadly Sins” by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht and “Der Freischütz” by Carl Maria von Weber, as well as launching a five-year Puccini cycle, next season.

The company’s 2016-17 season will begin with “The Seven Deadly Sins,” on a double bill with Ruggero Leoncavallo’s “Pagliacci,” Sept. 30 and Oct. 2 and 4 at Norfolk’s Harrison Opera House, Oct. 8 and 9 at George Mason University’s Center for the Arts in Fairfax, and Oct. 14 and 16 at the Carpenter Theatre of Dominion Arts Center (formerly Richmond CenterStage).

Adam Turner, resident conductor of Virginia Opera and the first recipient of the Kurt Weill-Julius Rudel Conducting Fellowship, will lead the Weill-Leoncavallo double bill, with stage direction by Keturah Stickann. Ute Gfrerer, in her US operatic stage debut, will star in “The Seven Deadly Sins.” The cast of “Pagliacci” will be led by Kelly Kaduce and Michael Chioldi.

“The Seven Deadly Sins” will be sung in English, “Pagliacci” in Italian, both with projected captions.

The company’s second production of the ’16-’17 season will be Gioachino Rossini’s greatest hit, “The Barber of Seville,” first produced in 1816. Performances are slated for Nov. 11, 13 and 15 in Norfolk, Nov. 18 and 20 in Richmond, and Dec. 3 and 4 in Fairfax.

Will Liverman, a Virginia Beach native, will star as the barber Figaro, in a cast also featuring Megan Marino and Andrew Owens. The production, in Italian with English captions, will be conducted by John Baril, music director of Colorado’s Central City Opera, and directed by Michael Shell.

“Der Freischütz,” staged as “The Magic Marksman” in an English translation with captions, will star Issachah Savage, winner of the 2014 Seattle Wagner Competition and rated as one of the leading young Heldentenors of opera in the US. The cast also will include Katherine Polit and Jake Gardner.

Turner will conduct and Stephen Lawless will direct the Weber, presented on Jan. 27, 29 and 31 in Norfolk, Feb. 4 and 5 in Fairfax, and Feb. 17 and 19 in Richmond.

Virginia Opera’s ’16-’17 season concludes with Giacomo Puccini’s last opera, “Turandot,” staged on March 17, 19 and 21 in Norfolk, March 25 and 26 in Fairfax, and March 31 and April 2 in Richmond. Kelly Kae Hogan will sing the title role, and Roger Honeywell will co-star as Calaf, voice of the popular aria “Nessun dorma.”

“Turandot,” sung in Italian with English captions, will be conducted by John DeMain and directed by Lillian Groag.

For information on ticket subscriptions for the Norfolk and Richmond seasons, call (866) 673-7282 or visit http://www.vaopera.org

Fairfax subscriptions will go on sale this spring.

Kitty Kallen (1921-2016)

Kitty Kallen, the singer who took “Little Things Mean a Lot” to the top of the pop charts in 1954, has died at 94.

The song was one of the two biggest hits for the Richmond songwriting duo of composer Carl Stutz and lyricist Edith Lindeman. The other was “Red Headed Stranger,” around which singer Willie Nelson devised a best-selling album in 1975.

A Kallen obituary by The Washington Post’s Adam Bernstein:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/kitty-kallen-silken-voiced-pop-singer-of-little-things-mean-a-lot-dies-at-94/2016/01/07/e4819528-b571-11e5-a842-0feb51d1d124_story.html

Pierre Boulez (1925-2016)

Pierre Boulez, a leader of the post-World War II compositional avant-garde who (in)famously declared, “Schoenberg is dead,” only to become a leading advocate of Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Bartók, Debussy, Messiaen and other modern composers in a long, stellar career as a conductor, has died at 90.

While some of his compositions, such as “Répons,” “Marteau Sans Maître,” “Pli Selon Pli” and his Second and Third piano sonatas, are rated as masterpieces of postwar art-music, Boulez was far more widely known as a conductor and organizer of musical enterprises.

He prevailed upon the French government to found the Institute for Research and Coordination of Acoustics and Music (IRCAM) and its resident Ensemble Intercontemporain, and subsequently to build the City of Music complex that houses the Paris Conservatoire.

Although Boulez had led orchestras and other ensembles since the 1940s, he came into his own as a conductor in the ’70s. He served as music advisor to the Cleveland Orchestra (1970-72) following the death of George Szell, and succeeded Leonard Bernstein as music director of the New York Philharmonic in 1971. During an often stormy six-year tenure in New York, he founded the “Rug Concerts,” a prototype of the informal concert series now staged by many classical-music ensembles.

He also was chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra (1971-75), served for many years as principal guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and performed with other major orchestras.

In 1976, the centenary of Richard Wagner’s death, Boulez conducted the “Ring” cycle at Bayreuth, in a provocative production by Patrice Chéreau that was telecast and circulated on audio and video recordings. Boulez and Chéreau also collaborated in the first staging of the completed version of Alban Berg’s “Lulu” in 1979.

Boulez recorded many of the canonical works of 20th-century music with the New York Philharmonic, BBC Symphony and Cleveland Orchestra for Columbia (now Sony Classical) in the 1970s, and later with the Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic and other ensembles for Deutsche Grammophon. His audio and video discography also includes some music of 18th- and 19th-century composers, notably Handel, Mozart, Beethoven and Bruckner.

An obituary by Paul Griffiths for The New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/07/arts/music/pierre-boulez-french-composer-dies-90.html

An obituary by Tim Page for The Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/pierre-boulez-conductor-of-bracing-clarity-dies-at-90/2016/01/06/b1e9a82e-b474-11e5-a842-0feb51d1d124_story.html

An obituary by Mark Brown in The Guardian:

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/jan/06/pierre-boulez-classical-musics-maverick-dies-aged-90

Letter V Classical Radio this week

A new year, a new crop of musical anniversaries to mark: The 150th birthdays of Erik Satie and Ferrucio Busoni; the centenaries of the deaths of Enrique Granados, George Butterworth (both casualties of World War I) and Max Reger; and 50th, 100th, 150th and 200th anniversaries of works by composers ranging from Rossini and Schubert to Shostakovich and Ligeti.

Jan. 7
1-5 p.m. EST
1800-2200 UTC/GMT
WDCE, University of Richmond
90.1 FM
www.wdce.org

Rossini: “The Barber of Seville” Overture
Chamber Orchestra of Europe/Claudio Abbado (Deutsche Grammophon)

Past Masters:
Dohnányi: “Variations on a Nursery Song”
Erno Dohnányi, piano
London Symphony Orchestra/
Lawrance Collingwood
(EMI Classics)
(recorded 1931)

Debussy: Sonata for flute, viola and harp
Mathieu Dufour, flute
Gérard Caussé, viola
Isabelle Moretti, harp (Harmonia Mundi)

Ligeti: “Lux aeterna”
North German Radio Choir/Helmut Franz (Deutsche Grammophon)

Butterworth:
“A Shropshire Lad”
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic/
Grant Llewellyn (Argo)

Reger: “Four Tone Poems
after Arnold Böcklin”
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra/Neeme Järvi (Chandos)

Granados: “Goyescas,” Book 2 – “Love and Death”
Jean-François Heisser, piano (Apex)

Past Masters:
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 1 in G minor
(“Winter Dreams”)
I: Allegro tranquillo
London Symphony Orchestra/
Igor Markevitch
(Newton Classics)
(recorded 1966)

Shostakovich:
Cello Concerto No. 2
Heinrich Schiff, cello
Bavarian Radio
Symphony Orchestra/
Maxim Shostakovich (Decca)

Rachmaninoff: “Études-tableaux,” Op. 39, Nos. 2-3
Sviatoslav Richter, piano (Regis)

Satie: “Trois Gymnopédies”
Satie: “Sonatine bureaucratique”
Satie: “Avant-dernières pensées” 
Aldo Ciccolini, piano
(EMI Classics)

Past Masters:
Schubert: Symphony
No. 4 in C minor (“Tragic”)
Vienna Philharmonic/
István Kertész
(Decca)
(recorded 1970)

Past Masters:
J.S. Bach: Partita in D minor, BWV 1004 – Chaconne
(transcribed by Ferrucio Busoni)
Ferrucio Busoni, piano (Dal Segno)
(1914 piano roll)

National Symphony taps Noseda

Gianandrea Noseda, music director of the Teatro Regio Torino opera company in Turin and principal guest conductor of the Israel Philharmonic, will take over direction of Washington’s National Symphony Orchestra, succeeding Christoph Eschenbach.

Noseda, currently conducting Bizet’s “The Pearl Fishers” at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, will lead two NSO programs next season as music director-designate, and begin his tenure as music director in the 2017-18 season. His initial contract with the orchestra runs through 2020-21.

A 51-year-old native of Milan, Noseda served as chief conductor of the BBC Philharmonic in Manchester from 2002 to 2011 and principal guest conductor of the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg from 1997 to 2007. He is a prolific recording artist, notably of the “Musica Italiana” series of works by Italian composers for Chandos Records. He was named Conductor of the Year for 2015 by Musical America.

In his most recent date with the National Symphony last November, “we felt a mutual respect and commitment to music-making that is the foundation of a successful artistic partnership from the start of our initial rehearsal,” Noseda said in a statement released by the Kennedy Center, under whose organizational umbrella the NSO operates.

Since that engagement, the orchestra’s players have been telling members of the conductor search committee, “Get this guy,” bass trombonist Matthew Guilford, one of the five musician representatives on the committee, told The Washington Post’s Anne Midgette:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/national-symphony-orchestra-names-rising-star-gianandrea-noseda-as-music-director/2016/01/04/e3f055c8-b2b9-11e5-a842-0feb51d1d124_story.html

Gilbert Kaplan (1941-2016)

Gilbert Kaplan, the financier and publisher who became the leading authority on Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony (No. 2) – and the world’s best-known amateur conductor – has died at 74.

Kaplan, founder and publisher of the magazine Institutional Investor, developed an obsession with the Mahler Second after hearing Leopold Stokowski conduct the work in a 1965 concert.

The Mahler Second “made a personal connection, more than any music I had ever heard. I couldn’t explain it. I still can’t,” Kaplan told me in a 1996 interview, published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. “[T]he way to unlock the mystery of why this music affected me in such a profound way, and to try to express it as I felt it and understood it,” he decided, “was to try to conduct it myself.”

He studied conducting, acquired Mahler’s autograph score, prevailed upon the publisher to correct numerous errors in what was then the standard printed score, and began conducting orchestras in the work. In time, many leading ensembles engaged Kaplan to lead the Mahler Second – he rarely conducted any other music – and prominent conductors sought his advice and consulted his writings on Mahler.

Kaplan led two recordings of the Mahler Second and a third of the piece in a chamber orchestration To my ears, his first recording, made with the London Symphony Orchestra in 1987, remains the best account on disc. (Not currently in print, it can be found on the used-disc market.)

An obituary in The Telegraph (UK):

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/12077312/Gilbert-Kaplan-conductor-obituary.html

Kaplan “truly embodied all the positive aspects of the misused term, ‘Amateur.’ We all learned so much from his scholarship as well as understanding how one person can change the way we think,” conductor Leonard Slatkin writes in comments appended to Norman Lebrecht’s death notice on his Slipped Disc blog:

http://slippedisc.com/2016/01/sad-news-gilbert-kaplan-has-died/

A BBC documentary on Kaplan and the Mahler Second, centering on the 1987 recording sessions in Cardiff, Wales:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFzRZpjxJug

The ivory trap

Bits of ivory – on the tips of violin bows, bells of bassoons, and components or decorative features of other instruments, from drums to bagpipes – can create bureaucratic and logistical nightmares for musicians on tour, who face seizure or quarantine of their instruments when they travel to and from the US and European countries that enforce a ban on importation of ivory in hopes of stemming the slaughter of elephants for their tusks.

Other rare or endangered substances used in making instruments can raise red flags in the customs shed, too.

Preparing for a tour of Europe, the National Symphony Orchestra has had to catalogue and secure permits for “the 46 bows its members are taking with ivory tips, the 16 bows with white oyster, which, although not a banned substance, must still be declared, and the 21 bows with water-monitor-lizard skin on the grip,” Cynthia Steele, the orchestra’s manager, tells The Washington Post’s T.R. Goldman:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/ivory-at-the-tip-of-a-complex-issue-for-traveling-orchestra-members/2015/12/30/fb0c818e-8a49-11e5-be39-0034bb576eee_story.html

January 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.

WEATHER ADVISORY: A major winter storm with heavy snowfall on the weekend of Jan. 22-24 is likely to cause postponement or cancellation of events throughout Virginia and in the Washington area. Check with presenters before heading out.

* In and around Richmond: Steven Smith conducts the Richmond Symphony, with singers from Virginia Opera’s Emerging Artist Program, in a Viennese New Year’s program of waltzes and other music of the Strausses (Johann and Richard), Jan. 9-10 at Richmond CenterStage, while the orchestra’s principal cellist, Neal Cary, plays Tchaikovsky’s “Rococo Variations” alongside works by Haydn, Ives and Clint Needham, in an abbreviated Rush-Hour concert on Jan. 14 at Hardywood Park Craft Brewery and a full program on Jan. 17 at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland. . . . Pianist Yefim Bronfman returns for a sampler of his ongoing recitals of the piano sonatas of Prokofiev,
Jan. 15 at the University of Richmond’s Modlin Arts Center.
. . . UR’s resident new-music sextet eighth blackbird performs in “Hand Eye,” a program of new and recent works by members of the Sleeping Giants composers’ collective, Jan. 27 at the Modlin Center. . . . Pianist Alexander Paley presents a mid-winter supplement to his fall music festival, performing Chopin’s waltzes and Rachmaninoff’s préludes on Jan. 30, and a family program of Tchaikovsky, Ravel and Prokofiev with pianist Daniel Stipe and narrator Pamela McClain on Jan. 31, both at St. Luke Lutheran Church.

* Noteworthy elsewhere: Pinchas Zukerman conducts and plays violin with the Royal Philharmonic in a program of Elgar, Mozart and Tchaikovsky, Jan. 9 at Christopher Newport University’s Ferguson Arts Center in Newport News. . . . Katherine Needleman, onetime principal oboist of the Richmond Symphony, now playing the same role in the Baltimore Symphony, is the soloist in Christopher Rouse’s Oboe Concerto, on a program also featuring music of Brahms and Beethoven, with Marin Alsop conducting, Jan. 14 at Strathmore in the Maryland suburbs of DC. . . . Musicians from Marlboro, featuring Anthony McGill, principal clarinetist of the New York Philharmonic, play works of Brahms, Beethoven and Penderecki, Jan. 20 at the Library of Congress in Washington. . . . The JACK Quartet plays works from the University of Virginia’s Composition & Computer Technologies Program, Jan. 29 at UVa’s Old Cabell Hall.
. . . Behzod Abduraimov, the highly praised young piano virtuoso from Uzbekistan, plays Chopin and Mussorgsky, Jan. 30 at Washington’s Kennedy Center (sold out – waiting list for tickets). . . . Violinist Julian Rachlin joins Daniele Gatti and Orchestre National de France in a program of Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky and Debussy, Jan. 31at the Kennedy Center.


Jan. 3 (3 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Strauss Symphony Orchestra of America
Matthias Fletzberger conducting
Natalia Ushakova, soprano
Brian Cheney, tenor
dancers from Europaballet St. Pölten
International Champion Ballroom Dancers
“A Salute to Vienna”
program TBA
$49-$89
(301) 581-5100
www.strathmore.org

Jan. 8 (8:15 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Marin Alsop conducting and speaking
“Off the Cuff: Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 3”
$35-$99
(877) 276-1444 (Baltimore Symphony box office)
www.strathmore.org

Jan. 9 (2 p.m.)
Gellman Room, Richmond Public Library, First and Franklin streets
Ruta Smedina-Starke & Sharon Stewart, piano
works TBA by Beethoven, Ravel, Fauré, R.A. Scott
free
(804) 646-7223
www.richmondpubliclibrary.org

Jan. 9 (8 p.m.)
Jan. 10 (3 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Richmond Symphony
Steven Smith conducting
singers TBA from Virginia Opera Emerging Artist Program
Johann Strauss II: “On the Beautiful Blue Danube”
Johann Strauss II: dances, operetta arias TBA
Richard Strauss: “Der Rosenkavalier” Suite
$10-$78
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
www.richmondsymphony.com

Jan. 9 (8 p.m.)
Ferguson Arts Center, Christopher Newport University, Newport News
Royal Philharmonic
Pinchas Zukerman conducting
Elgar: Serenade for strings
Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 5 in A major, K. 219 (“Turkish”)
Pinchas Zukerman, violin
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 in E minor
$27-$87
(855) 337-4849
www.fergusoncenter.org

Jan. 9 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Brian Ganz, piano
Iwona Sobotka, soprano
Chopin: songs TBA
Chopin: Cantabile in B flat major
Chopin: Impromptu in A flat major, Op. 29
Chopin: Nocturne in F major, Op. 15, No. 1
Chopin: Nocturne in C minor, Op. posth.
Chopin: Sonata No. 3 in B minor, Op. 58
$39-$89
www.strathmore.org

Jan. 10 (3 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Marin Alsop & Joseph Young conducting
Alan Shulman: “A Laurentian Overture”
Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 4 for the left hand
Leon Fleisher, piano
Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 3
$35-$99
(877) 276-1444 (Baltimore Symphony box office)
www.strathmore.org

Jan. 14 (6:30 p.m.)
Hardywood Park Craft Brewery, Overbrook Road at Ownby Lane, Richmond
Richmond Symphony
Steven Smith conducting
Ives: “The Unanswered Question”
Tchaikovsky: “Rococo Variations”
Neal Cary, cello
Clint Needham: “Urban Sprawl”
Haydn: Symphony No. 92 in G major (“Oxford”) (excerpts)
$15
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
www.richmondsymphony.com

Jan. 14 (7 p.m.)
Jan. 15 (8 p.m.)
Jan. 16 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Neeme Järvi conducting
Heino Eller: “Five Pieces for String Orchestra”
Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major
Baiba Skride, violin
Sibelius: Symphony No. 2 in D major
$15-$89
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Jan. 14 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Marin Alsop conducting
Brahms: “Academic Festival” Overture
Christopher Rouse: Oboe Concerto
Katherine Needleman, oboe
Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 in E flat major (“Eroica”)
$40-$104
(877) 276-1444 (Baltimore Symphony box office)
www.strathmore.org

Jan. 15 (7:30 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
Yefim Bronfman, piano
Prokofiev: Sonata No. 5 in C major, Op. 38/135
Prokofiev: Sonata No. 6 in A major, Op. 82
Prokofiev: Sonata No. 7 in B flat major, Op. 83
$40
(804) 289-8980
www.modlin.richmond.edu

Jan. 16 (2 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue N.E., Washington
Alban Gerhardt, cello
Anne-Marie McDermott, piano
Barber: Cello Sonata, Op. 6
Britten: Sonata in C major, Op. 65
Lukas Foss: Capriccio
Bernstein: Mass – “Three Meditations”
Gershwin-Heifetz-Gerhardt: 3 preludes
Piazzolla: “Grand Tango”
free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
www.loc.gov/concerts

Jan. 16 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
National Philharmonic
Piotr Gajewski conducting
Mozart: Divertimento in D major, K. 136
J.S. Bach: Violin Concerto in E major, BWV 1042
Colin Sorgi, violin
Grieg: “Holberg” Suite
Britten: “Simple Symphony”
$29-$89
(301) 581-5100
www.strathmore.org

Jan. 17 (3 p.m.)
Blackwell Auditorium, Randolph-Macon College, 205 Henry St., Ashland
Richmond Symphony
Steven Smith conducting
Ives: “The Unanswered Question”
Tchaikovsky: “Rococo Variations”
Neal Cary, cello
Clint Needham: “Urban Sprawl”
Haydn: Symphony No. 92 in G major (“Oxford”)
$20
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
www.richmondsymphony.com

Jan. 17 (7 p.m.)
Calvary Revival Church, 5833 Poplar Hall Drive, Norfolk
Virginia Symphony
conductor TBA
“Songs for a Dreamer: a Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”
program TBA
free
(757) 892-6366
www.virginiasymphony.org

Jan. 17 (2 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Kennedy Center Chamber Players
Richard Strauss: “Capriccio” – Sextet
Mozart: Horn Quintet in E flat major, K. 407
J.S. Bach-Varga: Partita No. 2 in D minor – Chaconne (arranged for four cellos)
Mendelssohn: Quartet in A major, Op. 18
$35
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Jan. 20 (7 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Alyson Cambridge, soprano
Christine Lamprea, cello
Ina Zdorovetchi, harp
Kevin Miller, piano
“In Her Voice”
William Bolcom: “From the Diary of Sally Hemings”
Jeffrey Mumford: “three windows” (premiere)
Adam Schoenberg: new work TBA (premiere)
$40
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts)
www.wpas.org

Jan. 20 (8 p.m.)
Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, First Street at Independence Avenue N.E., Washington
Musicians from Marlboro:
Anthony McGill, clarinet
Emilie-Anne Gendron & David McCarroll, violins
Daniel Kim, viola
Marcy Rosen, cello
Beethoven: String Trio in C minor, Op. 9, No. 3
Penderecki: Quartet for clarinet and string trio
Brahms: Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op. 115
free; tickets required
(703) 573-7328 (Ticketmaster)
www.loc.gov/concerts

Jan. 21 (7:30 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Band of the Royal Marines
pipes, drums & Highland dancers of the Scots Guards
program TBA
$30-$38
(804) 289-8980 (UR Modlin Center box office)
www.modlin.richmond.edu

Jan. 21 (7 p.m.)
Jan. 22 (8 p.m.)
Jan. 23 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Christoph Eschenbach conducting
Christopher Rouse: “Phaethon”
Dvořák: Cello Concerto in B minor
Daniel Müller-Schott, cello
Brahms-Schoenberg: Piano Quartet in G minor, Op. 25
$15-$89
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Jan. 21 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Constantine Kitsopoulos conducting
“Pixar in Concert”
$21-$99
(877) 276-1444 (Baltimore Symphony box office)
www.strathmore.org

Jan. 22 (8 p.m.)
Chrysler Hall, 215 St. Paul’s Boulevard, Norfolk
Jan. 23 (8 p.m.)
Ferguson Arts Center, Christopher Newport University, Newport News
Jan. 24 (2:30 p.m.)
Sandler Arts Center, 201 S. Market St., Virginia Beach
Virginia Symphony
JoAnn Falletta conducting
Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor
Natasha Peremski, piano
Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra
Dohnányi: “Symphonic Minutes”
$25-$110
(757) 892-6366
www.virginiasymphony.org

Jan. 23 (8 p.m.)
Altria Theater, Main and Laurel streets, Richmond
Richmond Symphony
conductor TBA
“Video Games Live”
$20-$70
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
www.richmondsymphony.com

Jan. 23 (2 and 8 p.m.)
Center for the Arts, George Mason University, Fairfax
Band of the Royal Marines
pipes, drums & Highland dancers of the Scots Guards
program TBA
$31-$52
(888) 945-2468 (Tickets.com)
www.cfa.gmu.edu

Jan. 24 (4 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
VCU Guitar Series:
Sam Dorsey, classical guitar
program TBA
$15
(804) 828-6776
http://arts.vcu.edu/music/events/

Jan. 24 (4 p.m.)
Performing Arts Theatre, Berglund Center, Orange Avenue at Williamson Road, Roanoke
Roanoke Symphony
Roanoke Symphony Youth Orchestra
David Stewart Wiley, conductor, pianist & narrator
Plastic Musik, guest stars
Russell Peck: “The Thrill of the Orchestra”
works TBA by Tchaikovsky, Wagner, Holst, John Williams
$15
(540) 343-9127
www.rso.com

Jan. 25 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Rivanna String Quartet
Shostakovich: Quartet No. 3
Libby Larsen: “Sorrow Song and Jubilee”
Schubert: Quartet in G major, D. 887
$15 
(434) 924-3376
www.music.virginia.edu

Jan. 25 (7 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Thymos Quartet
Christoph Eschenbach, piano
Yann Dubost, double-bass
Schubert: Quartet in A minor, D. 804 (“Rosamunde”)
Olivier Dujours: String Quartet 17 (“Creation”)
Schubert: Piano Quintet in A major, D. 667 (“Trout”)
$50
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Jan. 26 (7 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Young Concert Artists:
Edgar Moreau, cello
Jessica Osborne, piano
J.S. Bach: Sonata in G minor, BWV 1029
Franck: Sonata in A major
Schnittke: Cello Sonata No. 1
Chopin: “Introduction and Polonaise brilliante,” Op. 3
$35
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Jan. 27 (7:30 p.m.)
Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Arts Center, University of Richmond
eighth blackbird
“Hand Eye”
works by Sleeping Giant composers’ collective: Ted Hearne, Robert Honstein, Christopher Cerrone, Timo Andres
$20
(804) 289-8980
www.modlin.richmond.edu

Jan. 28 (7 p.m.)
Vlahcevic Concert Hall, Singleton Arts Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Park Avenue at Harrison Street, Richmond
Atlantic Chamber Ensemble
“For Everything, a Season . . . of Fear”
works TBA by Shostakovich, Martinů, others
free
(804) 828-6776
http://arts.vcu.edu/music

Jan. 28 (7 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Christoph Eschenbach conducting
Weber: “Der Freischütz” Overture
Schubert: Symphony No. 8 in B minor (“Unfinished”)
Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 in A major
$15-$89
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Jan. 28 (7 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Chad Hoopes, violin
David Fung, piano
Dvořák: Sonatina in G major, Op. 100
Prokofiev: “Five Melodies,” Op. 35
Ravel: “Tzigane”
Franck: Sonata in A major
$40
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts)
www.wpas.org

Jan. 29 (7:30 p.m.)
St. Bridget Catholic Church, 6006 Three Chopt Road, Richmond
Daniel Stipe, organ
program TBA
donation requested
(804) 282-9511
www.saintbridgetchurch.org

Jan. 29 (8 p.m.)
Ferguson Arts Center, Christopher Newport University, Newport News
Jan. 30 (8 p.m.)
Chrysler Hall, 215 St. Paul’s Boulevard, Norfolk
Virginia Symphony Pops
Benjamin Rous conducting
Steve Lippia, guest star
“Sinatra Centennial”
$25-$95
(757) 892-6366
www.virginiasymphony.org

Jan. 29 (8 p.m.)
Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
JACK Quartet
works TBA by graduate students in UVa’s Composition & Computer Technologies Program
free
(free master class at 9:30 a.m. in Room b18, Old Cabell Hall)
(434) 924-3376
www.music.virginia.edu

Jan. 29 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Christoph Eschenbach conducting
Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 in A major
Brahms: Symphony No. 1 in C minor
$15-$89
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Jan. 30 (11 a.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets
Richmond Symphony LolliPops
Chia-Hsuan Lin conducting
Kimberly Schroder, soprano
Michael Boudewyns, actor
“Green Eggs and Ham”
$17 (adult), $12 (child)
(800) 514-3849 (ETIX)
www.richmondsymphony.com

Jan. 30 (2 p.m.)
Gellman Room, Richmond Public Library, First and Franklin streets
Michelle Huang, piano
Violaine Michel, violin
“Dances around the World – from Europe to America”
program TBA
free
(804) 646-7223
www.richmondpubliclibrary.org

Jan. 30 (7:30 p.m.)
St. Luke Lutheran Church, 7757 Chippenham Parkway, Richmond
Alexander Paley, piano
Chopin: 14 waltzes
Rachmaninoff: préludes, Op. 3, No. 2; Op. 23
$20 donation suggested
(804) 665-9516
www.paleymusicfestival.org

Jan. 30 (8 p.m.)
Center for the Arts, George Mason University, Fairfax
Polish Baltic Philharmonic
Boguslaw Dawidow conducting
Wagner: “The Flying Dutchman” Overture
Rimsky-Korsakov: “Scheherazade”
Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor
Marcin Koziak, piano
$30-$50
(888) 945-2468 (Tickets.com)
www.cfa.gmu.edu

Jan. 30 (2 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Behzod Abduraimov, piano
Chopin: ballades, Opp. 23, 38, 47, 52
Mussorgsky: “Pictures at an Exhibition”
$60 (waiting list)
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts)
www.wpas.org

Jan. 30 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
National Symphony Orchestra
Christoph Eschenbach conducting
Weber: “Der Freischütz” Overture
Schubert: Symphony No. 8 in B minor (“Unfinished”)
Brahms: Symphony No. 1 in C minor
$15-$89
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Jan. 30 (8 p.m.)
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Jakub Hrůša conducting
Janáček: “Jealousy”
Sibelius: Violin Concerto in D major
Sergey Khatchatryan, violin
Brahms: Symphony No. 4 in E minor
$35-$99
(877) 276-1444 (Baltimore Symphony box office)
www.strathmore.org

Jan. 31 (3 p.m.)
St. Luke Lutheran Church, 7757 Chippenham Parkway, Richmond
Alexander Paley & Daniel Stipe, piano four-hands
Pamela McClain, narrator
“Beauties and Beasts”
Tchaikovsky: “Children’s Album”
Ravel: “Mother Goose” Suite
Prokofiev: “Peter and the Wolf”
$20 donation suggested
(804) 665-9516
www.paleymusicfestival.org

Jan. 31 (3 p.m.)
Sandler Arts Center, 201 S. Market St., Virginia Beach
Virginia Symphony
Bay Youth Symphony Orchestra
conductor TBA
“Blast Off! A Symphony in Space”
$10
(757) 892-6366
www.virginiasymphony.org

Jan. 31 (2 p.m.)
Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, Washington
Vocal Arts DC:
David Daniels, countertenor
Martin Katz, piano
works TBA by Purcell, Handel, Brahms, Hahn, Vaughan Williams; American folk songs
$50
(800) 444-1324
www.kennedy-center.org

Jan. 31 (4 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
Orchestre National de France
Daniele Gatti conducting
Debussy: “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun”
Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No. 1
Julian Rachlin, violin
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 in E minor
$55-$120
(202) 785-9727 (Washington Performing Arts)
www.wpas.org